The Nexus discussion

K.P. Kollenborn,here, asked:

"Does anyone have theories as to why on Smashwords I'm getting sample downloads but only one purchase? One writer suggested perhaps people are purchasing on Kindle, the Nook, ect instead. Does anyone else have the same curious problem?"

To which she got many answers, some of which were:

Emily Ward: Oh, yeah, I make hardly any sales at Smashwords. I don't think readers go there to buy stuff, Amazon and B&N are just so much easier with wireless distribution, related books, one-click buys, etc.

Rik Hall: Keep in mind what it costs you to put your works on Smashwords. Nothing. I am happy to receive the royalties from any source. Without SW our works would not be on Sony ,Apple or a couple of others. We direct to Amazon, B&N and Kobo as well as SW.

Valerie Douglas: In my experience Goodreads is great for exposure. Smashwords gets you to Kobo (at the moment) Sony and Apple. I upload to B&N myself (but our overseas members have to use SW for that, too) and to Kindle. Kindle, though, is where I make the majority of my sales.

I do get books from SW but not as many as compared to the ones I get from Amazon.

Authors, is SW useful for you?

Readers, how often do you use SW to buy books or even check out reviews before buying a book?

As an author, I find Smashwords handy for the coupon codes for giveaways, and reviews.

Sales wise, I get practically nothing.

and as a reader?

Erm, yeah. Never even bother going there to buy books myself!

Amazon is just easier.

and aha! I knew you'd comment before I could get the broadcast message out! :-p

I go to SW frequently. I can easily spend $1,000/mo on B&N, so I have to restrain myself. I've found some of my favorite series on SW & sometimes B&N will carry them & then I'll transitionover. I think SW is great to make your audience aware of the series & get them hooked.
I think SWhas good variety that can be overlooked by the big firms.

My refresh finger is fast these days.

@Lexie:
you're right about SW being overlooked.

@Michael:
maybe i'll save a broadcast message template for next time! hehe

To address the frequency of sample downloads and few sales (I hate to say it, but) perhaps the original poster needs to take a long hard look at the sample. It may be that it isn't encouraging people to purchase the book. Might be putting people off even.

As to the usefulness of Smashwords when compared to Amazon or B&N. I agree with everyone else. It's handy for the coupon and sending review ecopies out. I'm always happy for one more place to have my cover featured or site to come up in a google search. But I've had very few non-coupon sales so far.

As a reader I use SW only when someone has given me a coupon to use. I like the ease of purchase through amazon.

I also got the impression that some readers prefer to purchase through amazon, provided they can download a kindle version. Smashwords is invaluable for all other formats and yes, do keep in mind, that it makes your book accessible on other sites. It seems to me, through updates from SW, that it's growing with greater opportunities opening up. Anyway, Amazon and smashwords do not have to be mutually exclusive. The more exposure the better. You have nothing to lose.

With my reader hat on, I buy ebooks from Amazon (because I have a kindle) and paper books locally or via Amazon. I've picked up a lot of books from Smashwords with coupons either as a free promotion or a review copy.

Author hat on now and Smashwords gets me a steady trickle of sales via B&N, Apple, Kobo, Diesel and Sony. I've never sold an ebook for money on Smashwords, not one in the 14 months I've been self-publishing, but I've shifted hundreds of free copies on promotion, either with coupon or price set to free.

For me Smashwords offers three major benfits:
- channel distribution hub (Irish resident, I can't get into B&N direct and I'm not an apple user, looking forward to Kobo direct)
- coupons to give free copies without upsetting the Amazon price adjustment
- a mechanism to produce brand-free ebooks for my own use (a book can be put through the system without any Smashwords version front matter, unpublished and then the various formats used by the author for their own purpose - not sure this is strictly allowed though).

As a reader it would never occur to me to buy from smashwords, given the ease of auto deliver via the Kindle. I might redeem a coupon code for a free book, but I haven't yet.

As an author Smashwords is obviously beneficial because of the distribution to Apple, Kobo and Sony. The ability to set one's price to $0 on Smashwords is a useful promotional tool if Amazon happens to price match.

Downloading from Smashwords is a pain! I have both a Nook tablet and a Kindle. I go to Amazon and Barnes and Noble. An avid reader response

As an author, I use Smashwords exclusively to pass out review copies and giveaways, since they have multiple e-book formats available & they're international.

@ Bonnie: What makes Smashwords a pain to download from? Is it harder to transfer to a Nook or Kindle? I have a Kindle ap on my pc, and the books go straight to it easily, so I'm curious...

Like everyone else it seems, I rarely make any sales on Smashwords, seldom on B&N & tons on Amazon :)

As an author, I LOVE Smashwords! They allow me to have unlimited free coupons so I can offer unlimited giveaways, and I can also offer my books for free whenever I want--which then transfers over to the other sites. Amazon will not allow you to do that EVER, unless of course, you sign your life away to them and do KDP select--which, in my opinion, is like attaching the Amazon ball and chain around you. I've seen so many authors get screwed by them by signing up for that. I actually do better on B&N, so I could never consider KDP select to begin with. Smashwords also is an aggregator for Kobo (which is important for international distribution), Blio, Sony, Diesel and Apple--even though you can publish direct with Apple now. I think Smashwords is the indie author's best friend and they don't charge a dime for anything.

A.M. wrote: "As an author, I LOVE Smashwords! They allow me to have unlimited free coupons so I can offer unlimited giveaways, and I can also offer my books for free whenever I want--which then transfers over ..."

I agree A. M. Smashwords does offer a lot of possibilities for its authors and aspires to widen its distribution channel.

As a reader, I love Smashwords for the coupons and the special offers of free books... like eBook week... LOVED eBook week. I must have gotten like 60 books from that. But for my 'regular' purchases (which are few and far between) I do like Amazon because they save a copy in my 'cloud' and directly download the book into my Kindle.

I've purchased a few books at Smashwords. As someone who avoids Amazon at all cost, I prefer SW to grab books not available in paper copy, or as an e-book elsewhere. It took me a few minutes to figure out how to get the books onto my ereader, but it's a breeze now. Admittedly, a few extra steps but it's worth it. In addition, it's come in handy, for when authors wish to have their books reviewed.
I have a Kobo for books that aren't available in a paper copies. I refuse to support Amazon's bizarre approach to publishing and the book world generally.

As a reader.. I will buy from Amazon if it is lendable. If not I buy elsewhere, usually for the cost. SW is one of the first places I look.

Just to make the point of how great Smashwords can be about giveaways and such, does everyone remember that July is their site-wide sale? Lots of free books using code SSWIN.

I never buy on SW. I use it to find free books or when I get a coupon for a book. I've never bought an ebook anywhere but Amazon,

Let me chime in here, as a professional in the industry I know how tempting smashwords is, it is valuable for coupons and for authors to list free books. You cannot upload directly to Amazon if your book is free. There are ways to get it there but it takes a little time and the know how.

My advice is that you do not ever use smashwords for your books, unless free, because smashwords is the number one source that people can get your books and then pirate them. You only have to pay once and then the reader can download a copy that is not DRM protected and not only that they can download any and every format they want.

If you do use smashwords always google "your book title and free" to check sites. Make sure you send all of the sites you find an email, threatening legal action. Or some sites you simply send them an email "opting out".

Also issue coupons only good for a few days. Sometimes if I am doing a read to review program with one of my authors I will issue a coupon than watch SW obsessively for the number of downloads you have authorized and them immediately cancel the coupon. I also issue one coupon code per group so if there is a leak I know exactly where it is.

You can upload a paid title directly to Amazon, B&N, Kobo, sony, and Apple with proper formatting. I know an editor who charges $75 - $120 (depending on the formats you want) and she will format perfectly for every source out there. I find that spending the little bit of money up front is better that the thousands it can cost you in pirated books.

Also if you gift your book through Amazon it goes towards your sales and you end up getting 70% back in royalties (as long as it is priced over 2.99) 35% if lower. Not only that but if your book hits any of the top 100 best selling list, your amazon sales will go through the roof.

H.D. Gordon and I just hit 12,000 books in the Alexa Montgomery series last month 95% was on amazon after her sitting on the top 100 in fantasy for almost 3 months.

As a reader, I only go there when I am given a coupon ;-)

It is so much easier if I am going to but something to do it directly on my nook.

@Nicole : You're right, my books do get pirated, but I figure that's probably par-for-the-course if you don't activate DRM, (which I don't).
Although I've been giving Smashword coupons away like crazy for my first book, I still made a top 100 list at Amazon... #40 at the moment on "Teen fiction" - Whoo Hooo :)
http://www.amazon.com/Between-Land-Ma...

I do hate the idea of piracy, especially since I'm just wrapping up the first book in my next series, and plan on pricing it at about $5.00 to start... You've given me plenty to think about.

You are absolutely right, it happens I tell that to all my clients, we all have to be diligent and watch for people posting books, anytime I see one out there I notify the author immediately. What readers have to understand is that this will affect us in the long run. If we don't pay authors for their work they won't be able to afford to write for us.

Actually the Divas are planning a tour about educating people about piracy, it was planned for July but with the "Daemon Invasion" and two of my authors releasing books yesterday we just were not able to make it happen yet. We have a ton of authors (Published & Self-Published) submitting pieces and participating. If you are interested sign up here, I think we are looking at doing it in August now.

http://passionatebookdivas.com/?p=1884

Michael wrote: "As an author, I find Smashwords handy for the coupon codes for giveaways, and reviews.

Sales wise, I get practically nothing."

I agree. But even with negligible sales, it's still worthwhile to use them. They are a good resource for writers.

One more thing, lol. If we are talking first book in the series, well we all know that is not where you plan to make your money, I have used smashwords and given away hundreds of her 1st book, then if they like it, they will but the next. One of the best marketing things I have done was a giveaway with 100 books, but I can't go giving away all my secrets, lol.

The threat from piracy is overblown to be honest. The debate about it for ebooks, is pretty much the same as the piracy debate for music, films and computer games.

My Smashwords codes are all over GR, on my blog, and I uploaded my books to some torrent sites this weekend.

The last thing the ebook world needs is the equivalent of the RIAA/MPAA getting their jackboots in on the act.

Micheal, well that's your choice. Every single Author can make it, the reader does not get to decide what should be free and what shouldn't.

Overblown? LOL

Losing thousands of dollars is not overblown, sorry it's not pocket change we are talking about...

http://jenniferarmentrout.blogspot.co...

Nicole Marie wrote: "Losing thousands of dollars is not overblown, sorry it's not pocket change we are talking about..."

It is to a new author who doesn't have much of a following or many sales yet. I don't expect to make a $1000 this year, let alone have it stolen in pirated copies. Granted, if I was JK Rowling or equivalent we would be having a different conversation. At this point in time is is like you said about giving aways a first book (which is exactly what I am doing). The more people exposed to it, regardless of how, the better.

It's not really possible to put a reliable figure on how much is lost or gained through piracy, mainly because the people who come up with the figures don't really understand what happens when books are pirated. They see every instance of a pirated book as being a lost sale.

I would be willing to bet that a large amount of the users of this site, who contribute to discussions, write reviews, run groups, etc. still pirate media, or used to do it regularly.

Exactly, I have one author pulling over $2,000 + a month after my commission. A single mother with 2 very young children

If everyone was stealing her books they would be taking food out of her daughters mouths.

Nicole Marie wrote: "Let me chime in here, as a professional in the industry I know how tempting smashwords is, it is valuable for coupons and for authors to list free books. You cannot upload directly to Amazon if you..."

It's very easy to unlock amazon books too. Don't be fooled that Amazon has them locked down tight because they don't. It is easy to dowload the instructions to do this with Calibre just by looking it up on google. From there, these books are unlocked, and then converted to epub and pdf. No place is safe. I do suggest what you suggest too, always google your books to shut down any venues that have it listed for free, they must comply when you notify them of illegal copyright infringements.

That said. I use smashwords a lot. Not only for free books but to buy too. Some books are amazing that I only found on smashwords, they categorize much better than amazon does and the coupons I get to download a free book to review is easy to use and transfer to my kindle. I used the KDP select program, it sucked. I use smashwords now for reviews and for people to get my book in any format they want without having to gift to people and pay myself the fee of the book and wait 3 months to get it back. I'm really a starving artist so I don't have money to gift my book out all the time. This is a great way to give it out for free to people, and yes they do download it. I make about 5 book sales there a month, not much but it pays for lunch once in a while, when you are broke, it matters to get the 15 bucks deposited into your empty bank account from any venue. :)

Nicole Marie wrote: "Exactly, I have one author pulling over $2,000 + a month after my commission. A single mother with 2 very young children

If everyone was stealing her books they would be taking food out of her dau..."

What services do you provide for authors? :)

My publisher no longer uses SW because we've had problems with books being reformatted there and getting complaints from readers about them.

Smashwords is great for coupons and giveaways and such. But I've found recently, that with their premium catalog, it takes a while for the sales to be reported, but I've made more through Smashwords than Amazon - not Smashwords direct purchases but those that come from the vendors on their premium catalog.

And while my Amazon sales have fallen off, my sales through Smashwords catalog are increasing each month.

Just my two cents.

I personally purchase 98% of all of my books from Barnes and Noble - online and from the brick and mortar store. And it is so easy to purchase books directly to my NOOK.

I only use Smashwords for coupons and a few other things.

As an author, I find that Smashwords is important in terms of Google search results and distribution to channels I don't have the time (or desire) to handle myself. I manage Amazon personally, but I like that Smashwords distributes to channels without my having to keep an eye on that side of the business.

Alexia wrote: What services do you provide for authors? :) "


That's a good question! LOL

OMG What don't I do....I am really having a hard time answering this becuase I hate all the labels, lol.

Ok, I got it I am an Self-Published Author Advocate.

I work with books that I love and promote them, so a selective publicist? or an agent for self-pub's that want to stay that way?

LOL

Nicole Marie wrote: "Alexia wrote: What services do you provide for authors? :) "


That's a good question! LOL

OMG What don't I do....I am really having a hard time answering this becuase I hate all the labels, lol.
..."

I hear ya. I pretty much do the same, my own books included. lol.

Yeah I hear you, it's just hard to do for yourself.

HI - I am pretty much like many others - up to now at least, I use Smashwords to issue coupons for my book and also to download review titles from other writers. As a reader I have to admit I don't use it much for browsing - maybe I should try that more often.
I hear the problems re pirating but my main confusion at the moment is with premium catalogue sales. My book, The Palaver Tree, was added to the premium catalogue during May. I know I have made sales that were not on Amazon but nothing has showed up via SW - I think the reporting must be very slow - do others find that?

Wendy, it is slow. I thought I'd sold nothing in the second half of 2011 via SW channels and then the figures started to filter through. It was a pleasant surprise. I think ti says somehwere on SW site what the time lags are per channel, but it's pretty slow.

Oh thanks for that, Ruby. I know I must have sold a few - not many but all are important! I will be patient!

Smashwords seems to me very complex and hard to track but then again I don't know much on it. I looked into it and it just seemed a bit confusing to me. I would say from a personal standpoint maybe if I already had my book out and I wanted it available on here I would consider it through Smashwords. Also if I wrote a short story I'd consider Smashwords.

Nicole Marie wrote: "Micheal, well that's your choice. Every single Author can make it, the reader does not get to decide what should be free and what shouldn't.

Overblown? LOL

Losing thousands of dollars is not ove..."

There are tons of arguments for and against piracy. I'm pretty much for it. It's its own promotional tool, for one thing. Second, it's a small piece of the pie.

Plus, I think tons of pirated books go to people who wouldn't have paid for the book anyway. Plenty of books get lent from libraries, by hand, in coffeeshops, by browsers at B&N. So yes, the reader does get to decide what's free. But in all, piracy is just one way the cream rises - I say fine, let people pirate books, and the popular ones will start to earn paying customers.

Because, as this conversation has demonstrated, people will pay for the distribution over the book itself - they'd rather pay Amazon to put the book on their kindle than seek out a pirate copy, or something free from Smashwords, and load it themselves. The pirates are your vanguard.

Of course, that isn't to say authors shouldn't get paid. We should get tons of money all the time, even if our work is crap! After all, that's why people write - to earn tons of money!