When authors are finally ready to self-publish their work, they start to think/hope/dream that their book or short story will find a quick audience and skyrocket to the top of the sales list. I think most writers will contend that they write for themselves, that there is a need within them that is only satisfied by putting words down. But, behind all that, I think if they are truly being honest with themselves, they want people to enjoy their story and tell others about it.
Writing is very gratifying.
Selling is a thrill!
With that being said, let's take a moment and discuss where to sell your book. I think many indie authors picture their book on Amazon, and that's great. Amazon has become the gold standard for e-publishing. The Amazon's Kindle bestseller list is for e-books what the New York Times bestseller list is for dead tree books. But Amazon is not the only game in town, or on the web.
Smashwords is another great publisher of e-books. ( http://www.smashwords.com/ )
As of this post, Smashwords boasts 9,734,413,122 words published and 280,894 books published! These are words and books written and self-published by people just like you!
Smashwords provides a great, easy to use service for independent authors to not only publish their work, but also promote it and track its sales. They also pay out commissions monthly through the convenience of Paypal. The site feels like it is run by authors, for authors.
So when you are dreaming about success as a writer, and visions of commission checks dance in your head, don't put all your words into one basket. Amazon is great, but so is Smashwords.
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