If you’re an author with an ebook, you should know about Smashwords. Smashwords calls itself an “ebook publishing and distribution platform.” It’s the distribution part that makes what the company does so valuable.

Upload your ebook to Smashwords and with one push of a button you can also put your book on:

• Kobo
• Nook
• Sony Reader
• iPad

Your book can also be made available in a Kindle format, though not directly through Amazon. Those are all five of the major e-readers on the market today. You don’t have to fuss with opening a publisher’s account at each one. Just one account with Smashwords and you’re in. Your book also becomes available for purchase through the Smashwords site itself. I’m not aware of any other company currently offering this kind of aggregated ebook distribution.

Smashwords pays 85% of your list price, minus a small credit card fee, on sales made directly through their site. On sales through most retailers (like Kobo and Apple), you earn 60% of your list price. Those are good numbers.

The one downside to Smashwords is its firm policy of taking ebooks as MS Word files only. It’s difficult to find ebook formatters who are skilled in creating a decent layout in Word, not to mention meeting some of the esoteric layout requirements that Smashwords imposes. Most ebook programmers work with ePUB files, which are essentially built using web code. (You can email Smashwords’ founder Mark Coker to be sent a short list of suppliers who can format ebooks in Word.)

Once you have your Word file in hand, though, you’ll be hard pressed to find an easier way to distribute your ebook.

The e-book self-publishing world is about to get a little more crowded. With the launch of Pubit! this summer, Barnes & Noble (B&N) has inserted itself directly into the publishing process, joining other retailers like Amazon and Sony. Pubit! is a DIY option for independent publishers and authors to deliver their works digitally through B&N’s site and e-book store.

While this may on the surface seem like great news for the indie publishing crowd, there are definite issues. For example, B&N has been noncommittal up to this point about royalty information, which makes it difficult to know if Pubit! can offer a more attractive deal or not. Another challenge authors and publishers face with an ever growing list of retailers offering self-publishing is how to choose. Which retailer might offer the best audience and reach? Does it make sense to manually publish with every major retailer, one by one, to make sure the playing field is covered despite the time and effort?

In order to make this really work, and work well, we’re going to have to see some consolidation happen. A company that is already running ahead with this is Smashwords. Publish with them and they do the distribution for you to their own site, as well as Kobo, Apple, Amazon, Sony, and even B&N. One site, one process, and one revenue payment makes it simple and transparent. What a concept! Big book retailers like B&N should consider taking a page out of Smashwords success manual.