Independent Science Fiction Writer Experiments with Revolutionary eBook Distribution

Burlington, VT, May 29, 2009 --(PR.com)-- "I'm writing science fiction. Makes sense to be on the cutting edge of content distribution," writer Mike Luoma said as he announced his use of Smashwords.com to distribute five of his titles. "I was tipped off to a great site for ebooks, Smashwords: http://www.smashwords.com."

Luoma decided to try it out. "I've uploaded all three books in the "Vatican Assassin Trilogy": Vatican Assassin, Vatican Ambassador and Vatican Abdicator, as well as my collection of poems, lyrics and spells, Synthetic Marmalade, and my book on Gnosticism and early Christianity, NEO-GNOSIS," Luoma said.

Authors and publishers upload books to Smashwords and their software, known affectionately as the "Meatgrinder", takes the original document and converts it into several different formats. Smashwords then makes the ebooks available for sale using PayPal. The author can set a price for their book, allow the reader to pay what they feel like, or offer it for free. As Smashwords says on their website, they offer "...multi-format, DRM-free ebooks, ready for immediate sampling and purchase, and readable on any e-reading device."

"I've set all five books to allow the reader to pay whatever they like for them," Luoma said. Luoma's Smashwords profile page is at http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/mikeluoma .

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