leilaniWhen it comes to formatting for print and/or eBooks, however, the writing-focused software options range from so-so to a hard pass.
Here’s where specialty programs come into play.
- Adobe InDesign is the gold standard for print formatting. It requires subscription and has a steep learning curve. If the price and learning curve don’t scare you off, however, it’s the most comprehensive publishing program out there.
- For Mac users, Vellum gets extremely high marks. It’s a one-time purchase and has versions for eBook only or eBook and print. However, it’s exclusively for Mac users and starts at $199US (one-time fee.)
- While it’s technically possible to format using Microsoft Word, in my experience Word becomes increasingly buggy as you apply formatting rules for print, and it can’t export to epub or other formats required for eBooks. I spent hours formatting books in MS Word, only to have the files become so corrupt I had to rebuild them from scratch, several times each – and the outcome was still mediocre. (Always save a backup copy if using Microsoft, both for writing and for formatting!)
- The Affinity suite (Publisher, Photo, and Designer) is a relatively low-cost option which does most of what Adobe products do. Publisher is Serif/Affinity’s answer to Adobe InDesign; Photo corresponds to Adobe PhotoShop; and Designer corresponds to Adobe Illustrator. Its one downside is none of the Affinity programs will convert a manuscript for eBook publication. Full price is currently a one-time $54.99US each plus tax for each program – $164.97US to purchase all three. They can be purchased separately and function separately. As with other software, there will likely be a cost to upgrade when the next major update is released. Current versions are 2.xxx at time of writing.
Note: watch for sales. Periodically, Serif (Affinity’s parent company) offers each of their products at half price. Most commonly they offer lower pricing in spring and late fall, circa Black Friday, but it’s not set in stone. - Scribus is an Open Source alternative to format book interiors. While donations are welcomed, there’s no cost to download and use the software. It doesn’t offer quite as robust or professional options as the aforementioned software, but it does a decent job of compiling your work. Bonus points because it does export to ebook formats.
I purchased Affinity Publisher for print. There’s still a learning curve, but it is a print-media publishing program, so doesn’t balk when you setup atypical page numbers, custom headers and footers, shifting page vertical alignment while retaining text overflow, etc. It will auto-create a Table of Contents, has built-in kerning adjustments, and in general its functions are similar to other desktop-publishing software.
For eBook formatting, I use Scribus. It’s not a perfect solution, but it works and it’s free.
This isn’t an all-inclusive list, but it does include the most commonly-used products to build the interior of a book.
