Disclosure. We make one of the tools on this page.
Vellum is a widely used book formatter, and it has run only on macOS for over a decade; its makers have not announced a Windows version. The tools available on Windows make different trade-offs.
What Vellum does well
Vellum is known for two things: polished output, with well-made chapter openings, ornaments and page layout, and speed, with few decisions to make. If another tool claims the same quality, ask to see a printed page.
Vellum is a one-time purchase. Vellum Ebooks costs $199.99; Vellum Press, which also makes print files, costs $249.99. Both cover an unlimited number of books.
The alternatives
Atticus — $147, one-time, runs everywhere
The closest alternative to Vellum on Windows: import a manuscript, choose a theme, export ebook and print. It runs on Windows, macOS, Linux and in a browser, and includes a writing environment.
Reviews by authors who published with it mention two issues with the print output. Single lines are left alone in the printed PDF, and print and ebook are kept as separate files when either needs manual fixes. If page layout matters to you, look at its printed pages before buying.
Lacuna — $149, one-time, desktop, offline
Runs on Windows and macOS, works offline, and exports EPUB and a print-ready PDF. It is newer and does less than the other two.
A freelance formatter — $50 to $400 a book
You send a manuscript and receive files. You pay for every book, and often for every round of corrections, but it costs the least of your own time. Each corrected typo means another round with the formatter.
Torcul — what we make
It runs in a browser, so the operating system does not matter. The files are checked against the published requirements before you upload, and anything that cannot be checked is named.
Where it does less: three interior designs against Vellum's range of themes, and no ornament library.
The PDF checker, the margin calculator and the spine calculator are free, need no account and run in your browser, without uploading anything. They work with any of the tools above.
What to compare on
Compare the printed page, not the feature list:
- Export the same chapter from two tools.
- Print both on paper; single-sided is fine.
- Put them beside a book whose look you already like.
- Look at them from about an arm's length: the evenness of the text, the margins, and whether any line sits alone at the top or bottom of a page.
These differences show on paper and hardly at all on a screen.
Prices and platform support are as published by each maker and change without notice. Check before buying. We are not affiliated with any of the tools named here.