The self-pub service Smashwords has just released a couple new editions of its guide for formatting ebooks.

The Smashwords Style Guide is primarily focused on prepping an eBook for Smashwords, but it also contains a number of useful tips on general eBook formatting. It’s well worth a read for the beginning eBook maker.

The original English language guide has been downloaded over 130 thousand times by Smashwords’ more than 85 thousand authors. The new editions of the style guide were translated by volunteer writers, and Guide des Styles Smashwords and Der Smashwords Formatierungleitfaden are now available for free download at Smashwords. They will also soon be available at Apple, Barnes & Noble, Sony, and Amazon. I’m also told that translations for Spanish, Italian, Dutch, Bengali, and Portuguese are in the works.