Want to know the ins and outs of a year flogging ebooks? Kobobooks VP, Michael Tamblyn reveals all in a new video entitled Lessons Learned from Shortcovers and Kobo: A Year in the Life of the What and How of Selling eBooks.
He’s articulate, honest and amusing. His lessons learned are both fascinating and surprising.
Some Kobo tidbits:
Pretty interesting day for ebook author and sellers.
Shortcovers, the online bookselling arm of Indigo Books & Music Inc., has spun off into a new chapter. They’ve taken on Borders Group Inc., Instant Fame and REDgroup Retail as partners, and have rebranded themselves as Kobo.
Their press release, in part, says:
Shortcovers is pleased to announce a new chapter in our company’s history: Shortcovers is rebranding with a new name, a new look, and a new round of investment from leaders in the industry.
Today, December 15th, 2009, Shortcovers will begin operating under the name Kobo. Our rebranded website is available today at http://www.kobobooks.com , and updated versions of our mobile applications for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android, and Palm Pre are on their way to their respective app stores and our website.
Read the complete press release from Shortcovers here.
This could be very cool and profitable for ebook authors: more markets; more buyers; more dough.
Of course, now I’ve got to change all my links to booksellers!
Just a quickie update on my previous post where I mused about what would happen to my publications, already carried by Shortcovers.com, now that Smashwords.com has inked their own distribution agreement.
Smashwords logo
Within an hour I heard from Mark, who responded and cc’d a co-worker for followup. Minutes later, his co-worker emailed and provided sensible instructions.
I’ve been able to ‘opt out’ of the distribution to Shortcovers but am still opting in on all their other avenues, including Barnes and Nobles and the Sony Store.
Smashwords.com rules.
Typical…just after my lengthy post on how-to submit your ebook to the nifty Canadian online bookseller, Shortcovers.com, I received notification that Smashwords.com has signed an agreement with Shortcovers to distribute their books.
Here’s a snippet from the press release (full version here):
“Our partnership with Smashwords represents a great opportunity for authors, publishers and readers alike,” said Michael Tamblyn, vice president of content, sales and merchandising at Shortcovers. “Both Shortcovers and Smashwords are committed to a more open, democratic, and innovative eBook experience. Our open platform allows readers to read on the device of their choice while Smashwords creates new opportunities for writers, utilizing free online publishing tools and community to connect with new audiences in new ways. ”
“This agreement dramatically expands the worldwide market for all independent authors and publishers,” said Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords. “A Smashwords author in the U.K. or Brazil can upload their book today and have it purchased by a Shortcovers customer next week in the United States, India, or South Africa. Under the Smashwords model of instant publishing, any author, anywhere in the world, can go from finished manuscript to worldwide eBook distribution in a matter of minutes or days.”
Smashwords logo
This is terrific news, though I’m not sure how it affects my publications which are already available on Shortcovers.com.
Bottom line: I continue to be impressed by Smashwords founder, Mark Coker, and his ongoing efforts to expand sales opportunities for Smashwords.com authors.
So, Mark, now how about getting us into booksonboard.com? 
My journey into the online publishing of ebooks has taken me into a number of bookselling domains, including Smashwords and Mobipocket. You may pick up this earlier thread here.
Most of the bookselling sites expect you to do the hard lifting. You’ve got to figure out their requirements, wrangle your manuscript into their format, upload and verify everything and then hope for the best (especially if you’re like me and don’t own a mobile device for testing).
One bookseller, Shortcovers.com, is a little different. This is the online bookstore for the large Canadian bookseller, Indigo Chapters, and their mantra is:
Shortcovers is not just for avid readers or technophiles. It’s for anyone who wants the convenience of accessing and reading their favorite books, content, anytime, anywhere, on the mobile device they already own.
Okay, not obviously so different from other booksellers, you think, BUT they have one cool advantage: they’re into selling short stuff (hence the name), like individual chapters, short stories, blogs, articles, poems, speeches, etc., as well as entire ebooks. I like this bite-sized approach to mobile reading.
logo for kobobooks
I was ticked and said so, ever so politely. To my amazement, a week or so later I received an apology and an offer I couldn’t refuse: Shortcovers generously agreed to cover the cost of the new conversions!
And they did, though it took weeks and weeks but eventually three of my works (two mysteries and one short story) went live. By this time, I had written a non-fiction primer on writing mysteries and decided to pony up the conversion fee (about $35 CDN) and have shortcovers handle this manuscript as well.
That was over a month ago and still no sign of Youdunit Whodunit! on shortcovers.com. I’ll follow up and I’m sure my little primer will soon appear.
In the interim, check out shortcovers. They’ve got a ton of great stuff available.
Teed Off! cover
I love the idea of ebooks. Many reasons but for now let’s just say: as a author because they offer a variety of new marketing opportunities and ease of updating and as a reader because they provide simplicity, portability and availability.
So, months ago I decided to republish a pair of my novels as ebooks.
Even though I’ve never touched one, my main goal was to have my mysteries available for Amazon’s amazing Kindle ereader.
Simple, right?
No such luck BUT through a peck of perserverance and a dash of digitizing, I now (or shortly will) have ebooks available:
- in the iTunes.com App Store
- on Smashwords.com (the ‘people’s ebook site’)
- BarnesandNobles.com (through Smashwords agreement)
- Shortcovers.com (Canada’s Indigo Books’ online bookstore),
- Mobipocket.com (one of the Internet’s biggest ebook sellers), and
- Amazon.com’s Kindle store (waiting approval/fingers crossed).
So, how did I do it? Well, I’d love to say “Elementary, my dear Reader”, but it wasn’t. However, neither was it rocket science.
You might want to give it a digital whirl. So, over the next few weeks, I’ll blog you through it.
Geronimo!
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