Show HN: Softcover – A publishing platform from the author of the Rails Tutorial

The Softcover sales platform includes a marketing page with slots for author bio, testimonials, FAQs, etc. (See, for example, Mark Bates's marketing page at http://conqueringthecommandline.com/) Softcover also supports an optional free HTML version of your book, which can be a great marketing tool. Finally, we are planning to develop a step-by-step "Marketing Wizard" to give authors detailed advice and guidance in their marketing efforts.

It is! Idea was to signify our desire to consume traditional publishing with a new publishing model. Publishing eating publishing.

This is awesome! Well defined, and I like the design and intro video. I wish there were something like this for writing journal articles. Right now, it's a total pain.

Great questions, Antonio. I've just deployed an update to the front page at http://www.softcover.io/ answering some of them, but for convenience I'll answer them below as well.

1. Am I allowed to sell the files elsewhere? For example, sell the .mobi file on Amazon Kindle and publish a printed version via CreateSpace.

Yes, you retain copyright on everything you make and can do anything you want with the files. They get built on your system by Softcover's open-source toolchain, so you have complete control.

2. Are the files watermarked at all with Softcover's branding?

No, the books have no Softcover branding. The online version has an inconspicuous Softcover-branded footer by default, but even that can be removed with a simple config setting, as described in the manual (http://manual.softcover.io/book/marketing#additional_informa...).

3. Is this open to authors everywhere or are there restrictions?

Softcover is open to anyone, and there are no restrictions.

4. Will this handle sale taxes for authors? I'm a Canadian author with a PST/GST account, will I able to collect that from Canadian customers?

I don't know about this one. If you join the [Softcover Google Group](https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/softcover-publishing), I'll introduce you to my cofounder Nick Merwin, who is in charge of stuff like this. If we don't currently support collecting Canadian sales tax, we might be able to add it.

Congrats, looks good. Will it remain free? What will be the restrictions in the future.