Smashwords now in public beta

Hello everyone.  I've been a long time member of TeBC but haven't
posted much.  If you will indulge me, I wanted to share news about my
new ebook startup, Smashwords.  

But first a little background... Several years ago, my wife and I
wrote a novel about soap operas (she's a former soap opera reporter
for a national soap magazine).  We then were lucky enough to sign with
one of NYC's most respected literary agencies, and then... after two
years and multiple additional revisions, our agent wasn't able to sell
it.  It bugged me that a publisher had the power to stand between us
and those who might enjoy reading the book.  Sure, maybe the book's no
good, but shouldn't readers decide that, not a publisher?  So it got
me thinking... If publishers can't physically publish all books, what
if I could create a digital publishing company that would publish
anyone.  Sure, we'd publish a lot of *rap, but we'd also publish (I'm
confident) works of utter genius by undiscovered, underappreciated
authors.

So I founded Smashwords.  We allow any author anywhere to upload a
Microsoft Word .doc or .rtf file of their manuscript (or screenplay,
script, poetry, essay, etc) and then we automatically convert it into
multiple DRM-free ebook formats, and then we let the author set the
pricing and the sampling privileges.  Authors receive 85% of the net
sales price ([Price - Paypal fees]*.85).

We just completed two months of private beta testing, and starting
yesterday, we opened the site up for public beta test.

I invite anyone interested to visit the site, become a member, and
publish or read with us.  At the top of every screen is a link where
you can provide us direct comments and suggestions.

Thanks for reading.

Best wishes,
Mark Coker
Founder
Smashwords
http://www.smashwords.com


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