So, I'm trying to put Trang up on Google e-books. Holy crap, is that site not designed to make me feel any less cranky toward them--it's just the worst in terms of figuring out what the hell you need to do.
In order to get paid when people buy your book on any on-line retailer, you need to include information to identify you to the IRS as well as an account number where they can deposit the money. Everyone else makes this a really easy 1-2-3 process: Step 1, enter taxpayer ID. Step 2, enter account info. Step 3, you're ready to rock.
With Google, it's more like:
HERE IS STEP
Um, gee, this isn't working. Where are the directions?
(dig around for several minutes until I find an appropriate help page)
Oh, yeah, right--that's step 3! I need to do step 1 and 2 before I do step 3. Where's step 1?
(dig around for several more minutes)
Ah! Here's step 1! And step 2! Nowhere near step 3, or each other!
(do step 1. do step 2)
OK, it doesn't look like step 2 is working. Is it really not working, or is it just that one of those steps haven't gone through yet?
(dig around for several minutes more--because why would you ever put all the relevant information in the same place, or link it together in any way?)
Oh, crap--it's not 1-2-3! It's 1-2-3-4-5!
So, we shall see if I ever wind up on sale on Google, and if I do, if they'll ever pay me.
Smashwords has been around for, what, five minutes? It has a tiny fraction of the staff and resources Google has. B&N only began doing this a year ago. And both companies, along with Amazon, have an interface is about a thousand times easier to use and looks about a thousand times more professional than Google's. Seriously, if I had started out on Google, I would have given up self-publishing as a bad business.