chrisfederico
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 12, 2015 14:22:11 GMT -8
My book has been shipped, and it's starting to appear in various retailers' catalogues. I'm very happy about this, of course; it's my first non-paper book. But in the Barnes and Noble Nook-Book Store, the cover image and book description are not appearing (the JPG says "Image Not Available"). Has anyone else had this happen? Do the various elements of a newly shipped book appear piecemeal and gradually, perhaps?
For reference, everything about the image has been formatted to the exact specifications recommended in the Smashwords Style Guide, so resolution/dimensions/etc. presumably aren't the problem. Thanks in advance for any comments or help.
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 12, 2015 14:40:57 GMT -8
It's probably not fully processed yet by B&N. Don't sweat, it should appear complete soon enough.
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chrisfederico
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 12, 2015 15:51:36 GMT -8
Cool. Thanks, Serban.
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chrisfederico
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 13, 2015 13:29:29 GMT -8
The image shows on B&N now, but there's no book description. It's really bit-by-bit, isn't it? Still no trace of the book on Kobo or Oyster, in spite of the fact that Kobo ships "daily." It's been four days since my book was given Premium Status, which is the only reason I'm worried -- probably for nothing, but I'm a newbie.
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Post by Ted on Jan 13, 2015 15:13:39 GMT -8
The delay is nothing to worry about; Kobo seems to always be slower than other retailers. B&N is usually fairly quick. Oyster can take a while.
Shipping 'Daily' only means Smashwords ships to them daily. After an ebook ships it is up to the retailer to place it in their store.
I usually give retailers a couple of weeks to get a new work on their site. That grace period gives me time to write-up some promo's and plan how/where to post information and when to post it.
When I first published a work through Smashwords about 4 or 5 years ago I was checking retailers daily and wondering where the heck my ebook is and why hasn't it showed up yet. Over the years I still get excited about a new work being distributed, but now I know the system takes time to percolate.
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chrisfederico
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 13, 2015 15:24:17 GMT -8
Okay; understood. Thanks. (You guys should charge for Reassurance Services.)  |
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serbanvcenache
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 14, 2015 9:14:42 GMT -8
Yeah, it took months for me to appear on Kobo. I guess B&N is moving slower than usual because of the backlog they probably have since taking time out during the holidays. You just have to be patient. Did you (manually) upload to other ebook stores? Amazon, Google play and Google library, Gumroad etc?
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chrisfederico
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 14, 2015 11:42:46 GMT -8
I'm holding off on Amazon and Google for now, because I have some nerdy moral issues with the ways in which they do business, track people's information, etc. It's not the greatest stance for maximizing sales, I grant you, but I'm sticking with the Smashwords-distributed retailers at the moment. Thanks for the info about Kobo (possibly) taking months to list my book. I was going to wait until it appeared on all retailer websites before having my podcasting friends plug it on their shows, but I guess I won't after all, in terms of Kobo, anyway! Thanks again.
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Post by Ted on Jan 14, 2015 11:50:32 GMT -8
I have about 1/3 of my works on Amazon and zero on Google. Mainly because pretty much all my ebooks are in the 30% to me royalty range and that is just a ripoff by Amazon. It's pretty hard nowadays to do anything on the net without being tracked in some fashion. For searching the net my default is Start Page, which provides the most private searching capabilities - according to them. startpage.com/eng/protect-privacy.html? |
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 14, 2015 12:20:36 GMT -8
I'm holding off on Amazon and Google for now, because I have some nerdy moral issues with the ways in which they do business, track people's information, etc. It's not the greatest stance for maximizing sales, I grant you, but I'm sticking with the Smashwords-distributed retailers at the moment. Thanks for the info about Kobo (possibly) taking months to list my book. I was going to wait until it appeared on all retailer websites before having my podcasting friends plug it on their shows, but I guess I won't after all, in terms of Kobo, anyway! Thanks again. I admire your commitment and wish you best of luck. |
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chrisfederico
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 15, 2015 12:28:53 GMT -8
Thanks so much for that. I appreciate the encouragement.
To your knowledge, if I remove RTF as a format, will it necessitate another approval process (i.e. will it affect the book's Premium Status, and get me back to square one)?
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Post by Ted on Jan 16, 2015 5:29:49 GMT -8
I believe any change to your settings requires review, although if a work already has Premium Status the work is still available everywhere while changes you made are reviewed.
This review time delay is mainly to protect retailers from some authors who might add objectionable material once a work is retailers. Delay is pretty short if you are only changing description wording, download options like RTF, or cover.
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serbanvcenache
SWF Writers
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Post by serbanvcenache on Jan 16, 2015 9:41:21 GMT -8
Thanks so much for that. I appreciate the encouragement. To your knowledge, if I remove RTF as a format, will it necessitate another approval process (i.e. will it affect the book's Premium Status, and get me back to square one)? Don't believe so, especially since all the other SW retailers don't use RTF format. |
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chrisfederico
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Posts: 8
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Post by chrisfederico on Jan 16, 2015 12:35:29 GMT -8
Cool. Thanks again for all of the help, guys.
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