That’s what Kindle’s Previewer app was designed for. It will also tell you whether your epub is properly formatted for some of Amazon’s proprietary options like Enhanced Typesetting. The KDP converted file won’t do that. Create Your ePub File. Creating an epub file is a lot easier than formatting a print book, but it’s not. Jan 05, 2016 InDesign does a great job; consumer-level apps like Jutoh, Apple's Pages, and even freeware like OpenOffice can export ePub files that will (probably) pass epubcheck validation.

There are many options out there for ebook writing software - but which ones are worth it? We review the top 10 options.

Monica Dube|

The age of handwriting your ebook and typing it up later is long gone. While I am a lover of beautiful stationery, ebook writing software can be much more useful.

In our selection, we review the best editing, writing, dictation, and converting tools currently at the market. Some of them practically take you from the first idea to the virtual bookshelf, and others import your manuscript and transform it into a beautiful ebook. Of course, everyone knows Blurb, and we write a lot about Sigil, that being the favorite editor of our technical team, but people have different needs and there are many reasons why you would want to look for an alternative to these apps. What is more important to you: ease of use or number of options? Do you need somewhere to write and edit the text, or just import it from a doc file? Did we leave out your favorite? Drop us a comment, and we’ll do our best to write about it.

If you need your manuscript converted to an epub, PublishDrive can do it for you: simply save it as a .docx file, and drag & drop it to the “Content file” field.

Contents

(The article was updated on July 16, 2018.)

Dictation Tools

When it comes to writing software, most writers still swear by Scrivener. We already have an article on what we liked and didn’t like about it. But writing a book is a hard physical labor. You’ll have to sit at the front of the computer for hours at a time. It is slow and needs your full, undivided attention. Thankfully, there is a way around it. More and more professional writers decide to dictate their books: there are several software solutions able to do the job for you. This saves you from getting repetitive pain injury by the time you reach page 50, even if you can’t afford a secretary. Dictating your novel can be a great way to speed up the writing process and let your thoughts go relatively free – if it works well. What is the best dictation software to use?

Google Docs Voice Typing

As an Android user, it seems logical to try Google Docs Voice Typing at first. To use Google Docs voice input you have to open Google Docs with a Chrome browser, click ‘Tools’ and select ‘Voice typing.’ (Or use the shortcut cmd+shift+f on Mac / ctrl+shift+s on Windows.) You’ll have to allow the browser to use your microphone in order start typing – I mean, dictating. There are also around 100 commands you can give the app, including New paragraph, move to the previous column and more: check out the help center for a comprehensive list. Dictation works in around 80 languages and regional accents in total, even in Hungarian! Voice commands, however, only work in English, and only if both the account’s language and the document are in English.

While I dictated this paragraph in its entirety, I had to do a lot of editing afterward. I also couldn’t get the Google Docs voice typing to do any punctuation (it knows commands like ‘period’ and ‘comma’ in six languages). Bear in mind, however, that I’m not a native speaker of English, and while my Google Assistant never has problems understanding my commands, when it comes to a longer text, my intonation can be difficult to follow for a machine. You can also use voice typing on any Android or iOS device with the GBoard(Google’s very own keyboard): I have never used GBoard to dictate anything longer than a note or text message, but it works just fine.

Dictation on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Since the birth of Siri, every Apple product comes with built-in dictation. To turn on dictation on your iPhone, just open ‘Settings,’ and depending on your iOS version look for ‘Keyboard’ or ‘Language and input’ to find ‘Dictation’ and switch it on. Once it is on, you will see the little microphone next to the keyboard: just tap it to start dictating! I find Siri’s dictation less trustable than Google’s: it has trouble understanding even the simplest of words (is there anything wrong with the way I say but?) and dictation lagged even a sentence behind me. I know the lag is necessary as the AI is using context to figure out what I was saying (lots of similarly sounding words in English), but it was so behind me that I started doubting if it is listening to me at all. The transcription of your voice is done on a remote server, so you’re better off if you dictate in 30 seconds long segments. This is something I’ll probably need to get used to.

Bear in mind that using a good mic (such as an iPhone’s noise-cancelling mic you use for calls) or holding the mic close to your mouth can make all the difference! (And it helps if you speak slowly and clearly.) If your Apple gadget doesn’t understand you, keep trying: with time, it gets better at recognizing your accent.

You can also use Apple’s dictation on a Mac computer: go to ‘System Preferences’ and turn on ‘Dictation and Speech.’ (Depending on your iOS version, it could also be under ‘Keyboard.’) If you enable ‘enhanced dictation,’ your iOS will download a language package of around 400 MB, but it speeds up the recognition time and enhances accuracy.

Dragon and Dragon anywhere

The best-known dictation software is Dragon – Naturally Speaking. Dragon is available for Mac, Windows, and phones (Dragon Anywhere). It is the best app currently out by all accounts – but it comes at a price. Dragon for Windows and Mac starts at 300$ and offers no trial version – however, you have 30 days to ask for your money back. The app version offers a trial period of a week; then it is 15$ a month or 150$ a year; you’ll have to sign up online, then download the app and log in. (If you don’t like it, don’t forget to cancel your subscription after the end of the trial period.) For this price, Dragon offers 99% accuracy, custom words and brilliant and intuitive editing options. Just watch this demo:

Ebook writing software

Reedsy Book Editor

• Pricing: free
• Platform: cloud
• Output formats: epub, mobi, PDF

For a WYSIWYG ebook editor that converts into a valid epub, we recommend Reedsy’s editor. Reedsy’s aim was to create an online marketplace where writers and publishing professionals can find each other, and their platform offers great collaboration opportunities without the usual pain of following up version numbers and making sure that everyone is working with the right file. With this ethos, their publishing platform is cloud-based: you can either write your whole book there or copy and paste it in once you are finished. Just sign up with Facebook or Google to create your first book. My favorite feature is the automated front matter with an auto-generated copyright page. You can, as expected, add pictures and notes. On the downside, the customizing options are insufficient: this is the price you have to pay for them to be able to generate your beautiful book automatically.

Vellum

• Pricing: free to download, $199.99 to export books
• Platform: macOS
• Output formats: mobi, epub, PDF

Created with usability and elegance in mind, Vellum is a fantastic software for creating Apple-, Kobo- and Amazon-approved ebooks and POD books with one click. While there are other, much cheaper software solutions to do this for you, some of them even listed in this guide, Vellum is unique: it creates not only professional but beautiful text-centric ebooks. If your goal is to create a book as elegant as a Penguin edition, Vellum can be your choice. The creators took care of everything: simple to use, efficiently imports from Word, and easy to change things even after the epub export.

(Source: The Write Life)

Creatavist

• Pricing: free to $200 per month
• Platform: cloud
• Output formats: web, Facebook stories, several ebook formats

Behind the plain and off-putting title page (which pretty much shares nothing about what you’ll find inside) hides a fantastic app that is great for all your publishing needs: their motto is ‘create once, publish everywhere’ (COPE). Just sign up with Facebook and decide whether to publish under your name or create a profile for your publishing house, and you are good to go. You can use Creatavist to write and edit your books and stories, add pictures and audio and publish it on the web or download it as an enhanced ebook. It is excellent for creating magazines and scrapbooks and lets you publish directly to Amazon or Barnes&Nobles.

iBooks Author

• Pricing: free
• Platform: OS X
• Output formats: PDF, epub, iBooks

For those of us who prefer the option to work offline (ever had to work on planes and trains?), Apple iBooks Author is an excellent choice with amazing personalization opportunities and, obviously, the option of easily sell in iBook Store (but your book still has to go through the approval process).

(Source: iBooks Author – App Store)

PressBooks

• Pricing: free (with watermarks) to $99 per book
• Platform: cloud
• Output formats: PDF, epub, mobi, XML

Just as Tumblr transformed the standard of personal websites with its ease of sharing different types of content, PressBooks intends to do the same for ebook and print book publishing. Aimed for self-pub authors and small publishers, it is, in fact, a WordPress based application with limited personalization options unless you are familiar with CSS. You can write your book straight into the browser or import it from Word.

Scrivener

• Pricing: free 30-day trial, $19.99 (iOS), $40 (Windows), $45 (Mac)
• Platform: Windows, OS X, iOS
• Output formats: PDF, epub, mobi, HTML etc.

Scrivener is a bit of an outlier in this list, being not a conversion software but the greatest text editor ever made. It is very complicated to write long and complex texts as a Word document; if you want to change or check something later, it is almost impossible to find the right spot. Scrivener was created for compiling complex projects: books, research articles or screenplays. If you have millions of footnotes and endnotes, work with thousands of references or just would like to see your storylines in cute little windows, Scrivener is just for you.

(Source: learnscrivenerfast.com)

Zinepal

• Pricing: free to $14 per month
• Platform: cloud
• Output formats: PDF, epub, mobi

Zinepal is similar to Beacon in the sense that it recycles your existing material into ebooks. Using it is literally as simple as using a stick: just give it your blogs RSS feed and click ‘create.’ It also lets you try it out without registering which is a great plus (I’m still receiving spam from everywhere else I ever subscribed to). After it created your book (it takes around five minutes), you can personalize the output. Don’t put your hopes high; all options look very “newspapery”.

Calibre

• Pricing: free and open source
• Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, portable
• Output formats: PDF, epub, mobi

Calibre is the most popular ebook manager software ever created and is my personal favorite. It is mostly known as an ebook library manager: it pretty much handles every input and output format, can send your books to your reader on a wire or wirelessly, lets you easily edit metadata and is great to list your books according to specific information. If you are like me and have collected a library made of thousands of books, or have a nook and a kindle and a tablet, Calibre does the work in the background and sends the right format to the right device, no questions asked. It is also great as an ebook converter for personal use, or if you would like to send your books to your friends, but the codes it creates are cluttered, and stores (like Amazon) greatly dislike it. (Ebooks created with Calibre often fail the validation.) If you are using Calibre, check our manuscript preparation guide to avoid getting a cluttered code.

Jutoh

• Pricing: free limited trial, $39 (basic), $80 (plus)
• Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux, Raspberry Pi
• Output formats: PDF, epub, mobi, HTML

Although the user interface seems a bit off-putting, I have quickly fallen in love with Jutoh: it seems to be creating amazingly clean epub and mobifiles. The ‘Document Cleanup’ function is a must have: it offers one-click removal of all rubbish coming from the text editors (tabs, line breaks, etc.) It doesn’t even let you convert your book until everything is in order.

InDesign

• Pricing: $19.99 per month
• Platform: Windows, macOS
• Output formats: PDF, epub, indd

In desktop publishing, InDesign sets the standards. No need can arise that cannot be solved using InDesign. The software today is used not only to typeset beautiful books but is here for all your publishing needs: you can create presentations, forms and websites using InDesign. With great customizability comes great… well, difficulty, when it comes to learning it. InDesign is by no means an intuitive, easy-to-use software. It takes some time to explore and master it. (It is probably worth it, though.) InDesign is amazing to create print-ready, press-friendly PDFs. On the downside, however, exporting your beautiful book into an epub might not turn out as well as expected. Sometimes, it is just easier to start it over from scratch and ditch the extensive formatting.

(Source)

Best App For Create Epub On A Mac Pc

I hope you enjoyed this selection of the most popular ebook writing and editing tools currently on the market. We tried to provide a selection including free and paid options for all platforms and online work. Which one is your favorite?

Once you're done writing your manuscript, it's a good time to start thinking about ebook distribution. Consider using PublishDrive! With free ebook conversion, built-in promo tools, and distribution to 400+ online stores, PublishDrive will streamline your publishing journey. Create your FREE account to get started!

Best App For Create Epub On A Mac Download

Choose a template

Pages includes two categories of templates specially designed for creating EPUB books. To choose a book template:

1. In Pages on your Mac, choose File > New.
   In the document manager in Pages on your iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or on iCloud.com, tap or click the New Document button .
2. In the template chooser, scroll down to the Books templates.
3. Choose the template that's best for your content:
   • For books that use mostly text, choose a Portrait template. With a Portrait template, you can choose to use reflowable text when you export to EPUB. In the exported EPUB book, text adjusts to different sizes or orientations of devices. Because of this, your book may look different from the original document when opened in Apple Books or other readers.*
   • For books that use a lot of images, or that format content in columns, choose a Landscape template. Landscape templates are exported to EPUB with fixed layouts. The layout is maintained in the exported EPUB book. The layout doesn't change depending on the size or orientation of devices.

* If you decide you want the layout of your Portrait EPUB book to match your document's layout, you can always export your Portrait template-based document as a fixed layout EPUB.

Create a book in Pages

After you've picked a template you can add text, photos, image galleries, videos, shapes, tables, charts, and your own drawings to your document. You can record audio directly on a page in your document and listen to it in your EPUB. You can also animate drawings, which will play back in your EPUB. And, to make sure your book has a table of contents, use the Table of Contents view in Pages to add one.

With a Portrait template, new pages are automatically created as you add content. Your text automatically flows from one page to another. With a Landscape template, you must manually add a new page.

You can also copy a section from one word-processing document to another, or copy a page from one page layout document to another. Learn how to copy and paste pages and sections on iPad, iPhone, or Mac.

If you want text to flow from one page to another in a Landscape template, you can use linked text boxes.

Add pages manually

To add pages to a Landscape template on a Mac, choose Insert > Page.

To add pages to a Landscape template on an iPad, tap the Add Page button in the left column, then choose a page.

To add pages to a Landscape template on an iPhone or iPod touch:

1. Tap the page numbers at the bottom of the screen.
2. Touch and hold the thumbnail for the page you want the new page to follow, then tap Add Page at the bottom of the screen. If there is more than one master page for the template, choose the one you want. Otherwise, a blank page is automatically added.
3. To close the page thumbnail view, tap the handle above the thumbnails.

View and share your book

You can view and share your EPUB book in Pages on your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or online at iCloud.com.

Pages on iPhone or iPad

Best Epub App For Windows

1. Open your document in Pages.
2. Tap the More button .
3. Tap Export.
4. Tap EPUB.
5. Tap Send.
6. To view your book in the Books app on your device, choose Copy to Books. To share your book, tap an app such as Mail or Messages.

Best Epub Reader App

Pages for Mac

1. Open your document in Pages.
2. Choose File > Export To > EPUB.
3. Click Next.
4. Select a location for your book, then click Export.
5. To view your book in the Books app on your Mac, double-click the book file. To share your book, select the file in Finder, click the Share button , then choose a method for sharing your book.

Pages for iCloud

1. Open your document in Pages.
2. Click the Tools button , then choose 'Download a Copy.'
3. Click EPUB in the window that appears.
4. Click Download.
5. To view your book in the Books app on a Mac, double-click the book file. To share your book on a Mac, select the file in Finder, click the share icon, then choose a method for sharing your book.

Publish to Apple Books

You can publish your book directly from Pages to the Books store in Apple Books on your iPad, iPhone, Mac, or online at iCloud.com.

Learn more