Thank-you #Smashwords & Mark Coker

Thank you

+Smashwords Inc. & +Mark Coker 

• More than just an eBook publisher
• It's a one stop link to top eBook distributers worldwide.
• Most of all, you'll join a team of people who are passionate about self-publishing and who provide you with the tools not only to assist you to publish, but you'll learn a series of skills you thought you'd never need but wouldn't want to do without.

Here's my vote of confidence in Smashwords as honest dedicated eBook publishers, and more particularly, my thanks for things I learnt along the way....

I'd like to thank Mark Coker for the effort he and his team have put ...into the Smashwords FAQ, the Style Guide, the Book Marketing Guide and all the videos too. 

 When I joined Smashwords, I sought to escape from Amazon's inflexibility. At first, I must admit I was fairly intimidated by all the instructions and the requirements in the Style Guide, especially those relating to getting one's book approved in the Premium Catalogue.

The learning curve initially seemed to be steep. But the Style guide is simple enough. Perhaps its more the case that when you first encounter Smashwords, and cannot wait to get your book out into eBook stores around the world, the steps to follow can appear to be an unwelcome obstacle.


Fear not. It's easier than you think and you'll learn things about Word (if you use word) that you'll wish you had known years ago.
 

I've always used the adage:

YOU MOVE FROM THE KNOWN TO THE UNKOWN

 to conquer any new challenge or in regard to learning new skills. 

 The point I'd like to make it that I had no idea that the skills I was acquiring would be so useful in other avenues of my life.

Take how Word works.

I'm a trial advocate. I type quickly and do my own pleadings instead of dictating them. 

I thought I knew quite a lot about Word. But there were times when my attorneys sent me documents which I wished to merge with templates I'd created.

As usual, the less time on hand, the more the document would misbehave.

 Even where I used the SELECT ALL option and made a style change, Word seemingly couldn't wait to do its own thing at the first opportunity.

Now I understand why that is, I curse less, and get things done more quickly when I desperately need to be in Court talking and not sitting in front of Word pulling my hair out.

I learnt how to make better use of Word and I learnt quite a bit about why Word sometimes seems to want to do its own thing, and how to put a swift end to that!

Patience isn't my strongest quality so I'll admit I cursed  many times during the learning process, but if I look at what I know now, and where I've come from..I'm blown away!

Thank you Mark Coker. Thank you to the Smashwords Team.
Your dedication to your task is so obviously NOT only reward / finance driven and this will only win you more loyal support in the long term. I'm honoured to be involved with all of you!


See PS re: Amazon & Mark Coker below


Kind regards,
Siegfried Walther
swalther@live.co.za


+@SG_Walther






https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/siegfried-walther/id661961299?mt=11


https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/swalther


LINK TO THE SMASHWORDS STYLE GUIDE
https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/52






I should also perhaps mention, that in my professional capacity, one thing which particularly impresses me about Mark Coker is the manner in which he deals with Amazon, who, to be fair, could be described as arch rivals of Smashwords.


There's nothing more annoying than someone who fails to recognise the advantages in their competitor or who tries to undermine their competition at every turn. Mark Coker is particularly careful to adopt a different approach. He tries to give anyone who is curious about Smashwords the facts about how Smashwords operate and how Amazon operate and he'll not avoid mentioning Amazon's strong points.


I find this approach not only to be one of integrity, but I see it as a sign of confidence and strength. Mark believes in everything he and Smashwords are doing.


He can be fair to Amazon since he knows that authors will quickly discover the facts, and the truth for themselves.
What an unadulterated pleasure to deal with people who operate in this manner. The confidence to do so speaks volumes for the Smashwords product and of course, all the related eBookstores.