How to Use Vellum

 

by Guest Blogger Stacey Osvett

Technically, Vellum is a fully functioning Word Processor, so you could write your story from beginning to end right in the software. However, there are much better options designed specifically for writing. So, if you write in another program, you will have to export or save your file in a Microsoft Word (.docx) format.

To make it easier, there should be some kind of delineations between chapters and scenes. Vellum can automatically detect chapters based on a new heading or page break. It will also detect additional blank lines as scene breaks, so make sure you don’t have a lot of white space or extra returns in your writing if you don’t want to have a scene break there. You can always edit or correct the chapter and scene breaks manually, but it will take a little extra time (and who has any of that lying around?).

On the main screen of Vellum, simply click “Import Word File,” and Vellum will start to work its magic. It will automatically create a table of contents and title page, so there’s no need to include those in your manuscript. By default, the table of contents will only export in electronic editions. However, on the contents page, you can edit the settings to include it in print formatting as well. Personally, I normally don’t include a TOC for my fiction, but I will for a short story collection or non-fiction.

Here is where you can make some other customizations as well. Under the title of the project (in the upper left corner), you can upload your cover so it will be the first page of the ebook. In the right panel, you can preview how the current page will look on a variety of devices, including a Kindle Fire and Paperwhite, Apple iPad or iPhone, Nook Touch, Kobo Clara, and Google Android Tablet. 

Clicking into any one of the chapters lets you edit the name, subtitle, the chapter author in the case of a multi-author anthology or add images to the header. From the settings, it is also possible to change the type of chapter. For instance, if you have an Introduction, you can change the label and all the following chapters will automatically renumber. You can also add copyright pages, a foreward, acknowledgements, an about the author page, and also by the author page. 

Finally, above the title of the project, we’ve been working through the “Contents” of the book. Now we have a change to click over to “Styles” and choose a few stylistic choices for your book. There are different options for how you want the heading to look with different layouts, the look of the first paragraph, and even ornamental designs for scene breaks. For most of these options, you can also upload your own image. Do you have a stylistic heart on your cover? Why not make that symbol the break between different scenes!

My favorite feature in Vellum, though, has to be the ability to customize links. If a reader buys book 1 on Amazon, you can insert a link for book 2 that sends them to that page on Amazon. If they buy on Kobo, send them to book 2 on Kobo, etc. You can also create a generic link for all the other smaller distributors. Simply right click on any store link, and you can create customized hyperlinks for every major retailer.

Once you’ve previewed your book on the different reading devices and everything looks good, it’s time to generate your files. In the upper right corner of the screen is an open-book icon that says “Generate.” In the menu, you can choose where you want to save the files and the trim size for print (5”x8”, 5.25”x8”, 5.5”x8.5”, or 6”x9”).

Vellum will create a folder for your book that includes interior files for Apple Books, Google Play, Kindle, Kobo, Nook, Print, and Generic epub files. Plus, their development team is really responsive. Within a day of receiving an email from Amazon that they were changing some file formats from .mobi to .epub, Vellum announced an update that incorporated all the changes in their software. 

But what if I don’t have a Mac?

I get it. I’m a Windows girl myself. In my case, my husband is a tech guy and wasn’t opposed to having an Apple in the house for some programs he wanted as well. So we bought an inexpensive used Mac mini for those few programs.

Yeah, people love Vellum enough to buy a new computer just to run it.

But it’s completely understandable if you don’t want to add another cost on top of Vellum. 

For everyone else who’d rather have a lower-key solution, there’s always Mac-in-Cloud (www.MacInCloud.com). 

Mac-in-Cloud is a web-based program where you would access your own virtual Mac on any web browser. Essentially, you’d log in to Mac-in-Cloud online, and you’d see the desktop of your very own Mac. You’d have to save and transfer files between your computer and your virtual Mac using a cloud storage service, such as Dropbox or Google Drive. Costs will range from $1 per hour (I can upload and create my ebook files from a clean manuscript in about 15-20 minutes) to a flat fee of $25 per month.

Your files and software would be as secure on Mac-in-Cloud as they would be on a computer in your living room. Simply save your MS Word manuscript in Dropbox or your cloud storage of choice, upload it to Vellum using Mac-in-Cloud exactly as someone with a physical computer would do, then save the files back onto Dropbox. From there, everything’s ready to upload to all the retailers and aggregators. Or if you’re giving a story away for free to your newsletter subscribers, the print formatting is a simple pdf and easy to host on your website or a distribution partner like BookFunnel.