There’s a new player in the ebook publishing industry. Draft2Digital has thrown down the gauntlet and challenged Smashwords to a duel. Not really but it sounds good. What Draft2Digital actually say is that they fill a hole in the market that Smashwords doesn’t fill.

Smashwords is a publisher of ebooks. They are there for the author and they have an exacting process whereby you have to work through a series of steps to get your ebook published but at the end you have full control of your ebook and then how it sells is up to you as you do the marketing. Draft2Digital seems to have staff onboard who do all the donkey work so you fill out some forms, upload your draft and they do the rest.

There’s problems with both and most of those are to do with proofreading and editing. If you haven’t taken the time and put the money into having someone else proofread and edit it then it could easily be a dreadful book that is likely to sink (except for 50 Shades of Grey type books which fill some kind of need). There are vanity presses who will take your draft and publish it, printing as many copies as you want, their processes also don’t have proofreading or editing involved as they don’t employ the staff for that. And as an aside, if you want your book published by a regular publisher then it’s best to ensure the you’ve done the proofreading and editing before you send it in as it means they have less to do and it’s more likely to get further through the slush pile process.

Also, traditional publishers will dismiss a book that is obviously tripe and won’t publish it whereas with vanity publishers, Smashwords and now Draft2Digital there is no medium to say this book is total rubbish and shouldn’t pass muster. I foresee a lot more ebooks which should never see the light of day…will mine be one of them? Stay tuned to find out.