Publish e-books on Everything from Kindle to iPhone with Smashwords.

I love writing. Over the years, I’ve churned out everything from ad copy to web content to magazine articles to song lyrics to actual books. (Okay, bodice-rippers!)

I always thought that when I had time, I’d whip up another book, call my agent and go through the usual agonizing drill.

No more. Not only has the traditional publishing world gone poof but I am no longer patient enough to put up with both the potholes of publishing plus the years it takes to get the book out there. Profits are a whole ‘nother story.

Thankfully, a savvy new company –Smashwords.com –understands the ADD in authors and readers alike. Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Mark Coker, has launched an innovative company that’s a free platform for publishing electronic e-books. Smashwords’ breakthrough technology and structure allows anyone to become an e-book author.

While there are already a variety of publishing platforms for e-books (the most commonly used is Adobe’s pdf), what I like about Smashwords is that an author simply uploads a Microsoft Word file into the system –and then it gets converted into about 10 different e-book formats so these books can be read on the iPhone, on the (hot-hot, sold-out till February) Amazon Kindle and on virtually any other e-book reading device.

More author-friendly features: Smashwords lets the author keep the copyright, own all the rights to the work and sets their own price for the book and the sampling privileges. The author receives 85% of the sales — leaving Smashwords with 15%.

Smashwords is different from self-publishing print-producing services like Lulu, Blurb,Wordclay or Createspace because it focuses entirely on the fastest growing section of the publishing industry: e-books.

Stay tuned for two upcoming e-books from the uber-impatient Guru. How cool to read quirky Guru-isms on your iPhone!