Publishing an e-book on Smashwords Publishing an e-book on Smashwords

I feel a little bit behind in the times on this one, but I'll work to catch up quickly. �Over the past year or so I've been compiling samples and I put together a book for developing CakePHP websites. �I saught publishing on the book, but unfortunately all of the big name publishers felt that CakePHP is too small of a market.

After being rejected, I wasn't too sure what to do with the book. �So, I left it for a while. �Then, earlier this week through some Google searching I stumbled upon the idea of an e-book. �Previously I've associated e-books with "Get rich quick schemes" as you see a lot of websites selling e-books along those lines.

I started investigating this option a bit more and I found some videos about creating e-books with Adobe Indesign and formatting them for the various readers. �This quickly started sounding like a lot of work! �Instead I searched for other solutions. �That's when I found it: Smashwords. �This is an incredible service. �You upload your Word Document and they automatically convert it for the over 10 e-book options out there! �Not only that, they will sell it and promote it on your behalf.


Now you're asking, so how much does it cost. �It's FREE! �Smashwords simply takes 30% of the profit. �After researching the amount of effort it would take to create and publish on my own, 30% didn't seem a lot. �I joined that day and submitted my already existing Word Document. �It took a while to be converted because there was a bit of a queue. �After about an hour or so, my book was converted and published on Smashwords.

To be listed with the various large-scale retailers like Sony, Amazon, Apple, etc... you need to be included in their premium catalog though. �My book failed miserably at first with their "autovetter" because I was using Microsoft Word's table of contents, tables for the coding blocks, as well as a few other formatting reasons. �It took me the better part of the day to strip this down and meet the autovetter requirements. �At least for next time, now I know!

As of right now, I'm still currently waiting to hear back from Smashwords regarding my inclusion into their premium category. �When or if I do get included, I'll do a follow up report on the success/failure of this adventure!

So, if you enjoy my blog and CakePHP examples, support me today and download my e-book: Rapid Application Development with CakePHP!

Published on Feb 7, 2011

Tags: CakePHP Tutorial | ebook | smashwords | Theory

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