Overdrive Inundates Libraries with 200,000 Horrendous Indie eBooks

Smashwords is a self-publishing service that allows authors to submit eBooks and list them for sale on Amazon, Apple, Kobo, Barnes and Noble and other major retailers. Smashwords has managed to convince the largest digital distributor Overdrive, to start offering 200,000 sub-par indie titles to all of their partners. This is a terrible move for the library buying community and is inspiration to start dealing with quality companies such as 3M or Axis 360. Smashwords has successfully convinced Overdrive that there is value with their catalog of 300,000 eBooks, 200,000 of which are available to libraries. Smashwords compelling argument is that front list ebooks from Big 5 publishers can cost libraries $80, and even backlist ebooks can cost libraries $20-40. Smashwords titles will only cost libraries of $4.00, which sounds good on paper and economically feasible. In reality 95% of all Smashwords titles have non-existent editing, poor formatting and abysmal cover art. The truth of the matter is that Smashwords does not have a curation system to vett the wheat from the chaff. They will publish anything and often hype the fact that everyone has a right to publish. Sure everyone CAN use the Smashwords system to publish books, but that doesn’t mean they have the right to be distributed. These sub-par indie titles are polluting a quality catalog of Overdrive and library patrons are going to be the ones to suffer. Smashwords has managed to convince another large company that their catalog is valid and has meaning to readers. They were able to leverage the Library Direct system they developed in 2012 and distributed in a handful of libraries in the US. In reality, the Smashwords catalog is irrelevant and has no value for companies like Overdrive. Unknowing library buyers are going to think they are getting a deal with 100 romance titles for 1/4 the cost of big six titles, until readers start complaining, and they WILL complain. Libraries are going to feel ripped off that they have bought titles that no one will read and if they do, will likely be very vocal about the poor writing quality and in the end, libraries will feel like they have wasted money. Trust me, they are wasting money with Smashwords, if you don’t believe me visit the main smashwords website and select 3 books at random, and let me know if they are any good. Even Mark Coker refuses to measure the quality of his service by doing this, which is a solid methodology to gauge the quality of a self-publishing website. I would encourage all libraries to either suspend their relationship with Overdrive or not buy into the hype of self-published eBooks. It sounds like a fiscally responsible deal on paper, but the quality isn’t there anymore. Overdrive Inundates Libraries with 200,000 Horrendous Indie eBooks is a post from: Good e-Reader

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