Try out some ebooks for free this week

This week is Read an Ebook week on Smashwords. If you are an author looking at reaching a larger audience or a reader who likes free stuff (and don’t we all!!) you might be interested in finding out more about this.

Firstly what is Smashwords? Well its a US website that allows authors to publish Ebooks. It converts your word DOC into multiple formats and offers them for sale at a price you set. Smashwords takes a cut but the author does earn a decent ammount of royalty from each sale. Smashwords will also distribute ebooks via Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and other sales points and passes on a share of sales income to you.

Smashwords is actually pretty easy to use once you have learnt how to format the document best for Ebook readers. There is a superb Style Guide available. If you follow it to the letter you wont go wrong.

You can read all about how to use Smashwords in a blog I did a few weeks again:

Converting Novels into Various e-book formats

Smashwords allows you to offer the whole book for free or samples too. This week they are hosting Read an Ebook Week. As an author you can give various levels of discounts right up to 100%. Why would you participate?Well mainly to try and get new readers and possibly reviews. One option is to offer this discount on the first book in a series but not the second. Or some books but not others. You hope readers will enjoy the books that are free enough to buy books which you charge for.  The biggest challenge to a writer, doubly so for new writers or selfpublished, is getting ANYONE to read your stuff.

This type of activity does just that.

This activity is so successful that usually Smashwords crashes a few times during the week such are the numbers of hits they get. Again this is all traffic which helps get authors some attention.

You can get my books for free this week (and they only cost $1.99 at other times) on Smashwords by following these links:

Tomorrow’s Guardian
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/9247

The Amber Treasure
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/6485

Richard Denning