How to Format Your Book with Vellum

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Looking for a simple, cost-effective way to format your book? Allow me to introduce you to Vellum. 

This book formatting software is incredibly intuitive and easy to use. Though designed with fiction in mind, you can use Vellum to format any book not in need of complicated interior design. I had no trouble using Vellum to format Build Your Best Writing Life for print and e-book distribution, and I intend to use it for both my fiction and non-fiction books for many years to come.

Because Vellum is a one-time purchase ($199.99 for e-book, $249.99 for print + e-book), it’s a cost-effective DIY formatting option for many independent authors, especially those planning to publish multiple books. Because you don’t need to purchase Vellum until you’re ready to generate your formatted files, you can download and trial Vellum for an unlimited amount of time. 

Note: Unfortunately, Vellum is only available for macOS users at this time. However, author Paul Teague offers an easy and comprehensive workaround for PC users who’d love to take advantage of this formatting option.

Not sure if Vellum is right for you? Let’s take a look inside the program together. For example’s sake, I’ll be formatting the first ten chapters and opening epigraph of my current work-in-progress, a medieval fantasy novel called '“Lady Legacy”.

Importing Your Manuscript Into Vellum

After downloading Vellum, you can begin formatting your manuscript by creating a new project. The easiest way to do this is to import your manuscript in the form of a Microsoft Word file. This is easy to accomplish even if you don’t work in Word. Both Scrivener and Google Docs, among other popular word processors, allow you to export or save your projects as .docx. 

Alternatively, you can create a new project in Vellum by selecting File > New, then copying and pasting your manuscript into the program manually.

Understanding the Vellum Interface

After creating your new project, you’ll get your first real look at Vellum’s interface, which features three main panels. First, there is the left-hand sidebar—also called the navigator—where you can access and organize the content of your manuscript and the formatting styles that will help you create the best look for your finished book. 

Next, there’s the center panel where you can make active changes to your book, view formatting styles, and input information when prompted. Finally, on the right-hand side of your screen, you have the preview panel, where you can see how your formatting choices will appear in your finished files. 

Back in the center panel, you’ll notice that Vellum prompts you to enter your book’s title, subtitle, and author information immediately after importing your manuscript. By selecting the “eBook Cover” option toward the top of the panel, you can also upload your book’s cover to be included in your final formatted e-book files. 

Organizing Your Book’s Chapters in the Navigator

When importing a Word file into Vellum, the program strives to auto-recognize the chapter breaks in your manuscript and split them into individual chapter sub-files accordingly. If Vellum has done this properly, you should see your chapter files listed here in the navigator. 

However, as you can see, Vellum hasn’t done this for my project. This gives me the opportunity to show you how to split your chapters manually, which is a very easy process in the program. First, click on the file in your navigator that contains your manuscript. Then, simply place your cursor before the start of a new chapter in the text located in the center panel, then select Chapter > Split Chapter at Cursor.

As you can see, a Chapter One file now exists in my navigator. When splitting a chapter at the cursor, Vellum carries all of the text below your cursor into the new file. Thus, as you can see, my original Epigraph file now contains only my novel’s epigraph, whereas the Chapter One file contains both chapter one and all of the nine remaining chapters I imported. To give each of these chapters their own file, I’m going to repeat the splitting process now. 

To view the text of any of your files in the center panel, simply select that file in the navigator. In addition to your chapter files, your navigator should also contain a Title Page file and a Contents file that contains your Table of Contents.

One of my favorite Vellum features is its ability to build your Table of Contents automatically, so you don’t have to worry about accurately inputting chapter page numbers manually.

To add a new file to your navigator, simply select Chapter > Add Chapter. Or, if the file you’d like to create is for a section of your book that is not a chapter, you can select Chapter > Add Element and choose an Element from the dropdown menu, such as dedication, prologue, or acknowledgements. 

Choosing the right element for each file in your navigator is vital, as Vellum formats the text in those files according to the option you’ve chosen. To change the element assigned to a file, select the file in the navigator, then click Chapter > Convert To and choose the appropriate option from the dropdown menu. 

Finally, know that the files in your navigator should be organized in the order you’d like them to appear in your published book. To rearrange files in your navigator, simply click on a file and drag it to your desired destination. 

Selecting the Best Design Styles for Your Book

At the top of the navigator, you’ll notice a button called “styles”. Selecting this option will allow you to change the design of common body styles found in your manuscript, as well as the style of your book as a whole. 

To change a body or book style, first select that option in your navigator. Then flick through the design options available to you in the center of your screen. As you peruse these options, note that you can preview how they would look if applied to your manuscript in the preview panel on the right-hand side of your screen.

When you find a design you like, simply leave the styles carousel set on that option and select a new style to change in your navigator. When you’re happy with all of your style decisions, select the “contents” button at the top of your navigator to return to your manuscript files. 

Formatting Chapter Text in the Center Panel

To accurately format the text in your chapters and sections, first click on the file you’d like to address in your navigator. This will open the file in the center panel, where you can now format the text to your preference. In the panel’s tool bar, you’ll note the option to embolden, italicize, or underline your text. The arrow button to the right of these options provides a few less common text formatting options in a dropdown menu. 

Clicking the asterisk button on the far left of your toolbar opens a dropdown menu featuring body styles you can apply to your text. Here you can turn a line of text into a subhead, add an image or an ornamental break, or align a block of text to the center or right-hand side of your page—among other options. To apply one these body styles to your text, first highlight that section in your text below or place your cursor before the text where you’d like to add an image or ornamental break.

Previewing Your Formatted Book

The third and final panel in Vellum allows you to preview your manuscript as it would appear when published. By default, Vellum shows how your manuscript would appear on a Kindle Fire. To preview your work on other devices or as a printed book, simply select the phone icon in the panel tool bar and choose your preference from the dropdown menu. 

The next button in the tool bar allows you to change the font as it might appear on a device. Remember that e-book readers can adjust your book’s font as they please, so any selections you make in this menu will ultimately have no permanent effect on your formatting. This option exists for preview purposes only. 

To view additional pages of your book in the preview panel, simply hover over the text and use the arrow buttons that appear to navigate your manuscript.

Formatting Your Manuscript for Print

By selecting the “print” option from the device dropdown menu, Vellum will show you how your book might appear in print. To accurately format and preview your book in your chosen trim size, go to File > Print Settings. 

In the window that appears, you can choose from popular trim sizes or access additional options, as well as change your book’s margins, font size, and line spacing. Note that these changes will appear in your preview panel as you select them. In the lower left-hand side of the window, you can view an estimate of your book’s page count. When finished, simply press “done” to apply any changes you’ve made to your manuscript. 

Generating Files for Book Distribution

After formatting and previewing each of your manuscript’s chapters and sections, you should be ready to export your finished files. To do so, go to File > Generate Books or select the “Generate” button in Vellum’s toolbar. 

In the window that appears, select the types of files you’d like Vellum to generate by clicking the dotted options button. Vellum can generate individual e-book files for Kindle, Apple, Kobo, and other common e-book distributors, as well as a file for print.

Click “continue” after making your selections, then choose the folder where Vellum should store the files it generates. When you’re happy with your decisions, simply select “Generate” and let Vellum get to work.

Just like that, you’ve formatted your manuscript for print & e-book distribution. Congratulations, writer!

Ready to Start Formatting Your Book?

Vellum makes formatting your manuscript for print & ebook publication a cinch. You can also use it to assemble boxsets, produce advanced reader copies, add store links, and more.