Sony has signed deals with Smashwords and Authors Solutions that will permit e-books published or distributed by the two companies to be sold through the Sony eBook Store. The two agreements, said Chris Smythe, director of the eBook Store for Sony, gives Sony another way to let self-published authors and small publishers get their e-books sold through the Sony store. E-books from both companies will be available through Sony once the company completes the conversion of its store to the ePub standard. Kevin Weiss, CEO of the self-publisher Authors Solutions, said the deal with Sony meets a goal of Author Solutions to make its “content available digitally to a multitude of readers.”
For Smashwords founder Mark Coker, the agreement with Sony “is the next phase to becoming a full-fledged distributor for e-books.” Founded last year, Smashwords will convert Word files from authors and publishers into nine e-book formats and offer them for sale through its site at smashwords.com as well as a growing number of outlets. In addition to the deal with Sony, earlier this summer Smashwords signed an agreement with Barnes & Noble to distribute its e-books through Barnesandnoble.com, Fictionwise, and B&N’s Ereader app. Coker said he expects its e-books to be available at B&N “any day.” Its e-books are also distributed through Stanza.
