I have published about 18 eBooks at Booktango and Smashwords, but I am getting tired of the "technical issues" so I would like to know if anyone has any experience with another site, especially lulu.com.
Booktango and Smashwords are both ebook specialists. Lulu.com started as a POD publisher. So I'd be expecting Booktango/Smashwords would have fewer technical difficulties.
I've never struck any tehcnical difficulties with Smashwords, I don't think - what do you mean exactly?
Smashwords is hard to navigate and Booktango keeps having issues (you submit and then get an error message which can be taken care of by using their live chat but it takes time).
I think there are technical issues wherever you go. But I normal start with kindle/createspace because that is where I make the most sales.
Doesn't Amazon also have an ebook app? I think they even take care of distribution to Barnes and Nobles and other books stores.
Amazon puts books on Amazon, they are not out to help the competition. No ebook platform is a complete piece of cake.
Booktango (even with the tech issues) still my favorite favorite. Easy to use platform and they distribute to the majority of distributors including Amazon,Barnes & Noble etc.
I would rather upload to Kindle Amazon myself, because when I checked out Booktango in 2012 you had to give Booktango 30%-40% of every sales, especially as they were so sneaky about hiding that they take this cut. So now I am not sure if their 'free' is really free.
So far they have not kept any of the proceeds from my sales. I get 100%
My guess is that there are many hubs here that are about self-publishing (one might be mine) and you may find one or more of these helpful. The one I am most familiar with has a link to a PDF document that compares many POD sites, and talks about cutting out all middlemen, such a lulu, and keeping a lot more of your money because they all use the same provider, and you can, too.
I've done e-books on LULU and had no issues with them. And the e-books get their own ISBNs and are distributed to nook and iBookstore. Currently e-books published on LULU are not distributed to kindle. If you want your e-book on Amazon you have to publish the e-book with KDP (Kindle Direct Publishing). I am not sure how to get an ISBN for the kindle book though.
That is a rather broader questions to which the answer is: it depends.
People who are self-publishing have obviously decided that in there case it is advisable.
by TessSchlesinger 7 years ago
If you publish on smashwords, they will list your book with Barnes & Noble, so why would you want to do it separately?
by taw2012 12 years ago
Hi people,Many of us want to get our works published. We spend a lot of time, do hard work and complete the work. Now we want to get it published. Ho to do it? Share your knowledge and experiences...
by Gary Anderson 14 years ago
This is a thanks to Sandy Mertens, a Hubpage and Squidoo author, who has properly formatted my ebook so that it is accepted in the Smashwords premium catalog. That means it is available for Apple, Sony, Barnes and Nobles, Kobu, Amazon,etc. Sandy will make your ebook if you have one that needs to be...
by Sondra Rochelle 7 years ago
I am struggling with learning about ebook formatting and am wondering, if you have published an ebook, exactly how you format your work. What fonts, allignment, etc. do you use or does it matter? Help and advice will be appreciated.
by sid_candid 14 years ago
Do you need to have good technical skills to create your own eBook? How can we create a profitable eBook?
by promisem 9 years ago
If you have, can you share your experience? Was it worth the effort?
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