YA Indie Author Series: Smashwords/All Other E-book Sites (Are They Worth It)

If you're an author wanting to publish independently, then I would highly recommend using Smashwords to help distribute your ebooks. Not only do they give you the opportunity to publish to a wide variety of websites including Barnes & Noble, iBooks, Sony, Diesel, Page Foundry, etc but they also make it easy to gift ebooks (or offer promotions) by giving you the opportunity to create coupons.
Mark Coker, the guy who started Smashwords, has published a number of very useful ebooks  for self publishers including a formatting guide and The Secrets to Epublishing Success (both of which are free) and are must reads for new authors.
Over the past couple of years, I've found Smashwords to be one of the most useful sites for my career and I look forward to seeing what they come up with next. The only downside to using Smashwords is that they pay royalties quarterly, but that's certainly not a huge issue. They pay via paypal which is certainly easy these days.
You could also use Smashwords to publish on the Amazon and Kobo sites but I decided to opt out and do it myself, because it seemed simple enough. I haven't seen a huge amount of sales via Kobo, unlike Amazon, where I sell rather a lot these days (YAY!).

Don't forget to download your FREE copy of my book, Daisy Madigan's Paradise here and your FREE copy of Raven here.

1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3. Heather Self
4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
6. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog
8. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series
10. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey
12. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter
13. Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy
14. Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga
15. Courtney Cole Writes
16. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
17. Ella James
18. Maureen Murrish
19. Valerie Sloan
20. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings
21. Terah Edun, author of Red Madrassa and An Amlah's Diary

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#YAIndieCarnival: Indie Author Opportunities

This week we're talking about how becoming an indie author has opened up opportunities for us... and WOW has it just!
Having been given the opportunity to become an indie author via the likes of Smashwords and Amazon, my books are now available worldwide to everybody and that is just the biggest most awesome delight for any author! Of course, the fact that I have been selling my books by the thousands is the icing on the cake.
I just need the cherry for the top, which will be my books being made into movies, naturally!
To find out more opportunities that have been opened up for my fellow carnies, visit their sites below...

1. Laura A. H. Elliott author of Winnemucca & 13 on Halloween, Book 1 in the Teen Halloween Series
2. Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series

3. Heather Self

4. T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series
5. Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga 

6. Cheri Schmidt, author of the Fateful Trilogy
7. Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog 

8. K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
9. Patti Larsen, The Hunted series and The Hayle Coven series 

10. Amy Maurer Jones, Author of The Soul Quest Trilogy
11. Fisher Amelie, author of The Understorey

12. Gwenn Wright, author of Filter  

13. Melissa Pearl, Author of The Time Spirit Trilogy
14. Heather M. White, author of The Destiny Saga

15. Courtney Cole Writes
16. Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.

17. Ella James
18. Maureen Murrish

19. Valerie Sloan
20. YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings

Click here for more Indie News:

Unsure about self-publishing?

Are you thinking about self-publishing, but can't make your mind up? Just DO IT. You've got nothing to lose. The publishing world is changing enormously at the moment and its becoming increasingly easy to get your own books out there.
If I hadn't gone ahead and self-published and, instead, waited for an agent to accept me, I'd probably still be wondering whether my book was good enough. Now I KNOW it is because of the fantastic response I've received from the awesome people who have bought it.
The most important aspect of being an author is to have people read your book. If you're sitting at home waiting for the phone to ring, who is reading your book? Nobody. Why wait? If you're still holding out for an agent or a publisher, they are more likely to pick you up if you've already got a following.
So get your book out there on Amazon (US and UK) and Smashwords. Send out as many review copies as possible, ask book sites to interview you, offer to do guest posts on as many different sites as possible and get your name known.
The best thing a reader said about RAVEN was that her heart ached for the main character, Lilly. I would never have known that my book had that effect on people had I not published it myself, would I?
So what are you waiting for? Go for it!

After writing this, I came across this very interesting post and thought it might back up my point:
http://hbspublications.blogspot.com/2011/07/ebook-authors-self-publishing-is-like.html

Photo courtesy: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=851

Do you feel it

These are exciting times. Do you feel it too?

Authors have so many options available to them now than ever before. When it would have taken years to publish a book, now you can do it yourself much quicker without all the heartache and rejections we all receive (let's face it.... we've all been there).

Once your book is written, edited and polished, all you have to do is to epublish it on one (or various) of the many sites available like amazon, smashwords, etc and readers can be reading it in no time. Okay, we hope they'll be reading it in no time. Provided you market it as well as you possibly can, and price it competitively, you're going to get readers and if you write well and produce great stories, you'll get fans too.

I'm still waiting for my 'editors' to finish 'editing' Raven but once they are... I'll be giving this a go myself. I've got nothing to lose. I just hope that people love my book as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Especially considering the sequel is now in the works!