diff --git a/generate-files-for-simplestream.py b/generate-files-for-simplestream.py
index fa161e4a865a3260e766c15607aaaf2ca803186a..f7e3861afb2971917baa1c17ba3b77bc9fdc87e9 100755
--- a/generate-files-for-simplestream.py
+++ b/generate-files-for-simplestream.py
@@ -5,8 +5,9 @@ import shade
 import yaml
 import json
 import time
+import pathlib
 
-OUTPUT_DIR="./output/"
+OUTPUT_DIR="./output/simplestreams/images/streams/v1/"
 REGIONS = ['garr-pa1', 'garr-ct1']
 KEYSTONE_ENDPOINT = "https://keystone.cloud.garr.it:5000/v3"
 
@@ -15,6 +16,9 @@ with open('config.yml') as fh_config:
     config = yaml.load(fh_config)
     fh_config.close()
 
+# create the output directory
+pathlib.Path(OUTPUT_DIR).mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+
 openstack_cloud_connection = shade.openstack_cloud()
 
 simplestream_images = []
@@ -30,7 +34,7 @@ for image_key in sorted(config['images'].keys()):
     element['arch'] = element['simplestreams_name'].split(':')[-1]
     element['version'] = element['simplestreams_name'].split(':')[-2]
     simplestream_images.append(element)
-print(yaml.dump({'simplestream_images': simplestream_images}, default_flow_style=False))
+print(simplestream_images)
 
 now = time.strftime('%a, %d %b %Y %H:%M:%S %z')
 today = time.strftime('%Y%m%d')
@@ -78,3 +82,6 @@ metadata['content_id'] = "com.ubuntu.cloud:custom"
 with open(OUTPUT_DIR + "com.ubuntu.cloud-released-imagemetadata.json", 'w') as metadata_json:
     json.dump(metadata, metadata_json, indent=4)
 
+print("\n\nThe simplestream files have been generated in the output directory.\nYou can now upload them to the object store.")
+
+