Publishing Platform Of The Year 2014: SMASHWORDS

When it comes to places to self publish books, there's a clear winner for me this year.

Smashwords has kept sales of my books ticking over nicely all year long, and all around the world.

Amazon has been disappointing. Sales have fallen off a cliff in 2014. I gave them exclusivity on my new novel A Dead Chick And Some Dirty Tricks via a KDP Select Countdown deal and the KDP Select Free Promotion.

Both bombed.

Sure, that may be because people think the book is a pile of shit. But I'm getting the feeling that Amazon is becoming a marketplace overcrowded with self-publishers like me.

The KDP Select exclusivity period on A Dead Chick ended on December 23rd and I'm already shifting more copies on Smashwords than I did in 6 months on Amazon. But let's not knock Amazon, they finish 2nd on my list, ahead of Createspace, Draft2Digital and Kobo. In that order. There's no place else I publish at the moment. GoogleBooks was just too complicated to set up.

Here's hoping that the new year brings you plenteous sales. And let me know if I'm missing out on any other self-publishing platforms.

Happy Betwixtmas

If ever some days deserved some branding, it's the quartet that finds itself turkey sandwiched betwixt and between Boxing Day and New Year's Eve.

And Betwixtmas works perfectly as the unifying brand name for December 27, 28, 29 and 30. (I'm not claiming the name as mine, but if this is the first time you've encountered it, I'm happy to take the credit.)

These four days are days a good percentage of people take as holiday. A chance to chill with family and friends without the pressure to have fun or eat traditionally that the days either side force us to do. An opportunity to settle the stomach, try out Christmas presents and rest the body for the new year battering.

Betwixtmas. Yes. It has a Dickensian ring to it too, right for the time of year. And if it catches on, there's a British chocolate bar that could really cash in.

The campaign to get Betwixtmas officially recognised starts here. If we can have things as ridiculous as a National Garlic Day, we can have this. Yeah!

So if you didn't celebrate Betwixtmas this year, be sure to next. But before all that, happy new year...