{"id":205417,"date":"2022-02-08T09:20:11","date_gmt":"2022-02-08T15:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.draft2digital.com\/blog\/?p=205417"},"modified":"2022-07-15T13:32:28","modified_gmt":"2022-07-15T18:32:28","slug":"pr-d2d-smashwords","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/draft2digital.com\/blog\/pr-d2d-smashwords\/","title":{"rendered":"Press Release: Draft2Digital to Acquire Smashwords, Creating\u00a0Self-Publishing Juggernaut"},"content":{"rendered":"

Combined Company will Publish and Distribute 800,000+ Titles from 250,000 Authors and Publishers<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

February 8, 2022\u2014OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla. and PACIFIC GROVE, Calif.<\/strong>\u2014Draft2Digital, LLC and Smashwords, Inc., two pioneers in ebook self-publishing, today announced that Draft2Digital will acquire Smashwords. The acquisition unites the industry\u2019s two most innovative and author-friendly publishing platforms into one, enabling the new Draft2Digital to drive even greater success for authors, publishers, and sales partners.
\nDraft2Digital and Smashwords are key catalysts behind the dramatic rise of self-publishing over the last fourteen years. Their publishing platforms enable 250,000 authors and publishers around the world to publish, distribute, market, and manage over 800,000 ebooks and 11,000 print on demand paperback books.
\nThe combined company will operate under the Draft2Digital name and will be headquartered in Oklahoma City. All Smashwords and Draft2Digital employees are expected to join the combination.
\nKris Austin, co-founder and CEO of Draft2Digital, will lead the combined company as CEO. Mark Coker, founder and former CEO of Smashwords, will join the Draft2Digital management team as Chief Strategy Officer and board member.
\nBoth companies are entering the acquisition profitable and debt-free.
\n\u201cI\u2019m pleased to welcome Smashwords authors, publishers, employees and partners to the D2D family,\u201d said Kris Austin. \u201cEarly in our discussions with Smashwords, we each immediately realized we can accomplish so much more for the indie author community by working together than working as competitors. The resources we once expended creating duplicative systems can now be redeployed to ramp up our R&D investments in next generation tools to empower authors and publishers.\u201d
\n\u201cI\u2019m thrilled to join forces with Draft2Digital,\u201d said Mark Coker. \u201cOver the last decade, I\u2019ve come to deeply admire Draft2Digital\u2019s team, technology, and commitment to authors. Our shared business model is a key to our two companies\u2019 success. We put authors first. By design, we only make money when our authors make money. This aligns our interests with the interests of our authors. Together we will lead the next chapter of the indie author revolution.\u201d
\nThe combination is expected to yield significant benefits for authors, publishers, retail and library partners, and readers.<\/p>\n