Anyone using Vellum to make ebooks?

Dr. Drib · 05-21-2015, 09:26 AM

Anyone?

I've been wondering about this program, after doing some research on it yesterday.

It's very expensive.....so......

gmw · 05-21-2015, 09:52 PM

Ahh ... so there's software called Vellum. I saw the thread title and wondered what calfskin had to do with ebooks.

A comment which also gives my answer: no, I haven't used it.

Dr. Drib · 05-22-2015, 07:34 AM

Here's the link if someone wants to check out further details:

http://180g.co/vellum/

They have a very controversial pricing program. Although I've never used the program, it has very positive reviews, except for the pricing scheme.

gmw · 05-22-2015, 08:10 AM

Thanks for the link (you might want to change it to http rather than https, it appears their site certificate is invalid and gives a warning - a http link goes straight through).

I'm not a Mac user, so it's not much good to me. They don't give away much detail about what the software actually does on the website - so I'm not even sure if I might wish their was a Windows version.*

Their pricing scheme is interesting. My first reaction is to not like it ... but the more I think about it the better it looks to me. (Correct me if I'm wrong but) It appears you get to use the software for as long as you like, and only have to come up with money when you actually want to start publishing. So if I assume it does something other than take a manuscript and output an epub/mobi (I am assuming that, because it would be way to much money for a simple epub generator), then you get to have a good play with what (to me) are the most important parts of the software before deciding if it's worth the money. If you only produce one book a year (I wish I had the time to achieve that

), then $30 doesn't seem too bad. If you are more prolific, or just really really like it, the $200 unlimited tag doesn't see that unreasonable for such specialised software - IF it really is that good, which they give you plenty of time to discover.

The first thing I would be looking at (if I had a Mac) is to see what options it has for saving your manuscript. You don't want to spend months playing with a manuscript in the software, decide you don't like it after all, and then not be able to output your efforts into something you can use elsewhere.

* ETA: Actually they do have a link to a "help" page at the bottom, which offers more detail. I must say that the features look a bit sparse - compared to something like Scrivener - no organisational tools at all, but if their editor was good enough it might still be worth consideration.

gingerbeardman · 03-03-2018, 08:52 PM

I'm using this at the moment, let me know if there's any questions.

I'll write a review after I'm a few chapters in!

Sarmat89 · 03-04-2018, 02:16 AM

It looks very impressive. I can see it uses semantic markup, which should allow to overcome the EPUB HTML silliness.

Gregg Bell · 04-02-2018, 03:02 PM

The output of a book made with Vellum looked very nice, but I when I opened the book's .epub file there was a lot of unnecessary stuff in there.

05-21-2015, 09:26 AM	#1
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,736 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	Anyone using Vellum to make ebooks? Anyone? I've been wondering about this program, after doing some research on it yesterday. It's very expensive.....so......

05-22-2015, 07:34 AM	#3
Dr. Drib Grand Sorcerer Posts: 44,736 Karma: 55645321 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Peru Device: Kindle: Oasis 3, Voyage WiFi; Kobo: Libra 2, Aura One	Here's the link if someone wants to check out further details: http://180g.co/vellum/ They have a very controversial pricing program. Although I've never used the program, it has very positive reviews, except for the pricing scheme. Last edited by Dr. Drib; 05-22-2015 at 09:28 AM.

05-22-2015, 08:10 AM	#4
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,809 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Thanks for the link (you might want to change it to http rather than https, it appears their site certificate is invalid and gives a warning - a http link goes straight through). I'm not a Mac user, so it's not much good to me. They don't give away much detail about what the software actually does on the website - so I'm not even sure if I might wish their was a Windows version.* Their pricing scheme is interesting. My first reaction is to not like it ... but the more I think about it the better it looks to me. (Correct me if I'm wrong but) It appears you get to use the software for as long as you like, and only have to come up with money when you actually want to start publishing. So if I assume it does something other than take a manuscript and output an epub/mobi (I am assuming that, because it would be way to much money for a simple epub generator), then you get to have a good play with what (to me) are the most important parts of the software before deciding if it's worth the money. If you only produce one book a year (I wish I had the time to achieve that ), then $30 doesn't seem too bad. If you are more prolific, or just really really like it, the $200 unlimited tag doesn't see that unreasonable for such specialised software - IF it really is that good, which they give you plenty of time to discover. The first thing I would be looking at (if I had a Mac) is to see what options it has for saving your manuscript. You don't want to spend months playing with a manuscript in the software, decide you don't like it after all, and then not be able to output your efforts into something you can use elsewhere. * ETA: Actually they do have a link to a "help" page at the bottom, which offers more detail. I must say that the features look a bit sparse - compared to something like Scrivener - no organisational tools at all, but if their editor was good enough it might still be worth consideration. Last edited by gmw; 05-22-2015 at 08:20 AM.

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05-21-2015, 09:52 PM	#2
gmw cacoethes scribendi Posts: 5,809 Karma: 137770742 Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Australia Device: Kobo Aura One & H2Ov2, Sony PRS-650	Ahh ... so there's software called Vellum. I saw the thread title and wondered what calfskin had to do with ebooks. A comment which also gives my answer: no, I haven't used it.

03-03-2018, 08:52 PM	#5
gingerbeardman Zealot Posts: 129 Karma: 1001024 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Cornwall, UK Device: Various Sony Readers, Kobo Touch Edition, iPhone	I'm using this at the moment, let me know if there's any questions. I'll write a review after I'm a few chapters in!

03-04-2018, 02:16 AM	#6
Sarmat89 Evangelist Posts: 482 Karma: 2267928 Join Date: Nov 2015 Device: none	It looks very impressive. I can see it uses semantic markup, which should allow to overcome the EPUB HTML silliness.

04-02-2018, 03:02 PM	#7
Gregg Bell Gregg Bell Posts: 2,264 Karma: 3917588 Join Date: Jan 2013 Location: Itasca, Illinois Device: Kindle Touch 7, Sony PRS300, Fire HD8 Tablet	The output of a book made with Vellum looked very nice, but I when I opened the book's .epub file there was a lot of unnecessary stuff in there.

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