Smashwords Direct (bypass Meatgrinder) by the end of 2012

[avantman42]

I know there are some people here who really detest Smashwords' Meatgrinder, so I thought this might be of interest:

From the Smashwords blog:

Originally Posted by Smashwords Blog

To accommodate the books from these ebook design pros, we'll offer a Meatgrinder bypass option called Smashwords Direct by the end of 2012. That means it's coming but it's not immediately imminent. Even when we offer that service, I expect most authors will still choose the Meatgrinder route because it's faster, cheaper and, well, simpler.

Full post: http://blog.smashwords.com/2011/11/i...le-ebooks.html

It doesn't say whether the Direct option will take an ePub and use that to convert to the other formats, or if authors using Direct will have to upload their own ePub, Mobi, etc files. I'm guessing it's the latter.

[carpetmojo]

Wass Meatgrinder ?

[avantman42]

From the Smashwords FAQ:

Meatgrinder is Smashwords' automated file conversion technology. Once you upload your Microsoft Word .doc file, formatted to the Style Guide, Meatgrinder takes the file and automatically converts it into nine different ebook formats. This means that you simply upload one Word .doc to create multiple ebook files, making your book readable on virtually any e-reading device.