I know it is a little bit churlish, but it is refreshing to see the folks at Vellum face real competition. I have found them to be a bit on the aloof and somewhat arrogant side. The folks at Atticus are real, grounded people and they still have the common touch. They make you feel a bit special. When the world of publishing is a fog, it is reassuring to find kind, well-mannered, courteous folks who are not 'up themselves'. Hopefully the folks at Scrivener will also pull their socks up - all a bit precious really. I think I owe the Atticus folks a sarsaparilla at Christmas.
Vellum is great, intuitive, but the developers seem to be slow or disinterested in taking on suggestions. The lack of design options is a big problem for me, they have one or two that are usable but most are pretty bad, so you end up using the same style over and over. Will give Atticus a try and see if it's the better option.
Vellum left the door open by not producing a version for the PC. I have used it via MacinCloud but it's a hassle. Nice that Atticus is a one-off cost, not subscription-based.
I agree! I kept hoping they would release a PC version and it baffles me that they never did. Seems like a missed opportunity. I do like that Atticus is a one-time cost and not a subscription as well.
@@AphroditeLee I think Vellum will regret their decision to ignore PC users in a year or so because a lot of Mac users will see what Atticus can do for a much lower price and decide to purchase it instead. I did notice that Vellum recently offered a 30% discount for Black Friday!
As an author coming off a six-year publishing hiatus, I was disappointed to learn that Vellum was only available to Mac users, and had been wondering if there was an alternative for PC users. So happy to have stumbled across your video today. Thank you!
I've had Arricus for a month and I am impressed with what it can do. Previously, I hired an internal designer and she was very good but I no longer need to hire anybody. The savings you can make using Atticus instead of hiring a designer are huge, especially when you need to make changes, The book looks really good in formatting mode. It's not quite there as a writing tool, there are new developments in the pipeline but iI'm aware that it will improve as time goes on. I can do all my revisions on Atticus and editing too..It doesn't mean that you don't have to put some work into it because you do, but the effort is worth it. The end result is truly professional if used correctly. The only problem that I have encountered is that it can take a while to upload the the print preview. Somerimes it comes up quickly other times you can wait forever. I don't know the reason for this but it can be annoying. Having said that, it;s the best investment that I have made and as a Chromebook user, it gives me all the capabilities that I need. I reccmend it to other authors.
I'm so glad it's been useful for you! It really can do a lot and if you can save yourself some money not having to pay a formatter, that's great! There are so many costs associated with self-publishing already.
I've used many complicated and arcane formatting methods, starting with CSS combined with HTML that was dropped into Calibre, then I switched to Sigil. After doing this for several years, I started using Kindle Create, which is really a great and free option for PC users. But then there was the pesky detail of print books. Plus, it create a file for KDP only. I'm a big fan of Dave Chesson's work with Publisher Rocket and when he announced Atticus was in the works, I jumped in and became a beta user. And I've not looked back. Since I do a lot of my writing on a Chromebook (it's my walk-around device) in Google Docs, I like having a web-based formatting tool. So far, I'm really happy with Atticus, but will probably stick with Google Docs for writing since it does a good job of finding little issues with my writing. Bottom-line: If you're a PC user and starting out, I'd recommend watching your expenses and try out Kindle Create. (That is, if you're exclusive to KDP.) If you know you're going to write and write a lot, I'd seriously recommend investing in Atticus.
I just subscribed to your channel because I like how you explained Atticus, which I've just purchased & am having a rough start with the learning curve - however, between emailing customer support & receiving quick answers in a most friendly way and their FB page - the other authors are also totally willing to take the time to explain things. It seems great. I like your style.
If you're a little technical, Scrivener with Scrivomatic gives fine grained formatting control. That's why I've never dug Vellum and will likely pass on Atticus. Thanks for your perspective! It was super helpful.
I am used to Jutoh+, which gives a lot more and finer control than Atticus. I bought it yesterday and just felt like you. I was even thinking about a refund because in my opinion, it was very incomplete. However, this morning I watched several tutorials and became impressed with what it already can do. What I miss most are stylesheetss, which I use extensively in Jutoh. I put everything within stylesheets, is it character or paragraph sheets. So I will make a feature request for it. For everybody feel like me at the start, remember it is only released for a few months. When you see what is in the pipeline and what they are working on, I am sure we will be pleasantly surprised in the future. And it is not subscription based, you pay once and you will receive all future updates for free. On this moment, I see Atticus shine when you need a word and epub book from the same source. This is where Jutoh lags behind. Also, when you like to create a book fast without the hurdle of stylesheets, this is definatelly the app for you. Chris
I currently have Scrivener, which I love, but I was thinking of getting Atticus to help with the actual formatting of my books. I currently only have Word to use for that but I have heard good things about Atticus. Thanks for the video!
I considered Vellum in the past but held off because of the price. However, I've read that the latest version requires Catalina or newer in the apple/macOS environment. I have an ancient Macbook Pro (mid 2010) which is still going strong but stuck in High Sierra. So, it is pretty clear that I'll be checking out Atticus, no doubt. The guy behind it is Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. Worth mentioning him as he is pretty congenial.
Yeah, the price for Vellum would have been a deterrent for me, too, even if I had a Mac to use it on. That's his name! Dave Chesson--thanks for reminding me. :)
I really like it and think it's a great option. Happy to show other people and let them make a more informed decision about what might work for them. :)
You can do it either way. I uploaded mine with page breaks and headers, and some of it came through fine but other parts I did have to go through and manually fix. Atticus makes it easy to split the manuscript at chapter breaks, so even if you upload a single file, you can go through and split up those chapters with the click of a button. :)
Thanks for the great review.... I'll be purchasing Atticus today....if you haven't you should see about getting an affiliate link... thanks once again!
I wish I could try it before I buy it, even though you've shown a beautifully clear example of how to navigate through the software. I just would like to see if it's right for me since I format all my books the same way, and I'd want to know if I can replicate that process within the software.
I'm about to take Atticus for a spin myself too since Vellum is well out of my budget and on a system I don't use (don't want to rent the Cloud Mac thing either since that's yet another additional cost), so it was nice to get an inside look at the software! Thanks for giving this little tour :D
Tammy, thank you for the video. I downloaded Atticus. I have build my own website with WordPress and WIX. I found Atticus not as easy as it touts. I found their tutorials terrible. Can you offer tutorials for Atticus? They have not telephone customer service only email which takes at least a day to respond. They should take not how simple WIX is to use and see their platform. I uploaded my book and the entire manuscript uploaded as the first chapter. Can you offer help?
Tammy, thank you. However, not being a computer person, I find Atticus and other formatting programs and convoluted and complicated. Why can't there be a program where i just upload my completed PDF manuscript and BAM! It's done.
That's understandable. There's definitely a learning curve to doing it yourself, and sometimes just hiring someone to do it for you is the best option.
I'm with you on not wanting to use customer service usually DX just had an instance where I wanted to switch an account's email and kept getting an error message that there was already another profile already attached to it. I ask customer service if they can switch it for me manually because I've deleted the professed "attached account" *several times*, and the response was just : "have you tried deleting the account" lol
@@ta_hernandez5 Ha ha yeah, so I mean, it's even more of a selling point that Atticus has such great support :) I'm considering getting it because I don't have a Mac. I was/am using Reedsy to make different formats but it's given my .mobi files some strange extra pages at the end of the book, and doesn't seem as flexible in adding graphics
Are there limits to the sized of a Word file that one can upload? My book is finished but trying to transfer it to atticus I get a read paperclip, with a file error box that pops up when I hover over it with my mouse. The book is 404 pages and is 918 KB. Thanks...
I'm not sure. I would suggest reaching out to the Atticus support people. I have had issues with my largest file (a box set of about 250k words) not saving changes/formatting correctly.
T.A. thank you for this video. Question: I write in Word. I converted Word to PDF. Problem, Ingramspark said fonts are not embedded. Will Atticus auto embed fonts?
I'm not 100% sure as I haven't used them to format a print book yet, but my guess is yes, it will. It allows you to export your book file as a PDF and has options for Ingram Spark, KDP, etc. So I assume they are familiar with the file requirements for those platforms and the exported file could be uploaded without issues. I recommend asking their support team directly if you want to be sure or have other specific questions. They are very responsive and I'm sure could give you a better answer.
As far as I know, there is no limit to how many books or projects you can use it for. I think I've used it for something like 7 or 8 books now (some of those are just short stories I give to newsletter subscribers).
![Quickstart Guide to Atticus [2024 Version]](/img/n.gif)
I know it is a little bit churlish, but it is refreshing to see the folks at Vellum face real competition. I have found them to be a bit on the aloof and somewhat arrogant side. The folks at Atticus are real, grounded people and they still have the common touch. They make you feel a bit special. When the world of publishing is a fog, it is reassuring to find kind, well-mannered, courteous folks who are not 'up themselves'. Hopefully the folks at Scrivener will also pull their socks up - all a bit precious really. I think I owe the Atticus folks a sarsaparilla at Christmas.
I have really appreciate the customer service and friendliness from the Atticus people for sure!
Vellum is great, intuitive, but the developers seem to be slow or disinterested in taking on suggestions. The lack of design options is a big problem for me, they have one or two that are usable but most are pretty bad, so you end up using the same style over and over. Will give Atticus a try and see if it's the better option.
Vellum left the door open by not producing a version for the PC. I have used it via MacinCloud but it's a hassle. Nice that Atticus is a one-off cost, not subscription-based.
I agree! I kept hoping they would release a PC version and it baffles me that they never did. Seems like a missed opportunity. I do like that Atticus is a one-time cost and not a subscription as well.
@@AphroditeLee I think Vellum will regret their decision to ignore PC users in a year or so because a lot of Mac users will see what Atticus can do for a much lower price and decide to purchase it instead. I did notice that Vellum recently offered a 30% discount for Black Friday!
As an author coming off a six-year publishing hiatus, I was disappointed to learn that Vellum was only available to Mac users, and had been wondering if there was an alternative for PC users. So happy to have stumbled across your video today. Thank you!
I hope it works well for you! Glad the video was useful.
I've had Arricus for a month and I am impressed with what it can do. Previously, I hired an internal designer and she was very good but I no longer need to hire anybody. The savings you can make using Atticus instead of hiring a designer are huge, especially when you need to make changes, The book looks really good in formatting mode. It's not quite there as a writing tool, there are new developments in the pipeline but iI'm aware that it will improve as time goes on. I can do all my revisions on Atticus and editing too..It doesn't mean that you don't have to put some work into it because you do, but the effort is worth it. The end result is truly professional if used correctly. The only problem that I have encountered is that it can take a while to upload the the print preview. Somerimes it comes up quickly other times you can wait forever. I don't know the reason for this but it can be annoying. Having said that, it;s the best investment that I have made and as a Chromebook user, it gives me all the capabilities that I need. I reccmend it to other authors.
I'm so glad it's been useful for you! It really can do a lot and if you can save yourself some money not having to pay a formatter, that's great! There are so many costs associated with self-publishing already.
I've used many complicated and arcane formatting methods, starting with CSS combined with HTML that was dropped into Calibre, then I switched to Sigil. After doing this for several years, I started using Kindle Create, which is really a great and free option for PC users. But then there was the pesky detail of print books. Plus, it create a file for KDP only.
I'm a big fan of Dave Chesson's work with Publisher Rocket and when he announced Atticus was in the works, I jumped in and became a beta user. And I've not looked back.
Since I do a lot of my writing on a Chromebook (it's my walk-around device) in Google Docs, I like having a web-based formatting tool. So far, I'm really happy with Atticus, but will probably stick with Google Docs for writing since it does a good job of finding little issues with my writing.
Bottom-line: If you're a PC user and starting out, I'd recommend watching your expenses and try out Kindle Create. (That is, if you're exclusive to KDP.) If you know you're going to write and write a lot, I'd seriously recommend investing in Atticus.
Thanks so much for your insights! That's a great way to help people decide whether Atticus is worth investing in for them or not.
i used Vellum to publish 35+ books and have had to keep a Mac in Cloud subscription just to use it, so i'm super happy to finally have an alternative.
I just subscribed to your channel because I like how you explained Atticus, which I've just purchased & am having a rough start with the learning curve - however, between emailing customer support & receiving quick answers in a most friendly way and their FB page - the other authors are also totally willing to take the time to explain things. It seems great. I like your style.
I have had a really hard time learning Atticus too! Their tutorials are for advanced users unfortunately...
If you're a little technical, Scrivener with Scrivomatic gives fine grained formatting control. That's why I've never dug Vellum and will likely pass on Atticus. Thanks for your perspective! It was super helpful.
Fair enough, everyone has different preferences and things that work or don't work for them.
I am used to Jutoh+, which gives a lot more and finer control than Atticus. I bought it yesterday and just felt like you. I was even thinking about a refund because in my opinion, it was very incomplete. However, this morning I watched several tutorials and became impressed with what it already can do.
What I miss most are stylesheetss, which I use extensively in Jutoh. I put everything within stylesheets, is it character or paragraph sheets. So I will make a feature request for it.
For everybody feel like me at the start, remember it is only released for a few months. When you see what is in the pipeline and what they are working on, I am sure we will be pleasantly surprised in the future.
And it is not subscription based, you pay once and you will receive all future updates for free.
On this moment, I see Atticus shine when you need a word and epub book from the same source. This is where Jutoh lags behind. Also, when you like to create a book fast without the hurdle of stylesheets, this is definatelly the app for you.
Chris
I currently have Scrivener, which I love, but I was thinking of getting Atticus to help with the actual formatting of my books. I currently only have Word to use for that but I have heard good things about Atticus. Thanks for the video!
Most answers to your questions are here: www.atticus.io/tutorials/
I considered Vellum in the past but held off because of the price. However, I've read that the latest version requires Catalina or newer in the apple/macOS environment. I have an ancient Macbook Pro (mid 2010) which is still going strong but stuck in High Sierra. So, it is pretty clear that I'll be checking out Atticus, no doubt. The guy behind it is Dave Chesson of Kindlepreneur. Worth mentioning him as he is pretty congenial.
Yeah, the price for Vellum would have been a deterrent for me, too, even if I had a Mac to use it on.
That's his name! Dave Chesson--thanks for reminding me. :)
Vellum's price was always the barrier for me...and well, the expense of buying a Mac.
Great review. Thank you so much...💕
This was very helpful. Thanks for doing this.
Thank you. It really was painless. Mind, I haven't exported to Amazon yet.
I cannot wait to get this!
Thanks for the awesome review. It looks like a great program.
Huh, I don't think I've ever learned about Atticus. Imma gonna look into it. Thank you Tanni
I really like it and think it's a great option. Happy to show other people and let them make a more informed decision about what might work for them. :)
Good review. Thanks.
Hi, thanks for your videos. I find them helpful. Do you have any problems exporting your finished formatted Atticus document? Mine won't export.
THANK YOU! Do we upload a plain manuscript.. no page breaks, no headers, no images?
You can do it either way. I uploaded mine with page breaks and headers, and some of it came through fine but other parts I did have to go through and manually fix. Atticus makes it easy to split the manuscript at chapter breaks, so even if you upload a single file, you can go through and split up those chapters with the click of a button. :)
Does Atticus support French text?
I have no idea, honestly. Sorry.
@@ta_hernandez5 ok
Thanks for the great review.... I'll be purchasing Atticus today....if you haven't you should see about getting an affiliate link... thanks once again!
I wish I could try it before I buy it, even though you've shown a beautifully clear example of how to navigate through the software. I just would like to see if it's right for me since I format all my books the same way, and I'd want to know if I can replicate that process within the software.
Yeah, I'm not sure if they have like a free trial or something, but that would be really nice.
@@ta_hernandez5 I decided to pick it up anyway, going to try it later today!
@@jazmingalloway3172 Good luck! Hope it works well for you.
I wish I'd known about this before purchasing Scrivener.
I'm about to take Atticus for a spin myself too since Vellum is well out of my budget and on a system I don't use (don't want to rent the Cloud Mac thing either since that's yet another additional cost), so it was nice to get an inside look at the software! Thanks for giving this little tour :D
Glad it was helpful!
Hello, Does Atticus automatically generate the table of contents once I load my word manuscript into the program to format? Thanks!
Thanks fo the video, do they have formatting for a journal.
Thanks for the info
Tammy, thank you for the video. I downloaded Atticus. I have build my own website with WordPress and WIX. I found Atticus not as easy as it touts. I found their tutorials terrible. Can you offer tutorials for Atticus? They have not telephone customer service only email which takes at least a day to respond. They should take not how simple WIX is to use and see their platform. I uploaded my book and the entire manuscript uploaded as the first chapter. Can you offer help?
Nice demo video. Thanks. Question: does Grammarly work with the program?
I haven't used Grammarly so I'm not sure, but if you reach out to the Atticus support team I'm sure they could answer that for you.
Thank you !
Good info.
Tammy, thank you. However, not being a computer person, I find Atticus and other formatting programs and convoluted and complicated. Why can't there be a program where i just upload my completed PDF manuscript and BAM! It's done.
That's understandable. There's definitely a learning curve to doing it yourself, and sometimes just hiring someone to do it for you is the best option.
Thank you
Thank you @@ta_hernandez5
I'm with you on not wanting to use customer service usually DX just had an instance where I wanted to switch an account's email and kept getting an error message that there was already another profile already attached to it. I ask customer service if they can switch it for me manually because I've deleted the professed "attached account" *several times*, and the response was just : "have you tried deleting the account" lol
Aw, man! That's so frustrating!
@@ta_hernandez5 Ha ha yeah, so I mean, it's even more of a selling point that Atticus has such great support :) I'm considering getting it because I don't have a Mac. I was/am using Reedsy to make different formats but it's given my .mobi files some strange extra pages at the end of the book, and doesn't seem as flexible in adding graphics
I want to make a short story ebook. I assume I can eliminate the "Chapter 1" etc. heading since short story books don't have chapters.
Yes, the chapter headers are all very customizable so you can eliminate them altogether or use them to put whatever you want in there.
Are those little Roy and Ed dolls? Because you have TASTE.
Lol! Thanks. They are! FMA is one of my absolute favorite stories in any medium.
Are there limits to the sized of a Word file that one can upload? My book is finished but trying to transfer it to atticus I get a read paperclip, with a file error box that pops up when I hover over it with my mouse. The book is 404 pages and is 918 KB. Thanks...
I'm not sure. I would suggest reaching out to the Atticus support people. I have had issues with my largest file (a box set of about 250k words) not saving changes/formatting correctly.
@@ta_hernandez5 got ahold of Atticus. Had to convert to DOCX file. Would not save to upload. Did drag into page finally. File size did not matter.
Can you write a poetry book with aticus or is it only for novels?
You could absolutely use it for a poetry book! The formatting is pretty versatile so I think it would work just fine for poetry.
T.A. thank you for this video. Question: I write in Word. I converted Word to PDF. Problem, Ingramspark said fonts are not embedded. Will Atticus auto embed fonts?
I'm not 100% sure as I haven't used them to format a print book yet, but my guess is yes, it will. It allows you to export your book file as a PDF and has options for Ingram Spark, KDP, etc. So I assume they are familiar with the file requirements for those platforms and the exported file could be uploaded without issues. I recommend asking their support team directly if you want to be sure or have other specific questions. They are very responsive and I'm sure could give you a better answer.
@@ta_hernandez5 Thank you
Ha. New here, but just noticed your bookshelves are arranged by color.
Best way to arrange a shelf, in my opinion :)
How many uses does the $149 Atticus subscription cover? Can you use it for multiple books or just one?
As far as I know, there is no limit to how many books or projects you can use it for. I think I've used it for something like 7 or 8 books now (some of those are just short stories I give to newsletter subscribers).
Can you create book covers with atticus?
No, I don't think so. They just give you an option to upload one that's already made.
@@ta_hernandez5 Thank you for your reply. Love your videos. :)
Artist here noticed your color coded bookshelf 😂
Haha, thanks. I love how it looks!
Hmmmm