"Programming in D" book, draft of the first print edition and eBook formats

[Joakim via Digitalmars-d-announce]

On Wednesday, 26 November 2014 at 23:16:11 UTC, Ali Çehreli wrote:
> On 11/26/2014 11:35 AM, Ali Çehreli wrote:
>
> > I wonder whether Smashwords would allow me to also provide
> the book for free
> > on my site?
>
> Found the answer to that question:
>
> "6c. Free Copies. As administrator of your work, Author may use 
> the Smashwords platform to distribute complimentary copies of 
> the work, or personally email free files to people, even when 
> you are generally charging a fee. However, Smashwords files 
> cannot be mass-distributed via download at blogs, websites or 
> other retailers outside the Smashwords network."
>
>   https://www.smashwords.com/about/tos

I think you are misinterpreting that clause.  I had never heard 
of Smashwords before, so I just looked at their site and their 
TOS.  What they do is take your book in doc format and generate 
ebook formats that can be sold online and to other book 
retailers, as detailed in clause 5 of their TOS:

"5. Formats of Digital Conversions. Author shall submit their 
Work as a Microsoft Word .doc file. Smashwords shall utilize its 
proprietary Meatgrinder technology to convert the book into 
multiple ebook formats, and publish the work for use in sampling, 
distributing and selling the work. The author/publisher is not 
authorized to independently sell or distribute 
Smashwords-generated file conversions outside of the Smashwords 
site or Smashwords distribution network without first receiving 
written permission from Smashwords (in other words, you cannot 
use Smashwords as a free file conversion service so you can sell 
the files elsewhere). You acknowledge that if you violate this 
requirement, you may forfeit any accrued earnings at Smashwords, 
and your account may be deleted without notification."

I believe both clauses simply says you cannot distribute their 
converted ebook files: note that 6c says you cannot mass 
distribute "Smashwords files", not "the Work," which is how they 
refer to your book itself.  They also say on their site that you 
are free to use other distributors and retain copyright over your 
work.

Few would fault you for not wanting to give away free copies if 
you're selling the book, but I don't think Smashwords has a say 
in the matter.