If you're self-publishing eventually you'll have to format your books so you can upload it to someplace like Ingram or Lulu.

You can pay someone to format the book for you, or you can do it yourself.

And you'll need a print file(PDF), as well as an ePub file.

Most writers are not graphic designers and do not use programs like InDesign, Quark or Affinity Publisher to format books and create covers.

I've learned to format my own books and create covers because I was creating guided meditations and just could not get the results I wanted from freelancers. I had discovered Affinity Publisher, Designer and Photo. These programs are really easy to use compared to programs like Quark, which I have also used long time ago when it was a lot simpler.

And now I'm about to release my first science fiction novel and though I've formatted my Manifesting book in Affinity Publisher, I dreaded the idea of having to format my novel -- even though it's way easier to format a novel than a non-fiction book.

So, feeling guilty, because I already had a program I could use to format, I searched for an easier way to do it. I could not believe such a thing actually existed but it does. It's called Atticus.

Atticus is designed for writers! It's relatively new. You can use it to write your book -- which I will not do, Scrivener works really well for me -- and format it for print and eBook, outputting the ePub format which is what Ingram, and other publishers, require.

I cannot believe how easy it is to use Atticus! Basically, you just input your book requirements: size, margins, font, etc., and it produces a PDF for print and an ePub document for eBooks. Shocking!

It's easy and fast!

After getting over my luck and shock and delight, I realized it would be easy to also use for non-fiction where there is a lot more complexity in formatting. It allows you to create headers and footers and import images!

Atticus is evolving and growing. They are presently working on creating a section for plotting and will continue to develop it. Their goal is to make Atticus the only program you'll require to develop, write and format your books.

If you're a writer and prefer to do your own formatting, Atticus is the solution, atticus.io.