With the move complete, there are a few more tools we are working on:
The Minisite
- Add the inPrint, AudioBook and Amazon links.
- create a publisher's version
The Java reader
- this is very nearly complete. The major problem is the speed of the Java plugin itself.
The Banner Suite
- creates a set of static image banners for a book, in the standard sizes from Skyscraper to Button.
We may have ways round the animation issue, but those are going to take work, and may be a month or so in development.
We are also looking at ways to expand the singlebook feed to include things like the ebook formats it is available in.
It is possible to provide a fully Atom-formatted feed of books for authors/publishers, but this does mean omitting a lot of data in the current feed. If anyone wants one of these, let me know.
Tuesday, 28 February 2012
Saturday, 25 February 2012
Migration part two
The old site is now set up to redirect casual traffic to the new website. It is still accessable on request, so email us if there is something you need from it.
We are trying to make sure that everyone knows about the move, because there are surprising numbers of users still on the old widgets.
Announcements have gone out on Kindleboards, Smashwords and AbsoluteWrite. There was a small problem with AbsoluteWrite: the message was redirected to an old message that gave the address of the widgets which are being discontinued and didn't mention the site move. I've updated the older message as far as I can, and apologise for any confusion.
We are giving it one more week and then sending emails to sites we find using the old widgets. Four weeks after that, the old widgets will be turned off. Because of the functional changes made for the new engine, redirecting the widgets themselves is not possible - the data is not the same and errors would occur.
We are trying to make sure that everyone knows about the move, because there are surprising numbers of users still on the old widgets.
Announcements have gone out on Kindleboards, Smashwords and AbsoluteWrite. There was a small problem with AbsoluteWrite: the message was redirected to an old message that gave the address of the widgets which are being discontinued and didn't mention the site move. I've updated the older message as far as I can, and apologise for any confusion.
We are giving it one more week and then sending emails to sites we find using the old widgets. Four weeks after that, the old widgets will be turned off. Because of the functional changes made for the new engine, redirecting the widgets themselves is not possible - the data is not the same and errors would occur.
Wednesday, 22 February 2012
Migrating your widgets
As the new website is live and stable, I am currently running through this blog correcting links to Smashingreads, rather than leaving them pointing to the old server.
If you are using the old widgets, please start replacing them with the new ones. The new versions have better character encoding handling, server side caching so they are more robust, and are faster. In a few cases there is also additional functionality.
We will be dropping notes to everyone we know about who is using the widgets, as well as announcements on the boards where we mentioned them.
One change I will mention: if you have not used the widget before, if Smashwords is down or can't provide the feed you may see an "Under Maintenance" message, instead of the previous blank feed.
This only occurs the first time because there is no cache for the system to fall back on. The system will continue trying to create the feed in the background, so try again in a few minutes. Once the widget is set up, if Smashwords goes down it will serve the cached version, meaning that images will still display and the widgets with third party links can still make sales on other sites.
If you are using the old widgets, please start replacing them with the new ones. The new versions have better character encoding handling, server side caching so they are more robust, and are faster. In a few cases there is also additional functionality.
We will be dropping notes to everyone we know about who is using the widgets, as well as announcements on the boards where we mentioned them.
One change I will mention: if you have not used the widget before, if Smashwords is down or can't provide the feed you may see an "Under Maintenance" message, instead of the previous blank feed.
This only occurs the first time because there is no cache for the system to fall back on. The system will continue trying to create the feed in the background, so try again in a few minutes. Once the widget is set up, if Smashwords goes down it will serve the cached version, meaning that images will still display and the widgets with third party links can still make sales on other sites.
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Usage Figures
It is about a month since I pulled the last figures and the site move makes it a good day to get the figures from 01 Feb to yesterday (20th Feb). These figures are pulled from the server stats.
RSS
Top Tools
*We can't track clickouts for images (or any widget that doesn't pass visitors through the server), so there are gaps.
We upgraded the store twice during the period, making it difficult to work out the rates, but combined across all versions we had 800 hits and 111 clickouts in that period, giving a 13.8% clickout rate.
What we can't tell is whether the users who click through it then eventually buy or download the book. However they do seem to be good at drawing readers' interest.
RSS
| Author RSS | 20,147 |
| Single Book | 16,203 |
Top Tools
| Tools | Views | Clickouts* | Clickout % |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multibook Rotator | 15,586 | 3,868 | 24.8% |
| Book Button (light) | 9,686 | ||
| Single Book widget (Javascript) | 2,556 | 872 | 34% |
| Advanced single book widget | 1,297 | 266 | 20% |
| Book Spotlight | 1,163 | ||
| Fan Button 1 | 929 |
*We can't track clickouts for images (or any widget that doesn't pass visitors through the server), so there are gaps.
We upgraded the store twice during the period, making it difficult to work out the rates, but combined across all versions we had 800 hits and 111 clickouts in that period, giving a 13.8% clickout rate.
What we can't tell is whether the users who click through it then eventually buy or download the book. However they do seem to be good at drawing readers' interest.
Stand alone Mini-site
Status: Prototype
Method: Stand Alone website
Type: Author Website
Link: http://www.smashingreads.com/int_minisite.php
The first widget solely on the new site, the minisite is a standalone website for Smashwords authors. It is designed for authors who need a quick website or URL to hand out.
Because our host only permits family-friendly content, we may block any adult or explicit content. This also means this URL may be useful for people writing children's books, or non-fiction, as a way around the problem mentioned here and here.
With third party buylinks, the widget directs buyers to sites where they already have accounts, making it easier to purchase the books. These minisites will work for publishers, but are optimised for authors so third party links may have odd effects.
What is still being worked on?
To create or view a minisite, enter
http://www.smashingreads.com/author/Accountname
in the address bar of your browser.
You can see one running here:
http://www.smashingreads.com/author/ciamarprice
Method: Stand Alone website
Type: Author Website
Link: http://www.smashingreads.com/int_minisite.php
The first widget solely on the new site, the minisite is a standalone website for Smashwords authors. It is designed for authors who need a quick website or URL to hand out.
- Purchase Links to third parties like Barnes and Noble.
- Social Networking integration
- Author and individual book pages
Because our host only permits family-friendly content, we may block any adult or explicit content. This also means this URL may be useful for people writing children's books, or non-fiction, as a way around the problem mentioned here and here.
With third party buylinks, the widget directs buyers to sites where they already have accounts, making it easier to purchase the books. These minisites will work for publishers, but are optimised for authors so third party links may have odd effects.
What is still being worked on?
- Adding Apple and Diesel links to the page. Both use a different API, making integration harder.
- Amazon and alternate format links. With Amazon adding more countries to Kindle their region-seperation makes things difficult.
To create or view a minisite, enter
http://www.smashingreads.com/author/Accountname
in the address bar of your browser.
You can see one running here:
http://www.smashingreads.com/author/ciamarprice
Friday, 17 February 2012
Server-side caching
The current engines are now running with a temporary cache to smooth out any server outages or bandwidth slowdown.
On the new site, we're moving the engine to a full server-side cache. This provides a few advantages - it is faster, it means the widgets stay up if Smashwords can't be accessed or is running slowly, and it reduces processing power and bandwidth use. The downside? It will take at least ten minutes for changes to reflect in the widgets.
The new versions of the first few widgets are being tested on the site, but are not linked up for public availability yet. We aren't just copying them - we are also optimising the code, adding the cache etc, which all needs testing.
Once all the tools are tested, the SR site gets updated, we take the divert page down, and the Apache guru gets to work on redirecting the original widgets. Hopefully, this should be completed next week.
On the new site, we're moving the engine to a full server-side cache. This provides a few advantages - it is faster, it means the widgets stay up if Smashwords can't be accessed or is running slowly, and it reduces processing power and bandwidth use. The downside? It will take at least ten minutes for changes to reflect in the widgets.
The new versions of the first few widgets are being tested on the site, but are not linked up for public availability yet. We aren't just copying them - we are also optimising the code, adding the cache etc, which all needs testing.
Once all the tools are tested, the SR site gets updated, we take the divert page down, and the Apache guru gets to work on redirecting the original widgets. Hopefully, this should be completed next week.
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Caching the feeds
The RSS feeds may be somewhat flaky until the weekend. This is for two reasons. First, we keep losing connectivity to Smashwords, possibly as a fail over from yesterday.
Second, we're working on the second part of the engine improvement. The "Under Maintenance" message was the first part, and rolled as a prototype. The second is a server-side cache for the RSS that means that short-term outages will be smoothed out, and widgets will continue working through them.
This is more complex as we need to balance a user's desire for up-to-date data against the need to keep data available, make sure it cannot cache the maintenance page, and ensure changes to data get pushed through quickly if the publisher or author makes a change.
We're also moving servers at the same time, and our Apache whizz has a day job as well. Please bear with us.
ETA: An update - basic server caching has been turned on (remote access is very useful). The code is in testing against the live tools. Please let us know about any issues.
Second, we're working on the second part of the engine improvement. The "Under Maintenance" message was the first part, and rolled as a prototype. The second is a server-side cache for the RSS that means that short-term outages will be smoothed out, and widgets will continue working through them.
This is more complex as we need to balance a user's desire for up-to-date data against the need to keep data available, make sure it cannot cache the maintenance page, and ensure changes to data get pushed through quickly if the publisher or author makes a change.
We're also moving servers at the same time, and our Apache whizz has a day job as well. Please bear with us.
ETA: An update - basic server caching has been turned on (remote access is very useful). The code is in testing against the live tools. Please let us know about any issues.
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