Frequently Asked Questions

Books at Smashwords are primarily available in the ePub format and are sold without DRM. To read these ebooks on your mobile device or tablet, you'll need to download an ePub reader app.

There are many available applications you can read ePubs in:

• Aldiko Next, available on Android and Apple mobile devices
• FBReader, available on Android and Apple mobile devices, as well as most desktop platforms
• ReadEra, Lithium, or Moon+ Reader on Android devices
• Most commercial ebook store apps for both Android and Apple mobile devices now allow reading your own ePubs, such as Barnes & Noble's nook app, Google Play Books, Amazon's Kindle app, and the Apple Books app, if you want to incorporate your Smashwords purchases into another library

To get ePubs onto your mobile device or tablet, you can use our edelivery options, with email delivery or Dropbox syncing to have your ebooks delivered automatically after purchase, or you can download the file directly from your mobile device's browser.

You can also read any books that are available in ePub format in our online reader, by clicking the "Read this book online" button under the cover on the book page.

Books at Smashwords are primarily available in the ePub format and are sold without DRM. To read these ebooks on your desktop or laptop computer, you'll need to download an ePub reader application or plugin for your browser.

Some available applications are:

• Thorium Reader, from the Readium Foundation, which is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux computers
• FBReader, for Windows, macOS, Linux, ChromeOS, as well as tablets and mobile devices using Android and iOS (Apple mobile devices)
• Adobe Digital Editions

After you install one of the above apps, you can use our edelivery options, with email delivery or Dropbox syncing to have your ebooks delivered automatically after purchase, or you can download the file directly from your browser. Please note there are many third party e-reading software applications, and Smashwords cannot provide customer support on how to install or use them. Most have online help files.

You can also read any books that are available in ePub format in our online reader, by clicking the "Read this book online" button under the cover on the book page.

Books at Smashwords are primarily available in the ePub format and are sold without DRM. To read these ebooks on your ebook reader, you'll need to transfer the file onto your reader. How you get your ePub onto your device will vary by device.

For most devices, you will typically need to use a cable to connect your reader to your computer and add files to the external drive that appears when connected.

• Barnes & Noble nook File transfer instructions
• Kobo reader file transfer instructions
• For Kindle devices, you can email the epub to your device library. If the ebook has a mobi format available, you can instead use a cable to connect your reader to your computer and add mobis to the external drive's documents folder that appears when connected.

No, samples are free.

No. All sales are final. This is why most authors allow you to sample much of their ebook for free so you can try before you buy.

No. Smashwords ebooks are licensed for your personal reading enjoyment only, so you are not legally allowed to copy, share, or email the ebook to others, and you are not allowed to resell or distribute the ebook to others. Smashwords authors are trusting you to honor their copyright and hard work, so please do not breach their trust in you. However, most authors offer generous samples of their ebooks, so if you want to share a legal sample of the ebook, simply email your friends the hyperlink to the ebook page of the ebook, or use one of the social networking links to share a link of the ebook with friends on Facebook, Twitter and other sites.

Anyone who has purchased a Smashwords ebook is able to review it by clicking back to the ebook page. Below the different file format options is a link where you can review the ebook. Remember to select a star rating as well. Once you review an ebook, a link to your profile page appears in your review, and your review also appears on your personal profile page. If an ebook is free, anyone can review it. If you do not see the review link, it means you haven't purchased the ebook yet. Authors are not able to review their own ebooks.

Bloggers can excerpt a small portion of an author's ebook for review purposes. For further information on excerpts and re-distribution, see the Smashwords Terms of Service.

To buy books on Smashwords, click the Buy button on any book's page, and we will walk you the process of creating an account and verifying your email. After verifying your email, you can continue through the cart process and pay via PayPal or credit card. When your purchase is complete, your ebook will be emailed to your account email address, and is also available in your Library for download at any time, and you can configure your delivery settings to send your books to a different email, such as your device email.