This week the digital self-publishing company Smashwords announced that they will now supply ebooks to the Amazon.com (AMZN) in the Kindle Store.
According to the release, the company “will pay authors and publishers 42.5 percent of the digital list price (set by the author) for book sales through Amazon.” According to the terms, Smashwords will start sending ebooks to Amazon on November 25, and the books should be available in December. The rate is higher than what many ebook authors can receive on their own if they publish direct with Amazon.
Last week, Smashwords founder Mark Coker told GalleyCat: “Online retailers will be extremely important in the [eBook] supply chain … In print book world for the last couple centuries, publishers have controlled distribution. What we’re doing is democratizing distribution.” At the same time, the company has formed other distribution agreements with Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Shortcovers. Currently, there are currently 4,800 original ebooks from 2,200 writers and around 80 small publishers on the site.
