“New authors can choose a self-publishing route and get their work published and for sale in the shop Sony e-book in just 10 days”, the Japanese electronics giant said in a statement.

Sony said it has teamed up with solutions to Smashwords Copyright and give independent authors and small publishers the ability to make their works available for the Sony Reader.

“We are committed to providing our clients access to a wider range of available eBook content and that these collaborations will allow us to broaden the selection of stores with a weight range of works from independent sources,” said Chris Smythe, director of Sony and – bookshop.

“We recognize that it is important to provide independent authors and publishers the opportunity to quickly and easily bring their ideas and content to a wide audience of readers,” he added.

Author Solutions CEO Kevin Weiss said the company has more than 20,000 new titles to the market each year and “better serve our authors, it is imperative that we make their content available in digital version.

Smashwords founder and CEO Mark Coker all an author or publisher has to do is “simply upload your manuscript to Smashwords as a Microsoft Word (and) select the price.”

“We handle the processing and distribution,” he said.

Sony last month unveiled a new e-Reader, reader of the daily edition, with a touchscreen and wireless connectivity in an attempt to challenge popular Amazon Kindle.

Amazon already offers a similar self-publishing features to the Kindle.

(c) 2009 AFP