Writers ask lots of questions, and the writing community pays it forward quite well.
I see many questions on a regular basis. One is “what program do you use to format your manuscript?” These writers aren’t talking about how to format their manuscript for presenting to agents, editors, or publishers, but programs to format the manuscript for actual book publishing.
Amazon accepts several file formats for ebooks. Here’s a list. Now that they accept epub files, writers don’t have to fret over converting their files to mobi. That makes things a lot easier!
If you still want a mobi file, I recommend using Calibre to convert your epub file to mobi. Because there are coding issues sometimes with my epub files, I use Calibre to resolve those issues.
Formatting Programs
Vellum (one-time purchase) is for Mac users only (there is a convoluted work-around for Windows users). It creates beautiful books! I have often considered buying a Mac just so I can use Vellum. You lucky Mac owners! Vellum is available for $199.99 if you only want to create ebooks. It’s $249.99 if you want to do both ebooks and print.
Atticus.io (one-time purchase) is new on the formatting scene. Created by Dave Chesson’s team at Kindlepreneur, Chesson plans on expanding the program so “authors can plan, plot, outline, write, collaborate and format all in one.” Currently available for $147.
Adobe InDesign is available by subscription and varies based on how many of Adobe’s programs you opt for. A single-app membership for InDesign starts at $20.99/mo. This is the program CrossRiver uses for all our books, including cover design. The ability to create your cover is the big advantage InDesign has over the other platforms. I purchased a course to learn how to navigate this program.
Reedsy.com writing tool (free). I’ve never used Reedsy’s tool, but it looks very similar to Vellum without the cost. It exports to both epub and pdf. Reedsy is a quality site and I have no qualms about recommending it.
Scrivener 3 (one-time purchase) is available for both Mac and Windows (a separate program download for each). This amazing tool for writers is only $49. I use it for all my writing, but rarely use it to create my publishing files. Your files can be “compiled” in many formats including the all important pdf and epub. The #1 complaint most writers have is the learning curve that comes with Scrivener. They offer great tutorials, and what writer has learned 100% of the capabilities of Word? It’s not as difficult to learn as InDesign.
You can format a book for print in Google Docs (free) and MSWord (subscription if you use Office 365), but I don’t recommend it. Setting up your folios (those alternating headers at the top of each page) gives a lot of writers grief, and the page numbers often do too. There are tutorials on YouTube on using Word to format your book, but when you have a free tool like Reedsy, why make things harder for yourself?
YouTube is my go-to resource for tutorials on any program I use.
Many other free programs exist. However, I haven’t used them and don’t know enough about them to include them on my list of formatting programs. I hope this has been informative and helpful.
Got questions? Leave them in the comments and I’ll be sure to answer.
Marlene A Hibbard says
Hi Debra, Question: You said you rarely use Scrivener “but rarely use it to create my publishing files”. Forgive my ignorance but to what are you referring as publishing files?
Also, You did a training on getting familiar with Scrivener at one time, is that still available?
Debra says
Hi, Marlene. By publishing files, I mean those I upload to Amazon. I use Scrivener to write my books, but I export the files to Word and then use InDesign to create the layouts. Yes, the training videos on Scrivener are available for CBA members in the Tech Library module.