Authors who published through Smashwords will always give it one unique credit as an aggregator and that is the fact that its strict eBook formatting guidelines and its autovetter errors quickly helps a newbie indie to learn and increase his formatting skills.
Premium Distribution
It is only books that are free from autovetter errors that are given the Smashwords premium distribution status.This must be the case if you want your books to qualify for Smsshwords premium distribution and hence your book being distributed to its partner digital stores like Barnes and Noble, Apple, Kobo, etc. other wise it will only be made available in its own store.
Tips on Publishing Successfully Through Smashwords
The following tips will help you to overcome the autovetter errors if you publish through Smashwords.- Make sure your formatted Microsoft Word document is saved as a .doc file.
- Do not use Microsoft Word custom heading styles to format your chapter and section headings, rather create a custom heading styles to format them.
- Do not use Microsoft Word Insert table of content function to create a working TOC rather create your this TOC using Bookmark and Hyperlink method.
- Do not use text box in your document.
- Avoid Microsoft Word table and rather format your tables as images.
- Your book's blurb or synopsis should not be too short when setting it up during publishing.
- Remove any links to competitors as this will prevent it from being distributed to some important stores that prohibits that.
- Do your best to avoid nested lists in your formatting.
Smashwords Style Guide and Marketing Guide free book Resources
Smashwords has two important free books that can get you started as a newbie indie author. One is the "Smashwords Style Guide" which gives you the basics of eBook formatting using Microsoft Word, and the other is "Smashwords Marketing Guide" which gives you the basics of author brand and book marketing tips.
You can download both PDF files from Smashwords website for free.
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