Scribd.Com:
Another
Way
to
Market
Books


&
Some
Words
About
Kindle,
Smashwords,


CreateSpace,
&
Lulu,
too



By
Jane
Gilgun
















This
is
a
brief
and
favorable
overview
of
Scribd.com
with
some
words
of
praise


for
Kindle
&
Smashwords.





About
the
Author




Jane
Gilgun
publishes
children’s
books,
articles,
and
non‐fictions
books
on
Amazon
Kindle,

scribd.com/professorjane,
smashwords.com,
and
stores.lulu.com/jgilgun.
She
is
a

professor,
School
of
Social
Work,
University
of
Minnesota,
Twin
Cities,
USA.

jgilgun@gmail.com.


 







Scrib.Com:
Another
Way
to
Market
Books


&
Some
Words
About
Kindle,
Smashwords,


CreateSpace,
&
Lulu,
too



SCRIBD.COM
IS
A
SOCIAL
PUBLISHING
WEBSITE
that
has
attracted
independent

publishers
and
multi‐national
publishers
alike.
It’s
free.
It’s
easy
to
use.
The
number
of
hits

daily
is
amazing.
It’s
a
great
way
to
market
books.
Publishers
can
sell
their
documents
and

keep
65%
of
the
selling
price.




I
like
scribd.com
because
I
now
have
a
place
for
writing
that
I
like
to
do
on
a
regular

basis
and
for
other
writings
that
may
be
of
interest
to
others
but
that
I
have
published
in

academic
journals.




I’ve
used
Scribd
(scribd.com/professorjane)
since
June
2009.
Fifteen
months
later

(September
2010),
I’ve
had
133,
000
reads.
I
have
published
children’s
stories,
articles,

books,
and
excerpts
from
books.

The
administrators
choose
three
to
five
stories
a
day
as

featured
articles.
I’ve
had
about
22
featured
articles
that
average
1800
reads
in
the
first

couple
of
days.




The
most
reads
I’ve
had
so
far
are
7500
for
an
article.
This
was
not
a
featured
article

and
made
its
way
to
the
top
of
my
list
anyway.
You
publish
instantly.
You
can
revise
any

time
you
want,
and
the
revised
version
is
up
immediately.
PDF,
Word,
Powerpoint,
and

Excel
are
the
formats.
They
also
are
using
HTML
now.




You
also
can
create
a
company
profile,
build
a
community
with
publishers
and

readers
with
similar
interests,
and
discover
new
writers
from
all
over
the
world.
Social

publishing
such
as
scribd.com
democratizes
publishing
and
challenges
powerful
publishing

gatekeepers.
Lots
of
writing
and
publishing
are
going
on
throughout
the
world.
Scribd
is
a

great
outlet
for
this
creative
work.
The
chief
executive
of
scribd
is
Trip
Adler.
He
seems
like

a
terrific,
personable
guy.





 Scribd
just
won
a
Technology
Pioneer
Award
from
the
World
Economic
Forum

(WEF)
located
in
Geneva.
The
WEF
website
described
the
award
as
recognizing
companies

that



Represent
the
cutting
edge
in
innovation
and
are
poised
to
have
a
critical
impact
on

the
future
of
business,
industry,
and
society.



Founders
Trip
Adler,
Jared
Frieddman,
Tikhon
Berstam
will
travel
to
China
to
receive
the

award.
Ironically,
when
I
was
in
China
this
summer,
I
could
not
log
onto
my
Scribd
account.


I
assumed
it
was
because
the
government
had
blocked
access.




Amazon
Kindle




I
sell
many
pieces
through
Amazon
Kindle,
which
I
also
highly
recommend.
I
make

far
more
money
through
Kindle
than
through
Scribd.
With
the
iPad
now
available
and
with

the
capacity
to
download
Kindle
books
on
any
number
of
mobile
devices,
I
expect
sales
on

Kindle
to
rise
over
the
long
term.
As
of
June
30,
2010,
Kindle
has
paid
authors
70%
of
the

selling
price
for
books
priced
at
$2.99
or
more.
My
royalties
have
gone
up
since
then.




The
main
format
requirements
for
Kindle
is
to
set
paragraph
breaks
through
the

Word
format
function
and
not
through
the
return
key.
The
document
can
have
a
variety
of

font
sizes.
Revisions
are
easy
to
do.
You
upload
documents
to
Kindle
through
Word,
HTML,

or
PRC.
You
can
review
the
Kindle
document
immediately
and
upload
a
revision
if
needed.
I

average
about
four
uploads
before
I
get
it
right.



Smashwords




Smashwords
is
a
fairly
new
on‐line
publisher.
Its
main
advantage
is
that
it
publishes

documents
in
a
variety
of
formats
that
makes
books
and
articles
available
to
just
about

every
mobile
device,
including
the
iPad,
Sony
reader,
and
Kindle.
Smashwords
regularly

ships
titles
to
many
booksellers
such
as
iBooks,
Amazon,
Barnes
&
Noble,
and
Sony.
Once

you’ve
formatted
your
document
for
Kindle,
you
only
have
a
few
tiny
changes
to
make,
and

it’s
ready
to
go
for
Smashwords.





For
example,
Smashwords
wants
“Smashwords
edition”
and
copyright
[author’s

name]
on
the
first
page,
all
the
fonts
must
be
the
same
size,
and
you
cannot
mention
any

other
publisher,
but
you
can
say
“See
author’s
other
books,
articles,
and
children’s
books
on

Smashwords.com”
Since
some
on‐line
booksellers
require
ISBNs,
Smashwords
offers
them

for
sale
cheap
if
authors/publishers
want
to
be
listed
as
publishers
and
for
free
if

Smashwords
is
to
be
listed.
Authors
and
publishers
can
also
use
their
own
IBSNs.




In
the
first
few
months,
sales
through
Smashwords
were
slow,
but
since
July
2010

my
sales
have
picked
up
and
may
approach
the
number
of
sales
I
have
on
Kindle.
I
am

selling
to
Barnes
&
Noble,
Apple
for
iPad,
Kobo,
&
Smashwords
itself.




CreateSpace



CreateSpace
publishes
softcover
books
and
is
associated
with
Amazon.
It
is
fairly

easy
to
use
and
requires
the
uploading
of
pdf
files.
The
quality
is
good.
To
get
any
kind
of

distribution
of
your
books,
you
have
to
buy
their
pro
plan
for
$39.
This
entitles
you
to
an

ISBN
and
listings
with
several
on‐line
booksellers.
Besides
the
pro
plan,
they
have
a
variety

of
other
services,
too,
that
you
have
to
pay
for.




The
pro
plan
helps
authors
and
publishes
pay
just
a
tiny
bit
for
soft
cover
copies
of

their
books.
For
instance,
a
100
page
book
costs
authors
$4.30.
Retail
prices
for

Smashwords
books
are
high,
however,
almost
as
much
as
Lulu.
The
pro
plan
also
expands

the
distribution
network
to
most
of
the
on‐line
publishers.




I’ve
used
CreateSpace
for
about
six
months
and
have
three
books
for
sale:
I
Want
to

Show
You:
Poems,
The
Picking
Flower
Garden
which
is
a
children’s
story,
and
Hannah

Robinson:
The
Celebrated
Beauty
of
Her
Day
which
is
a
two‐act
play
that
depicts
a
legend
in

pre‐revolutionary
Rhode
Island
in
the
US.

CreateSpace
has
a
review
function
that
allows

authors/publishers
to
write
a
bit
about
their
books
so
that
potential
readers
can
learn

about
them.





 Sales
are
slow,
but
I
like
the
idea
of
having
softcover
books
available
for
people
who

want
them.
CreateSpace
primarily
is
a
publisher,
and
I
think
they
make
a
lot
of
money
from

authors
themselves
when
authors
buy
copies
of
their
own
books.



Lulu




Lulu
is
an
easy‐to‐use
internet‐based
publisher
that
I
have
used
for
more
than
three

years.
Writers
have
to
do
formatting,
marketing,
and
many
other
things
to
get
their
books

noticed
and
sold.
Lulu
does
some
marketing,
and
they
collect
the
money
for
you.
Royalties

tend
to
be
small
for
print
copies
because
Lulu
charges
a
lot,
but
the
profit
for
downloads
is

good.
Lulu
also
charges
to
re‐format
manuscripts
for
the
iPad.
I
sell
a
few
books
a
month
on

Lulu.

Like
Createspace,
Lulu
appears
to
make
a
great
deal
of
money
from
authors.



Other
E­Book
Publishers




There
are
other
publishers
that
sound
good,
but
I
haven’t
explored
them
yet,
such
as

LighteningSource
that
many
people
like.
My
sales
at
Mobipocket
have
been
non‐existent.
I’d

love
to
get
into
audiobooks
but
can’t
figure
out
how.
They
are
not
welcoming
to
writers
the

way
Kindle,
Scribd,
Smashwords,
Createspace,
and
Lulu
are.




Final
Words




I’m
having
a
wonderful
time
with
these
sites.
I
recommend
them
highly,
especially

Scribd,
Kindle,
&
Smashwords.
Five
stars.



Reference



Gilgun,
Jane
F.
(2010).
Scribd
wins
award
as
a
technology
pioneer:
It’s
time
for

academics
to
publish
on
Scribd.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36826789/Scribd‐Wins‐
Award‐as‐Technology‐Pioneer‐It’s‐Time‐for‐Academics‐to‐Publish‐on‐Scribd