Atticus formats your book. Nothing checks the result.
Atticus writes and formats in one app for $147, one time, unlimited books. It's a real formatting tool. It just doesn't run your finished file back through KDP's rulebook and tell you what passed. Typesheep does that, before you pay.
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What each tool actually does
| Atticus | Typesheep | |
|---|---|---|
| Platform | ✓ Windows, Mac, Linux, Chromebook | ✓ Any browser, any OS |
| Price | $147, one-time, unlimited books | $20-$40 per book, by length |
| Writes and formats the manuscript | ✓ Yes, both in one app | ✓ Formats an existing manuscript |
| Checks the file against KDP's rulebook | ✗ No | ✓ Yes, before you pay |
| Confirms nothing from your manuscript was lost | ✗ No | ✓ Every paragraph fingerprinted and matched |
| Free preview before paying | ✗ Requires owning the license | ✓ Every typeset page, free |
| Refund if KDP rejects the file | ✗ Not offered | ✓ Full refund guarantee |
Atticus pricing and platform support as published by Atticus at time of writing; verify current terms on their site before buying.
Formatting and verifying are two different jobs
Atticus covers a lot of ground: you can draft a manuscript, format it for print and ebook, and export files for KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital, all without leaving the app. For an author who wants one tool for the whole process at a low one-time price, that's a real advantage over paying per book.
What Atticus doesn't do is take the file it just exported and check it against Amazon's published print rulebook: gutter width by final page count, outside margins, minimum embedded font size, image DPI. Those rules aren't fixed. The inside gutter alone moves from 0.375″ under 150 pages to 0.875″ near KDP's 828-page ceiling. A manuscript that grows past one of those thresholds after formatting won't trigger anything in Atticus. The first signal is a KDP rejection, or worse, a quiet acceptance with a problem a reader finds later.
Typesheep typesets your manuscript, then runs a separate preflight step against that same rulebook and shows you exactly which checks passed, before you're asked to pay anything.
No license to buy. Pay per book, preview free.
- Print-interior PDF, ready to upload to KDP
- EPUB 3 for Kindle
- Preflight certificate: every KDP rule checked
- Cover template with spine math
- 30 days of unlimited rebuilds
- Refund if KDP rejects a certified file
Additional editions of the same title, like hardcover, large print, or another trim, are $20 each.
Common questions about Typesheep vs. Atticus
Is Atticus good for formatting a KDP book?
Atticus writes and formats in one app and exports print-ready and ebook-ready files for KDP, IngramSpark, and Draft2Digital, for a $147 one-time purchase covering unlimited books. It does the formatting job well by most accounts. It doesn't check the finished file against KDP's rulebook before you upload it.
How much does Atticus cost compared to Typesheep?
Atticus is $147 once, for unlimited books, on Windows, Mac, Linux, or Chromebook. Typesheep is $20 to $40 per book, by length. Publishing many books over time may cost less with Atticus; publishing one or two books, or wanting a verification step Atticus doesn't offer, costs less with Typesheep.
Does Atticus check my file against KDP's requirements?
No. Atticus formats your manuscript into print and ebook files but doesn't check the finished output against KDP's published rulebook. You find out whether it passes when you upload it to KDP. Typesheep runs that check automatically and shows the result before you pay.
Can I use both Atticus and Typesheep?
Not usefully for the same build; each is a complete formatting pipeline on its own. If you already use Atticus and like its output, the real question is whether you also want a preflight certificate and a refund guarantee, which Typesheep adds and Atticus doesn't.