Some decisions are more difficult than others<\/p><\/div>\n

Smashwords vs. Draft2Digital is a dilemma facing authors who have already published their works with Amazon, both as an eBook with Kindle, and as a paperback with CreateSpace.<\/p>\n

Both Smashwords (SW) and Draft2Digital (D2D) are book publishing and distribution platforms that supply major markets not covered by Amazon, namely, Barnes & Noble, Apple, and Kobo.<\/p>\n

Smashwords is the larger of the two, offering a wider range of distribution options. It publishes in EPUB, Mobi, PDF, LRF, and PDB, as well as other lesser known formats. This makes your book available on B&N Nook, Sony Reader, Apple iBoostore\/iTunes, Kobo, Scribd, and others.<\/p>\n

Draft2Digital is the new kid on the block with somewhat more limited distribution options \u2013 at least for now. D2D does cover the major markets (B&N, Apple, Kobo), and it has one MAJOR<\/strong> advantage over SW. It will accept manuscripts in any Word format (doc or doc.x, RTF, or even EPUP), and convert them\u00a0into eBooks in a matter of minutes.<\/p>\n

Smashwords, on the other hand, requires extensive manuscript reformatting to make it compatible with its \u201cMeatgrinder\u201d \u2013 their term for the program they use to convert manuscripts into eBooks.<\/p>\n

Smashwords touts that because of all the different formats it utilizes, it creates eBooks for all<\/strong> handheld devices, iPhones, iPads, Androids, etc \u2013 and all screen sizes<\/strong>. That sold me, and I chose Smashwords over Draft2Digital.<\/p>\n

Having already used the \u201cnuclear option\u201d (see a previous post) to prepare my manuscript, I shrugged off the Meatgrinder requirements as well within my capabilities, and I was anxious to learn new formatting\u00a0techniques.<\/p>\n

Big mistake \u2013 not the learning part, but underestimating the requirements part.<\/p>\n

Smashwords requires that Word.doc files must be prepared by following the instructions EXACTLY<\/strong> as per their Smashwords<\/em> Style<\/em> Guide<\/em>, a 100+ page manual. The manual warns up front that the process is involved, but states that there are lots of pictures and all it takes is patience. Yeah, patience and a jar of antacids!<\/p>\n

If you recall, the nuclear option requires converting your Word doc.x file into a Word doc file by saving it to Notepad. This removes all formatting, including italics, bold, and underlining.<\/p>\n

AN ASIDE HERE:\u00a0 If I had to do this part over, I would first make a spare copy (or 2 or 3), and then color code each style differently – red for bold, green for italics, blue for underlining (for example.) When it came time to reformat, this would eliminate searching the original document for each style because they would\u00a0now be more visible.<\/p>\n

Without going into too much detail as to what is required by the SW Style Guide, here are the major steps necessary in converting a manuscript:<\/p>\n