Import an EPUB from Vellum or Atticus and Keep Editing

Switching formatting tools is the kind of decision authors put off for years. Maybe you’re leaving Vellum because you’ve moved to Windows, or Atticus because you’d like a different workflow. Either way, the question that stops most people is the same: do I have to rebuild every book from scratch?

Usually, no. If you have the finished EPUB files, you can import them, keep the text and structure you already have, and carry on editing. There are a few things that won’t come across, and it’s much better to know about them up front than to discover them halfway through, so this guide is honest about both.

What carries over, and what doesn’t

When you import an EPUB into Libba, the parts that matter most come with it: the text of every chapter, the order of the chapters, the headings, and everyday formatting such as italics and bold. During import you also choose which sections are front matter, which are chapters and which are back matter, so the book is organised properly from the start.

Three things deliberately don’t come across.

The cover. Libba doesn’t import the cover from an EPUB. You add it separately, which takes a minute and keeps your images managed in one place.

Images inside the book. Maps, illustrations, photos and decorative images are replaced with a short placeholder note marking where each one was. You re-add them through the editor, which means they’re optimised properly for ebooks rather than carried over at whatever size the old file used. For a novel with no images this makes no difference; for an illustrated book, budget some time for it.

The old styling. The original fonts, spacing and layout rules are left behind, and your chosen Libba style is applied instead. That’s intentional. Old styling is the most common source of problems in migrated books, and dropping it gives every imported title a clean, consistent starting point.

A ten-minute check before you import

Before importing, spend ten minutes with your existing file. Count the chapters in its table of contents and note anything unusual about the front and back matter, such as their order or any special pages. Make a list of where images appear, so you can re-add them later. And write down the exact title, subtitle, author name and language, so you can match them perfectly afterwards.

It sounds fussy, but it’s what lets you say “this matches the original” with confidence, and not “I think something changed but I can’t work out what.”

How the move works

Start with the most recent clean EPUB exported from Vellum or Atticus. Import it into Libba, and when the organiser appears, confirm which sections are front matter, chapters and back matter.

Before changing anything visual, check the structure: the chapter order, the headings and the table of contents. Then apply a style to the whole book. Libba’s genre presets are a good starting point, and because the old styling has been dropped, the whole book takes on the new look consistently.

Next, re-add the cover and any images using the notes you made earlier, and review the links in your front and back matter, since outdated or broken links are one of the most common migration problems. Finally, preview the book and export a fresh EPUB for each store you sell on.

What’s worth rebuilding on purpose

A migration is a good moment to fix things that have quietly gone stale. Back matter often contains links to old websites, retired newsletters or books that have changed titles. Series that were formatted over several years tend to drift, with slightly different scene breaks and chapter headings from book to book. Moving them all into one tool is the perfect time to give the whole series a consistent look, and author profiles mean your bio and links only need updating once.

Moving a whole backlist

If you have more than a couple of books to move, don’t do them all at once. Pick one representative title as a pilot and get it exactly right. Settle the style, work out how long images take, and note anything unexpected. Turn what you learned into a short checklist, then move the rest in small batches of two or three, checking each one before you upload it. It’s slower for the first book and much faster for every book after it, and it keeps the series looking consistent.

Before you call a book done

When a migrated book is ready, compare it with the original once more. The chapters should be in the same order, all the front and back matter should be present, the table of contents and links should work, the cover and every image should be back in place, and the title and author details should match your store listings exactly.

Common questions

Will I lose my chapter order? Usually not, but always check the chapter order and the table of contents after importing, before you start styling.

Can I move one book now and the rest later? Yes. Move a pilot title first, then use the same checklist for the others whenever you’re ready.

What if my old books were formatted inconsistently? That’s one of the best reasons to migrate. Fix the headings and spacing first, apply one style to everything, then polish the details.

You can leave Vellum or Atticus without starting your books again, as long as you treat the imported file as a clean starting point and not a finished product. If your older books have messier formatting than usual, How to Import an Old EPUB and Clean Up Messy Formatting goes deeper on the clean-up side.