I love Scrivener.
It is the best writing tool and I couldn’t imagine writing without it now. I’ve also been using Scrivener to format my ebooks for the last five years and that has been fine.
Until recently.
In the last few weeks, a reader reported that a couple of my books had a formatting issue with the Kindle Look Inside on Amazon.com.
I checked and found that the spacing and alignment was screwed up. But in my Scrivener file and my KDP Preview, and even in the ebook itself, the formatting was fine. It was just a problem in the Look Inside Previewer. Perhaps there was an update inside Amazon that interacted with the particular way my formatting worked. Who knows? But whatever it was, I needed to fix it.
Because it was costing me sales.
Paying a formatter is one option, but when you publish a lot and you like to update back matter and fix typos or issues yourself, then having control is more important.
Then I heard about Vellum.
Their tagline is Easily Create Beautiful Ebooks, and that’s exactly what the software does. Here are some of the highlights for me:
- It’s incredibly easy to use. You just import a Word docx file and you can basically use it as-is
- You can also use the various Book Styles to change the look to something funkier
- You can preview the design as it will look in the various ebook readers, within the program
- It has template pages like Copyright, About the Author and More Books by the Author which have extra functionality, like areas for social media links and default text.
- You can import images and it will format them correctly, with extra text and links and resizing
- It makes boxsets REALLY easy. Seriously, if you haven’t done boxsets yet, as a single author or with multi-authors, then check it out. Here’s the specific Vellum boxset help page.
- It outputs the various formats for each of the stores and includes store specific book links in the Back Matter
It's basically the best tool for the ebook formatting job.
I use a lot of online tools (here's a list), and each has one job. By using Scrivener to format, I was trying to make that tool do more than one job. I'm super thrilled to find a tool that specializes in formatting.
There is one downside. It's Mac only. Sorry, PC people.
My new formatting process
I write in Scrivener and do my own self-edits in Scrivener. Then I export a Word doc to send to my editor.
When I get the changes back, I make them back into Scrivener.
Just to be clear. I still do all the writing and editing in Scrivener. It’s an awesome writing tool and I love love love it. (Here’s a video on how I use it).
But once the book is done, I export as a Word docx and open in Vellum. I use the formatting templates to add the back matter and check everything is beautiful, including adding the Ornamental Breaks to make the book look more professional.
Then I check the formatting on the various devices – which you can do within Vellum! Then I export to the various formats and upload to the stores. Easy peasy.
Click here for my tutorial on how to format your ebooks and print books with Vellum
So right now, I’m currently re-publishing all my ebooks with Vellum versions to give them the same look and feel, plus I'm updating the back matter as I go. The content hasn't changed, just the formatting. If you have my books, you should be able to re-download new versions. (Or you can always email me if you want a new formatted book.)
A word on change
As I mentioned in the blog post on the Digital Commerce Summit, we are living in a time of exponential change.
There are new tools, new opportunities and new markets opening every day. Things we did even a few months ago might not work any more.
We have to be prepared to change our opinions and our practices.
This can be difficult. But it can also be exciting.
I’m learning so much on this business trip that I have a number of other big changes coming in 2017. I’m pretty excited about it, to be honest. I’m a change junkie 🙂 I'll tell you more about it when my thinking is clearer but for now, I'm heading back to my formatting! (Click here to check out Vellum).
How do you format your ebooks? Please leave a comment below and join the conversation.
M A Demers says
While I am sure Vellum is useful, any auto-conversion program is ripe for issues, most of which are hidden until, as with Scrivener, you hear back from readers (btw, Scrivener has always make TERRIBLE ebooks). Personally, I use Sigil to build both ePubs and Kindle books, and the first order of business is to clean out stray code often found in my word-processing documents. When auto-convertors, like Calibre for example, encounter stray code, they do not clean it out; they simply create new style classes to accommodate the mess. (I suspect Vellum does the same.) Having seen the problems that can be lurking in document code, there is NO WAY I will ever again build my ebooks in any program in which I cannot directly view and edit the HTML.
You write: “You can preview the design as it will look in the various ebook readers, within the program.”
Even Amazon’s own Kindle Previewer doesn’t display a file exactly as it will look in various Kindle devices. Recently I’ve been doing tests with Unicode font, which Kindle devices can read and which incorporates many of the symbols found in Webdings that you cannot otherwise use in a Kindle book. When tested in Kindle Previewer Voyage, the ten random Unicode characters I chose display correctly. In Preview’s Fire, not all the characters display and the spacing is wonky. Yet in my actual Fire device, all characters display correctly. It’s not enough just to use a previewer; you have to test on at least one or two devices.
ePubs are even more difficult because every device and app is programmed differently, and there are hundreds of them. When I use the Unicode characters in Sigil, all ten characters display. But when the ePub is opened in Adobe Digital Editions, only 4 of the 10 display. On my Kobo Touch device, 7 of 10 display. No problem, one says; just embed the Unicode font. But not all ePub devices or apps will read embedded fonts. Want one in an ePub for Apple – it requires extra code not found in regular ePubs with embedded fonts.
You write: “it outputs the various formats for each of the stores.”
This suggests that Vellum alters the code to accommodate the main players (Apple, Kobo, Kindle, Nook, Google), but those five players are not the whole game, especially once you leave N.A. And even among those five players, not every device/app within a company’s line is programmed identically. What most ebook designers do is code for the main players and for the majority of their devices — even if that means using older code rather than that recommended by the device manufacturers for their latest devices because most are backwards compatible while older devices cannot properly display newer code — and bugger the rest. But publishers need to be aware of this in order to make informed decisions. Products like Vellum create a false sense of security.
You write: You can import images and it will format them correctly, with extra text and links and resizing.
Please read this: http://mademers.com/image-handling-in-epubs-reaches-new-level-of-inanity/.
Lastly, you say you like to update back matter and fix typos yourself. Then I highly recommend you download the free Sigil. You can fix typos with it and add/delete back matter.
Roberto Gonzalez says
Well, you changed my life with Scrivener, and now, here we go again! This is why you are my favorite source of writing and publishing information. Thanks again!
Joanna Penn says
Glad you’ve found it useful 🙂 The tools will keep changing – and keep getting better!
Karen Inglis says
Hi Jo
I’ve been using Vellum for a couple of years now and LOVE it 🙂 To pick up on something another respondent said (and you will know this, I know…) it does give you the option to create a ‘Generic’ ePub file as well as allowing you to convert for the main players – that may or may not address the point being made there about whether it would be compatible on all devices. My experience has always been fantastic though in terms of layout on end devices and the team are really responsive if you email with a question.
Just one thing to be aware of — unless it’s been fixed now — I have never been able to make the cross links to my other Kindle books work in the Kindle version of the file produced (whereas cross-links in the back of iBooks, Kobo etc versions work fine.) By this I mean *after I load the book on the device* (the links work fine from within the Vellum software but I always test links as a customer will experience them as well). For some reason Amazon blocks those direct links (which is bonkers!) and tells you it can’t connect — this certainly happens on the Kindle Paperwhite and its predecessor. And it seems to happen whether or not you insert the links as web links or use the automatic shop links picked up via Vellum’s software. Vellum were aware of it when I asked about it and have confirmed this is an Amazon issue and not related to their software – and might only apply on some Kindle models, not all. But it’s worth knowing about. The workaround I use is to list the books and then provide a link to my Amazon Author page. As I say this may have been fixed, but certainly hadn’t been in May of this year. And even if it only applies to some Kindle models, if it affects the Paperwhite still then that’s quite a lot of customers 🙂 But I digress, Vellum is brilliant 🙂
AD Starrling says
Karen, re: links for your other books on Amazon, Pretty Links work fine. I have affiliate-genius-Pretty links in the back of my books. What I mean is I genius link the affiliate links, then Pretty Link the genius affiliate links. It takes me about 10-15 mins to do this entire process for the Amazon, iTunes, and Rakuten affiliate links. I have tested my buy links on the Kindle app on 3 computers and 2 mobile devices, as well as my Kindle Paperwhite. And tested the iTunes, Nook, Kobo, generic epub ones as well. They all work fine 😀
Joanna Penn says
You are an affiliate wizard, AD 🙂
Wendy says
So are folks saying when you have links in your book leading to services, etc on your website they do not work and then we have to purchase another add-on to make them work? Seems a little silly
Tom Martin says
Thanks for the post. My three ebooks had the same problem with the “Look Inside.” I asked Amazon to fix my free funnel book and they did. But my other two books still has the problem. Today I looked at my version of KindleGen and noticed that it can format many formats including ePub, so I re uploaded one of the problem books in the KDP in ePub and it seems to have worked. I say seems to have worked because I had already asked Amazon to fix it and the other book so it could have been their doing. However, since the other book still has the problem I think it was my uploading the ePub and letting the Amazon resident “KindleGen” format the book. Anyway, I hope this solves the Look Inside problem until I can download a KindleGen for Scrivener that works.
S. J. Pajonas says
Interestingly enough, this happened to me too. My look-insides were all messed up, and yeah, I may have lost a few sales. But I also couldn’t afford Vellum. So, what did I do? I wrote an IRATE email to Amazon and told them to fix NOW or I’d escalate to Jeff Bezos. They fixed all my books within three days. Problem solved. Also, my newer books have been fine since then. Saved $300! 🙂
Joanna Penn says
I see Vellum as the next iteration of design, so more than just fixing a problem 🙂
Lisa Lang Blakeney says
Also, Amazon fixed the issue with the look inside for my books too, but I ran into the problem again when I made a box set. The fonts were different for different books which made the reader experience a little wonky. I think that may be Scrivener’s only flaw. Am definitely considering adding Vellum to my arsenal. I don’t want to pay someone to format for me when that’s my only issue.
Jim Wilbourne says
I’m testing out Vellum right now.
Oh my is it wonderful!
Have you seen any information regarding when they’ll enable print formatting?
If they add this, I won’t have to split my efforts between two pieces of software.
Tom Martin says
I uploaded a second book that had the display in Look Inside problem in the ePub format, but this time it did not solve the problem. This comment is just to say that I apparently have not solved the Look Inside problem. Vellum may very well be the answer, but the expense at this time is not prudent.
Tom
John Martin says
Thanks for this food for thought, Joanna. At the moment I am using Scrivener to write and output.
I’m near the start of the ebook learning curve. I’ve been prioritising what I need to produce a professional product. No. 1 was figuring out the process for myself (that’s an ongoing learning process. Like you podcasts by the way.) No. 2 was finding a copy editor. No. 3 was getting a graphic artist on board.
The next thing will be to drill down on formatting. Scrivener seems to do a good job with the simple things I ask of it. But I like the more fancy touches I see in your screenshots.
An established author has already pointed me in the direction of a hand formatter, but the more I think about it, the more I like the control of being able to update it myself whenever I need to.
As I said, it’s early days for me, and I’m looking nearly a year ahead before even starting to get traction. It’s always harder to push a stationary object than something that is already moving. (Who knew my high school physics would come in handy one day.) But if I can get some momentum up, I think this Vellum will be worth investing in
AD Starrling says
An additional Vellum tip some may not be aware of. You can copy your front matter and back matter from one book’s Vellum file and paste it into another book’s Vellum file. Saves a hell of a lot of time with your standard stuff, like reader magnet graphics and “Other Books” lists. Obviously, that’s how you do boxsets easy-peasy as well! 😀
Robert Burton Robinson says
Joanna, thanks so much for recommending Vellum. I, too, had been using Scrivener to format my books, and it did a decent job–although it can’t handle any fancy formatting. But my books looked terrible in the Kindle “Look Inside” feature. The text was all centered.
So I followed your link to Vellum and bought the unlimited version. I love it! I’m in the process of reformatting all sixteen of my Kindle titles.
And I, too, still love Scrivener for writing and editing. It’s amazing for that.
Thanks again!
Robert Burton Robinson
Joanna Penn says
Awesome! I’m actually finding the formatting is fun as well 🙂
Rob Robinson says
I purchased Vellum; wrote and uploaded a book to Amazon.
For the past 9 days, it still has not shown up at the LITB with the drop cap and other Vellum features.
I contacted KDP support and they said they are working on the problem. I had heard that this problem was already resolved for Vellum books.
I have written 22 books with Scrivener and they were all fine at the LITB for several years. Suddenly two months ago, they all became scrambled. I contacted Amazon and after two weeks they fixed each book, one at a time. They said if I upload them again using Scrivener, they will return to scrambled.
I don’t know what is going on with Amazon, but clearly they are having some serious code problems in getting the LITB feature to work for Scrivener and Vellum books.
We hope it will be resolved soon so we can get back to writing…
Rob
T. R. Robinson says
Never heard of Vellum before so thank you for sharing the information. Bit concerned about Amazon problems but I expect that should be sorted fairly soon.
Joanna Penn says
I think it’s more likely that people are moving to the next level of HTML and older files don’t necessarily have the right coding. I think these kind of things will inevitably happen over time as the systems mature, and we always need to keep up 🙂
Chad V. Holtkamp says
Earlier this week I took the plunge with Vellum for my next book and then found your article afterwards. You’re right in that it’s a lot of fun formatting. It reminds me of using Macs in college in the early ’90s. While everyone else was stuck on DOS, the few of us in the Mac lab had a whole world of typography at our fingertips, WYSIWYG. Playing around with fonts and formatting for my research papers was so much fun! And I’m finding that again with Vellum.
Now that you’re republishing your older books with Vellum versions, can you just upload the new files in place of your current ones? Or do you have to create “new” 2nd editions?
I’d love to redo my first two books in Vellum to have the same look and feel, especially since they’re all part of the same series.
Joanna Penn says
You just reload a new format 🙂
George Greenly says
Joanna,
As always you ROCK! Thanks for the tip on Vellum. I too will continue using Scrivener and do the formatting with Vellum.
Cheers
CA Sole says
Thanks for the post Joanna, great value as always. I published using Scrivener and all was well until I looked at the Kindle previewer. On my computer using Amazon’s downloaded previewer, the format was perfect, on Amazon’s web previewer there were pages missing all over the manuscript, different fonts and spacing, it was basically a mess. I advised Amazon and after 4 weeks (yes, 4 weeks) they told me to change my browser from Safari to Firefox. That was easy as I had Firefox on my computer anyway. Result – perfect!
I bring this up because everyone so far has been giving solutions involving changing writing packages. Maybe a browser change is all that’s required? I’m no techie, so this may be a rather ignorant reply.
Dean Kutzler says
When formatting my 1st book…I never realized how daunting it could be! I think I tried Vellum when it was offered free. I obviously didn’t delve into it as thoroughly as you have. I now see (thank you very much) how valuable it is and must revisit it.
I use Scrivner for all my formatting, but I did find when it came to print, I needed to utilize Word. Blech! But, as far as all the bells & whistles you see in a traditionally published book, like drop caps, pictures and word art, I have been able to duplicate the results with 100% authenticity with Scrivner. (As hard as it was…)
My goal, when I set out…was to look just like a traditionally published book. It was difficult, but I did it. I can do eBooks, trade paperbacks & small paperbacks (although not the small one yet), hardcover (which I really need someone better than Ingram – they’re the best I’ve found so far, but not good enough for my tastes) and I’m working on audio and foreign markets.
Thanks for the Vellum tip! Do you know if the unlimited price they charge is lifetime or yearly?
Christina Pilz says
I found this:
https://help.vellum.pub/purchasing/
“Is there a limit to the number of eBooks I can create with the Unlimited package?
No limit. Create as many as you can!”
Hope this helps! (I’ve been having trouble with my Look Inside views too!)
Kev Partner says
Jutoh, an ebook compiler built in the UK, is a good alternative to Vellum for those of us not using a Mac and/or not prepared to pay $200 for ebook formatting software. It’s not as elegant, but it gives easy access to posh formatting, is very quick to use and produces nice, clean, results. It does 80% of what Vellum does for (less than) 20% of the price.
The Scrivener process for compiling an ebook is an abomination – they could hardly have made it more difficult to get your head around!
Leda Miller says
Joanna, do you know if this software would publish graphic novels or children’s picture books? And when you format your manuscript in a .docx, do you set the page size to fit a Kindle, or iBook? Or do you leave it set as a standard letter size? I use Pages, and will be exporting it as a .docx. Thank you for giving us this software connection!!
~Leda
Joanna Penn says
You can use KDP for Kids, and KDP for comics/graphic novels – here: https://kdp.amazon.com/kids and https://kdp.amazon.com/publish-comics-graphic-novels
Henry Vogel says
Good timing on the question about illustrated children’s books. I have an illustrated children’s book and have never been happy with the formatting of the ebook edition. I downloaded Vellum–it’s free to download and play around with–and found it very easy to format my illustrated book. I haven’t spent money on it yet since I’m trying to decide between the $30 one book test run or sinking the full $200 into the unlimited license. Regardless, there’s no reason not to try Vellum and see how the book looks in their simulated devices.
Aurora John says
Thanks for the post, Joanna! Very helpful!
Do you use your Vellum ePub file for Create Space as well? If you do, how do you convert the ePub into a PDF for Create Space? Thanks!
Joanna Penn says
I pay a formatter for my print books – but Vellum is working on a print version as well 🙂