Jutoh

What is Jutoh?

Jutoh is a software program for formatting, editing, and creating ebooks.

It is for those who want to self-publish their books in a professional format without having to learn all the technical aspects of Word.

It also has many articles to help you work the software, a storyboard, prompts, writing goals, and even a character name generator. And you can organize your thoughts and research into things called scraps.

It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux.

How I Discovered it

I was reading Book Formatting for Self-Publishers by Jennette Green, and she said that she used it and recommended it to others.

I’m always searching for tools and platforms that can help me be a better writer and publish my work so it looks professional.

And I tend to take advice from writers who use these types of programs, so I figured I would give it a go.

Why I Purchased the Program

Because I wanted to be able to publish my books on multiple platforms and have them be accepted and readable.

And to create more than one file version of my books if needed, something you can’t do with Kindle Create.

The Price

Since I bought the standard program, it only cost me $45 to buy it. Jutoh Plus costs about $90, but I didn’t think I needed the extras at this time.

It’s not a subscription, so the only thing extra I’ll have to pay for is significant upgrades to the program.

I don’t mind doing this, as Microsoft Word does the same thing. And they don’t happen often.

My Experience Using it for the First Time

First, you should know that you don’t have to purchase Jutoh immediately to try it out. You can download the demo version for free until you feel you can buy it.

That was what I did.

I mostly explored Jutoh with the demo, getting a feel for how it worked before buying it.

Installing Jutoh

Another thing you should know is that your computer won’t just let you download the program because it thinks Jutoh isn’t supposed to be there, and a pop-up will appear.

But as long as you give your computer the okay to proceed with the installation, you shouldn’t have any issues.

Uploading the File

Once I felt comfortable with it, I bought the program and uploaded my manuscript of The Deviants onto it to create the ebook.

It was a bit different from what I had imagined it to be.

When I opened my manuscript file and set it up for Jutoh, it first asked me to fill out the information that would be relevant when published, which makes sense.

It also breaks up your chapters into individual sections that you can click on to open, along with the front and back matter.

And it automatically assembles a Table of Contents, so you don’t need to worry about installing hyperlinks for the chapters and other sections, something I have no clue about doing.

Cover Page

It makes creating your book cover super easy; just upload the JPEG or PNG and then fill out the title and author fields before saving it.

It took me a couple of tries, but I quickly figured it out. And I was proud of how professional I made my book cover look.

Final Compilation and View of My Ebook

Once I had finished everything, I compiled the file and ensured everything was correct before publishing it on my Gumroad page.

It was a good day.

What I Would Improve on Jutoh

While the program is excellent, I believe a couple of things would improve the overall Jutoh experience.

Options for Inserting Front/Back Matter

The first thing would be having Jutoh insert a copyright page in the manuscript for you, like Kindle Create, along with other front and back matter pages.

Most of us aren’t tech-savvy enough to confidently do these things independently and can’t always afford to pay someone else to do it.

AI for Cover Art Creation

I’d also give it a generative AI cover art creator, so you don’t need to leave the program to do so if you’re doing your own cover art.

I generated my initial art with DALL-E, then created the final book cover picture using Adobe Express before uploading it to Jutoh.

Be Able to View Your Book Before Publishing

In order to view the completed book before publishing it, I had to download Adobe Digital Editions 4.5., Jutoh’s recommendation.

While I don’t necessarily mind installing different apps related to my writing on my computer, you should be able to see your book the way your readers will see it without leaving the program.

Should You Download Jutoh?

Even though it needs some tweaks, Jutoh is user-friendly and reliable. And I don’t think there’s another program that allows you to create files for as many publishing platforms as Jutoh.

So, yes, anyone wanting to self-publish their ebook(s) without seeking a professional book formatter should purchase this program.

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Originally published at https://amethystaurorachampagne.substack.com.