It’s almost time for the world’s biggest and longest sales event celebrating indie authors and the readers who love them. That’s right, the 18th Annual Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale begins July 1 and runs the entire month of July!
Why is it called the Summer/Winter Sale?
Because every July Smashwords celebrates summer in the Northern Hemisphere and winter in the Southern Hemisphere by placing nearly 100,000 ebooks on sale. This is NOT a typical book sale. It’s a month-long, stuff-your-device-until-it-breaks gorge fest that voracious readers mark on their calendars. Smashwords super sales like this one attract the type of indie reader who comes for the discounts, and stays for the discoveries.
Why join the sale?
- Find new readers. New customer accounts at Smashwords are surging, and first-time buyers peak during sales. But wait, there’s more than just new customers. Long-time Smashwords customers know super sales are the best time to try out new authors and genres.
- Earn more. For any of your books priced at $2.99 or more, the royalties you earn are an industry-leading 75%.
- Experiment. A month-long sale affords you the luxury of testing out different discounts on different titles. Or testing your social media and newsletter messaging. And now that there’s no deadline to enroll, you can add or remove books from the sale any time you like, all month long. You can also modify the discount levels for your on-sale books at any time. While you can join the sale any time, we highly encourage you to enroll your books early to take advantage of our email marketing and social media push.
How to enroll your books in the Smashwords Summer/Winter Sale:
- Make sure you’re logged in to your D2D account
- Look for the enrollment message on your My Books dashboard (you can’t miss it) or click the button above
- Click the “Choose A Discount” button to get started
You have two discounting options when it comes to enrolling your books: One-Click Sale Pricing or Advanced Sale Pricing.
- One-Click Sale Pricing - Choose a single discount level and have it applied to all your books distributed to Smashwords. You can choose discounts of 25%, 50%, 75%, or even 100% off (free).
- Advanced Sale Pricing – You can offer the same discount levels as the One-Click option, but do so book-by-book. This option is useful for authors who may want to provide a deep discount on a series starter, but less of a discount on standalones, anthologies, or box sets.
Whether you use One-Click Pricing or Advance Sale Pricing, once you select your discount levels, you’re done. There’s nothing else you need to do. We automatically generate coupon codes for you that’ll be displayed at Smashwords once the sale begins. There’s no need for you to manually create Smashwords coupons or use the promotional price scheduling tool.
The discount levels you set are for the Smashwords store only and will not impact your prices at other stores.
How to Promote Your Participation in the upcoming Sale as an Author
- Share the News With Your Newsletter- Newsletters and email mailing lists are a fantastic way to get your most devoted fans invested. Let them know what to expect and how they can take part in the excitement.
- Promote on Social Media- If you are on social media, now is the best time to schedule posts to go live during the Summer/Winter Sale. We have included some post templates and graphics below, but some things to keep in mind:
- Before July. Share on Social Media that you have an upcoming promotion to build anticipation and interest.
- During July, make posts that include a link to a sales page. Social media posts only do so much if you aren’t directing your readers to your books!
- Use appropriate hashtags and tags. For this event, we recommend using the hashtags #SWSale2026 and #Smashwords. You can also tag us in your posts!
- Update Your Bios and Webpages- When people visit your profile or website, you want them to know your books are currently involved in an exciting promotion. Make sure the details are prominently featured to encourage readers to check it out.
Promotional Graphics
Our graphic artist has created some stunning graphics you can use when promoting your books as part of the Summer/Winter Sale!
A Banner Graphic (Best used for Emails and Blogs)
A Square Graphic (Perfect for Instagram)
A Rectangle Graphic (Best for Social Media Sites like Facebook and Twitter)
Swipe Copy
Here are some text templates (or “copy”) that you can “swipe” to use in your marketing. You can use them as is or update them, but please remember to change “My Book Title” to the title of one of your books.
Email Copy
Hello, Readers!
I’m excited to announce that my book, My Book Title, will be available as part of a promotion on Smashwords for the month of July as part of their 18th Annual Summer/Winter Sale! This is a chance to get my book, along with books from many other great authors, at a discount so you can get right to reading.
You will find the promo here starting on July 1, so save the link:
http://smashwords.com/shelves/promos
Please share this promo with friends and family. You can even forward this email to the avid readers in your life!
Thank you for your help and support!
Happy reading!
Social Media BEFORE JULY 1
I’m excited to announce my book, My Book Title, will be promoted on @Smashwords for the month of July as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! Be sure to follow me for more updates and links to the promotion for my books and many more! #SWSale2026 #Smashwords
Social Media – Promoting a Specific Book DURING JULY
Now is your best chance to find my book, My Book Title, available for a promotional price at @Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! Find my book on sale at https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/[YourBookNumber] (do not include the brackets) all month! #SWSale2026 #Smashwords
Social Media – All Your Books are On Sale DURING JULY
Now is your best chance to find my entire ebook collection for a promotional price at @Smashwords as part of their Annual Summer/Winter Sale! You can find all my on-sale books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/[YourAuthorName] (without brackets). #SWSale2026 #Smashwords
We're excited for this year's seasonal sale and look forward to seeing your book on our promotional shelves at Smashwords!