Steelkilt is powerful — but very easy to use. It is designed to simplify the workflow for writers, editors, and eBook publishers alike. Below is a brief outline of how people with different goals can use Steelkilt. All the concepts mentioned below are discussed in the Documentation at length.
I am a Writer > I just want to make a start on a Book
- Create a Steelkilt project
- Open the Project Navigator
- Create a Book
- Create a Chapter
- Optionally, create a preliminary structure for your Book by creating a collection of Documents, Chapters, and Parts
- Start writing
I am a Writer > I want to assemble a Book from some documents generated with other software
- Use your other software to save your documents as plain text
- Create a Steelkilt project
- Open the Project Navigator
- Create a Book
- Import your plain text documents
- If necessary, rearrange the imported Chapters to reflect your Book’s structure
- Continue writing
I am a Writer > I want my edits to be efficient and meaningful
- Use Keywords to highlight significant events, characters, or places in specific Chapters
- Use Annotations to highlight text and record notes
- Use the Annotations View to filter and review your Annotations (grouped by Chapter, in the order that they appear in the text)
- Use the Search Tool to check facts, eliminate textual duplication, and ensure consistency
- Use Tags to group Chapters with similar attributes, such as mood or content — or use Tags to designate various levels of editing maturity (such as “to-do”, “in-progress”, and “final”)
I am a Writer > I want to create a great-looking EPUB without having to get technical
- When you are happy with the content and structure of your text, open Project Navigator and select your Book
- Use Book Settings to add publishing-related information, as required
- If you wish to customize how your Chapters will appear in the EPUB’s table of contents, open Formatting under Book Settings and choose from the available pre-configured styles
- Export to EPUB
I am a Writer > I want to provide a read-only copy of my work to an Editor
- Export your work to PDF and optionally include Annotations
- Send the PDF to your Editor
I am a Writer > I want to provide a writable copy of my work to an Editor who uses Steelkilt
- Send a copy of your Steelkilt project to your Editor (usually compressed in a .zip file)
I am a Writer > I want to provide a writable copy of my work to an Editor who does not use Steelkilt
- Export a copy of your Book to Text or RTF
- Send a copy of the exported file to your Editor
- Encourage your Editor to purchase a copy of Steelkilt
I am an Editor > I want to provide feedback to a Writer (via a Steelkilt project)
- Open your copy of the Steelkilt project
- Edit text and/or make changes to the Book’s structure
- Add Annotations and/or add notes to existing Annotations
- Optionally include comments in the text as HTML comments (not visible in most exports)
I am a Publisher > I want to create a great-looking EPUB with a unique format
- Open an existing Steelkilt project OR create a new Steelkilt project, import plain text, and rearrange Chapters as required
- Use Book Settings to add publishing-related information
- Use Formatting options under Book Settings to make use of pre-configured styles for table-of-contents entries and page titles for Documents, Chapters, and Parts
- Use a combination of Markdown and HTML in Text Editor to enhance the appearance of the text
- Use Code Editor to build on the default CSS styles and customize the automatically generated XHTML code
- Validate your customizations with the built-in EPUB checker
- Export your EPUB
I am a Publisher > I want to add a non-XHTML rendition to a text-based EPUB
- Open an existing Steelkilt project
- Select a Book and open Code Editor
- Import resources to be used in the non-XHTML rendition
- Create an OPF for the non-XHTML rendition and add Manifest/Spine entries for any custom resources used by the rendition
- Edit container.xml and add an entry for your custom OPF
- Validate your customizations with the built-in EPUB checker
- Export your EPUB
I am a Publisher > I want to create an EPUB with a non-XHTML rendition (but no text)
- Create a Steelkilt Project
- Create a Book
- Use Book Settings to add publishing-related information
- Skip creating any text-based content in Project Navigator
- Open Code Editor
- Edit container.xml and delete the entry for the automatically generated Book .opf
- Create an OPF for the non-XHTML rendition and add Manifest/Spine entries for any custom resources used by the rendition
- Edit container.xml and add an entry for your custom OPF
- Validate your customizations with the built-in EPUB checker
- Export your EPUB