Smashwords and OverDrive in Worldwide eBook Distribution Agreement

CLEVELAND, OH and LOS GATOS, CA--(Marketwired - May 20, 2014) - OverDrive, the world's largest library eBook platform, and Smashwords, the world's largest distributor of self-published eBooks, today announced that 200,000 self-published titles will be available for public libraries in OverDrive's global network.

The Smashwords catalog features many of the world's bestselling indie authors, including numerous New York Times and USA Today bestsellers. The Smashwords catalog is especially strong in popular genre fiction, particularly romance, mysteries, thrillers, fantasy, and science fiction.

"This agreement with OverDrive represents a watershed moment for indie authors, libraries and library patrons around the world," said Mark Coker, founder of Smashwords. "Smashwords authors now have distribution through OverDrive, the premier supplier of library eBooks. Millions of library patrons will now have access to the amazing literary talent of the world's best indie authors."

"We're thrilled to make the Smashwords catalog available to libraries and patrons in the OverDrive network," said Steve Potash, founder and CEO of OverDrive. "OverDrive helps to connect readers with authors and titles, and with Smashwords content, we are offering new voices, great interest and emerging self-published authors."

To streamline collection development, OverDrive and Smashwords are creating curated lists of Smashwords bestsellers and popular genres. Libraries will soon have the option, for example, to purchase the complete catalog of the top 100, 500 or 1,000 bestselling Smashwords authors. Smashwords will also produce curated buy-lists by genre, such as the top 1,000 bestselling Smashwords romance titles, or the top 1,000 bestselling mysteries and thrillers.

Under this agreement, readers may borrow each eBook on a one copy/one user model. Alternately, patrons can purchase the eBook through a link on participating libraries' websites and support their local libraries through OverDrive's "Buy It Now" feature. Readers are also able to recommend titles to their library from the Smashwords catalog. Smashwords' full Premium Catalog of non-erotica titles is eligible for the program, including new releases.

Among the Smashwords authors planning to provide their full indie catalogs to OverDrive include Amy Miles, Brian S. Pratt, Chanda Hahn, Colleen Hoover, GJ Walker-Smith, Jamie McGuire, JD Nixon, Kirsty Moseley, Kristen Ashley, Lauren Blakely, Melody Grace, Natasha Preston, Quinn Loftis, R.L. Mathewson, Randolph Lalonde, Shayne Parkinson and T C Southwell.

About OverDrive

OverDrive is a leading multichannel digital distributor of eBooks, digital audiobooks, music and video on a single platform. OverDrive supplies a secure lending platform for 28,000 libraries, schools and retailers worldwide with support for all major computers and devices, including iPhone®, iPad®, Nook®, Android™ phones and tablets, and Kindle® (U.S. only). Recent enhancements to OverDrive's platform include multilingual user interface support, eReading Rooms for kids and teens, in-library touchscreen services for browsing and instant sampling of eBooks or audiobooks, and OverDrive Read, the company's EPUB and HTML5 browser-based reading experience. Founded in 1986, OverDrive is based in Cleveland. www.OverDrive.com.

About Smashwords

Founded in 2008, privately held Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of self-published eBooks. Smashwords has helped more than 90,000 authors, independent publishers and literary agents release more than 300,000 titles. Smashwords authors gain free access to a full suite of professional publishing tools including multi-format eBook conversion; centralized metadata management; preorder distribution to iBooks, Barnes & Noble and Kobo; Series Manager for enhanced series discovery, Pricing Manager for simplified price changes and custom library pricing, and rapid distribution to a growing network of global retail and library partners. Smashwords distributes its titles worldwide to iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Scribd, Oyster, the Smashwords.com store and to public libraries via library aggregators such as OverDrive. Smashwords provides public libraries with free co-branded publishing portals that allow library patrons to publish locally and distribute globally. Learn how to publish and distribute with Smashwords at https://www.smashwords.com/about/how_to_publish_on_smashwords.