by Mark Coker
It's okay to say, "This book is available in print at [insert retailer name]," though it’s better to avoid naming a particular retailer and instead write something like, “This book is available in print at most online retailers.” Also note that once your book is listed on Smashwords, you can add hyperlinks within your Smashwords book page to online outlets where the book can be purchased in print, assuming you still employ that method of publishing.
21c. Add a Smashwords License Statement to your Copyright Page
All Smashwords books are sold DRM-free, without copy protection or encryption. This means you’re trusting your customers not to pirate your books. In our experience, the vast majority of customers are honest. Yet without proper education and reminders, a well-intentioned customer might feel inclined to share your book with someone else.
To minimize this accidental piracy, we encourage Smashwords authors and publishers to add the Smashwords License Statement to their book. The Smashwords License Statement is an original creation of Smashwords, and it has been widely adopted by thousands of ebook authors and even some competitors. The Smashwords License Statement acts as a Trojan horse. Even if your book is accidentally copied or shared, the recipient of the book is gently reminded of their legal and ethical obligation to compensate you for it.
To use it for your book, add the following text to the title page or copyright pages of books that carry a price:
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
(Note: if you copy and paste this into your manuscript, be sure to remove the paragraph returns that may appear at the end of each line)
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
If your book is free, then the license statement might change to something such as:
Smashwords Edition, License Notes
Thank you for downloading this free ebook. You are welcome to share it with your friends. This book may be reproduced, copied and distributed for non-commercial purposes, provided the book remains in its complete original form. If you enjoyed this book, please return to Smashwords.com to discover other works by this author. Thank you for your support.
Step 22. The End of Your Book
Most authors end their book with a period, and then give the reader nothing more. Don’t squander this opportunity. If your reader makes it to the end of the book, reward them!
First, add a ### centered on the next line to signify the end.
Consider adding a personal message. Put yourself into the mind of the reader. They just finished your book. They loved it. They want to read more of your material. This is an opportunity to connect with the reader. You have various options. How about adding:
About the author:
[Insert a short bio]
Discover other titles by Authorname at Smashwords.com:
Title 1 - hyperlink *
Title 2 - hyperlink
Title 3 -hyperlink
* Remember to make the hyperlinks “live” by highlighting the text you want to hyperlink, right-mouse click on the text, then insert the http:// hyperlink. Make it easy for your readers to learn more about you.
Connect with Me Online:
[add links to:
Twitter: http://twitter.com/[insert your twitter address]
Smashwords: http:// [link to your author page]
My blog: http://
POST FORMATTING
Back to top
Step 23. Prepare your Cover Image
Even though you’re creating a digital book, book covers are still important to your potential readers. Book covers are one of your best marketing tools (other than Smashwords, of course!). When you upload your manuscript, you’ll be asked to attach your book cover as an image file. An image file usually ends with the file extension .JPG.
Book covers are required for the Smashwords Premium Catalog, which gives your book broad distribution to major online retailers. The book cover standards require your cover to be shaped like a book cover (a vertical [upright] rectangle, not a square) and should include your book title and author name. Keep your cover image tasteful and avoid obscenity. 500 pixels wide by 800 pixels tall is generally a good dimension. The image must be at least 600 pixels tall.
Book covers cannot contain nudity, a price, or a web address (Apple, for example, will reject your book if they see a hyperlink on the book cover image). It must include the book title and author name, and the title and author name must match the title and author name inside your book and in the metadata (Metadata is what you enter on the Publish page, such as the book title, author name, book description. Metadata = data about something else, and in this case the “something” else is your book). The cover cannot be grainy or pixelated. Pixelation occurs when an author started with a small image and expanded the dimensions before they uploaded it to Smashwords.
Make the text crisp and clear. Remember, your cover will be shrunk to the thumbnail size, so you want all the cover elements to look good when it’s small. This means, if you make your title or author name to small on the cover, it’ll be invisible in the thumbnail.
Your image must be in RGB color, not CYMK (at the risk of getting too technical, most image files are RGB [stands for red, green, blue], which is what’s supported by computer monitors. CYMK is a format for printing ink on paper. Most image processing applications will give you RGB automatically. If your image is in CYMK, it will be rejected by Smashwords [assuming we catch it, and if we don’t catch it, the retailer will reject it]. Note that it is not easy to tell if your image is in RGB or CYMK. If your image opens in a Firefox browser, it’s RGB. If it doesn’t, then it’s probably CMYK. Your cover designer will understand.)
One Smashwords author recommended a free application called Paint.net (www.paint.net) if you want to create your own ebook cover.
If you do not have the ability to make your own book cover, email me for a low cost reference. I don’t earn a fee for the reference, and I can’t guarantee their work, though I will only suggest designers who have done good work for other Smashwords authors. Some will do covers for as little as $35.00, which I consider very reasonable.
Step 24. Before You Publish, Review the Requirements for Premium Distribution
Distribution is important. Think of it as virtual shelf space. To gain inclusion in the Premium Catalog, read the Smashwords Distribution page at http://www.smashwords.com/distribution and double check you have satisfied all the requirements.
Common Errors that will disqualify your book from the Premium Catalog:
The issues below are in addition to the formatting requirements discussed in the Style Guide.
1. Book cover is missing, or doesn’t satisfy dimensional requirements (should be vertical rectangle, not a square, and not a sideways rectangle), or needs to be cropped, or is missing the title of the book and author name. Book cover should be at least 600 pixels tall. A good approximate dimension for a book cover is 500 pixels wide by 800 pixels tall.
2. Your author name in the metadata is lower case when it should be Initial Caps, such as: Jane Smith. If you list your name as jane smith in your metadata, we’ll reject it. To fix, go to Account: Edit Account Information at https://www.smashwords.com/account/edit
3. The book description or book title you enter on the Publish page is ALL CAPS. We strongly discourage ALL CAPS.
4. Poor paragraph construction. Don’t mix block paragraphs with first line indented paragraphs. Don’t use tabs or space bar spaces to create indents.
5. Read all the guidelines for Premium Catalog distribution at http://www.smashwords.com/distribution
Step 25. How to Upload your Book!
On
ce you’re convinced your book is properly formatted, click the “Publish” link from the main menu, anywhere on the site. Do not click this link if you want to upload a new version of a book you previously uploaded (instead, go to Dashboard: “Upload new version”).
On the Publish page, you’ll fill out all the data associated with your book, and you’ll attach your book file and your cover file. Before you click the [publish] link at the bottom of the page, triple check that you filled out all the options above.
If you price your book at “Reader Sets the Price,” this option is available for customers who purchase at Smashwords.com, but is not supported by our retailers. If you choose this option, your book price will default to $4.95 for retail distribution only though you can click to Dashboard: Settings afterward and select a different default price for retail distribution only.
Choose a price that ends in $.99, because Apple requires all prices to end in $.99 (although free is acceptable as well). If you provide a price that doesn’t end in $.99, Smashwords will raise your price to the nearest $.99 when we ship to Apple, and for Apple only. Therefore, if you give us a price of $1.20, it’ll become $1.99 at Apple.
After you click the [publish] button at the bottom of the Publish page, your browser will pause for several seconds as your file uploads to Smashwords. If you have a slow internet connection, it may a pause for 60 seconds or longer. While it’s paused, do not click your browsers reload button, because it could cause you to double-publish the book. Next, you should progress to the conversion page with a spinning wheel. You do not need to watch the spinning wheel.
If you click the [publish] button and it bounces you back to the previous page, carefully read the error messages before proceeding. If you’re having problems uploading, visit the Smashwords Support center at https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq#Uploading for tips.
Once your book is finished converting, it will immediately go live on the site and will automatically be considered for Premium Catalog inclusion. You’ll also receive an email confirmation.
Step 26: How AutoVetter Works
The moment your upload completes, our AutoVetter feature will analyze your book and immediately tell you if your formatting has any glaring errors that could prevent you from gaining inclusion in the Premium Catalog. This will allow you to quickly fix the most common problems so you can fast track your book for the Premium Catalog.
Just because AutoVetter flags a potential error doesn’t mean Smashwords is “rejecting” your book. You’d be surprised how often authors email me to complain that Smashwords keeps rejecting their book. AutoVetter analyzes your book for several potential problems, and its analysis is usually accurate.
The AutoVetter error that tends to be erroneous most often is the “Printed In” error. If those words appear in the body of your book, and not in the title/copyright pages, then you can ignore the Printed In error. However, if your copyright section says something like “Printed in the United States,” you should remove that phrase because this is your Smashwords ebook, not your print book.
If AutoVetter flags your book with a possible copyright error, it will delay your inclusion into the Premium Catalog. It means you didn’t follow the instructions in Step 21b above. AutoVetter wants to see a proper copyright statement, plus either the phrase Smashwords Edition or Published by [your name] at Smashwords
If AutoVetter is giving you errors related to tabs, space bar spaces, textboxes and tables, and you cannot locate the source of the error, be sure to check your headers and footers. These are all critical errors that will prevent your inclusion in the catalog.
To check your Premium Catalog status, visit your Dashboard and look under the “Premium Status” column. If it says “pending review,” it means you’re waiting for Smashwords to manually approve your book for the catalog. The process can take up to a week, sometimes longer.
If it says “modifications required,” click on the link to see what modifications are required.
If it’s waiting for you to submit your book for consideration, click the link and resubmit your book.
Each time you make a change to your book, the status will change to “Needs Submission” until you click the resubmit button. The resubmit button, which you’ll see after you make any change other than price, is your way of telling our review team that your new changes are ready for review. After you click the resubmit button, your status will change to “pending review.” Don’t worry, if you’re book was previously approved for the Premium Catalog, the previously approved version will continue to ship in the meantime.
Once your book is approved for the Premium Catalog, it will ship to participating retailers in the next shipment. We typically ship once every one or two weeks, although we will sometimes ship earlier or later. You can check shipment status by clicking on the Channel Manager link in your Dashboard. After your book ships, it may still take several weeks for your book to appear at retail. This is determined by the retailer, not Smashwords.
Learn more about the Premium Catalog and its distribution outlets at http://www.smashwords.com/distribution
Step 27: After You Publish: Check Your Work
After your book appears on the site, check the formats for quality. The more formats you offer, the better your ability to serve your readers. If a certain format doesn’t do your book justice, you can deactivate it (for example, if you publish a picture book for children, our .TXT and .PDB formats won’t show images, so you might want to deactivate them. If the images are nice-to-have but not need-to-have, then it’s probably okay to leave those formats in place because more formats open you up to more readers). Remember that EPUB is your most important format, and it is a requirement for inclusion in the Premium Catalog. The MOBI format is required for distribution to Amazon. Even if you already distribute to Amazon on your own, many Smashwords customers prefer to buy Kindle books at Smashwords.com so DON’T deactivate your MOBI format.
Usually a quick look at the HTML reader version will help you spot potential formatting problems, because it acts like a canary in a coal mine. If things aren’t right, it’ll let you know! Don’t worry if page breaks aren’t where you expected them (this is normal and okay!). After you correct any problems, go to your Dashboard and then click Upload a New Version next to your title. From there, you can re-upload your file.
To check the quality of EPUB, you can download and install the free Adobe Digital Editions reader software from Adobe. Once you install it, simply visit your book page and click on the link to download your full EPUB. To check the MOBI format, which is used by the Amazon Kindle, and you don’t have a Kindle, download the free Kindle for PC software or if you’re on a Mac, Kindle for Mac. Once you have this installed, you can click on the MOBI version of your book and it’ll instantly open in this helpful Kindle app.
CHECK FOR EPUBCHECK COMPLIANCE: If you want your book distributed to the Apple iBookstore, the EPUB file we generated for you must pass EPUBCHECK, which is an industry standard compliance validation tool. We’ve built a lot of magic into Meatgrinder that allows us to automatically repair many EPUBCHECK problems without your intervention, but we can’t fix them all.
If your book doesn’t pass EPUBCHECK, it means there’s a problem with the source file you uploaded to Smashwords, and your book won’t ship to Apple. If your book has been in the Premium Catalog for multiple weeks, and you watch our Apple ship dates pass your book by, then this is most likely the cause.
Here’s how to check: After you publish your book, and you’ve fixed any remaining AutoVetter errors, download your EPUB file to your computer’s desktop, and then upload the file to this free validation service: http://threepress.org/document/epub-validate. Click [browse] to locate your file on your desktop, then click [validate] to run the test. If your book passes, it’ll tell you. Congratulations! Go celebrate.
If it fails, it’ll toss up (mostly) incomprehensible spaghetti language telling you why your book failed. Take a deep breath (Very important
). Try to study and understand the messages, but don’t pull out too much hair if it’s confusing, because it is SUPER-CONFUSING. Click over to the official EPUBCHECK Error Reporting Page at http://code.google.com/p/epubcheck/wiki/Errors to learn more about the errors. Take another deep breath. No, you’re not stupid. The confusing errors are stupid. Welcome to the early days of the ebook revolution. We’re confident these tools will continue to get better over time.
If the tips below don’t help you, or you find they only drive your EPUB-addled brain to the breaking point, one of the most effective ways to fix the problem is to reformat your book using the Nuclear Method, as described at https://www.smashwords.com/about/supportfaq#nuclear, because the Nuclear method will clear out all the gunk you cannot see (it’ll also remove all your formatting, so use it carefully). Or, contact me for a referral to a low cost formatter.
