Have you used Smashwords?

JWNelson · May 17, 2013

Thanks to all for this helpful discussion! What I have gleaned (and feel fee to set me straight where I have misread):

Amazon KDP: a must, and fairly easy to do, especially if you are a Scrivener user (published a short story collection without much of a hitch using a .mobi file produced by Scrivener).
Smashwords: gets you to most (if not all) of the other non-Amazon formats but read their style guide and don't forget that "Smashwords Edition" on copyright page (I believe Smashwords now accepts epub files).
Createspace: some cost here, but most people recommend having a paperback option for your prospective reader... just in case. Be sure to triple-check your PDF's formatting.
Draft2Digital: new kid on the block who also offers a "simple" connection to Createspace but not yet to Sony, Diesel, Google Play, Ingram, ARe and Omnilit, and Goodreads (I'll be studying their FAQ page for a bit longer and would enjoy hearing from more authors who have used D2D).
ISBNs: smarter to buy your own since the one produced by Smashwords ties your book to them and you'll need an ISBN for Createspace hardcopies.

J. Tanner · May 17, 2013

JWNelson said:
Draft2Digital: new kid on the block who also offers a "simple" connection to Createspace but not yet to Sony, Diesel, Google Play, Ingram, ARe and Omnilit, and Goodreads (I'll be studying their FAQ page for a bit longer and would enjoy hearing from more authors who have used D2D).

ISBNs: smarter to buy your own since the one produced by Smashwords ties your book to them and you'll need an ISBN for Createspace hardcopies.

I think you pretty much have it. A couple minor additioned to the two items I quoted above.

While I haven't tried it, I'd be SUPER skeptical about the quality of the D2D --> CreateSpace conversion. They go from the e-book draft which seems like a bass-ackwards way of doing it--starting from the version with everything stripped out? What about choosing appropriate print fonts? What about handling orphans and widows? What about proper chapter breaks and headings? These things are all intentionally simplified or inapplicable to ebooks.

You don't really need to buy your own ISBNs. The SW ones are inapplicable to your print version regardless, and a print one is inapplicable to your ebook regardless. You can safely go with the SW one for the ebook. And you can purchase the print one through CS's Expanded Distribution for much cheaper than purchasing your own through Bowker for one-offs. If you're going to need 100 or more and have the funds to invest, things may shift in favor of a bulk purchase through Bowker but that's about the only reason I see for it.

JWNelson · May 17, 2013

J. Tanner said:
I think you pretty much have it. A couple minor additioned to the two items I quoted above.
While I haven't tried it, I'd be SUPER skeptical about the quality of the D2D --> CreateSpace conversion. They go from the e-book draft which seems like a bass-ackwards way of doing it--starting from the version with everything stripped out? What about choosing appropriate print fonts? What about handling orphans and widows? What about proper chapter breaks and headings? These things are all intentionally simplified or inapplicable to ebooks.

I'm inclined to agree. I'd rather take the time to properly lay out the PDF and work directly with CS.

J. Tanner said:
You don't really need to buy your own ISBNs. The SW ones are inapplicable to your print version regardless, and a print one is inapplicable to your ebook regardless. You can safely go with the SW one for the ebook. And you can purchase the print one through CS's Expanded Distribution for much cheaper than purchasing your own through Bowker for one-offs. If you're going to need 100 or more and have the funds to invest, things may shift in favor of a bulk purchase through Bowker but that's about the only reason I see for it.

Thanks for that tip about picking up the ISBN via CS. I'll definitely investigate that! :Thumbs: