Kernsetzer is book formatting software for Windows, macOS and Linux. You give it a manuscript from Word or Markdown, and it gives you back a print-ready PDF and an EPUB 3. It works offline and without an account, and it will be a one-time purchase.
The alpha
The alpha is out, for Windows, macOS and Linux. It’s an early build, so some things will break, and I’d love to hear which. The public beta follows in mid-November: sign up and I’ll email you when it’s out, or become a beta author and get a key for the book you set with it.
What it does
You pick a trim size and a design, and Kernsetzer lays out the running heads, chapter openers, page numbers, margins and gutter. The PDF is for KDP, IngramSpark and other print-on-demand services, the EPUB for the ebook stores. Your manuscript stays on your computer the whole time. The guide on how to format a paperback for KDP goes through these settings step by step and ends with a checklist for the finished files.
Typography
In a Word export, where the lines break and which quotation marks and dashes you get is mostly left to chance. Kernsetzer sets them the way a typesetter would. German gets the same attention as English, with „Anführungszeichen“ the right way round and long compound words broken where they should be.
Free tools
If you’re setting up a paperback for Amazon KDP, the KDP paperback margin calculator gives you the minimum margins, bleed, spine width and royalty. The quote and dash fixer turns straight quotes and hyphens into the right marks, in English or German style. Both are free and need no sign-up.
The name
In German, Kern is the core and Setzer the typesetter. Kerning, the spacing between letters, starts with the same syllable.
Who makes it
Me, Lukas. I build Kernsetzer in Germany, and messages sent through the contact form come straight to me.
Questions
Does it run on Windows?
Yes, as a native desktop app for Windows, macOS and Linux. Vellum, the best-known alternative, runs only on a Mac. The Vellum alternatives for Windows are listed on a page of their own, and there are side-by-side comparisons of Kernsetzer and Vellum and of Kernsetzer and Atticus.
What will it cost?
One price, paid once. I’ll announce it before the launch. Without a license, Kernsetzer keeps working for as long as you like and exports your book in the Literary theme as it comes, with no watermark. You can still change the trim, the text size and a few other things. The license adds the other themes, typefaces and options, and later more, such as saving your own themes.
When can I try it?
Now, if you don’t mind a few rough edges: the alpha is on the download page. The public beta follows in mid-November, and you can sign up for it on the same page.
Is Kernsetzer open source?
Two parts of it are: the document model and the importer that reads Word and Markdown files, as Rust crates under the MIT or Apache 2.0 license. The layout engine, the designs and the app are not.