Salsa Pick, Popular
Lifetime Deal for $204
Vellum
Book Formatting Software for Self‑Publishing Authors
Vellum makes book formatting effortless for authors. Instantly turn your manuscript into professional ebooks and print books with clean typography, automatic layout, and beautiful styles—no design skills needed. Perfect book formatting software for self‑publishing on Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, and more.
Lifetime Deal for $204
(Deal Status: Active)
Company: 180g
Location: United States
Funding Status: Not Seeking Investment
Buyers: Individuals, Small Businesses (1-50 people)
Why We Picked:
Vellum handles the tedious parts of book formatting automatically — trim sizes, margins, widow-handling, and spread-balancing — so authors can focus on writing instead of fighting with layout software. Its one-time pricing model means there's no ongoing subscription cost, and Reddit users consistently report the per-book cost drops dramatically the more books they format with it. With thousands of books published using the tool and a strong reputation across the self-publishing community for novels in particular, it has a proven track record among indie authors.
Pricing Model:
Vellum is a one-time purchase, not a subscription — you download and use the app for free to build and preview your book, and pay only when you're ready to generate final publishing files. Two purchase tiers are available: one covering ebooks only, and one covering both ebooks and print (paperback/hardcover) output.
Guarantee:
Vellum can be downloaded and used completely free to build, style, and preview your book — you only pay when you're ready to generate final publishing files. This means you can fully evaluate the software with your own manuscript before spending anything. A formal money-back guarantee period is not specified on the official site.
Tool Maturity:
Vellum is a mature, established tool within the self-publishing niche — its co-creators have been interviewed publicly about the product's development, and community discussion threads span from at least 2018 through 2026. The current system requirement of macOS 13 or newer indicates the app is actively maintained and updated to stay compatible with current Apple operating systems. Community feedback shows a long-standing, loyal user base, though some recent threads note it can struggle with non-standard book layouts like tables and appendices.
Social Proof:
- Thousands of books have been created using Vellum, according to the official product page.
- Multiple published authors are quoted directly on the homepage, including Hailey Edwards, Rachel Leigh, and Corinne O'Flynn, praising its ease of use and formatting control.
- A Reddit discussion in r/selfpublish about Vellum received 84 upvotes and 60 comments, with the majority of commenters recommending the purchase despite the price.
- Community members on Reddit report using Vellum to format 50–90+ books, bringing their effective cost per book down to under $5.
- The software is frequently recommended over alternatives like Atticus in ongoing self-publishing community discussions.
Core Features:
- Manuscript import automatically builds your book structure, including a Title Page and Table of Contents, and lets you add copyright pages or backmatter directly inside the app.
- Generate ebooks and print editions simultaneously from the same project, so every format stays in sync even after you make edits.
- Live preview shows exactly how your ebook will look across a range of devices and how your print edition will appear, updating instantly as you edit.
- Support for combining multiple books into a box set is available in just a few steps, useful for authors wrapping up a completed series.
- Advance Reader Copies (ARCs) can be generated in EPUB and MOBI formats specifically for beta readers, separate from your final retail files.
Integration Features:
Automation Features:
- Automatic setup of margins, page numbers, headers, and footers removes manual layout work when preparing a print edition.
- Widow-handling and spread-balancing are handled automatically during generation, addressing common print layout issues that are tedious to fix by hand.
- Returning to update a typo or add new backmatter regenerates a fresh set of publishing files in seconds, without needing to rebuild the project from scratch.
- Image optimization and compression are applied automatically when generating ebook files, keeping file sizes appropriate for each retail platform.
Reporting Features:
- Vellum's Preview feature functions as a real-time formatting check, letting authors catch layout issues across formats before generating final files rather than after publishing.
- File validation is built into the ebook generation process, producing EPUB 3 and EPUB 2 files that are checked against platform standards before you publish.
Customization Features:
- Browse and apply pre-built Book Styles that automatically format every chapter consistently, even chapters you add later.
- Drop caps, embedded fonts, and decorative flourishes can be applied with a single click, giving books a polished, professional appearance without manual design work.
- Custom ornaments and background images let you add a personal creative touch beyond the built-in style presets.
- 24 trim sizes plus large print formatting options are available for print editions, covering most standard paperback and hardcover dimensions.
Security Features:
- ACE-Approved Accessible Output ensures generated ebooks meet recognized accessibility standards, which is increasingly required by some retail and library platforms.
- Professional-Grade PDF/X-1a output is generated for print files, meeting print-industry standards for reliable, consistent file handling by printers.
Ideal Users:
- Self-published fiction authors — particularly in genres like romance, fantasy, and thriller — who need to format and publish novels across multiple retail platforms quickly.
- Indie authors on Mac who want professional-looking print and ebook editions without hiring a freelance book formatter for every release.
- Authors publishing series or box sets who need multiple books formatted consistently and combined efficiently.
- Writers who publish frequently and want the one-time cost to pay off over many books rather than paying recurring subscription fees.
- Beta reader program organizers who need to generate ARC files in EPUB and MOBI separate from final retail files.
- Non-technical authors who want a simple, guided formatting process rather than learning complex desktop publishing software like InDesign.
Primary Use Cases:
- Use it for formatting a novel manuscript into retail-ready ebook and print files when you're preparing to self-publish on Kindle, Kobo, or Apple Books.
- Use it for generating ARC copies when you need to distribute a pre-publication version of your book to beta readers.
- Use it for combining a completed series into a box set when you want to package multiple books together for a single retail listing.
- Use it for updating a published book when you need to fix a typo or add new backmatter and want new files generated quickly.
- Use it for maintaining consistent formatting across a series when each new book needs to match the visual style of previous entries.
- Use it as an alternative to hiring a professional formatter when your budget doesn't support recurring formatting costs per release.
Tech Stack:
- Desktop software for Mac only — requires macOS 13 or newer, with no Windows or Linux version currently available.
- The app can be downloaded and used for free to build, style, and preview a project, with payment required only at file generation/export time.
- Outputs validated EPUB 3 and EPUB 2 files, MOBI files for ARCs, and PDF/X-1a files for professional print production.
- No cloud sync, browser-based access, or mobile app is offered — Vellum is a fully local, offline-capable desktop application.
- No third-party integrations (Zapier, publishing platform APIs, etc.) are documented on the official site — files are generated locally and then manually uploaded to retail platforms like Amazon KDP.
Positioning:
Vellum is most frequently compared to Atticus and Scrivener within the self-publishing community, and to more general design tools like Adobe InDesign or Affinity Publisher. Unlike subscription-based or cross-platform alternatives, Vellum is a one-time-purchase, Mac-exclusive tool that trades platform flexibility for a highly polished, purpose-built formatting experience specifically for books. Community sentiment consistently describes it as best-in-class for standard novel formatting, though some users note it handles complex layouts (tables, technical appendices) less gracefully than general desktop publishing software.
Support & Resources:
- Reddit users specifically cite Vellum's customer support as excellent, alongside free ongoing software updates included with purchase.
- Vellum's creators have participated in public podcast interviews discussing the product and responding to community questions about features and formatting approaches.
- No dedicated public community forum or Discord is documented on the official site, though third-party communities like r/selfpublish serve as an active, informal peer-support hub for the product.
Limitations:
- Vellum is Mac-only — authors on Windows or Linux cannot use the software at all, and several Reddit users mention purchasing a Mac specifically to access it.
- There is no undo function within the editor, and some long-time users report accidentally losing edited content as a result.
- The software is optimized primarily for standard novel-style formatting; users working with tables, appendices, or non-fiction layouts report more friction and inconsistent results.
- No cross-platform sync or cloud backup is included — projects and files are stored locally on your Mac.
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