The KindleScout Experience: Part I

Since its inception, KindleScout has been received with cautious, mixed response from independent authors all around, and for good reason. KindleScout is essentially crowdsource publishing, a wild new take on what it means to be good enough for publication. But, without directly participating, there's a lot a writer might miss about this peculiar publishing program. And that's what I'm here for! My new novel, War Town, has been accepted into the program and just when live this morning. As the 45-day KindleScout process goes on with me, I'll be adding new parts to "The KindleScout Experience" blog. This is part one, enjoy.

What is KindleScout? KindleScout is Amazon's new attempt at a publishing contest, the replacement for the now defunct Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. For years, the ABNA was the award to win if you were an indie author. But, not many actually won. One person per year if my recollection doesn't deceive me. So, with a company as explosively expansive as Amazon, it makes sense that they wanted something that produced better results faster. Enter KindleScout. 

A writer, such as myself and some of you reading this, can submit a manuscript of at least 50,000 words in the genres of Mystery/Suspense/Thriller, general Literature & Fiction, Romance, Sci Fi and Fantasy, and YA/Teen. Along with the manuscript, you add it most everything else you would if you were publishing in the classic KDP style. Cover, one-sentence blurb, long description, genre and all that. Below you can see a snap of what the submit-page looks like. Any KDP authors out there will notice lots of similarities. Categories are the same, entries are the same, most everything is the same. But there are a few important differences. For one, you need a one-liner. And when they mean one line they mean it. It can only be a single sentence long. As you can see below, my short one-liner took up all but 16 remaining characters. Another big difference from KindleScout and KDP is the long-form description. You only get 500 characters which, if you know twitter, isn't much. Whatever book blurb you have might be way too long for KindleScout. If you're thinking of submitting to KindleScout, you'd better be concise with your blurb writing.

Once you get through the submitting process, you'll be taken to the policy accepting page, as with many other sites. Normally, I would breeze right by this, as it is pages upon pages of legalese, but this book is my baby, I don't want to land it anywhere I don't want it. And, if I wanted to blog about KindleScout I ought to be thorough. So I perused the long document for a bit. It goes through what it means to publish with KindleScout. If your campaign is successful, you'll get a 5 year deal with Kindle Press and a $1,500.00 advance against your royalties paid shortly after your acceptance for publication, and a 50% royalty rate should you out earn your advance. As far as advances go, KindleScout's is kind of low, but for a single book deal in a world where advance sizes are always going down, it isn't too bad. Royalty wise, you won't get much better than 50% outside of indie publishing. Some may be cautious at the 50% rate when KDP gives 70%, but Kindle Press does more for your book than KDP does. It's not just a new publishing platform, it's marketing.

Marketing is a particularly odd portion of KindleScout. They don't seem to list specifics on how they'll market your book, other than your book will be added into the Amazon marketing list. I assume they'll send out emails about your book, but beyond that it is a fog of vague language. But, that's not to say it is too shady. They all but guarantee solid sales through your contract. The KindleScout contract clearly states that, if a book doesn't earn $25,000 over the 5 year contract, the author has six months to opt out of the whole program and their rights revert to them immediately. In a world of entrapping contracts and shady deals, this is refreshingly straightforward. If sales are particularly abysmal through Kindle Press, you can opt out after 2 years. Five years might seem like a long time, but with the 2 year addition, they can't really entrap you in a piss poor contract. If they don't treat your book right, you can just take it back when the time comes, no strings attached (or so they say). Now, KindleScout hasn't even been around for 5 years, not even 2 if I remember the launch date right. So, whether or not it is truly as easy as they say to opt out of the program due to low sales has yet to be seen, but the way they say it, it seems that way. All that being said, there are some interesting additions to it all. As the agreement seems to read, Kindle Press and Amazon wants to take over ALL of marketing, and the way they state it makes it seem like the author isn't allowed to do much marketing themselves. If this is correct, it makes me a bit more hesitant, as I am always someone who wants in on the marketing of my books, to make sure they are as successful as they can possibly be. Whether or not that is the case, time will tell.

As for my book in particular, it just launched today! KindleScout let me know a day in advance when it would release so I could get my promotional ducks all in a row, which was nice. War Town officially launched into the 30 day (although it says 29 days left on the site) crowdsource publishing campaign. I'll be keeping up on blogging as the process goes on and I learn more about what all goes into KindleScout and how things go as the campaign gets further in. This was just an introduction, and I look forward to informing authors all around about KindleScout, so they can better decide if participation in the program is right for them or not. As I see it now, KindleScout is a cool new take on publishing, but doesn't seem like it would be right for every writer by any means, like people protective over their rights or writers in genres not represented by KindleScout right now. 

Once your submission gets through, this is what your book page will look like. I've got to admit, it's pretty snazzy looking! Beneath that are the sample chapters. They say the first 5,000 words but they cut mine around 4,000. A lot happens in those first 4,000 words so I'm fine with it, but to the other writers out there, be aware that their definition of 5,000 words might be different from yours. Overall, this is just the beginning, and as things go on I'll be sure to inform everyone.

Look out for "The KindleScout Experience: Part II" when it comes and, of course, check out, read, and maybe even nominate War Town on KindleScout HERE

What Makes a Writer Successful

What makes a writer successful? According to some recent articles, success is based on sales, specifically 1,000,000 sales in the past 5 years (link). Is that what makes a writer successful? Absolutely not, not by any means. But, if specific sales numbers don't measure success for a writer, then what does? The answer to that is simple: there's isn't one single answer.

Most sales-centered writers would most likely count success not as 200,000 sales per year, rather as however much they need to sell to live off their writing. Based on their lifestyle and book prices, that could be as low as 10,000 books per year, or as high as 100,000+. Even still, that's a far cry from 200,000 per year. My personal definition of monetary success? 15,000 sales per year. Am I there? No way, but seeing it that way makes success much more realistic of a goal than 1,000,000 over five years.

But success is much more than sales. Even though I don't live off my writing, nor can I really see myself living off it anytime soon, I consider myself a successful writer. But how's that possible, Mitch? Don't high sales make you feel good and low ones make you feel bad? Well, yeah, that's how business works. But success shouldn't be focused on numbers or monetary gain in any artistic business endeavor. If you found out your books took off and paid your bills simply because the public love laughing at your awful writing and ridiculing how bad you were at it, would you still consider yourself successful because your numbers were high? I'd venture a guess and say no, you wouldn't. Success is five star reviews from people you've never met, success is fan art, success is fans reaching out to you to make sure you know just how your writing changed their lives. Success is all in the audience.

Even though I don't sell the way I want to, my career could end with me being happy about it, because I've gotten those reviews, and gotten those bits of fan mails praising what I do and how my writing changed a reader's life. I never thought that would happen, but it did. That's the moment I became successful, sales numbers and money had nothing to do it.

In short, you can't measure a writer's success. It varies between each writer. Some only focus on sales as a measure of success, and within that group is a whole new level of difference. Successful sales for some are a few hundred, if that, while others measure success as millions sold and chart topper books. Those writers usually don't last long. For others, success is in the fan response no matter how many they sell. If they can please a single soul with their work, they're a success. Others still consider themselves successful if they even get their work out there. Success for a writer can't be measured by stats or sales rank, it can only be measured by the writer's own mind. Here's to hoping we all achieve success, whatever success means to you.

The Positive Side of Rejection

I've been writing for a long, and publishing for a good few years now as well. In that time I forgot a pivotal part of the writer psyche, something most every writer deals with: fear. More specifically, writers fear rejections, either from agents/publishers or from readers. I have been ahead of my own fears for a long time, but in that time ahead of it I've learned some valuable things. With the downsides of rejection come positive points. I know, it's hard to think of rejection as positive, but that's all in how you spin it. And when you're a writer you can't let your mind spin it the wrong way.

So how do you spin rejection right? Well, there are many ways to do it. Through my first three manuscripts I dealt with over 200 rejections from agents and publishers and, to this day, I've faced rejection after rejection from them about 50 more times as I work along the independent publishing route. But 250 rejections have taught me one important thing through what they haven't done: they haven't stopped me. And that is where the positive side of rejections comes out. A rejection letter can do a lot of things, but it can't stop you. Only you can. A one-star review can't stop you either. Bad reviews and rejection can't find you and break your hands or take that creative corner of your brain out, all that damage must be self-inflicted.

Rejection hurts no matter how many times you've experienced it or where it comes from. It's like being punched. You think boxers and MMA fighters don't feel the pain from the punches they get after a while? Of course not, they always do, but they fight through that pain until they're the ones beating rejection down. Rejection can throw a million punches into you, but not a single one will knock you out. All you can do is either fight back or throw your match. What would you do?

In the grand scheme of things rejection means nothing. A form letter response to months of work is rough, but it could be much worse for a writer. Some fascist government could come and revoke your ability to write, they could set all your paper and pens on fire, toss your computer into the sea, destroy everything you've ever done. An extreme example, but trials some writers of the past have gone through working in the warlord regimes of the time. Each rejection won't take time off your life, and it doesn't even mean your work is wasted time anymore either. You don't need the industry, the industry needs you whether they're willing to admit it or not. You could go another route with it and still get it read, or you can avoid those bad reviewers and find your niche, the market who can't get enough of you.

With every rejection comes a learning experience and a chance to hold that letter in the air and say "I'm not done yet". With every one star review your book gets comes one person who won't read anything more by you, but with every positive review comes a person who'll stick with you, possibly forever. That's the relationship of success and failure. Each individual failure comes, breaks things down, but leaves quick, which success sticks around even after the fixing is done, to help deadbolt your doors so failure can't get in anymore. 

Embrace your rejections, all of them. I'm proud of my number, 250. 250 form letters I can smile at, because I'm still going. 250 punches I've fought through. All my bad reviews fall in my wake because I'm moving forward and they stay still, and as long as you keep moving that's where they'll stay. Rejection can birth positive thoughts if you let it, or it can beat you to nothing. You have power over rejection, over what it does to you, over whether or not you let it win. And that makes it powerless.

The Writers Who Shouldn't Write

From a writer's point of view, it's a difficult thing to tell someone that they shouldn't write. Writing is a wonderful thing, and the more stories that come out to entertain and inspire us, the better. But at the same time, there are many people out there who make it far more difficult for those of us who are trying to one day make a living with our written words. They're nothing more than hobbyists, with no intention or drive to make a living out of it or even make the effort to better their craft over time. Still, they often clog all the publishing worlds with their work, backing up agent slush piles and putting out the self-pubbed books that they then leave and forget about, expecting a runaway bestseller to come from no extra work.

Think about it. How often have you heard a retiree or someone else with a plethora of extra time utter the words "I think I've got a novel in me"? Not several novels, not a series, not a career, just a novel. Whether you consider it so or not, writing is an art form, and it is an often disrespected art form. No one ever says "I think I have a masterpiece painting in me" or "I think I've got a platinum selling album in me" it's always that they think they've got a novel in them. They can wander into an art museum and stare at amazing paintings and sculptures and not once think they'd ever be able to do that. They can listen to a classic piece of music, and not once think that they can do that. But they can read a good book, set it down, and think they can do it. And then they try. And then they publish or submit. Chances are those books of theirs don't go far, and there's good reason for that. They don't have follow-up ideas nor a plan for their writing future, so agents won't give them the time of day. They don't have the drive to put their own extra work or money in, so their self-pubbed book will flop.

These people are everywhere, chances are we all know one or know someone who will someday become one of these people. Deep down, they don't respect writing as an art. If they did, they would have never had the thought that they could do what their favorite authors do. These people are the reason why you can't call yourself a writer without someone asking what your real job is. If all of these hobbyist writers kept their works out of the greater industry things would roll more smoothly. Writers such as myself, who have plans for their future and the motivation to make it happen, would have higher chances at actually getting through to the people I want to get through to. Even if it still means rejection, at least the letters would get to me quicker and I would be able to move on with less waiting time.

Writing is a beautiful thing, and I think everyone should take a chance at doing it at least once. But not everyone should pursue publication for their work. Writing is art, it takes dedication, practice, time, blood, sweat, and tears. For some it takes everything they've got and more. For others, it literally snatches the life right out of them. And every time someone utters the words "I think I have a novel in me" I die a little inside. They don't have the drive, they don't put in the proper effort, and yet the world considers them on a level playing field with those who deal with crippling self-doubt, constant rejection, and sometimes things far worse than that. Anyone who puts years of work, decades even, into their craft should be furious. No one sits down at a piano for the first time an vomits up an Adele song. And yet, people sit in front of keyboards and expect that to happen. Meanwhile others dedicate their whole life to it and have to deal with backups, piles of forgettable self-pubbed books, and a lack of legitimacy for their passion because of these writers.

If one of these hobbyist writers happens to be reading this, feel free to keep on writing that novel of yours. But don't you dare think about sending it off to an agent/publishing house or hit that publish button on Amazon unless you've got a proper plan, a drive to push you beyond that, the feeling within yourself that the dedicated, artist writers have that makes them keep going, makes it impossible to stop even if they wanted to. If you don't have that, please don't seek publication in any form. There are people out there who suffer greatly for their work and for the chance at publication, they work for years bettering themselves, putting the proper time in. Unless you're willing to do that, don't even think of venturing into that world.

A Writer's Strongest Enemy

With a title like that, I could put a lot in here. There are so many enemies of writers today that it's getting hard to keep track. And the list will differ depending on who you talk to. Some people might say that the industry is the strongest enemy to writers today, while others would swear self-publishing is the writer's worst adversary. Some might go as far as to claim the Oxford comma is the strongest enemy of the writer. But, in truth, there are many possible answers to this question. In my mind, the writer's strongest enemy isn't something external. It's themselves, or at least it should be.

A writer's greatest, strongest enemy is themselves. There's many different reasons behind this. It's the writer's job to keep themselves active and motivated to write, to avoid distractions and procrastination, and actually do good work when they get down to it. That's a lot of responsibility put on a single pair of shoulders, and many continue to fight against distractions and lack of motivation. If you can't get over those writing blocks in life, then your output and work overall will suffer. 

Still, beyond even the motivational barriers in life, the writer is their own worst enemy for one simple fact: you should best your work every time. A great writer knows that they're always learning, always developing their skills and changing. And writers destined to grow a fan base know that your writing should always be going up. In publishing, especially independent publishing, you can't afford to bore your fan base, much less new readers, with a book that is sub-par compared to the last. Or maybe it's even part of a string of humdrum books. It can happen, but it shouldn't have to. Always be changing, growing, and developing your skills and your writing and your dedication will show in the finished work. If you don't, then it won't, and your readers will notice.

In short, the writer is their own worst enemy because they're the competition. A writer should always be pushing the boundaries of their skill and of their craft, allowing their style and work to grow. With every book a writer puts out, they should be letting out a small sigh and saying "damn, now I've gotta beat that." Past you grows stronger with every great story you add to their back list, but you've always got to stay ahead of them. Grow your writing enough, and your audience will grow with it.

I Don't Care About Your "Bestseller"

If you an indie author today, or a regular author, or anyone who has eyes, you've probably seen every author who can claim their book is a bestseller announcing it. But what does the word 'bestseller' mean, really? Well, to answer that first you need to know the difference between the kinds of bestsellers. So I've gone making lists again, this time a list of bestseller titles, from worst to best:

• Bestseller: This is a rather vague, broad statement, especially in this new digital age. In terms of how hard it is to become one of these basic, entry-level bestselling authors, I could type the alphabet 50,000 times and publish it, and I could market myself as a "Bestselling Author". How is that possible? Because Amazon. Amazon has a lot, and I mean A LOT, of bestseller lists. Dozens, possibly over a hundred. With their recent changes, Amazon will also track books even after they fall off every bestseller list (to do that, depending on genre, you'd have to not sell a copy for probably two weeks). That way, even though your book is #14511 on Amazon's Christian Midwestern Terrorist Crime Thriller sub-list, you're a bestseller (technically speaking). This fact is the main reason I don't give even the smallest shit about your "Bestselling Series!!!!!". 

• Amazon Bestseller: This is pretty much like the above version, only it's a bit more narrow. But, like I said above, with Amazon's numerous lists and changes to ranking, it's just as easy to list yourself as one of these as it is to call yourself a regular bestseller. The only real difference is that alphabet book would have to be listed on Amazon. That's it, that simple.

• Amazon 100 Bestseller: This is where we begin to reach into the realm of real bestseller territory. Some authors out there will list themselves as Amazon 100 Bestsellers because their book got onto ONE OF Amazon's bestseller sub-lists, all of which cap at 100. These people (liars) are exceptions to the rule. The Amazon 100 Bestsellers are usually people who have legitimately, one way or another, landed on Amazon's main bestseller list. It's impressive that your books pushes volumes like that. Do I care? Hell no. Why don't I? One word: Bookbub. Bookbub, and other sites like it, are Amazon 100 Bestseller factories. If you can land on their sites, they pretty much guarantee getting you up with the big boys for a few hours, but relish that time if you're a writer. Once their promo is over, you're down in the nosebleeds with the rest of us. Welcome back! Hopefully your ego doesn't get too big after that, otherwise I'll enjoy bursting your little bubble. It's great you landed on the Amazon 100, but my next question would be: For how long? That's when most Amazon 100 Bestselling authors dip their eyes and avoid the question Why? Because the answer is almost never something like "17 weeks!" it's probably "...Six hours". 

• National Bestseller: This category is a bit difficult to rank, to be honest. I almost put it beneath Amazon Bestseller, because just like the lower tiers, it's extremely broad. My rule for this is, and trust me I hate saying this, only trust it on a traditionally published book. Any self-published author can stick a National Bestseller stamp on themselves and their books if they want, once again thanks to Amazon. In trad pub, these will be books that for some reason or another don't land on the New York Times list. They might be niche market books, like those bakery-style mysteries with the recipes in the back. Or the publisher would prefer to use National Bestseller over USA Today Bestseller for some reason or another. 

• International Bestseller: What this says to me is this: "My book sells better in other countries than it does in the US!" But that's just me being me, this is a strong rank to have (if you actually have the rank, looking at you liars). You'll see this on all those Scandinavian thrillers people today are so fond of. That's because they probably do sell a lot better in Europe than in the US, simply because that's where they are based and that's where the author is. An International Bestseller is usually a way for publishers to tell you the author is from another country. Sometimes, they do actually list these books because they sell better abroad. That's fine, that means you landed on a legitimate bestseller list somewhere. Go you! But, it still can be misleading language.

• USA Today Bestseller: USA Today Bestseller, this is about as narrow as the lists can get. If you see a book or author listing this, chances are they really did land there somehow. Granted, there are plenty of self-pubbed and trad pubbed authors who only landed on the USA Today list in a story compilation with authors like Lee Child or Nora Roberts or someone like that. Those writers aside, if you can land on the USA Today list with a book, you have every right to be happy. It may be 10 times bigger than the New York Times list, but even if you only land at 150 you've still got the 150th bestselling book that week. Go you again! And this time I mean that a little more.

• New York Times Bestseller: Here it is, the big leagues. This one should make you feel good as both a reader and a writer. It's really hard to fake. People do it, but NYT has a fix against that. On their lists, New York Times has an indicator letting readers know if bulk orders of a book had been made, so all you people figuring you can buy 20,000 copies of your own and be free and clear, back to the drawing board with you. Being a New York Times Bestseller is amazing. Do I care? Actually yeah a little bit, that's some impressive work whether you're on your own or you've got the Big Five behind you. Golf claps all around for you! That being said, it's not as special as it used to be. Although not as bad as Amazon, New York Times has a good few sub-lists you can land on with less copies sold than normal, and yet you'll still be a New York Times Bestseller. Either way, landing on any of those lists is hard, and the stuff of writers' dreams.

• #1 New York Times Bestseller: The platinum award. Either you've got a good marketing team behind you or six figures to blow on buying up your own book. This is James Patterson, David Baldacci, Dan Brown level. I don't have to say much about this, because you all probably know it already. On any one of the New York Times lists, that book was number one, the absolute bestseller that week in that category. Stuff of legend. Slightly louder golf claps abound!

The list above should keep you well-versed in the different bestsellers out there. There are others not listed, like "Wall Street Journal Bestseller" and "LA Times Bestseller" that are seen a lot less or are regional lists. If I wanted to list EVERY bestseller and rank them, this blog post would be about as long as one of those "bestseller" books your just picked up.

So why don't I care? If that list didn't make it clear, anyone (and I mean ANYONE) can be a bestseller today. I can catch a pigeon off the street, set it on a keyboard, and it can tap out a bestseller. Welcome to the digital age. So many bestseller lists exist today, that being a bestseller means about as much as being wet in the ocean. Your book just became a bestseller? Shut up and join the club. It might feel like you won the lottery the first time, but so did everyone else. Your lotto payout is 33 cents, $2.06 if your book is $2.99. If you're traditionally published, may whatever deity you pray to help you on that one. Your lottery ticket might turn into a bill to the publisher sooner or later.

If I taught you anything with this post, I hope that it's that whenever you see a book or author marked as a bestseller of any kind, chances are they're just manipulating your mind to make themselves and their books look more appealing. EL James is a bestseller for God's sake. I'M A BESTSELLER AND YOU'VE NEVER EVEN HEARD OF ME. It's all marketing, smoke and mirrors. For every crappy erotic book that sells a million copies, there's a piece of flawless storytelling that sells ten copies maybe. In the end, it comes down to one simple fact: it doesn't matter how many copies of a book sold, but how those sold copies made the readers feel.

Pros and Cons of Smashwords

Although Amazon is still on top, Smashwords has broken out in the last few years as a highly popular platform for ebook publication and distribution. Despite this, many indie authors continue to be a part of KDP Select and remain strictly on Amazon. But how much good does that do? Is it more worth it to go on to Smashwords too or remain only on Amazon? In my experience, the former is best, although there are pros and cons involved. Smashwords is a great distribution and publication tool, but it does come with its own problems. Below I've organized a list of my Smashwords pros and cons. If you're on the fence about going to Smashwords, maybe this will help your decision, and if you're already on it maybe you can discover some new things.

Pros

• Publishing Speed: Even though expanding to their full distribution takes a lot longer, publishing right to Smashwords can be done much faster than with Amazon or KDP. An ebook uploaded to Smashwords will go live on the website after just a matter of minutes. The difference in publishing terms of waiting a few minutes or a few hours like with Amazon might not sound like that big of a deal after spending weeks/months writing and editing a book for publication, but when you come down to a deadline it can mean a lot. With one of my books, I was coming close on a deadline for a marketing promotion on it, but it had to be on more than just Amazon. Smashwords' quick publication speed saved me time and stress, and made it possible for me to get that promotion running fast.

• Ease of Use: I don't know about you guys, but I like to think I'm pretty technologically savvy. I've been around computers my whole life, as well as the Internet, I'm well versed in all the nonsense. That being said, I still appreciate some easy to follow websites and publication/production steps. Even though KDP is fairly easy to use throughout, I have to say that Smashwords steals the ease of use crown. They lay out guidelines right at the top of their publication page and give you a handy free ebook to help you along with their guidelines of publication. More often than not, KDP leaves you guessing or leaves stricter guidelines in the fine print.

• Perma-free: Perma-free, the aspect of indie publishing Amazon has been grappling against for years. Their Select free days are great, but trust me, perma-free is better. For someone like me, an indie author without much of a promo budget to work with, perma-free does wonders. You won't push units like you would with a well paid for KDP Select free period, but over time units continue to be downloaded across all channels. Some of my books are perma-free on Amazon thanks to Smashwords distribution, but in terms of downloads Amazon takes a backseat to Smashwords. Perma-free is also very simple on Smashwords. If you want perma-free on Amazon you need to put it on a website they see as valid then email them and email them and email them until it happens. It's unpredictable and overly convoluted. With Smashwords, it's as easy as a click. Then bam, you've got yourself a perma-free book.

• Wide Distribution: Smashwords sends your ebook out to so many different providers it would be a massive space waste to list them all, but here are a few: Barnes & Noble, Kobo, PDF readers, iBooks, Overdrive. But what do all these extra platforms mean? Well, extra sales of course. Currently, Barnes & Noble is my best distributor in terms of downloads and sales. They blow Amazon and everyone else away, doing nearly more than every other distribution channel combined. I wouldn't be a part of Barnes & Noble's distribution if not for Smashwords. Along with that, I'm no longer getting fan emails asking when my books will be available for them. With KDP Select, you're cutting out a whole market share of readers. People with Nooks were always asking me when they could get my books for their devices. Now I'm reaching them with my work, along with Apple readers, Kobo readers, and everyone who doesn't have any ereader device with Smashwords' PDF ability. Anyone who has a computer who wants to read my books can do it without having the pay extra for a paperback.

Cons

• Waiting for Full Distribution: Not a big problem by any means, but Smashwords' waiting period for full distribution can be unfortunate sometimes. Although they publish to their site quickly, it can take several days or longer in some cases for review of a book to be complete for their full distribution. It's understandable, they have guidelines people don't like to follow and the reach a lot of distributors who have their own guidelines and requirements. Still, the excitement of publishing a book can turn to annoyance when all you see is "Under Review" for nearly a week. And don't get me started on restarting the process over again if you accidentally forgot to do something up to requirement. That's an extra two days of review at least.

• Odd Payment Schedule: I'm sure there's a written rule about this on Smashwords somewhere, but I can't seem to find it nor am I able to decipher what exactly it is based on the payments I have received from them. I do know that they still go on the outdated Amazon-like system of meeting a certain point before payment. You have to have at least $10 USD in your Smashwords account before any payments get sent to you. That's not a problem for me, but for many new or low-list authors, it could mean extra weeks or months before they see their royalties. Even when your balance is over $10, Smashwords seems to want to pay you when it's ready to. I've looked at some balances for over 2 months before they were finally sent out of the Smashwords balance to me, while others got to me in only a few weeks. Like I said, I'm sure Smashwords has a rule about this somewhere, but it's hard to find and not very apparent from sent payments alone.

•  Available Promotions: Unlike KDP Select authors, Smashwords publishers aren't able to access promotions like countdown deals, free book days (although see Perma-free above), or paid website promotion. The main things that Smashwords has for sales/promotion on the author's end is a coupon producer. This produces a code you can send via Facebook feeds or a mailing list to give your readers a discounted price on your books. Of course, that means if you want success with it you need a wide Facebook or social media reach or a big mailing list to send out to (and many on your mailing list might have already bought the book in question). In terms of on-site promotional opportunities, Smashwords is unfortunately lacking.

There you have it! My pros and cons of using Smashwords. Some of you may be on it already and love it, or hate it. To those who haven't used it yet, hopefully this list can give you some guidance in the right direction of publication for you.