Book Formating 102

Outsourcing/semi-outsourcing your book formatting.

You can pay to have your book formatted. We don’t know the industry rate. Websites such as fiverr and Reedsy will provide book publishing contacts. We have heard good and bad reviews from people who use Fiverr.  We haven’t heard anything negative about Reedsy (except for costs). The maxim “You pay for what you get” is appropriate here.

Find out what software they use. Abode InDesign is the industry standard for traditional publishers and should be used for people making a living as book formatters.

If you outsource your books, please ensure that the contractor provides you with digital files, even if they upload the books for you. We have seen too many cases of people retyping their story because they published it years ago and never got the file from the publisher/book formatter and now they want to republish.

Abode InDesign

Used by the professionals. Relatively hard to learn so if you are going to use this option, allow yourself plenty of time to learn. 

Vellum

Mac specific software. Easier to use than InDesign. We’re not Mac people but we’ve been told it does a good job and is easy to use.  It isn’t the cheapest software around but plenty of people use it without complaint.

Atticus.io

Can be used on Mac or Laptops.  We use this software because it was affordable and relatively easy to learn.  We’ll write a full review on it sometime in 2023. But you can format ebooks and paperback, set up a template and include custom banners in your chapter headings, which makes for a professional result.

For now, Happy Book Formatting.