Because each distribution channel requires a different format (of course it does, life would be too simple if they each took the same format), the Meatgrinder essentially takes your word document and, if it is properly formatted (download, READ, and FOLLOW The Smashwords Style Guide or the Meatgrinder will hate you), it will format your ebook into at least seven different formats. How amazing is that!
If you're like me, and you have become addicted to your (somewhat) real-time reports on Amazon, don't fret! You can opt-in or out of any distribution channel you want. Because I am already set up with Amazon, I simply opted-out and let Smashwords distribute my ebook to the other channels. Also, I had to take my books out of KDP Select before I could publish there, otherwise I would be violating the terms. I'm not sure yet if it is worth it to remove my books from KDP, but I am the type of person who likes to experiment before making up my mind. Your book is instantly up on Smashwords (unless you want to make your book available for pre-order), but it takes days or weeks for your books to become available on the different channels and this is AFTER your word document survives the Meatgrinder. I would love to post about how I personally survived the Meatgrinder, but I would essentially be rewriting the style guide. I will, however, post a few things that I did to take my formatted Kindle document and convert it to a Meatgrinder-happy version.
- The first thing I did was take my kindle-formatted .doc version of my book and I saved it under a different name. Do not forget this step!! Because I had already formatted my document for Kindle, some of the same formatting applied, but not everything. If you do not have a Kindle version, read and follow every step in the SW formatting guide.
- I removed ALL the formatting. You might be able to get by without this, but I wanted to somewhat start from scratch to be on the safe side. The SW style guide recommends keeping things simple. Don't select those fancy fonts or formatting, stick to Times New Roman, and simple is always better. After I removed the formatting I had to reset my indentations (remember to NEVER, EVER use tabs).
- For my Kindle version, I had to insert page breaks for each new page, but for Smashwords, I had to do this differently (check the formatting guide). Because I have a Mac, I may have done this a little differently. I went into my paragraph formatting, selected "line and page breaks", and selected "keep with next" and "page break before". After I did this, I had to make sure my table of contents hyperlinks still worked. Some of my bookmarks were no longer in the right place, so I had to move these.
- Speaking of bookmarks, the Meatgrinder did no like my bookmark for my table of contents. For my chapters, I labeled them c1, c2, c3... and my table of contents was labeled TOC. I ended up getting an error and I had to go back and relabel this ref_TOC. The Meatgrinder likes this "ref_" right before this bookmark for some reason and when I read the formatting guide, my eyes drifted right over this instruction.
- Lastly, Smashwords wants you to add two things to your title page and copyright information.
- The first is adding "Smashwords Edition" or "Published by ___ at Smashwords"
- Also, copy and paste the license notice from the formatting guide.
This is basically what I did to convert my manuscript to make it Meatgrinder-happy. One thing I did afterwards was download an .epub version of my book (from Smashwords after I had uploaded it) and previewed this on Calibre because I don't have a Nook and I wanted to see what it would look like. It takes time and patience, but you will get there if you decide to take the plunge. Good luck, and you are always welcome to leave a comment or email me (jmjohnsonbooks@gmail.com) if you need help from someone who has been through the Meatgrinder and lived to tell the tale.
