Interview with Jim Azevedo of Smashwords

Interview was conducted by Lisa Molinari as part of her March, 2018 President’s Message.

First, I’d like a little more background on you other than what is in your bio. How did you come to be the marketing director at Smashwords?

My background is in high-tech marketing and PR, where I spent the first 20 years of my career. My first “real job” out of college, where I earned a BA in Journalism with a minor in English, was working for a boutique high-tech PR firm called Dovetail Public Relations. Our mission was to generate as much favorable publicity as possible for our clients, which ranged from startups to billion-dollar companies.  The owner and operator of Dovetail was Mark Coker. If that name rings a bell, it’s because Mark’s the founder and CEO of Smashwords.  

I worked eight years at Dovetail, during which time I helped Mark launch another of his companies, BestCalls.com. BestCalls was an online directory of earnings conference calls for publicly traded companies. BestCalls aimed to level the playing field for individual investors and played an important role in getting the Securities and Exchange Commission to introduce Regulation Fair Disclosure. Reg FD, as it’s become known, requires publicly traded companies to release market-moving information to all investors at the same time. Prior to BestCalls, most earnings calls were closed to individual investors.

I left Dovetail in 2003 to “go corporate.” My plan was to work for a small tech company, help create enough awareness to put the company on the map, then join the acquiring company once the smaller company was purchased. It all worked according to plan, except for the part about the work becoming less fun and more soul-sucking. Mark and I kept in touch over the years and I learned about his idea for Smashwords in 2009 (Smashwords launched in May, 2008). In 2011 I was nearing the end of a consulting contract and the timing was right to join Smashwords full time.

Mark Coker’s entrepreneurial spirit has an activist streak. He has a penchant for creating companies that help level the playing field for everyone. Working closely with Mark, it’s been a joy to help the Davids of the world take on the Goliaths. BestCalls helped individual investors like you and I gain access to the same market-moving information that was once privy only to Wall Street bigwigs. With Smashwords, we democratized ebook publishing and distribution so that any author, from just about anywhere in the world, has the ability to reach readers with their words.

In 2018, how much of the market share will indie authors have vs. traditional publishing? How do ebook sales compare to print nowadays?

If we’re speaking specifically of ebooks, we estimate indie market share to be around 25% of the US trade book (trade = consumer books) market, but it varies greatly across book categories.   Independently published romance ebooks, for example, probably account for over 50% of romance ebook sales.

Indie authors generally receive more ebook sales than print sales. With a print book, self-published authors face an uphill battle getting their books into physical bookstores. In contrast, online retailers welcome self-published ebooks with open arms because they have unlimited virtual shelf space.

What is a competitive royalty for independent publishing platforms? What should smart authors look for before choosing an independent publishing platform?

Self-published ebook authors can expect to earn 60-80% of the list price as their royalty, whereas traditionally published authors earn only 12-17% of their ebook’s list price as royalty.  This means self-published ebook authors can price their ebooks dramatically lower while still earning more per unit sale.

Before choosing an independent publishing platform, smart authors should closely examine the terms of service and/or contractual obligations. Read the fine print. Look for any hidden fees. Talk to other authors whose work you respect and ask whom they worked with or whom they recommend.

Must independently published authors do all their own marketing? What are the most effective form of marketing independently published books?

Most of the marketing responsibility will fall on the author’s shoulders, but that’s not terribly different than what traditional publishers now expect from their authors.  In fact, many traditionally published authors complain that the publisher leans heavily on them to do most of the marketing, causing some authors to question why they should even work with a traditional publisher.

Here are the five most important marketing secrets for self-published ebook authors:

1.  Your book is your best marketing; make it better than good.The most effective form of marketing is reader word of mouth, and the only way to trigger passionate word of mouth is for the book to take the reader to emotionally satisfying extremes.  This means the self-published author is responsible for hiring their own editors.
2.  Distribute everywhere. Distribution is a key marketing enabler, because if your ebook isn’t available at every bookseller, it’ll reach fewer readers. To make your books discoverable, put your books in all the places readers go to discover books.
3.  Professional ebook cover design is a must.After book quality and distribution, the ebook cover is the next most important marketing tool.  A great cover is micro-focused to its target audience, and grabs the reader’s interest and attention.  A poor cover makes the book invisible or unattractive.  Hire a professional cover designer.
4.  Release your ebook as a preorder.Ebook preorders are one of the most effective book marketing tools.  A preorder allows the author to start marketing the book in advance, even before it’s written.  It’s like more selling days on the shelf.
5.  Series books sell the best, and if you write series, make the series starter free. Our data at Smashwords shows conclusively that series books sell better than stand-alone books, and series that have a free series starter earn more than series without a free series starter.   On average, free ebooks tend to get about 30 times more downloads than books at any other price.  For many Smashwords authors, they use free series starters as a magnet that puts their marketing on autopilot.

There’s no such thing as a single marketing magic bullet that’s going to catapult an author onto the bestseller charts. It’s a series of small tasks that, when done correctly, can help any author improve the quality of their work and their ability to reach readers. For NSNC members who are investigating ebook self-publishing, here are a few links to ebook publishing best practices:

1. The Smart Author Podcast: In October 2017, we announced “The Smart Author Podcast with Mark Coker.” The podcast is like a free master class in ebook publishing essentials and covers everything from ebook publishing basics to more advanced topics like “How to Market to Libraries,” “How to Hit the Bestseller Lists with Ebook Preorders,” and “How to Launch and Manage a Beta Reader Program.”
2. Smashwords Book Marketing Guide: Just updated for 2018, the free Marketing Guide includes 65 tips to help authors make their books more discoverable and more desirable to readers.
3. The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success: This free ebook includes 30 best practices of the bestselling indie ebook authors.