[SA_Soule]

Is there anyway to just make the copyright page font/text smaller? Please advise.

 

[Brad Andalman]

Is there anyway to just make the copyright page font/text smaller? Please advise.

If you are using Vellum's Copyright element, then it will automatically use a smaller font size for its text. However, beyond that, there's no way to change the font size for just one element.

To learn how to check if your copyright has the correct element type and, if necessary, to change its type to Copyright, please see the Element Types section of our Elements help page.

 

[Nobody222]

Hello. Planning to get Vellum, but... I just found out it doesn't support endnotes for Kindle or footnotes for Print. How is that possible? That's a huge drawback.

Can you guys please add it? I use it in all my books!

Thanks.

 

[SA_Soule]

If you are using Vellum's Copyright element, then it will automatically use a smaller font size for its text. However, beyond that, there's no way to change the font size for just one element.

To learn how to check if your copyright has the correct element type and, if necessary, to change its type to Copyright, please see the Element Types section of our Elements help page.

Hi Brad,

Thank you for the response. Two days ago, I uploaded my Word doc into Vellum, then generated my first nonfiction eBook, and it was an awesome experience.

And my only disappoint was the lack of different style options. There are not many to choose from that are genre specific, nor can you upload your own fonts. It would be great to have more Book Styles and more chapter heading options.

In future updates will there be a way to import our own fonts? For example, so authors can create Chapter Headings that match the book cover fonts? (There are lots of free font sites.)

May I offer a suggestion about styles in future updates?

It would be awesome if the software had maybe 10 or more templates/styles to choose from in popular genres with "genre fonts" for the title, headers, etc. Like styles for horror/urban fantasy and romance and science fiction and fantasy and paranormal romance and thriller/mystery/suspense, etc.

Or if the software accepted fonts like other programs, so that a writer could have a drop-down menu with their uploaded fonts and apply it to chapter headings or the title, etc.

Please consider these options!!!

 

[A. N. Other Author]

I did look into buying a used one at the Apple website, but they are still out of my budget range. (Close to a $900 or higher.) While I found a few on Best Buy, the reviews were negative, so I'd only buy direct from Apple if I could afford it.

If you google around there are ways of installing OSX on a partition on your PC. From what I understand, it's not illegal, but Apple don't like it. I haven't done it myself, so it's not a recommendation (and I'm not a lawyer, etc), but I have heard on these boards it is possible and relatively simple even if you're not a tech head.

If you'd rather buy a cheap Macbook, you might find a reconditioned one somewhere like Groupon. Check out the model number, though, and be sure it'll run Sierra at least. They won't be all singing all dancing, but should be sufficient for writing.

 

[SA_Soule]

If you google around there are ways of installing OSX on a partition on your PC. From what I understand, it's not illegal, but Apple don't like it. I haven't done it myself, so it's not a recommendation (and I'm not a lawyer, etc), but I have heard on these boards it is possible and relatively simple even if you're not a tech head.

If you'd rather buy a cheap Macbook, you might find a reconditioned one somewhere like Groupon. Check out the model number, though, and be sure it'll run Sierra at least. They won't be all singing all dancing, but should be sufficient for writing.

Thank you for the suggestion.

 

[SA_Soule]

Anyone else know where to buy a refurbished MAC laptop?

 

[Matt Helbig]

I bought mine from http://www.macofalltrades.com/ for about $250 (it's a little on the slow side when Vellum starts up but it's fine after about a minute). Just be sure you get one that can at least run El Capitan (OS 10.1) since that's the minimum requirement to run Vellum.

 

[Gone 9/21/18]

Just to share a funny/strange experience. Ever since I got the 13" MacBook Pro mentioned above, I was sorry I saved money by getting it instead of a 15". I told the whole tale here:

http://www.kboards.com/index.php/topic,261389.25.html (Reply #34)

Refurbished machine with upgrades from what the model usually has, including 16 GB RAM. To my surprise it came with the latest operating system installed, which you can tell from the ads not all refurbs do. Amazon reseller and 60-day warranty, so I knew I could return if it wasn't as advertised. It's a late 2013 ME293LL/A, and I paid $1,099, so you can compare with others you're looking at. I did pay another $99 for a 2-year warranty on top. Which I'm surprised anyone would offer on a refurb. Hope I never find out how good it is.

So my funny/strange story is that before getting the machine I ended up with, I ordered one from Macofalltrades. Days passed, and while the order went through, and I got an email confirmation, nothing else happened. Supposedly they ship quickly. So I contacted them, and they told me they weren't going to sell to me because they'd decided I was a security risk. I'm a retired old broad, born in NJ and lived in Colorado since I was 19. Never had any run ins with the police except for a few traffic tickets, never been involved in a lawsuit, etc. I was astounded (and still am), enough to send them an email telling them they're nuts. My guess is they did it because I use a VPN when buying stuff over the internet, but I saw no reason to argue with them. They had charged my credit card but did credit the amount promptly. I ended up with a better deal IMO.

If they don't consider you a security risk, and if you would be happier with a 13" than I was, Matt's right, you can get some really good deals on those. Make sure you get something new enough to run the latest and greatest OSX. Even though Vellum doesn't require the very latest right now, that might change. Scrivener's requirements for their latest are higher than for the last iteration of the program.

 

[Gone 9/21/18]

Oops, sorry. Only just realized you said $900 was over your budget. Do check out the 13" refurbs.

 

[BGArcher]

Anyone else know where to buy a refurbished MAC laptop?

Honestly the best bet for a refurbished mac is the mac story. They sell them right there, and the best thing is that you can still buy a warranty with them. https://www.apple.com/shop/browse/home/specialdeals/mac As far as refurbished go, no one comes close to Apples. They're basically brand new computers that have just been tested. I'm writing this on a refurb 5K iMac, that still screams and is the best computer I've ever owned.

 

[IWFerguson]

My last several Mac and iPad purchases for my family have all been from the refurbished section of the apple store web site. I recently got a 2017 13 in. MacBook Air for $850 +tax. Came with the latest OS, and a slight marking on the monitor that I haven't gotten around to trying to remove yet. I don't need the Retina monitors and touchbar nonsense that they're adding to the new pricey macbook pro. This thing is wicked fast, wicked light, and runs what I need it to run: Scrivener, Vellum, Office 2011.

 

[Lydniz]

This has probably been asked before, so if it has I'd be grateful if someone could direct me to the post in question: I'm trying to build a box set of three books, and I'd like one TOC at the beginning which links just to the three titles (i.e. click here to get to book 1, book 2 etc), plus a TOC of chapters within each book (i.e. click here to get to chapter 1, chapter 2 etc). If I set it to exclude chapters within parts, all I get is the links to the titles and no chapter TOC within each book, but if I set it to inlcude chapters within parts, I get a humungous four-page TOC at the start of the box set listing each chapter. Is there any way around this?

 

[Word Fan]

This has probably been asked before, so if it has I'd be grateful if someone could direct me to the post in question: I'm trying to build a box set of three books, and I'd like one TOC at the beginning which links just to the three titles (i.e. click here to get to book 1, book 2 etc), plus a TOC of chapters within each book (i.e. click here to get to chapter 1, chapter 2 etc). If I set it to exclude chapters within parts, all I get is the links to the titles and no chapter TOC within each book, but if I set it to inlcude chapters within parts, I get a humungous four-page TOC at the start of the box set listing each chapter. Is there any way around this?

If you can't find an answer quickly, feel free to contact Vellum Support. Even if it has been asked before, they will gladly help you out without making you feel stupid for not knowing. They are great. They truly want people to be happy with their program. It won't do everything for everybody but it's great at what it DOES do.

 

[Lydniz]

If you can't find an answer quickly, feel free to contact Vellum Support. Even if it has been asked before, they will gladly help you out without making you feel stupid for not knowing. They are great. They truly want people to be happy with their program. It won't do everything for everybody but it's great at what it DOES do.

Thanks, I might do that.

 

[Brad West]

This has probably been asked before, so if it has I'd be grateful if someone could direct me to the post in question: I'm trying to build a box set of three books, and I'd like one TOC at the beginning which links just to the three titles (i.e. click here to get to book 1, book 2 etc), plus a TOC of chapters within each book (i.e. click here to get to chapter 1, chapter 2 etc). If I set it to exclude chapters within parts, all I get is the links to the titles and no chapter TOC within each book, but if I set it to inlcude chapters within parts, I get a humungous four-page TOC at the start of the box set listing each chapter. Is there any way around this?

Hi Lydniz,

Though Vellum does offer the controls you found for showing or hiding chapters within a Volume, there is not currently a way to limit a TOC to only show the contents of a single book in your set. We do have a suggestion on file to consider this in the future, and I've added your name to it.

In the meantime, if you have a box set with a large number of books/chapters, we might recommend only including the minimal TOC (that includes links to each book) at the beginning. Readers will still be able to access individual chapters using the pop-up/side-bar TOC on their device.

Hope that helps.

 

[Lydniz]

Thanks, Brad. That's what I did in the end.

 

[Used To Be BH]

Why does Vellum create a new cover image file every time it generates an ebook file? I've been using Vellum for a while now, and I still haven't figured that out. Obviously I have the cover image file already if I've put it into the book, and the ebook file shows the cover image fine without having to store it as a separate image file as well. Is there some important use to this new cover image file that I'm missing?

I've wondered that myself. I know Vellum optimizes the cover for each vendor. Do some of them require the cover file to be uploaded separately? I think I've been asked for a cover once or twice, but I can't remember which vendors do that. Most of them have you upload a file that includes the cover.

That's the only reason I can think of, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

[Brad Andalman]

Why does Vellum create a new cover image file every time it generates an ebook file? I've been using Vellum for a while now, and I still haven't figured that out. Obviously I have the cover image file already if I've put it into the book, and the ebook file shows the cover image fine without having to store it as a separate image file as well. Is there some important use to this new cover image file that I'm missing?

This separate image file is your marketing or catalog cover image, which should be uploaded separately from your ebook when you are publishing.

Of course, as you noted, if you have the original cover, you could just upload that. However, since some stores place certain restrictions on the marketing image size, Vellum creates a store-specific marketing image for you as a convenience.

 

[SA_Soule]

The website states: Vellum will automatically add blank pages to your PDF so that your front and back matter elements start on the right side of a page spread, like most traditionally published books.

Why is this a default for print books?

Because most traditionally published fiction books do not have every chapter start on the right side. It seems very outdated to add unnecessary pages, and I couldn't find any options to fix this.

EDIT: Figured out how to fix it so not every new heading starts on the right side, but a few still do anyway. Weird.