Battle of the Book Builders
This Just In: I tried to format my book using Vellum and Atticus. Instead, I learned something about app design and limitations.
I'm in the final stages of editing Write Now's second edition. I'm aiming for a mid-September launch, which means the clock is ticking. To that point, I need to finalize the formatting.
The first version was formatted by a contractor on Fiverr who did tremendous work. However, for the second edition, I want to format everything myself so that I can 1) learn the process and 2) save a little money. Reading about the process online, it seems like there are two big players: Vellum and Atticus.
Vellum is what is known as a Mac-assed Mac app. It is exclusive to the Mac, and the design is top-notch. It's a beautiful app that makes you want to design a beautiful book. However, it is the definition of opinionated software, where you are limited to pre-selected styles that have limited customization options. Care about font choice and chapter layout? Too bad. You'll take the choices Vellum gives you, and you'll like it. Vellum costs $249, and you only pay when you're ready to export your first book.
Atticus, on the other hand, is a web app, so it's platform-independent. It is nowhere near as polished or lovely to use as Vellum, but it provides a lot more features. In particular, Atticus is connected to the Google Fonts library, so you have hundreds of choices to work with. However, while there are numerous options, seemingly rudimentary things like customizing how an image appears on the page are often impossible. Atticus costs $147 up front but comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
In the end, neither of these highly regarded typesetting tools met my needs. I ended up taking advantage of Atticus's money-back guarantee and never paid for Vellum.
What I learned in the process is that both of these tools are primarily designed to create ePub books, which have more design limitations than physical books. ePub must look great on a variety of screens and layouts, so the format isn't designed with aesthetics in mind.
Print books, on the other hand, are a fixed format where design absolutely matters. Each copy is identical, allowing for infinite customization of font choice and page graphics to achieve the exact intended design.
I learned that my approach to book formatting needed to change. In this case, one size does not fit all. More to the point, my print and ePub books will not (and likely should not) look the same. They each need to take advantage of their unique media.
I also learned that Apple Pages can export to ePub. So... yeah. Pages provides literally every feature I was looking for, down to the pixel-perfect design control. And it's free. So, that's a plus.
It turns out that I didn’t need specialized software for book formatting. While Pages can’t do some Kindle-specific features, like footnote popups, it gets the job done. Sometimes, specialized tools are more flash than function.
In this case, both Vellum and Atticus appear to be great tools for most people, but they did not meet my specific needs. And, when it comes to software tools, there is no right choice for everyone, just the right one for you. Find a tool you like and live with it.
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