eBook formatting guidelines for Smashwords’ system are specific and must be strictly obeyed to get your eBook into their premium catalog, which is their distribution system for multiple retailers and libraries.
First, your file is reviewed by an automated system which verifies there aren’t any formatting errors and that the guidelines have been followed. Once that has been completed, your eBook is put in the queue for review by Smashwords’ manual reviewers. The manual reviewers will go through every page of your eBook to check for layout issues and other strict guidelines they impose before they approve your eBook for their premium catalog.
When working on your eBook conversion, we have all of these guidelines memorized and will format your book so that it adheres to all of them, while also keeping your layout how you designed it. In addition to the documented guidelines, we also know of the things that don’t always process through their automated system correctly. We will adjust for these issues to keep your eBook looking consistent from one platform to the next, and just how you expect it to look.
Though it is unlikely to occur, if the manual reviewers ding your book for modification, we will make the necessary adjustments immediately, at no cost of course, and get the new file to you for resubmission.
