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Mark Coker is the founder of Smashwords, an ebook publishing and distribution platform. He's also the host of the SMART AUTHOR podcast, where he guides writers on the best practices of professional ebook publishing. Mark's an author, entrepreneur, angel investor and advisor to technology startups. Mark and his wife Lesleyann co-authored Boob Tube, a novel that explores the wacky world of daytime television soap operas. Their book was rejected by every major New York publisher of commercial women’s fiction, despite representation by a top NYC literary agency. The experience inspired him to start Smashwords, a free publishing platform that allows authors to instantly publish their work online. Today, Smashwords is the world's largest distributor of self-published ebooks. The company has helped over 130,000 authors around the world publish and distribute over 450,000 ebooks to major retailers such as the Apple iBooks, Barnes & Noble, Scribd and Kobo. Mark has authored three ebooks about ebook self-publishing, including the Smashwords Style Guide (how to create and publish an ebook), The Smashwords Book Marketing Guide (how to market any book), and The Secrets to Ebook Publishing Success (29 best practices of the most successful ebook authors). The books have been downloaded over 750,000 times. Mark received his marketing degree from the Haas School of Business at U.C. Berkeley. He tweets at http://www.twitter.com/markcoker and blogs at http://blog.smashwords.com
