---------------------------------------------------
Smashwords website became the seed I wanted to grow from my own website.
Instantly
I converted the books I’d written into e-books. This process is very simple.
First register with the website Smashwords to become a member. Once this is
confirmed away you go and publish you book/s. Mark Corker (owner of Smashwords)
has written a book to help authors publish their own material and upload on the
website.
Once the book is published, click on the
affiliate section to have your book distributed by Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Diesel
and many others.
Each quarter, first quarter being the end of
March, payment is made to your account and each quarter thereafter. It is then
a simple process of transferring the money from Pay Pal to your account.
Presently I have twelve books published on Smashwords website.
For the
past years since I became a self-publisher with Smashwords, a trickle of money
has been dropping into my account. It’s a pleasure to see when I view the
places my books have been selling, such as Canada, Great Britain, USA,
Australia and Europe. It’s exciting to think some person across the other side
of the globe is reading a book I’ve written and published.
BrianPratt, a fellow author with Smashwords, initially couldn’t get any publisher to
publish his books, so he converted his books to e-books and sells them via Smashwords
website. Last financial year his income was $100,000.00.
How did he
do it? Marketing. Brian recommended once your books are published on Smashwords website to publish them on Amazon website.
Click and
have a look at the books I’ve published on Amazon. At the time of writing my
ranking for an author in Amazon is 20,000 from 1.86 million which I’m happy
with. These figures change within each hour and fluctuate depended on sales of
books.
Marketing
is the key to selling books. Facebook is another pathway to promoting your
books. For instance, each morning I post a page from a book I’ve written under
a group ‘Keeping Up With My Writing’.
If anyone
wishes to join this group - send a message on Facebook to become a friend and I
will include you into this group. If five readers tell five more readers about
my books there are twenty-five more people who will know and you never know
where the wave will end – if ever.
Mark Coker
also mentioned to join Google Plus, Bing and Yahoo – I have. At first I was a
little sceptical – however, what have I got to lose – nothing.
Another
latest website to spread the word about your writing is:
www.patritter.com.au
Article first published on 'Writers Grapevine', April 2013 Edition.
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