On Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 23:16:11 UTC, Ali Çehreli wrote:
On 11/26/2014 11:35 AM, Ali Çehreli wrote:
> I wonder whether Smashwords would allow me to also provide
the book for free
> on my site?
Found the answer to that question:
"6c. Free Copies. As administrator of your work, Author may use
the Smashwords platform to distribute complimentary copies of
the work, or personally email free files to people, even when
you are generally charging a fee. However, Smashwords files
cannot be mass-distributed via download at blogs, websites or
other retailers outside the Smashwords network."
https://www.smashwords.com/about/tos
I think you are misinterpreting that clause. I had never heard
of Smashwords before, so I just looked at their site and their
TOS. What they do is take your book in doc format and generate
ebook formats that can be sold online and to other book
retailers, as detailed in clause 5 of their TOS:
"5. Formats of Digital Conversions. Author shall submit their
Work as a Microsoft Word .doc file. Smashwords shall utilize its
proprietary Meatgrinder technology to convert the book into
multiple ebook formats, and publish the work for use in sampling,
distributing and selling the work. The author/publisher is not
authorized to independently sell or distribute
Smashwords-generated file conversions outside of the Smashwords
site or Smashwords distribution network without first receiving
written permission from Smashwords (in other words, you cannot
use Smashwords as a free file conversion service so you can sell
the files elsewhere). You acknowledge that if you violate this
requirement, you may forfeit any accrued earnings at Smashwords,
and your account may be deleted without notification."
I believe both clauses simply says you cannot distribute their
converted ebook files: note that 6c says you cannot mass
distribute "Smashwords files", not "the Work," which is how they
refer to your book itself. They also say on their site that you
are free to use other distributors and retain copyright over your
work.
Few would fault you for not wanting to give away free copies if
you're selling the book, but I don't think Smashwords has a say
in the matter.
