Vellum ebook publishing app gets update and images
Back in December of 2013, the world was introduced to Vellum, a Mac app designed to make ebook publishing painless. I personally loved the ease of use of the app, since it lets potential authors and publishers create and edit their books for free, then make an in-app purchase of US$49.99 (regular price) to have the book published on both the iBookstore and Amazon Kindle Store.
My only gripe at the time was that Vellum didn't allow the insertion of images in the text (cover images were allowed), whether they were simple chapter page icons or full page images. Well, with the introduction today of Vellum 1.2, that limitation of the app is now gone.
Over the past month or so I've had an opportunity to beta-test the app on OS X Yosemite and I've found it to be not only stable, but still probably the easiest way to create and publish an ebook. As noted in last year's review, by publishing in ebook format only to the two biggest ebook stores on the planet, you don't need to run up the expense of getting an ISBN number.
Since it's also possible to generate the ebooks in their native formats prior to sending them off for publishing, it is very easy to make sure that they're going to look great in the ebook reader apps (Kindle and iBooks) before you publish.
Text can either be entered directly into the app -- it has its own built-in editor -- or imported from a Microsoft Word .docx file. Add chapter headings, select a style, and add a cover image. And now, if you wish, you can insert images anywhere in your ebook with a few clicks.
If you're in the process of writing your NaNoWriMo novel and you feel that it's good enough to self-publish, you might want to take advantage of Vellum developer 180g's limited-time 50% off sale. Get an ebook published for about $25, or pay just $75 to get ten of 'em into the ebook stores? Heck of a deal, but it probably won't last for long. There's also an unlimited package for you prolific authors, which is available during the sale for $149.99.
Anyone who feels that they wouldn't have the ability to publish an ebook using Vellum should just download the free app and go wild. You'll like what you find.
