Smashwords questions for ya

Probably, Mike since I know he's a pro with this stuff, at least fast becoming one. Should I joing the 'affiliate' thinging? Do you do that, and if so would you entertain doing it with me (for each other). How long does it take to get vetted for the premium listing status? I've passed the autovetter and the ePub validator thing with flying covers and feel I have the professional looking cover nailed thanks to Steve. So I'm thinking I'll probably get picked in the premium listing and sent out to their resellers. But I haven't really found a clue to how long that process actually takes. I submitted just yesterday so I'm not expecting that fast a response. I'm thinking like a week or so? Or am I trippin'?

Ed

edrury wrote:Probably, Mike since I know he's a pro with this stuff, at least fast becoming one. Should I joing the 'affiliate' thinging? Do you do that, and if so would you entertain doing it with me (for each other). How long does it take to get vetted for the premium listing status? I've passed the autovetter and the ePub validator thing with flying covers and feel I have the professional looking cover nailed thanks to Steve. So I'm thinking I'll probably get picked in the premium listing and sent out to their resellers. But I haven't really found a clue to how long that process actually takes. I submitted just yesterday so I'm not expecting that fast a response. I'm thinking like a week or so? Or am I trippin'?

Ed

The affiliate thing isn't between authors [I don't think] it has to do with the premium listing. You should get premium listing from them
in a couple weeks, and then they will distribute your books to all the affiliates that you "Opted Into" on that page. If you opt in to all
of them I think they distribute to Apple, Kobo, Barnes And Nobel, and a few others. It can be a good thing (although most of my sales
have been directly through Smashwords).

We can favorite each other. I will find you and do that (and also grab a copy of your book and review it).

Also a good idea to try to sell at Amazon ( [url=http://kdp.amazon.com ]http://kdp.amazon.com [/url] )

Z

z wrote:

edrury wrote:Probably, Mike since I know he's a pro with this stuff, at least fast becoming one. Should I joing the 'affiliate' thinging? Do you do that, and if so would you entertain doing it with me (for each other). How long does it take to get vetted for the premium listing status? I've passed the autovetter and the ePub validator thing with flying covers and feel I have the professional looking cover nailed thanks to Steve. So I'm thinking I'll probably get picked in the premium listing and sent out to their resellers. But I haven't really found a clue to how long that process actually takes. I submitted just yesterday so I'm not expecting that fast a response. I'm thinking like a week or so? Or am I trippin'?

Ed

The affiliate thing isn't between authors [I don't think] it has to do with the premium listing. You should get premium listing from them
in a couple weeks, and then they will distribute your books to all the affiliates that you "Opted Into" on that page. If you opt in to all
of them I think they distribute to Apple, Kobo, Barnes And Nobel, and a few others. It can be a good thing (although most of my sales
have been directly through Smashwords).



We can favorite each other. I will find you and do that (and also grab a copy of your book and review it).

Also a good idea to try to sell at Amazon ( [url=http://kdp.amazon.com ]http://kdp.amazon.com [/url] )

Z

I will totally fav ya bro, if I haven't already. I've read two of your books (ok, three counting your rant about main stream publishing) and I'm hooked for sure. I thought they would distribute premium titles to Amazon? I'll have to look into that. Do you right and distribute press releases?

edrury wrote:

z wrote:

edrury wrote:Probably, Mike since I know he's a pro with this stuff, at least fast becoming one. Should I joing the 'affiliate' thinging? Do you do that, and if so would you entertain doing it with me (for each other). How long does it take to get vetted for the premium listing status? I've passed the autovetter and the ePub validator thing with flying covers and feel I have the professional looking cover nailed thanks to Steve. So I'm thinking I'll probably get picked in the premium listing and sent out to their resellers. But I haven't really found a clue to how long that process actually takes. I submitted just yesterday so I'm not expecting that fast a response. I'm thinking like a week or so? Or am I trippin'?

Ed

The affiliate thing isn't between authors [I don't think] it has to do with the premium listing. You should get premium listing from them
in a couple weeks, and then they will distribute your books to all the affiliates that you "Opted Into" on that page. If you opt in to all
of them I think they distribute to Apple, Kobo, Barnes And Nobel, and a few others. It can be a good thing (although most of my sales
have been directly through Smashwords).



We can favorite each other. I will find you and do that (and also grab a copy of your book and review it).

Also a good idea to try to sell at Amazon ( [url=http://kdp.amazon.com ]http://kdp.amazon.com [/url] )

Z

I will totally fav ya bro, if I haven't already. I've read two of your books (ok, three counting your rant about main stream publishing) and I'm hooked for sure. I thought they would distribute premium titles to Amazon? I'll have to look into that. Do you right and distribute press releases?

They have an opt-in for Amazon, but it shows as "not currently distributing."
I think the hold up is on Amazon's side, not Smashwords.

Glad you liked my strange ramblings....

I do write my own "blurbs" and do a lot of different things for promo.
(tweet links and post on Kindleboards and the like).

"Let's Get Digital" is a good primer for that stuff. I'll find the link for you. The PDF version is a free download.

Z

Downloaded your eBook to my Kindle.
Formatting looks real good. I'll read through it and post a review soon.

Refer to the Smashwords Style Guide (it's free) if you have any problems with premium status.
Usually it will go through as long as you follow that. (I don't remember seeing a copyright notice
which might make it fail).

Z

z wrote:
Downloaded your eBook to my Kindle.
Formatting looks real good. I'll read through it and post a review soon.

Refer to the Smashwords Style Guide (it's free) if you have any problems with premium status.
Usually it will go through as long as you follow that. (I don't remember seeing a copyright notice
which might make it fail).

Z

Should be a copyright notice there. I'll double check that though. When I downloaded the kindle version and opened the book the first time, it came up on about 5% rather than the beginning. I have no idea why. I did try to follow all the guidelines in the style guide to the letter...but then I'm an idiot so it's likely I screwed up something somewhere. But I really did try to vet the books as closely to the style guide as I could.

Thanks so much, Z! PM me with a snail mail addy if you want a CD!

edrury wrote:

z wrote:
Downloaded your eBook to my Kindle.
Formatting looks real good. I'll read through it and post a review soon.

Refer to the Smashwords Style Guide (it's free) if you have any problems with premium status.
Usually it will go through as long as you follow that. (I don't remember seeing a copyright notice
which might make it fail).

Z

Should be a copyright notice there. I'll double check that though. When I downloaded the kindle version and opened the book the first time, it came up on about 5% rather than the beginning. I have no idea why. I did try to follow all the guidelines in the style guide to the letter...but then I'm an idiot so it's likely I screwed up something somewhere. But I really did try to vet the books as closely to the style guide as I could.

Thanks so much, Z! PM me with a snail mail addy if you want a CD!

Oh yeah, that's what happened to me. It starts at the "Introduction" instead of the title page.
Hmm. Not sure why it would do that. Meatgrinder does some odd things sometimes.

I can see the copywrite and everything else when I hit PREV. Looks fine.

I'll let you know if I figure out why the start age would be odd...

Z

z wrote:

edrury wrote:

z wrote:
Downloaded your eBook to my Kindle.
Formatting looks real good. I'll read through it and post a review soon.

Refer to the Smashwords Style Guide (it's free) if you have any problems with premium status.
Usually it will go through as long as you follow that. (I don't remember seeing a copyright notice
which might make it fail).

Z

Should be a copyright notice there. I'll double check that though. When I downloaded the kindle version and opened the book the first time, it came up on about 5% rather than the beginning. I have no idea why. I did try to follow all the guidelines in the style guide to the letter...but then I'm an idiot so it's likely I screwed up something somewhere. But I really did try to vet the books as closely to the style guide as I could.

Thanks so much, Z! PM me with a snail mail addy if you want a CD!

Oh yeah, that's what happened to me. It starts at the "Introduction" instead of the title page.
Hmm. Not sure why it would do that. Meatgrinder does some odd things sometimes.

I can see the copywrite and everything else when I hit PREV. Looks fine.

I'll let you know if I figure out why the start age would be odd...

Z

Well my book status now says approved! Yippee... Currious that it starts on Introduction which is the first header in my source document. I really was sure that the style guide said DO NOT make the title a heading, but I'm thinking now that is exactly what I should do? I'll experiment with the Amazon version first which is currently under review. At least that's my plan.

Thanks for all your help Z!

edrury wrote:

z wrote:

edrury wrote:

z wrote:
Downloaded your eBook to my Kindle.
Formatting looks real good. I'll read through it and post a review soon.

Refer to the Smashwords Style Guide (it's free) if you have any problems with premium status.
Usually it will go through as long as you follow that. (I don't remember seeing a copyright notice
which might make it fail).

Z

Should be a copyright notice there. I'll double check that though. When I downloaded the kindle version and opened the book the first time, it came up on about 5% rather than the beginning. I have no idea why. I did try to follow all the guidelines in the style guide to the letter...but then I'm an idiot so it's likely I screwed up something somewhere. But I really did try to vet the books as closely to the style guide as I could.

Thanks so much, Z! PM me with a snail mail addy if you want a CD!

Oh yeah, that's what happened to me. It starts at the "Introduction" instead of the title page.
Hmm. Not sure why it would do that. Meatgrinder does some odd things sometimes.

I can see the copywrite and everything else when I hit PREV. Looks fine.

I'll let you know if I figure out why the start age would be odd...

Z

Well my book status now says approved! Yippee... Currious that it starts on Introduction which is the first header in my source document. I really was sure that the style guide said DO NOT make the title a heading, but I'm thinking now that is exactly what I should do? I'll experiment with the Amazon version first which is currently under review. At least that's my plan.

Thanks for all your help Z!

I think I use 3 styles in mine: normal (times new roman 12pt), my-titles (bold times new roman 16 pt centered),
and my-centered (times new roman 12 pt centered). Then I set the normal to the paragraph with .3(?) indent on the
first line.

I will be posting a review soon on Smash! And on Amazon once it's up there.
No worries about the help. That's part of the Indie way of doing things.

Z

Review posted. Damn typos. But it's pretty close to right.
Good luck with it!

Z

z wrote:
Review posted. Damn typos. But it's pretty close to right.
Good luck with it!

Z

It was a great review, I'll be lucky to get anymore like it! Thanks! BTW, I wrote reviews on two of your amazon books...probably still pending.