Smashwords E-Books: A New Book Recommendation Site for Readers

GERMISTON, South Africa - March 17, 2015 - PRLog -- South African Independant Author Graham Downs has devised a new service for readers of e-books, looking to find links to great books.

Up until now, the vast majority of such services focused almost exclusively on Amazon, and even if they supported other retailers (such as Smashwords or Kobo), they wouldn't advertise a book unless that book was also available on Amazon. They also often required authors to spend large sums or money, and/or meet stringent criteria relating to having a minimum number of reviews on Amazon, before they would list a book.

This has left readers on other platforms out in the cold, and also creates suspicion among readers who know that authors have spent money to have their book listed. How can they tell if the book is really worth their time?

The new service from Graham Downs, called Smashwords E-Books, solves both of these problems. In the first place, the service focuses exclusively on Smashwords, which is an e-book distributor, and also Amazon's biggest competitor.

Should an independently published book be available on any of the larger online retailers besides Amazon (Barnes & Noble, Kobo, iBooks, etc), chances are it's on Smashwords as well.

The second problem that the site solves is the suspicion caused by readers knowing that authors have paid to have their books listed. There is nothing any author can do directly to ensure that their books are advertised on Smashwords E-Books. All books advertised on the site are books that Graham Downs has personally read and vetted as a book worth reading. Therefore, readers who enjoy Downs' own reading preferences (which are quite broad) should derive the most benefit from Smashwords E-Books.

Books are posted three times per week on the official Twitter account for Smashwords E-Books, once per week on the official Smashwords E-Books blog, and distributed once per week to the site's list of e-mail subscribers (which readers can subscribe to at no charge).

The service is available at http://smashwordsbooks.blogspot.com/

For more information about the new service, see the official announcement on the author's blog, at http://www.grahamdowns.co.za/2015/03/smashwords-e-books-n...

For more information about Graham Downs, see his website at http://www.grahamdowns.co.za/p/home.html

Note: The new service is not in any way endorsed by Smashwords.