FORMATTING A BOOK WITH ATTICUS | review of writing software for authors 

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 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.

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 bought it today and i'm writing a book. Having fun with this amazing software.

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 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'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 cannot wait to get this!

This was very helpful. Thanks for doing this.

Great review. Thank you so much...💕

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.

Thanks for the awesome review. It looks like a great program.

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.

Good review. Thanks.

Thank you. It really was painless. Mind, I haven't exported to Amazon yet.

Huh, I don't think I've ever learned about Atticus. Imma gonna look into it. Thank you Tanni

Thanks for the info

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!

Thank you !

Most answers to your questions are here: www.atticus.io/tutorials/

I wish I'd known about this before purchasing Scrivener.

Good info.

Hi, thanks for your videos. I find them helpful. Do you have any problems exporting your finished formatted Atticus document? Mine won't export.

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.

THANK YOU! Do we upload a plain manuscript.. no page breaks, no headers, no images?

Does Atticus support French text?

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.

Nice demo video. Thanks. Question: does Grammarly work with the program?

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.

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?

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...

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 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

Can you write a poetry book with aticus or is it only for novels?

How many uses does the $149 Atticus subscription cover? Can you use it for multiple books or just one?

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. 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.

Are those little Roy and Ed dolls? Because you have TASTE.

Hmmmm

Ha. New here, but just noticed your bookshelves are arranged by color.

Can you create book covers with atticus?

Artist here noticed your color coded bookshelf 😂