It’s been a little over four months since Smashwords and Draft2Digital merged into one big, new, industry-changing company. In that short time, we’ve worked behind the scenes to integrate the tools, services, and resources of both companies into a cohesive, author-empowering whole.
The integration of our two platforms, as promised, will take many months. That’s good news for authors and publishers, because we’re deliberately taking things slow, moving step-by-step at an even pace, and working to make the merger a positive experience for authors, publishers, and readers. Taking our time means doing things right.
And that means a better experience and a better service for you.
We see the integration happening in three phases:
Phase I (in active development!)
Draft2Digital authors will gain distribution into the Smashwords Store, just as they distribute to other retailers.
D2D will also roll out their support for the Smashwords Erotica Certification System to D2D authors.
Upon the completion of Phase I, D2D authors will sell in the Smashwords Store, but they will not yet have access to all the unique and exciting bells and whistles Smashwords has to offer. That’s coming next in Phase II.
ETA: Q3 or Q4
Phase II
In this phase we’ll give D2D authors access to the same tools Smashwords authors have enjoyed for years, including Smashwords Coupons, self-serve merchandising, Smashwords Interviews, the ability to enroll in site-wide sales (such as the summer/winter sale), and the ability to run exclusive early releases with Smashwords presales.
ETA 2023
Phase III
Once D2D-distributed authors have access to the same Smashwords Store tools as current Smashwords authors, we’ll start migrating current Smashwords author accounts, Dashboard, publishing tools and workflow into Draft2Digital.
This has to happen after Phase II is complete because we don’t want current Smashwords authors to lose access to their favorite tools once their Dashboard is live at draft2digital.com.
After these three phases are done, the integration will be complete! From there, it’s all about innovating and improving, and building new tools and services to power up your publishing business.
ETA 2023
Many authors have asked if they should continue uploading new titles to Smashwords, or if they should start uploading straight to Draft2Digital. The answer is, “It depends.”
If the Smashwords Store is an important sales channel for you, and if you regularly utilize our awesome tools for coupons and self-serve merchandising, then it’s probably best to continue uploading to Smashwords, as you always do.
If you want to start experimenting with Draft2Digital’s tools and distribution, or if you want to sign up for the D2D Print beta (more on that below), you can open a Draft2Digital account anytime.
Our plan is to provide an interface to merge your two accounts into one when we get to Phase III.
Sign Up for the D2D Print Beta
One of the many great benefits that Smashwords authors and publishers will gain from the merger with Draft2Digital is ready access to D2D Print, a dare we say revolutionary new approach to print on demand.
Say goodbye to complicated, time-consuming, and expensive print on demand.
Draft2Digital’s technology can convert your Word or RTF file into a beautifully designed ebook or print-ready interior, and it will use your ebook cover to automatically generate a wraparound cover for print, with a color-matched spine and back cover.
Of course you’ll also be able to upload your own print-ready interior and cover if you have them!
Print-on-demand publishing has never been easier, and our print distribution is backed by Ingram, the world’s largest book distributor.
If you heard some of Mark Coker‘s early interviews after the merger, you know he thinks D2D Print will be as disruptive to print self-publishing as Smashwords was for ebook self-publishing.
Don’t take our word for it; we want to know what you think of it. Try it yourself by signing up today for the beta-testing waitlist D2D Print.
To sign up, you’ll first create an account at Draft2Digital. If you like, you use the same email address you used on your Smashwords account. Hundreds of Smashwords authors are already signed up and producing books with D2D Print. Most authors on the waitlist don’t wait longer than a week.
Signing up now for D2D will also give you a chance to start playing with some of D2D’s nifty tools, including free, stylized layout templates, automated end matter, split payments for co-authors, and a lot more where those came from!
We’re excited by the progress happening behind the scenes, and we can hardly wait to bring you all the great new, improved, and combined tools.
It’s a whole new era for Draft2Digital and Smashwords.
The Draft2Digital/Smashwords Team
