Book formatting guides
Written from the same rules the formatters run on. Where a guide repeats a platform's requirements it says whose they are and when we last read them.
KDP
What Amazon actually requires, and where books get rejected.
How to format a book for KDP
What Amazon actually needs for an ebook and a paperback, why they are two different files, and the order to do things in.
30 August 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
Kindle file formats: EPUB, DOCX, KPF and what KDP actually accepts
Which file formats KDP accepts for a Kindle book, what a Kindle device actually stores, why MOBI is gone, and which format to upload for a reflowable ebook.
2 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
Kindle: should you upload EPUB or Word?
KDP accepts both, so the question is which one gives you control over the result. Upload an EPUB when you care about the chapter navigation; upload Word when you would rather Amazon decide.
1 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
Kindle Enhanced Typesetting: what it is, and how a book gets it
What Amazon's Enhanced Typesetting actually does to a Kindle book, which uploads are eligible, how to check before and after publishing, and what to keep out of the file.
14 September 2026·6 min read·sources checked September 2026
Kindle Previewer: what it is, what it checks, and how to read what it shows you
Amazon's free desktop app for previewing a Kindle book before upload — which files it opens, which devices it simulates, how to check Enhanced Typesetting and navigation in it, and what it cannot tell you.
14 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
Choosing a trim size for your book
What the standard paperback sizes mean, which one your genre expects, and how the choice changes your page count, your printing cost and your margins.
30 August 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
What book formatting actually costs
The real range for formatting a book in 2026 — software, freelancers and doing it yourself — and how to work out which is cheapest for your situation.
30 August 2026·4 min read
Inside the book
The parts of a book, what each is called, and how it is set.
What is a half title page, and does your book need one?
The half title is the first printed page of a book — the title alone, nothing else. Where it came from, how it differs from the title page, what goes on its back, and when a self-published book can drop it.
14 September 2026·4 min read
Chapter headings and chapter numbers: how to style and number the chapters of a book
Chapter One, Chapter 1, or just 1? The conventions for chapter headings and numbering, when a chapter gets a title, parts and prologues, and why the heading style in your manuscript decides the navigation in your ebook.
14 September 2026·4 min read
Scene breaks: how to mark them in a manuscript, a printed book and an ebook
What a scene break is, why a blank line is not enough, the symbols used for one — dinkus, asterism, fleuron — and how to mark scene breaks so they survive a manuscript, a page turn and a Kindle.
14 September 2026·3 min read
Smart quotes vs straight quotes: which a book uses, and how to fix yours
Why a printed book uses curly quotation marks and apostrophes, where straight ones come from, the apostrophe that every autocorrect gets wrong, and how to convert a whole manuscript.
14 September 2026·5 min read
EPUB
How the format is built, and how to read what a validator tells you.
What is an EPUB file? The ebook format, explained for authors
What an EPUB is, why almost every ebook store uses it, the difference between EPUB 2 and EPUB 3, how to open one, and how to make one from a Word manuscript.
2 September 2026·5 min read·sources checked September 2026
What's actually inside an EPUB file
An EPUB is a zip archive with a strict internal layout. Here is every file in a real one, what each does, and which of them is responsible for the chapter list on a reader's device.
1 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
What EPUBCheck errors actually mean
A plain-English guide to the EPUB validation errors that get books rejected — what each one is telling you, and which are worth fixing.
30 August 2026·5 min read·sources checked September 2026
Reflowable or fixed layout: which ebook do you need?
The difference between an ebook that adapts to the reader and one that keeps its design, why almost every novel wants the first, and which books genuinely need the second.
30 August 2026·3 min read·sources checked September 2026
How to format an EPUB for Draft2Digital
Draft2Digital distributes an uploaded EPUB to its stores without changing it, which makes the file entirely your responsibility. What it accepts, what it will not touch, and how to hand it a file that is already right.
2 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
EPUB vs MOBI: which ebook format do you need in 2026?
If you are publishing a new Kindle book you almost certainly do not need MOBI. What MOBI was, when Amazon stopped taking it, what replaced it, and the one case where you might still meet one.
2 September 2026·3 min read·sources checked September 2026
The geometry of a bound book: margins, spines, page breaks.
Book margins and gutters, explained
Why the inside margin of a printed book is wider than the outside one, why it grows with page count, and how to work out the numbers for your own book.
30 August 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
How wide is a book spine?
Spine width is page count times a number that depends on your paper. Here is the arithmetic, the numbers for each KDP paper stock, the page count below which no spine text is printed, and how the spine fits into a full cover.
1 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
Mass market paperback size: the dimensions, and why self-publishers rarely use them
The standard size of a mass market paperback in inches and millimetres, how it differs from a trade paperback and the UK A and B formats, and why KDP does not print one.
14 September 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
Widows and orphans, and where a page is allowed to break
The single stranded lines that make a printed page look wrong, which is which, why the rule is two lines, and why none of it applies to an ebook.
1 September 2026·4 min read
Chapter openings, page numbers and running heads
The small typographic conventions that make a printed book look like a book — where chapters start, why some pages are blank, and where the page numbers go.
30 August 2026·4 min read
Manuscript
What agents expect, setting the file up right, and the opening pages.
How to format a manuscript for agents (Shunn standard)
What standard manuscript format actually requires, why agents ask for it, and how to get it right in Word — or skip the fiddling entirely.
29 August 2026·4 min read·sources checked September 2026
How to format a book in Google Docs
How to set up a manuscript in Google Docs so it converts cleanly into an ebook or a print interior: heading styles, page breaks, indents, scene breaks, and exporting a DOCX.
2 September 2026·6 min read
How to write a copyright page for a self-published book
A copyright page template you can copy, what each line is for, the layout, worked examples for a novel, a nonfiction book and a memoir, and why a memoir must never carry the fiction disclaimer.
30 August 2026·8 min read