Folding laundry at 3am? While I have been up at odd hours lately, I don't think continuing that pattern is the best choice for my writing life, lol. Great to see your book in DL Tillery's fundraiser pack! 💖
FWIW, waking up at 3am to write is not one of my better life choices either. :) Hopefully, you'll make it to one of the more reasonably timed writing sprints. DL Tillery is wonderful for setting that up to help another authortuber. I am thrilled to be participating.
Vellum all the way for me. But I recently learned it's only for Macs, so that sucks for anyone without an apple computer. I think that's a loss of business for them, so they should fix that. But I'm glad to learn of different methods of formatting, so this was a great video!
Yeah... every writer I know with a Mac says Vellum is the best. It looks good, but sadly, I am a PC fanboy so that is not an option for me. I'm glad it works for you though.
I hope I can get up in time to catch part of your WWW slot! This is a great walk thru of using Reedsy! This video will be so useful for aspiring self-publishers!
Such an interesting software! I have never heard of it before! I usually write on Overleaf and there are samples of the format that I need to follow...so I don't have specific freedom while writing a paper for a specific journal. But I am so so tempted to start writing one day a magical fantasy middle grade book myself! 🥰🥰✨✨📚📚
Ooooh. I'd be interested to read that if you do decide to write a middle grade novel. Thanks for watching. I hope you have better skills with Overleaf than I do with Word/LibreOffice. I frequently make a small change which drastically alters the document I am writing. Thanks for watching!
@@Running2Write honestly I was just thinking of you because I am reading the first chapter of Sorcery of Thorns and I read about the word Scrivener, that I have never heard before...so I looked it up what it means and came across another software for writers with the same name! You might want to check it out!
Hi @joystar7772 thanks for watching. I said "IngramSpark. That is an easy-ish platform used for publishing ebook, paperback, and hardback books. It is a great alternative to Amazon KDP, I recently moved out of it because it wasn't able to do what I needed and they raised their prices.
Yes. The first line is usually indented. I have a first line that is centered to list the person whose point of view it is. Then I skip an extra line. If I didn't skip that extra line or include the pov, then the first line is indented properly. I prefer my method as I like setting up the final novel to have an extra big first letter at the start of each chapter. This does not have the indent, so it helps me visualize how the final product will look. That is a setting to configure when publishing, so it is not on by default.
Some of the features aren't the most intuitive, so try different settings. There isn't a dropdown menu for adding formatting and its not as robust as Word. To add headings, highlight the specific words you want to change. That should bring up a menu with lots of different format styles. On the top row, second from the left should be "H1" If you click that it will change whatever you have highlighted into a Heading 1 style. If you press it again, it goes to Heading 2, then Heading 3. Clicking it once more, brings you back to the regular, default paragraph style. Is that what you were looking for?
I thought this was an excellent overview of the Reedsy editor, which I didn't know they had. I've seen quite a few of these lately - Vellum, Atticus and now this. I quite liked how integrated the Reedsy book editor is into the rest of the Reedsy marketplace, nice feature. I have two main thoughts: 1) I don't really tend to have much trust in these "webby" apps that run through a browser; I've heard stories of Google Docs going haywire at large counts etc. Also I worry a bit about the permanence of some of these bespoke web-only apps - if they close down, that's it! You don't even have the downloaded program to use. I feel much more comfortable working with programs running on bare metal (with suitable backups). Also I'm yet to see a satisfactory equivalent of Track Changes in Word, which is the industry standard for manuscript submissions. 2) Services like Vellum, Atticus, Reedsy Editor, Canva et al... I worry these actually serve to de-skill self-published authors. You just click a few buttons and it's magically "done" for you. We have to wear multiple hats (marketer, editor, branding etc) so I feel it's important to a) be able to delegate and commission out work where it's outside of our skillset but b) have some basic layout/image manipulation skills so we can make minor corrections where needed without having to go out and either find someone to do it or pay them more. I understand that learning these things means using time we don't all have but it's worth banking in that time. Did you try out any traditional formatting options? I use Affinity Publisher (it's equivalent to Adobe InDesign but a lot cheaper and just as capable) and, yes, it looks complicated to start but once you learn the basics you can achieve some very good results. (My book interiors are professional but not fancy).
Thank you. I like using Reedsy too. It has helped considerably to get my manuscripts out for beta readers, critique partners, and import into the tool I use to publish.
I tried to use a few traditional formatting options -> Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Callibre. Given that I bounced between 3 different tools, all of which are notoriously difficult with formatting, I think I compounded the problem, rather than solving it. As for point number 2, we already wear so many hats, so I fully encourage an easy button or two. Once a story is written, getting it to be in a standard format should not be something writers worry about in addition to editing, publishing, and marketing. I have some minor skills in terms of formatting and I was constantly working against the tools I was using. There were a bunch of times where I would have an idea elsewhere, copy and paste it into my manuscript and that throws off the entire page's formatting in a way which I could not undo, even with "paste as plain text" features. :shrug: TLDR I approve of Reedsy, or any tool's, automagical formatting.
As far as I know, there isn't a good way to add in a page within our writing. My hack solution is to add an untitled chapter. This only works in the Front matter or Back matter sections. Otherwise it will be included in a table of contents. Reedsy is simple, but it is also limited and here is one of the customizations which show the limitations.
I am sorry fivver didn't work out for you. I've heard a lot of hit of miss stories for editors, cover designers, website upgrades, etc... For what its worth, the Reedsy editors appear to be vetted. I have had great experiences thus far with 3 different editors (developmental, line, and copy) I've found through Reedsy, though they are a pricier option.
Which? Reedsy does and can format chapters to include drop caps. Though, when I use IngramSpark's internal formatting I lose that. I see it as a trade off. I can try uploading the file directly from Reedsy into IngramSpark to maintain the drop caps. However, I like having that explicit control by editing and formatting with IngramSpark. That way, I have absolute confidence in that it is formatted correctly, which I don't have when uploading externally to Ingram.
Yes. Left, center, and right. The formatting features are not robust, but they do allow for justification. There's also different headers, bold, italics, and underline, as well as formatting for code snippets.
@@Running2Write Thank you for the video. Besides left, right and center, is there a way to really justify the text? I can't find it.. Although all books text should be fully justified, squared both left and right side. Any help would be greatly appreciated ;)
@@Running2WriteJust found out that it just appears like that in the editor, however, when it's exported the text gets automatically justified. It would be nice to see that while editing however, they look really professional in their free tool. And the support is super responsive and friendly too. Overall quite impressed by the quality. Thank you Ben
I've never used Reedsy, but I once tried to format in Word only, becuase I watched a video that showed how. Long story short, it didn't work! So now I use Atticus and I am very satisfied with it.
I forgot I said this. I think I was referring to Realm of Enchantments: A Mystical Anthology. Or I misspoke and called the first two chapters of book 2 a short.
Folding laundry at 3am? While I have been up at odd hours lately, I don't think continuing that pattern is the best choice for my writing life, lol. Great to see your book in DL Tillery's fundraiser pack! 💖
FWIW, waking up at 3am to write is not one of my better life choices either. :) Hopefully, you'll make it to one of the more reasonably timed writing sprints. DL Tillery is wonderful for setting that up to help another authortuber. I am thrilled to be participating.
Watching this video again to help me with my formatting. Very helpful :)
I can't wait to check out your short story! I'm glad this was helpful.
Vellum all the way for me. But I recently learned it's only for Macs, so that sucks for anyone without an apple computer. I think that's a loss of business for them, so they should fix that. But I'm glad to learn of different methods of formatting, so this was a great video!
Yeah... every writer I know with a Mac says Vellum is the best. It looks good, but sadly, I am a PC fanboy so that is not an option for me. I'm glad it works for you though.
I hope I can get up in time to catch part of your WWW slot! This is a great walk thru of using Reedsy! This video will be so useful for aspiring self-publishers!
Good luck. It is early and I plan on sleeping for most of Saturday to make up for it. Woot! I'm always out to help other self-publishers!
Thanks for sharing. Quite amazing to watch 😊
Thank you for watching. I'm glad it helps.
Such an interesting software! I have never heard of it before! I usually write on Overleaf and there are samples of the format that I need to follow...so I don't have specific freedom while writing a paper for a specific journal. But I am so so tempted to start writing one day a magical fantasy middle grade book myself! 🥰🥰✨✨📚📚
Ooooh. I'd be interested to read that if you do decide to write a middle grade novel. Thanks for watching. I hope you have better skills with Overleaf than I do with Word/LibreOffice. I frequently make a small change which drastically alters the document I am writing. Thanks for watching!
@@Running2Write honestly I was just thinking of you because I am reading the first chapter of Sorcery of Thorns and I read about the word Scrivener, that I have never heard before...so I looked it up what it means and came across another software for writers with the same name! You might want to check it out!
@@Running2Write hehehe ofc I will send you an ARC 🤗🤗😇😇
Scrivener is a popular one for all things outlining and writing. That's another one where I've only heard good things. Thanks for thinking of me.
Yes, please!
At the end of your video you said what sounded like 'Ingred Spark" -- and was wondering who or what that was? thank you. (New to all this)
Hi @joystar7772 thanks for watching. I said "IngramSpark. That is an easy-ish platform used for publishing ebook, paperback, and hardback books. It is a great alternative to Amazon KDP, I recently moved out of it because it wasn't able to do what I needed and they raised their prices.
What a creative short story hope it gets a continuation?
Good news. Those were only the first two chapters in the next book I'm writing. There are already 88k more words for the story I've shown here.
@@Running2Write oh sweet! I cannot wait
*rubs hands with glee at the title of this video* 😁😁😁
This one's for you. Plus next week is all about IngramSpark. Hopefully that *sparks* your interests. :)
@@Running2Write 🎇🎇🎇
I notice the first line is not Indented. Can this be indented or, ?
Yes. The first line is usually indented. I have a first line that is centered to list the person whose point of view it is. Then I skip an extra line. If I didn't skip that extra line or include the pov, then the first line is indented properly. I prefer my method as I like setting up the final novel to have an extra big first letter at the start of each chapter. This does not have the indent, so it helps me visualize how the final product will look. That is a setting to configure when publishing, so it is not on by default.
Hi, just trying out Reedsy to format my book. How do you insert headings? Is there a way? Thanks.
Some of the features aren't the most intuitive, so try different settings. There isn't a dropdown menu for adding formatting and its not as robust as Word.
To add headings, highlight the specific words you want to change. That should bring up a menu with lots of different format styles. On the top row, second from the left should be "H1" If you click that it will change whatever you have highlighted into a Heading 1 style. If you press it again, it goes to Heading 2, then Heading 3. Clicking it once more, brings you back to the regular, default paragraph style.
Is that what you were looking for?
I thought this was an excellent overview of the Reedsy editor, which I didn't know they had. I've seen quite a few of these lately - Vellum, Atticus and now this. I quite liked how integrated the Reedsy book editor is into the rest of the Reedsy marketplace, nice feature.
I have two main thoughts:
1) I don't really tend to have much trust in these "webby" apps that run through a browser; I've heard stories of Google Docs going haywire at large counts etc. Also I worry a bit about the permanence of some of these bespoke web-only apps - if they close down, that's it! You don't even have the downloaded program to use. I feel much more comfortable working with programs running on bare metal (with suitable backups). Also I'm yet to see a satisfactory equivalent of Track Changes in Word, which is the industry standard for manuscript submissions.
2) Services like Vellum, Atticus, Reedsy Editor, Canva et al... I worry these actually serve to de-skill self-published authors. You just click a few buttons and it's magically "done" for you. We have to wear multiple hats (marketer, editor, branding etc) so I feel it's important to a) be able to delegate and commission out work where it's outside of our skillset but b) have some basic layout/image manipulation skills so we can make minor corrections where needed without having to go out and either find someone to do it or pay them more. I understand that learning these things means using time we don't all have but it's worth banking in that time.
Did you try out any traditional formatting options? I use Affinity Publisher (it's equivalent to Adobe InDesign but a lot cheaper and just as capable) and, yes, it looks complicated to start but once you learn the basics you can achieve some very good results. (My book interiors are professional but not fancy).
Thank you. I like using Reedsy too. It has helped considerably to get my manuscripts out for beta readers, critique partners, and import into the tool I use to publish.
I tried to use a few traditional formatting options -> Microsoft Word, LibreOffice, and Callibre. Given that I bounced between 3 different tools, all of which are notoriously difficult with formatting, I think I compounded the problem, rather than solving it.
As for point number 2, we already wear so many hats, so I fully encourage an easy button or two. Once a story is written, getting it to be in a standard format should not be something writers worry about in addition to editing, publishing, and marketing. I have some minor skills in terms of formatting and I was constantly working against the tools I was using. There were a bunch of times where I would have an idea elsewhere, copy and paste it into my manuscript and that throws off the entire page's formatting in a way which I could not undo, even with "paste as plain text" features.
:shrug:
TLDR I approve of Reedsy, or any tool's, automagical formatting.
Hoping to join you for your sprint!
Thank you, thank you. You'll get a look behind the polished videos at how functional I can be when I am sleep deprived and live.
How can I add blank page?
As far as I know, there isn't a good way to add in a page within our writing. My hack solution is to add an untitled chapter. This only works in the Front matter or Back matter sections. Otherwise it will be included in a table of contents. Reedsy is simple, but it is also limited and here is one of the customizations which show the limitations.
Can writers include footnotes/endnotes with Reedsy?
Yes. Use the Insert option on the right side (+) and select "Insert endnote". I am not familiar with using this feature, but it is available.
@@Running2Write Thank you so much for replying.
I haven’t used readsy I trued fivver and paid for an editor to take advantage of me
I am sorry fivver didn't work out for you. I've heard a lot of hit of miss stories for editors, cover designers, website upgrades, etc... For what its worth, the Reedsy editors appear to be vetted. I have had great experiences thus far with 3 different editors (developmental, line, and copy) I've found through Reedsy, though they are a pricier option.
Does it have drop caps yet?
Which? Reedsy does and can format chapters to include drop caps. Though, when I use IngramSpark's internal formatting I lose that. I see it as a trade off. I can try uploading the file directly from Reedsy into IngramSpark to maintain the drop caps. However, I like having that explicit control by editing and formatting with IngramSpark. That way, I have absolute confidence in that it is formatted correctly, which I don't have when uploading externally to Ingram.
can you justify the text?
Yes. Left, center, and right. The formatting features are not robust, but they do allow for justification. There's also different headers, bold, italics, and underline, as well as formatting for code snippets.
@@Running2Write Thank you for the video.
Besides left, right and center, is there a way to really justify the text?
I can't find it..
Although all books text should be fully justified, squared both left and right side.
Any help would be greatly appreciated ;)
@@rubeng.t.5430 as far as I know, there isn't a way to customize the text further. Reedsy gives a restricted format.
@@Running2WriteJust found out that it just appears like that in the editor, however, when it's exported the text gets automatically justified.
It would be nice to see that while editing however, they look really professional in their free tool.
And the support is super responsive and friendly too.
Overall quite impressed by the quality.
Thank you Ben
What was your worst formatting story when writing?
I've never used Reedsy, but I once tried to format in Word only, becuase I watched a video that showed how. Long story short, it didn't work! So now I use Atticus and I am very satisfied with it.
Sooooo early I guess that means I like you lol
ANTHOLOGY SHORT?! 👀👀👀
I forgot I said this. I think I was referring to Realm of Enchantments: A Mystical Anthology. Or I misspoke and called the first two chapters of book 2 a short.