After receiving news of the US treasury with-holding fee for non-US residents marketing their product through Smashwords, I checked out other options.  I selected Kobo which offers similar services to that provided by Smashwords but is far more friendly to non-US residents.

I think one of the greatest adrenalin rushes a writer or would-be-writer can have relates to the sale of one’s creation.  A few of my titles have sold through Smashwords and the Apple Bookstore.  However, in getting notice of my sales, I was also informed that non-US based writers will only be paid through PayPal.  There is also an automatic US withholding fee of 30% for aliens such as myself.  Interesting that these giant companies are too arrogant to set up distributing networks in the countries of origin.

There may be an option of registering with Smashwords and other distributors in a way that avoids the with-holding fee.  I have yet to explore that option.

I circled the Smashword’s wagon for a few weeks wondering how it would fit my needs.  One good pointer suggested I prepare a cover 800 pixels high x 500 pixels wide to upload as part of the Smashword’s requirement.  Spent much of a day preparing a similar cover to that on a printed paperback.

Another benefit to the digital version is the increased ability to handle photos.  The original manuscript of my father’s biography Horses, Trails and Trophies contained pencil sketches primarily.  It became quite easy to intermix photos with the sketches.  Also, since I have digitized some of Dad’s original super 8 mm movies, I was able to upload these to YouTube and then provide links from the ebook version I finally uploaded.

The result is poor quality video sequences, but interesting in a historical context.

Obviously hundreds of thousands of people have been down this road before me in their efforts to become published authors.  Yesterday, I spent some time looking at Smashwords.  The price was right, but the product seemed limited.  Will look again.

Now, I need to move back to my first novel, Stonechild Volunteers in the Stonechild Chronicles.  After my fourth revision I need the product on paper for my wife’s final inspection before translation to the web.  After this final edit I am very tempted to go with Smashwords as the mechanism for publishing the novel electronically.

My father, Del Burk, wrote a biography, Horses, Trails and Trophies, mainly describing the more difficult and special moments in his life as a big game guide.  His experiences took him to the Rocky Mountains of Alberta, the Casiar Mountains of BC, the buffalo plains and McKenzie Mountains of the North West Territories, and the Coast Mountains near Carcross, Yukon.

My wife and I facilitated the self-publishing of that biography.  My research into ways of continuing the vanity press approach to publishing, but, using the Internet led me to WordPress.  So far I have spent quite a few hours studying WordPress.  First of all I went to my most used site of the last ten years, Lynda.com, for a set of wonderful video tutorials showing me how to use WordPress.

Then, after some quick evaluation I purchased a book, by Chuck Tomasi and Kreg Steppe, Sam’s Teach Yourself WordPress 3 in 10 Minutes.” It went with me on a three week vacation in Maui.  Over ten hours I read it twice and felt a little more comfortable with WordPress.