Now let’s focus on the others. As far as apps that help you write, I’ve done a post on that as well; it’s an app called Text Expander™, and it’s an invaluable tool to aid your writing.

This app not only saves you tons of time, it makes sure your mistakes are at a minimum. I did a blog earlier on some of the benefits of using Text Expander™ but it only covered a few. I actually wrote an entire book Writing Shortcuts on it and even that didn’t touch on everything. In fact, Text Expander™ is so versatile that I’m still learning new things to do with it. And Text Expander™ continues to be improved by the developers, who release updates and new versions on a regular basis.

Formatting with Vellum

A lot has changed in the reading world. Digital reading (eBooks) has taken over half of the reading public while print books have a firm hold on the rest. Either way though readers want to enjoy a good reading experience, which means the books should be formatted well and presented in a professional manner.

The self-publishing boom created a lot of opportunities, and one of the bigger ones was for professional formatters. Tens of thousands of books were being written, but they had to be converted from a text file to formats for eBook, Kindle, and print, and it was not an easy thing to do.

Authors paid anywhere from $75 to several hundred dollars to have their books formatted. Even then, it was often trial and error to make it work with all the formats, not to mention that a lot of the formatting didn’t look good. It was acceptable, but not good.

A lot of companies made attempts to automate the process but none of them seemed to get it right. Several came close: Scrivener did a decent job, and it was fine for beta readers and such, but it wasn’t good enough for a finished product.

Then along came Vellum, and everything changed. For the first time, formatting a book professionally was put into the hands of anyone who owned the software. Vellum was not only easy, it was quick, and the end product was gorgeous. Below is a screenshot of what it looks like while you’re using the product. The far left shows your volumes, parts, or chapters. The middle section shows your text, and the right shows what the finished product will look like on various devices: Apple, B&N, Google, Kindle, Kobo, and Print.

You can see at the beginning of the first paragraph what it looks like in text form, and if you look to the right, you’ll see how that P will be presented in final form. There are many styles to choose from in Vellum’s preferences. Notice also the chapter heading. I used a small image of my book cover at the beginning of each chapter. Vellum makes inserting a picture or image almost as easy as typing a line.