- Vellum book formatting full#
- Vellum book formatting software#
- Vellum book formatting series#
- Vellum book formatting free#
It’s not my intention to raise my elitist, Apple-shaped nose at them. Vellum is available directly from 180g’s site here.Whenever a fellow writer or client asks me what I use to create ebooks or print editions, my first question is always, “Mac or PC?”
Vellum book formatting software#
It seems like there’s a real opportunity from a software team with experience in creating tools for creators to do something good for the industry. Amazon makes it easier than ever for independent authors to publish on the platform, but the tools they’ve given them are anemic and frustrating.
![vellum book formatting vellum book formatting](https://thewritelife.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/Vellum-Title-Info.png)
The process of cross-platform ebook creation has remained almost incredibly static for years, all while the ebook market has been exploding and the barriers of entry to new authors has fallen. In addition to one-click support for iBooks, Kindle and Nook, Vellum also allows exporting to Epub files for distribution to beta readers. An author gets to see the book exactly as a user does without having to export to devices to check and manage them all. Vellum also allows the quick addition of copyright, epigraph and acknowledgement sections, all with an instant preview of the book. Vellum allows industry-standard typesetting to be performed dynamically, updating as the content changes and handling spacing and indentation. If any formatting or type issues are found, the process must start all over again.
Vellum book formatting series#
Normally an author must use a series of tools to first convert a Word file, then lay it out, add customized fonts, preview and then export in a file readable by Kindle. The way Vellum handles typesetting is one example of how it improves on the complex process for Kindle publishing. With one Vellum file, an author can tweak and serve their project to any platform they wish. West acknowledges that Apple’s decision to limit iBooks Author is likely strategic but notes that when it’s siloed to a platform it’s simply not as powerful as it ever could be. The agnostic nature of Vellum means that it doesn’t have any agendas as far as the platform that they will support, like iBooks. The core of Vellum’s experience is based on live previews that will show authors exactly what it will look like on a variety of platforms. You can also buy bundles of 3 books for $99 or 5 books for $149. Once it’s time to publish, a single book export runs $49.99, with unlimited re-export privileges for any platform on that book.
Vellum book formatting full#
It then lets authors tweak and edit their books, taking advantage of the full suite of tools.
Vellum book formatting free#
Vellum is a free Mac app that allows you to import your projects from your writing platform of choice like Microsoft Word. West helped develop Pixar’s next-gen animation system that was first used on Brave (under ToyTalk’s Oren Jacob). Doubtless their expertise in building software tools for creators informed their decision to move on to…building software tools for creators. West and Andalman spent over a decade each at Pixar (West started there in ’96) working on building software and animation systems used on films like The Incredibles, Finding Nemo and Toy Story 2. If they had the tools, would want to make better looking books…the barrier is the tools. “Authors care about how a book looks,” says West, but he notes, “when a book is self published, you can tell.
![vellum book formatting vellum book formatting](https://scribemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Scribe_vellumformattingsoftware_blog_1400x812-1024x594.jpg)
Those are the issues that spurred Vellum’s Brad West and Brad Andalman to look into creating a tool to help authors get the same kind of access to great book design as major publishers.
![vellum book formatting vellum book formatting](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/582caad246c3c4568a7e562e/1567705550056-UMUM8FV378PERO8VZDL4/ke17ZwdGBToddI8pDm48kKTg8zArQZEXXF82rZnmw7QUqsxRUqqbr1mOJYKfIPR7LoDQ9mXPOjoJoqy81S2I8N_N4V1vUb5AoIIIbLZhVYy7Mythp_T-mtop-vrsUOmeInPi9iDjx9w8K4ZfjXt2dpWZylX_6GcqIbnal4a4kljV5ixZe8-N8pSShSuc-e_Wm7cT0R_dexc_UL_zbpz6JQ/tour-update-scarcely-2x.jpg)
Well-crafted books with gorgeous fonts, nicely presented chapter and header formatting and a highly customized feel are too often the sole purview of publishers with teams of formatting experts. Once you’ve gotten a project to look how you’d like it to there, you have to do it all over again if you want to publish on Kindle or Nook or any other platform.Īnd, after all of the massaging through the laborious multiple-tool process, authors are often left with a product that looks fairly boring and generic. And it’s not even close to being cross-platform friendly. And even then, authors are largely taking a stab in the dark as to how their books will look when they’re live on the store.Īpple took some steps to make this process easier with iBooks Author, but I’ve spoken to some folks who have published there and even its tools have their quirks. The Kindle process is especially poor, with dozens of interlocking parts that must be juggled in order to convert, format, tweak and publish a book. The app allows authors to publish ebooks on Apple’s iBookstore, Amazon Kindle and Nook devices, but the advances here are in how the app enables live previews and fine-tuning.Įbook creation is an awful experience. Vellum is an app for the Mac developed by a team led by two Pixar software veterans that are trying to make the process of creating ebooks less painful.