Regulars here will know I’m dedicated to a diverse and healthy global ebook market, and for that reason alone I would continue to support stores like Smashwords even if they had very little to offer.

But Smashwords has lately shown, after a faltering step with the Flipkart debacle (which as it happens matters not, as Flipkart has now formally closed its ebook store) that it very much still in the game, and slowly but surely grasping the global nettle.

This past week Smashwords announced three new partners that, in Mark Coker’s own words,

“further expand the reach of the Smashwords ebook distribution network in the US, Europe and South America.” (LINK)

Actually, Mark, it does even better than that, encompassing S.E. Asia as well. More on that below.

But first, the bad news. Smashwords erotica authors need not apply. Yet again the Smashwords partner stores have followed the…