Smashwords Question

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Anke Wehner

One possibility would be that the meatgrinder at the moment can't convert as many books per day as are submitted. Just speculating.

It does seem a lot slower than it was last month. It won't just be new subs though, it will be people uploading new versions too.

[bhartman36]

I don't know if this is typical, but I waited over 19 hours for my e-book to publish to Smashwords the last time. Even converting that to PDF and RTF has taken an additional 5 hours (and counting).

[TrineDaely]

I've uploaded new versions twice (autovetter is not my friend, formatting is not my skill), and both uploads took upwards of 24 hours each, closer to 30 if memory serves.

[Anke Wehner]

I haven't uploaded anything to Smashwords, but two authors whose Twitter accounts I follow mentioned something about uploads taking two days.

[G J Lau]

Indeed it is taking longer. A sign that e-publishing has reached uncritical mass and is exploding with titles. Still,it's not like we are paying Smashwords anything, at least not until a sale is made. Perhaps Smashwords needs to consider offering expedited service for those willing to pay for it.

[harold1066]

I've have my little 'short' up on Amazon for a couple of months but decided that it was time to expand to other formats; so yesterday I uploaded a file to smashwords.

From what I could tell I did everything that the style guide said. It took quite a while for the file to be converted and only now is it really for viewing.

Whatever way smashwords has converted the file, it has turned it into the biggest pile of dog poo!

The Amazon version I converted myself and it looks fine, but the smashwords version is so bad I've had to delete it and start again.

The 'short' has some pictures in it an the text has flowed into different places throughout the smashwords version.

Can't say that I'm that happy using the smashwords converting tool.

[old goat]

Conversion time-frame at Smashwords has been very long lately, due to a large volume of ebooks being converted.

Considering it took 24 hours for KDP to publish my ebooks in mobi format only, having Smashwords convert my latest ebook in less than 12 hours and in more formats isn't too bad.

Once in a while it takes a long time for Premium level distribution to be approved, but the conversion time isn't all that bad. My last ebook, published last month, was approved for Premium in about 2 weeks I believe.

I always check the various formats once an ebook is finished converting, and if I see any problems I simply unpublish the ebook, fix the problem and upload the latest version.

Smashwords isn't perfect, as some members of the Smashwords Forum will tell you, but it isn't the worst thing since the Edsel.

[Native]

Smashwords isn't perfect, as some members of the Smashwords Forum will tell you, but it isn't the worst thing since the Edsel.

Old Goat, I started the thread on that forum about lengthy conversions and approvals, and I've always regretted the negative tone. For newcomers, waiting after submission is a void filled with doubts: Did it vanish into the ether? Should I resubmit? If I resubmit and it's redundant, are they going to ban me from earth?... In that thread I was just looking for some confirmation that things hadn't come to a grinding halt. The problem, happily, was quite the opposite and they were just too busy for a while. The fact is, I'm very happy with Smashwords and I think we're all better off for their efforts.

My book - https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/36485

[old goat]

Originally Posted by Native

The fact is, I'm very happy with Smashwords and I think we're all better off for their efforts.

I agree. I think Mark has done an excellent job promoting and distributing ebooks.