Crafting Beautiful Books with Vellum: A Comprehensive Guide
Vellum is a dedicated book formatting software designed exclusively for macOS. It’s known for its ease of use, stunning templates, and ability to generate professional-quality ebooks and print-ready PDFs. This comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know to use Vellum effectively, from initial setup to exporting your finished book.
## Why Choose Vellum?
Before diving into the how-to, let’s explore why Vellum is a favorite among independent authors:
* **Beautiful Templates:** Vellum offers a wide array of professionally designed templates that instantly elevate the look of your book.
* **Easy to Use:** The intuitive interface makes formatting a breeze, even for those without prior design experience.
* **Ebook and Print Formatting:** Vellum handles both ebook and print formatting, ensuring your book looks great in any format.
* **Automatic Table of Contents:** Vellum automatically generates a clickable table of contents for your ebook, enhancing the reader experience.
* **Kindle Previewer Integration:** Seamlessly preview your book in Kindle Previewer to ensure compatibility and a polished look on Kindle devices.
* **Elegant Typography:** Vellum uses sophisticated typography to enhance readability and visual appeal.
* **Consistent Formatting:** Maintains consistent formatting throughout your book, ensuring a professional and cohesive look.
* **Cross-Platform Compatibility (Output):** Formats for Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, and print, all from a single source file.
## Getting Started with Vellum
### 1. Installation and Setup
* **Download and Install:** If you haven’t already, download Vellum from the official website (vellum.pub). Note that Vellum is only available for macOS.
* **Purchase:** Vellum offers different pricing options. You can purchase the ability to format unlimited ebooks, print books, or both.
* **Launch Vellum:** Once installed, launch the application. You’ll be greeted with a welcome screen.
### 2. Importing Your Manuscript
Vellum works best with clean, well-formatted manuscripts. It supports `.docx` (Microsoft Word) files. Before importing, make sure your manuscript is properly structured with headings, chapters, and paragraphs.
* **Clean Up Your Manuscript:**
* **Remove Extra Spaces:** Eliminate any unnecessary spaces or tabs.
* **Use Heading Styles:** Apply proper heading styles (Heading 1, Heading 2, etc.) to your chapter titles and subheadings. This is crucial for creating a functional table of contents.
* **Consistent Paragraph Formatting:** Ensure consistent paragraph formatting throughout the document (e.g., first-line indent or block paragraphs with a space between).
* **Remove Manual Page Breaks:** Vellum will handle page breaks automatically for print editions.
* **Remove Headers and Footers:** Delete any headers or footers from your manuscript, as Vellum will manage these within its own settings.
* **Simplify Formatting:** Avoid complex formatting or excessive use of different fonts. Vellum’s templates provide a cohesive look.
* **Import the Manuscript:**
* Click the “Import Word File…” button on the Vellum welcome screen.
* Select your `.docx` file and click “Open.”
* Vellum will analyze your document and import the text. It will attempt to identify chapters based on your heading styles.
### 3. Understanding the Vellum Interface
Vellum’s interface is divided into several key areas:
* **Navigator (Left Sidebar):** This is where you’ll find your book’s structure: Front Matter, Chapters, Back Matter, and any elements you add (e.g., images, ornamental breaks).
* **Editor (Center):** The main editing area where you can view and modify the text of each chapter or element.
* **Preview (Right Sidebar):** This shows you a live preview of how your book will look in various formats (Kindle, Apple Books, Print). You can switch between different devices and orientations to see how your formatting translates.
* **Toolbar (Top):** Contains essential commands such as “Import,” “File,” “Edit,” “View,” “Format,” and “Generate.”
### 4. Structuring Your Book in Vellum
Vellum uses the Navigator to organize your book into distinct sections:
* **Front Matter:** Elements that appear at the beginning of your book, such as the Title Page, Copyright Page, Dedication, Table of Contents, Foreword, and Preface.
* **Chapters:** The main content of your book, divided into individual chapters.
* **Back Matter:** Elements that appear at the end of your book, such as the About the Author, Acknowledgments, Epilogue, Appendix, and Endnotes.
#### Adding and Editing Front Matter and Back Matter
* **Add an Element:** Click the “+” button at the bottom of the Navigator and select the type of element you want to add (e.g., “Title Page,” “Copyright Page,” “About the Author”).
* **Edit Element Content:** Click on the element in the Navigator to open it in the Editor. You can then type or paste your content into the element.
* **Customize Elements:** Vellum offers limited customization options for each element. You can usually change the font, text alignment, and add images.
#### Creating and Managing Chapters
* **Automatic Chapter Detection:** Vellum automatically detects chapters based on the heading styles in your imported manuscript. If your manuscript is properly formatted, the chapters should appear in the Navigator.
* **Add a New Chapter:** If Vellum doesn’t detect a chapter, or if you want to add a new one, click the “+” button at the bottom of the Navigator and select “Chapter.”
* **Rename a Chapter:** Double-click on a chapter title in the Navigator to rename it.
* **Merge Chapters:** If you need to combine two chapters, you can copy and paste the content of one chapter into another and then delete the empty chapter.
* **Split a Chapter:** To split a chapter, insert a new chapter where you want the split to occur and then move the content from the original chapter to the new chapter.
### 5. Formatting Your Book with Vellum
Vellum’s strength lies in its beautiful pre-designed styles. You can choose a style that suits your genre and aesthetic and then fine-tune it to your preferences.
#### Choosing a Style
* **Open the Style Panel:** Go to “Format” > “Style…” or click the Style icon in the toolbar.
* **Browse Styles:** The Style panel displays a selection of different styles. Click on each style to preview it in the Editor and Preview panels.
* **Select a Style:** Choose the style that best suits your book. Styles include options like serif or sans-serif fonts, decorative elements, and different paragraph treatments.
#### Customizing Your Style
While Vellum styles are pre-designed, you can still customize them to a degree:
* **Chapter Titles:** You can often adjust the font, size, and alignment of chapter titles.
* **Paragraph Styles:** Vellum typically offers options for paragraph spacing, indentation, and drop caps.
* **Ornamental Breaks:** You can insert ornamental breaks (decorative symbols) between sections or paragraphs to add visual interest.
* **Images:** You can insert images within your chapters or as full-page images.
#### Working with Text
* **Basic Formatting:** Use the formatting toolbar (above the Editor) to apply basic formatting such as bold, italics, underline, and text alignment.
* **Lists:** Create bulleted or numbered lists using the list options in the formatting toolbar.
* **Blockquotes:** Use the blockquote option to format quoted text.
* **Special Characters:** Insert special characters (e.g., em dashes, en dashes, ellipses) using the “Edit” > “Insert” menu.
#### Inserting Images
Images can enhance your book, especially in non-fiction or children’s books.
* **Insert an Image:** Place your cursor where you want to insert the image and go to “Format” > “Image…” or click the Image icon in the toolbar.
* **Select an Image:** Choose the image file from your computer. Vellum supports common image formats such as JPG, PNG, and GIF.
* **Adjust Image Size and Position:** You can usually adjust the size of the image by dragging the handles on its corners. You can also choose to have the image aligned to the left, center, or right.
* **Full-Page Images:** For full-page images, consider adding a separate Chapter element and inserting the image there.
#### Adding Ornamental Breaks
Ornamental breaks can add a touch of elegance or visual separation to your book.
* **Insert an Ornamental Break:** Place your cursor where you want to insert the ornamental break and go to “Format” > “Ornamental Break…” or click the Ornamental Break icon in the toolbar.
* **Choose an Ornamental Break:** Vellum offers a selection of different ornamental break symbols. Choose the one you like best.
### 6. Creating a Table of Contents
Vellum automatically generates a clickable table of contents based on your chapter titles. This is a crucial feature for ebooks.
* **Automatic Generation:** Vellum uses the Heading 1 style (or the heading style you’ve designated for chapter titles) to create the table of contents. Make sure your chapter titles are properly formatted with the correct heading style.
* **Preview the Table of Contents:** The table of contents will be automatically generated in the ebook version of your book. You can preview it in the Preview panel by selecting a Kindle or Apple Books format.
* **Customize the Table of Contents (Print):** For print editions, you can customize the appearance of the table of contents. Vellum offers options for font, spacing, and page number formatting.
### 7. Previewing Your Book
Regularly previewing your book is essential to ensure it looks good on different devices and in different formats.
* **Preview Panel:** Use the Preview panel to switch between different devices and orientations (Kindle, iPad, iPhone, Print). This allows you to see how your formatting translates across various screens.
* **Kindle Previewer Integration:** Vellum integrates seamlessly with Kindle Previewer, a free tool from Amazon that allows you to see exactly how your book will look on Kindle devices. To use Kindle Previewer, you must download and install it separately from the Amazon website.
* **Generate a Kindle File:** In Vellum, go to “File” > “Generate Book…” and select the Kindle format.
* **Open in Kindle Previewer:** After the file is generated, you can open it in Kindle Previewer to see a realistic preview.
* **Apple Books Preview:** You can also preview your book in Apple Books by exporting it in the Apple Books format and opening it on an Apple device or in the Books app on your Mac.
### 8. Generating Your Book
Once you’re satisfied with the formatting, it’s time to generate your book files.
* **Go to “File” > “Generate Book…”**
* **Select Formats:** Choose the formats you want to generate (Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Nook, Print). Vellum will create separate files for each format.
* **Specify Output Folder:** Choose a folder on your computer where you want to save the generated files.
* **Click “Generate”** Vellum will begin generating the files. The process may take a few minutes, depending on the size of your book.
#### Understanding the Output Files
* **Kindle (.mobi or .azw3):** This file is for publishing on Amazon Kindle.
* **Apple Books (.epub):** This file is for publishing on Apple Books.
* **Kobo (.epub):** This file is for publishing on Kobo.
* **Nook (.epub):** This file is for publishing on Barnes & Noble Nook.
* **Print (.pdf):** This file is a print-ready PDF that you can upload to print-on-demand services like Amazon KDP Print or IngramSpark.
### 9. Formatting for Print
Vellum excels at creating beautiful print books. Here are some key considerations for print formatting:
* **Page Size:** Choose the appropriate page size for your book. Common sizes include 5×8 inches, 5.5×8.5 inches, and 6×9 inches. You can set the page size in the “Format” > “Print Settings…” menu.
* **Margins:** Adjust the margins to ensure your text doesn’t get too close to the edges of the page. Vellum provides default margins, but you can customize them to your liking.
* **Gutters:** The gutter is the inner margin, which needs to be wider to accommodate the binding. Vellum automatically adjusts the gutter based on the page size and number of pages.
* **Headers and Footers:** Vellum allows you to add headers and footers to your print book. Common header elements include the book title, author name, and chapter title. Common footer elements include page numbers.
* **Page Numbers:** Vellum automatically inserts page numbers in the footer of your print book. You can choose the position and style of the page numbers.
* **Bleed:** If your book contains images that extend to the edge of the page, you’ll need to add bleed. Bleed is a small extension of the image beyond the trim line, which ensures that the image prints to the edge of the page without any white borders. You can enable bleed in the “Format” > “Print Settings…” menu.
* **Trim Size:** The trim size is the final size of your printed book after it has been trimmed. Make sure to set the trim size correctly in Vellum so that your book is printed to the correct dimensions.
### 10. Troubleshooting Common Issues
* **Incorrect Chapter Titles:** If Vellum doesn’t correctly detect your chapter titles, make sure your chapter titles are formatted with the correct heading style (usually Heading 1). You may need to manually adjust the chapter breaks in the Navigator.
* **Formatting Issues:** If you encounter formatting issues, such as incorrect spacing or font sizes, try adjusting the style settings or manually formatting the text.
* **Image Problems:** If images are not displaying correctly, make sure they are in a supported format (JPG, PNG, GIF) and that they are not too large. Try resizing the images to a smaller size.
* **Table of Contents Errors:** If the table of contents is not generating correctly, double-check that your chapter titles are formatted with the correct heading style and that there are no errors in the heading text.
* **Generation Errors:** If Vellum encounters an error while generating your book, try closing and reopening Vellum. You may also need to check your manuscript for any errors or inconsistencies.
### 11. Advanced Tips and Tricks
* **Custom Styles:** While Vellum doesn’t offer extensive custom style options, you can still create variations of existing styles by adjusting the font sizes, spacing, and other settings.
* **Drop Caps:** Use drop caps to add visual interest to the beginning of chapters. Vellum offers several drop cap styles to choose from.
* **Small Caps:** Use small caps to format acronyms or abbreviations. Vellum automatically converts text formatted as small caps to the appropriate font.
* **Custom Fonts:** While Vellum comes with a selection of fonts, you can also install custom fonts and use them in your book.
* **Keyboard Shortcuts:** Learn the keyboard shortcuts to speed up your workflow. Vellum has shortcuts for common tasks such as inserting images, ornamental breaks, and formatting text.
* **Mastering Styles:** Experiment with different styles and customize them to create a unique look for your book. Don’t be afraid to try new things and see what works best for you.
* **Utilizing Variables:** Vellum supports variables for elements like author name and book title. These are especially useful for series, ensuring consistency across multiple books.
### 12. Beyond the Basics: Advanced Formatting Techniques
* **Verse Formatting:** Vellum offers specialized formatting for poetry and verse, allowing you to easily create indented lines, hanging indents, and other verse-specific layouts.
* **Code Formatting:** If you’re writing a technical book that includes code snippets, Vellum provides formatting options to display code in a clear and readable way.
* **Footnotes and Endnotes:** Vellum supports both footnotes and endnotes. You can easily add footnotes or endnotes to your text and Vellum will automatically number them and format them correctly.
* **Linking to External Websites:** You can insert hyperlinks to external websites in your ebook. This is useful for providing readers with additional resources or information.
### 13. Conclusion
Vellum is a powerful and user-friendly book formatting tool that can help you create professional-quality ebooks and print books. By following the steps in this guide, you can master Vellum and format your books with confidence. Remember to experiment with different styles, preview your book regularly, and don’t be afraid to ask for help if you get stuck. With Vellum, you can focus on writing your book and let the software handle the formatting details. Happy writing and formatting!