the philosophy and business model behind smashords - schilling publishing executives meeting,...

Philosophy and business model behind Smashwords

Mark Coker Founder, Smashwords, Inc.

Scandinavian Executive Publishing Meeting 17 November 2011

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Change is upon us

Darwin’s rules determine what happens next

• We’re entering a new phase of rapid evolution in publishing• Mass extinction• Survival of the fittest• Exciting new opportunities to survive and thrive

Four macro trends to rock your world

Bookselling moving to the web

Brick &Mortar

Web

Today?

Ebooks to overtake print

Print books

Ebooks

Today?

Global ebook market to eclipse US market

Global

Today?

U.S.

Power of publishing shifting to authors

Author

Today?

Publisher

Enter Smashwords

About Smashwords

• Global ebook distributor• Launched May, 2008• Largest supplier of indie ebooks

The radical (but simple!) idea behind Smashwords

Give authors freedom to publish

Free publishing and distribution tools Publishing is a matter of free speech

Give readers freedom to decide what’s worth reading

Readers have always done this

What Smashwords offers authors and publishers

Faster time to market Global distribution Centralized metadata management Aggregated sales reporting and

payments Our free tools produce high quality

ebooks that sell (millions sold!) 85%+ net back to

author/agent/publisher

What Smashwords offers retailers

Access to massive content catalog, world’s biggest indie authors

Efficient, low-cost title acquisition, ingestion and updating

Our strict human-vetting exceeds Apple’s high standards

Army of 30,000+ indie authors promoting our retail partners

How are we doing?

32,000+Number of authors and publishers

utilizing Smashwords platform

7,600+ebooks released at Smashwords

last 30 days

86,000+ebooks now published at

Smashwords

0100002000030000400005000060000700008000090000

2008 2009 2010 2011

Indie ebooks published at Smashwords

1406,000

28,800

86,000 (today)

How have we scaled so quickly?

We make ebook publishing easy

Step 1: All you need is word processor & manuscript

MicrosoftWord

Open OfficeWriter

The ordinary word processor is the world’s most powerful ebook publishing tool (when married to Smashwords)

Step 2 – Authors/publishers implement our formatting guidelines

(over 130,000 copies downloaded!)

Step 3 – Upload Word .doc to Smashwords Meatgrinder

(instant multi-format conversion)

High-quality multi-format conversions for narrative & narrative + images, fast/free updating

Meatgrinder creates quality books that make readers and retailers happy

Reflowable Custom styling NCX navigation Hyperlinks Automatic error detection and correction EPUBCHECK compliance

Step 4: Distribution

What’s Next for Smashwords

• Evolve every facet of our business to better serve authors, publishers, retailers and readers

• Make ebook publishing faster, easier, more profitable for authors and publishers

• Expand global retail distribution network• Help retailers profit from our books

• Many surprises planned

Final thoughts: A survival strategy for publishing

• The old world• Publishers in charge• Capital intensive• Exploit the author’s assets to the benefit of the publisher

• The new world• Authors in charge• Darwin rewards efficient resource utilization, value-ad• Exploit the author’s assets for the benefit of the author

Connect with us!

Web: www.smashwords.comBlog: blog.smashwords.comTwitter: @markcokerEmail: mc@smashwords.com