Marq, formerly Lucidpress, is a design & brand templating platform that enables users to create & share branded collateral. Marq offers consistency so brands can deliver its message more effectively wherever it goes. The vendor states over 5 million people use Lucidpress to create, customize, control & distribute their brand’s content.
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Vellum Publishing App
Score 6.0 out of 10
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Vellum is a publishing tool by 180g, that enables users to create ebooks for every platform: Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, etc. Each specialized file can guide readers to buy the writer's next book in their favorite store. Vellum is currently available for Mac.
For self-publishers, Marq is the best option, in my opinion. I have recommended it to others and they have been also amazed at how beautiful their end product looks and how easy it is to export and get the printers. A win win for everyone involved in the process of creating magazines and marketing materials.
Vellum is perfect for novels, novellas, short fiction anthologies, and any lightly illustrated fiction. It’s excellent for most non-fiction. It’s great for e-Books and Paperbacks. I haven’t tried using the file for hardcover but it is likely good for that as well. Vellum wouldn’t be the right tool for coffee-table art books, picture books or children’s illustrated books.
Could improve ability to change the look of a design element like Ornamental Break.
Doesn’t currently output in Smashwords .doc format (but does EPUB).
Spell Check is rudimentary but accurate - still, it’s much better to use Word or Grammarly.
If style uses initial drop cap, it doesn’t handle one-letter words well (I, A, O) - repeats letter in sentence. This may be standard practice, not sure.
There are a couple dozen styles. I would gladly pay for a “Style Pack” to add on additional styles.
I think if we had found Canva first we would have probably chosen it as our platform. We had already invested a lot of time and energy into developing multiple templates and branding standards in LucidPress
Up until purchasing Vellum, I’ve used Smashwords Meat Grinder template and Kindle’s PC-Only software. I had to buy a PC just to publish to Kindle - very expensive investment with modest return. Vellum is only for Mac. In fact, it would have been cool if it worked with a PC. But Mac is my ecosystem for writing, and the PC is a pain. I ultimately chose Vellum because it works with my MacBook.
