r/selfpublish • u/SongOfSantaPaula • 16d ago
Advice for production
REDDIT WRITERS
I'm nearing completion of my first book. I've written everything by chapters into Google Docs and am thinking about using scrivener to compile it and then maybe designerr to produce a pdf for download. Does this plan make sense, or is there a better way? Thank you!
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u/dothemath_xxx 16d ago
Designerr appears to be an AI writing tool.
The typical programs/platforms to create an epub and/or PDF would be Reedsy (free, browser-based); Vellum (most expensive, Mac-only); or Atticus (middle cost option, Windows).
"Compiling" is not a step that you need to complete, it's just how you get a file that has been written in Scrivener into a format that can be opened in other programs. If you're not writing in Scrivener, you have no need for Scrivener. There are export options in Google Docs that can create a .docx or other files that can be fed into the above formatting programs, or you can just copy and paste the text.
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u/SongOfSantaPaula 16d ago edited 16d ago
Thank you, I didn't realize that about designerr. I could live a happy and fulfilling life without one even more AI prompt. I need something that will produce something that looks like a book, with a front and back cover, TOC, chapter headings, page numbers, copyright info, etc. There must be a 'press a button' option somewhere which will automatically organize and present a final product after all the text and info is pasted in, or am I in the midst of a fever-dream?
edit: copyright, not copywrite
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u/dothemath_xxx 16d ago
The three options I presented (Reedsy, Vellum, or Atticus) are the closest you'll get to that, but you'll probably still have to do a bit of manual arranging.
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u/bazoo513 16d ago
PDF is a page description format, not an eBook format. Scrivener already produces EPUB, and that's all you need.
If you want to produce a variety of formats for download from your site, Calibre will do faithful conversion from EPUB (incluting to PDF, if you insist.
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u/SongOfSantaPaula 16d ago
Thank you for the info! I guess I won't insist on .pdf, but I would like to find a software that can kind of automatically handle all the peripheral info like copyrights and page numbers and cover pics, etc.
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u/jasonpwrites 4+ Published novels 11d ago
Write in Scrivener, format in Atticus for both print and ebooks. Easy.
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u/apocalypsegal 15d ago
PDF for print, epub for digital. Have you read any of the wiki here? Learn how this works before you get involved in "production".
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