www.ditl.org

Though I work at a PC repair shop, occasionally we get some unexpected requests. Recently we agreed to prepare a customer's manuscript for publishing at Smashwords, a site for independent authors to publish as e-books. The reason he needed us was because the site's software for converting the text into various e-formats has certain requirements for optimal results (basically, a word doc with as little manual formatting as possible, so that the device on which the work is downloaded can apply the end-user's preferences without glitches). For a fee we took his manuscript and I stripped out all the hidden formatting marks, created an account for him and uploaded his work.

On reflection, this is something which could be useful for some people who have posted to this sub-forum. I can't speak for the utility of this sort of site as a primary source of income but it has possibilities as a way to earn a little extra on the side. There are no publication fees, and the author can determine a price, publish works for free, or let the end user decide how much to pay. According to the promotional material, this particular site is the largest of it's kind at the moment, and reports close to half a million works published. The site can even register a free ISBN number for each work (where the publisher is listed as "smashwords.com" and the author as the registered name of the account) to aid in distribution. I even thought I migh throw up a few things to see what I can get, starting with a story I wrote for a college class that's posted here:

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=845

I published my three Draconia books through Smashwords. I published them through Amazon Kindle, too, but I've had more success on Smashwords with their broad distribution.

My brother and I co-authored a fantasy book and we've considered self publishing, even found an amazing artist. But we haven't given up on an actual agent yet. I think we have the quality to get published, just need to find that agent.