9 Comments
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Tiffanie Gray's avatar

I used InDesign in the past, I use Affinity now. And Atticus. (I'm a PC user, so no Vellum). I embed the text in the pictures as I just do very early learner books currently under a pen name. Thanks for the breakdown of tech!

Darcy Pattison's avatar

Makes perfect sense! I'm glad it's getting easier for us to choose the right software for great books.

Roy R Williams's avatar

which one of these would be best for illustrated chapter books?

Darcy Pattison's avatar

Vellum! Try that first,

Tara Sitser's avatar

Much gratitude, Darcy, for the time, effort, and generosity you have put into sharing this information with us!

Lindsey Hughes's avatar

Thank you for this list! I know how to format books using Atticus, but picture books are completely different.

OCD Peer Support's avatar

Darcy, I tried to format my children’s books on Kindle. I have photos but they wound up in unintended pages in my ebooks and print books. Can you recommend any cost effective formatting software? Word doesn’t work for me either.

Thanks.

Carmen Wright's avatar

This is an excellent resource, exactly what I recommend for people looking to produce their own books. The biggest hurdle for most, is understanding the use of styles and the hierarchy of heading styles. Personally, I've used InDesign for eons and have recently been experimenting with Affinity. To get the ePubs cleaned up, I am using Sigil. I'd like to try Atticus one of these days, just to see how the results compare.