This is one of many sites I’ve built to help indie authors publish better… without falling victim to expensive vanity presses. However, the truth is about the publishing industry is more complex – and changing quickly!
Formatting is a little extra service, that shouldn’t cost a lot of money; and it is tempting to just do it yourself. You can, and my templates will help! But it’s going to be a pain in the ass. And it still may not be as clean or professional as your competitors.
When I format these days, I write in MS Word, set up all my headings, and just upload to KDP. They’ll convert it into a decent epub if you’ve done most things right. And for me as long as it’s clean and readable, that’s good enough. Fancy fonts or images can break the book on some devices.
When I have an updated, polished version and I want to design it well – and also do the paperbacks, I use Vellum. It can be used on a PC with mac in cloud, but some authors get a macbook just to use it. The styles are basic, but they’re clean – it’s easy to use and the results are fine.
Honestly, that’ll save you at least a dozen hours of trying to learn formatting yourself. But I STILL recommend starting with my formatting templates, because your manuscript will be set up properly, and you have more control to edit and fix things.
It’s not a little project, even if it can seem unimportant.
Publishing costs are crashing down
AI has split the writing community asunder; for creatives AI can threaten the human spark that defines us. But it can also let us execute beyond our skillset. Previously you had to hire an editor, a cover designer, a formatter… the basic price for quality work is at least $1000. Most people would tell you, if you can’t afford the price to enter, you shouldn’t publish.
I’ve always thought that’s rubbish.
And I’ve done the best to make tools and templates available to help self-publishers DIY.
The truth is, while AI may not compare to the best, most expensive service providers out there, it’s already better than the cheap, basic alternatives you could have found previously. And since I don’t have time to actually help everybody, I’m experimenting with some AI tools as well.
Maybe I’ll figure out my own book formatting tool, but for now I’m focused on my main strengths, book design and novel editing.
The idea is to offer something in the $50 range, that is better than anything else.
AI translation and audiobooks
Translation and audiobooks are extra things authors can get if they have a big budget. Previously only books that sold well would get the royal treatment. I’ve invested in narration for my own books and spent over $20K… it’s hard to earn that money back on audiobook sales.
AI is pretty good with ai book translation, and ai voiced audiobooks – when they work – can be enjoyed by readers. Spotify is heating up for audiobooks, as is youtube. Foreign markets are increasingly easy to access. Tools exist to translate books with AI… but Amazon itself just announced it’s own internal book translation feature.
This is not a new shift for them. Again and again, Amazon and other big players are adding AI tools into their own processes, because they’re too dangerous to ignore. When people worry about AI in book cover design, for example, I point out that Photoshop itself has integrated google’s latest image gen technology.
It feels stupid easy, to click and achieve a result, that previously would take me an hour of braindead, pedantic work. Not every task is creative, and Photoshop as a tool for book covers has always been limited by stock photos in a way that just isn’t true anymore.
Design itself is changing fast, but so is marketing – Coke is putting out another all-AI christmas ad this year, despite negative feedback on the last one. Authors are free to make their own choices and decisions about using AI, but people keep in mind that for service providers, it becomes harder and harder to be the best, if they can’t employ the latest tools – it allows non-designers to produce better results, faster, not through skill but only through technology.
Being afraid of being replaced would be a valid fear as a designer; but I’m hoping my cheap or free tools will stop the spread of more expensive alternatives.
As a writer, you and I face the same dilemma. I want all my books to be mine, written by me. My voice, my stories. But, I’m also not still developing a style. I’ve published dozens of books. I’m happy with the way I write. It’s hard work, and it’s slow. Milton – the subject of my PhD thesis – went blind but had a place to live and a maid who would write down every word he spoke.
I can’t do everything myself, and it’s not that I’m tired of trying, I just care more about finishing all the work I want to do… and I know I’ll never finish at my current rate. What is AI good for? It’s pretty good at everything. But it’s not great at anything.
You should use it for all the stuff you don’t love to do, that maybe you also don’t do well. Focus on what you love, focus on what you’re best at. Get the appropriate support you need, to give your book it’s best chance at success.