Thursday, October 25, 2012

Apple iBookstore Expands Global Reach of Smashwords Ebooks to 50 Countries

This week Apple expanded the reach of the iBookstore to 18 new countries, bringing the total reach of the iBookstore to 50 countries.

Over 120,000 Smashwords ebooks now enjoy global distribution through the Apple iBookstore, these new stores included.

The new countries include Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Venezuela, and New Zealand.

With little fanfare, Apple has assembled the industry's broadest distribution network for indie ebooks.  As an indie author or small press, if your ebooks aren't at Apple, you're missing out.

Concurrent with the launch of the New Zealand store, Apple selected Sentence of Marriage by New Zealand Smashwords author Shayne Parkinson to promote as its "Book of the Week" in both their New Zealand and Australian stores.  Congrats Shayne!

Smashwords makes it fast, free and easy for any author or publisher, anywhere in the world, to reach all of these stores.  Our Smashwords Style Guide (quite possibly the world's most-read ebook formatting guide with a quarter of a million downloads), is available in translated editions for Spanish, French, Dutch, Bengali, Italian, German, and Danish

I'm excited about the global distribution opportunities available to Smashwords authors.  In the U.S., ebooks as a percentage of the overall trade book market will reach approximately 30% in 2012, up from about 19% in 2011, 8% in 2010, 3% in 2009, and 1% in 2008.  Every market outside the U.S. is now entering that same exponential growth curve as the primordial soup of supportive ebook ecommerce ecosystems come into their own.  Apple will help drive this growth, as will the 50,000+ Smashwords authors, publishers and literary agents that use Smashwords to publish and distribute ebooks.

Within the next few years, the market for your books outside the US will dwarf the US market.  Think globally, and get there now.

For the month of September 2012, Smashwords authors and publishers yielded fully 46% of their Apple sales from stores outside the United States.  With the launch of these 18 new stores, I expect November will easily cross 50%.  For the month of September, our largest markets outside the US were Australia, the U.K. and Canada, in that order.

The global sales opportunity goes beyond just English-language countries, however.  Sweden was our fourth largest market, and not because we sell a lot of books in Swedish.  Every day, we're selling English-language books (and other languages too) into multiple countries.  Although each country in isolation represents a small market, in the aggregate these markets add up.  Apple, with Smashwords as one of it's global aggregators, makes it fast and efficient to reach this global market.

Apple's move has exciting implications for international authors.  Brazilian Smashwords authors can now sell their books in the Brazilian market.  I think Brazil will eventually become one of the world's largest ebook markets.

An author in Costa Rica can upload a book to Smashwords today, and within several days that book can be for sale not just in their local market of Costa Rica, but to Spanish-reading audiences throughout Central and South America, Mexico, the United States, Canada, and around the world.

These publishing and distribution tools are free and available to every writer.  All a Smashwords author needs is a finished manuscript, access to the Internet, a word processor, and the desire the reach readers.

Imagine the new voices that now have the freedom and ability to instantly reach a global audience with their words.  Think how the world is forever transformed for the better because it's now possible for every writer to publish globally.

Writers, not publishers, now decide when their finished manuscript is ready to reach readers, and readers have the freedom to decide what books are worth reading.

We're still in the very early days of the ebook revolution.  As a writer or publisher, your best days are ahead of you.  Go forth and publish!

To learn how simple it is to publish and distribute ebooks to the Apple iBookstore and other major retailers with Smashwords, visit our Apple ebook distribution page or our page How to Publish and Distribute Ebooks with Smashwords.

12 comments:

BFuniv said...

There is a market for English language books in South America. I currently live in Uruguay where half the school day is taught in English. Eventually I may have my books professionally translated, but for now I'm thrilled Smashwords is hooking me up to Apples expansion.

Unknown said...

Great news for Smashwords authors.

Congratulations to Apple and Smashwords for offering readers an ever expanding and very easy access to our works.

Randolph Lalonde said...

Excellent news! Just in time for m to release my next book!

John H. Carroll said...

I love that all the countries are in Central and South America, and then it takes an abrupt hop halfway around the world to New Zealand!

Russell Phillips said...

I've updated my tools page to generate links to all 50 bookstores:
www.russellphillipsbooks.co.uk/pages/tools.php

Shayne Parkinson said...

Excellent news! And it's great to be a (small) part of the New Zealand launch.

Lindsay Buroker said...

It's nice to see them working on their store. I hope they'll make it easier to find books too. Even though I'd happily support someone else, I'm one of those iPad owners who shops at Amazon and uses the Kindle app because it's the most convenient way to get books right now.

Webbiegrrl Writer said...

Yay, Shayne!! That's fantastic news. Great job; I know you've worked hard and long for all the accolades, Shayne, but you sure do pave the way for the rest of us :) Thank you!

-sry
@webbiegrrl

rdlecoeur said...

Todays Bookseller carried the following article regarding the B&N ad campaign:
Barnes & Noble has launched its Nook advertising push with the slogan “Amazing in bed”.

The Nook e-reader went on sale in the UK on Monday (29th October) after a two-week delay because the website (nook.co.uk) was not ready on time for the original date. The devices are being sold in Blackwell’s, Foyles, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis, Waitrose and Argos, and B&N has also announced that Nook’s Simple Touch and Simple Touch Glowlight models are now to be sold in Asda also.

Tube and print press ads will be rolled out out over the next week, centering on the benefits of the Nook Glowlight model for reading at night. The top line of the advert is “Amazing in bed” with a picture of the Glowlight shining.

Patrick Rouvillois, International managing director for Nook, said: “This is a common clash between couples at bedtime. Our new campaign sheds light on this age-old issue and celebrates its resolution with Nook Simple Touch GlowLight, the first device perfected for both bedtime and outdoor reading.”

Also used in the campaign is the slogan, "Long live the new king of the e-readers."

TV advertising began running over the weekend during programmes including “The X Factor”, “Downton Abbey” and “Coronation Street”.

Ogweno said...

Since I have had the highest number of my books sold through Apple, I am excited about this expansion. Go Apple go!

baalborg said...

Ah, my lifelong fantasy is soon becoming a reality: to be sitting in the laps of exotic, foreign, commuter babes as they read on their way to work. Pluperfect!

millie said...

Great! Did anybody tell you you're doing a smashup job! Thanks.
William Wayne Dicksion

 
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