What this does
The Export Book dialog turns your manuscript into the files Amazon KDP and IngramSpark ask for. It makes a reflowable EPUB for the ebook, a print-ready PDF interior for the paperback, and a Word document (DOCX) for your editor. Your style template sets the look of all three. Project Settings → Print sets the trim size and margins for the PDF and DOCX. Before you export, a preflight report checks the book against KDP and IngramSpark print specs. After you export an EPUB, you can run Amazon's Kindle Previewer on it from the same dialog. The cover is a separate file, which you export from Cover Studio.
Before you start
- Open a project. Export Book appears only when a project is open.
- Set the title and author in Settings → Project → General. The preflight report fails the book if either is missing.
- Pick your trim size and margins in Settings → Project → Print. See Choosing a trim size and margins below.
- Choose the chapters, scenes and front or back matter sections to include. Click the eye icon next to an item in the sidebar to leave it out of the export.
- To check the EPUB against KDP's rules, install Amazon's Kindle Previewer (macOS or Windows).
Choose a template, trim size and margins
The template sets fonts, headings, ornaments and spacing. The trim size and margins set the page geometry for the PDF and DOCX. EPUB ignores trim size and margins, because e-readers set their own.
- In the Format area, click Browse Templates and apply the template you want. This becomes the project's active template.
- Open Settings (⌘, on macOS) and select the Project tab, then Print.
- Choose a Trim Size. There are 17 sizes, grouped under US and International, and each shows its width and height in inches and millimetres.
- Read the line under the list. It says whether the size is listed for KDP + IngramSpark, KDP only or IngramSpark only. These labels are advisory, because the platforms change their catalogs, so confirm the size with your printer.
- Turn on Facing Pages for a printed book. This mirrors the margins across left and right pages and starts chapters on right-hand pages.
- Leave Professional Typesetting on for book-grade line breaking in the PDF.
- Adjust Outer, Inner (binding), Top and Bottom margins if you need to, from 0.25″ to 2.5″. Click Reset to trim defaults to go back to the defaults for the trim size.
- If a Binding-margin check box appears, increase the Inner margin until it disappears. It compares your binding margin with KDP's page-count-based minimum and IngramSpark's 0.5″ minimum.
Paper and bleed
The interior PDF has no paper setting and no bleed switch. Bleed is automatic: if any chapter opener has a background image, or the template adds a page background texture or image, every page of the PDF grows to the trim size plus bleed. That is 0.125″ on the outside edge and 0.125″ at the top and bottom, and never on the binding edge. The text block stays where it was. A page border on its own does not add bleed. Books without edge-to-edge art export at the exact trim size.
You choose paper stock in Cover Studio → Export → KDP Cover Wrap. The options are black and white on white or cream paper, and color on standard or premium paper. Cream is the default. Paper stock changes the spine width, so it must match the paper you pick in KDP's interior setup, or KDP rejects the cover size. The KDP cover wrap adds 0.125″ of bleed on its outer edges. For IngramSpark, use Custom Cover Wrap with Paperback binding, and type in the numbers from IngramSpark's cover template generator.
Open the export dialog and set options
- Click Export Book in the top toolbar, or choose File → Export Book… (⌘⇧E on macOS, Ctrl+Shift+E on Windows).
- Check the header. It shows the project title and the number of chapters, or how many items are included if you have excluded any.
- Leave Style Template on your active template, or pick another one for this export only. A different template uses its own settings, and it doesn't apply your customizations to the active template.
- Check the Page layout (PDF & DOCX) summary. It shows the trim, Facing pages or Single page, and the margins. Click Edit in Project Settings to change them.
- If a Template mismatch notice appears, the template sets headings in small caps but some titles or scene headers are typed in all capitals. Click View list to see them. Retype them in mixed case, or click Continue anyway.
Run the preflight report
The Ready to publish? panel checks the book against KDP and IngramSpark specs before you export. It compiles the full print interior, so it takes a moment. It is for information only, so it never stops an export.
- In the Export Book dialog, click Run checks in the Ready to publish? panel.
- Watch the ten checks fill in. They are page count, KDP and IngramSpark margins, live area, font embedding, image resolution, table of contents, book metadata, copyright page, EPUB build and EPUB accessibility.
- Click a check marked with a warning or failure to see the details and the suggested fix.
- If Text stays inside the live area fails, click Open Print-Ready Check to review and fix these.
- Fix the issues, then click Re-run.
- Click Save report to keep a Markdown copy of the results.
Print-Ready Check
Print-Ready Check compiles your print PDF and lists layout problems page by page, such as lines that overflow into the gutter, with fixes you can apply. You open it from the Format area, or from the preflight report's live-area row. The preflight report tells you whether the book meets the specs. Print-Ready Check is where you fix the layout.
Export the EPUB and choose an edition
Store links are set in Settings → Project → Store Links. Author Profile adds your website and social links to the About the Author section. Also By This Author lists your other books in the Also By section, with cover thumbnails and a store link for each retailer. The Edition picker appears only when the project has Also By books or author profile links. The links in This Book's Store Pages are used to suggest links when another of your projects lists this book, so on their own they don't show the picker.
- Optional: in Settings → Project → Store Links, fill in Also By This Author and Author Profile. Enter a book's ASIN or ISBN in General, then click Suggest next to a retailer to fill its link.
- In the Export Book dialog, open Edition under EPUB.
- Choose Standard (universal links) for a file whose links use your universal link.
- Or choose one store, such as Kindle Edition — links to Amazon. Every store link in that file points to that store.
- Or choose All retailer editions (5 files) to write the Standard edition plus the Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo and Barnes & Noble editions at once.
- Click EPUB. Choose where to save the file, or, for All retailer editions, choose a folder.
Read the guide: Accessible EPUB Export · Read the guide: Retail Metadata
Check the EPUB with Kindle Previewer
After you export an EPUB, the dialog shows a Kindle Previewer panel. It runs Kindle Previewer's conversion and quality checks on the file you just exported. If you exported All retailer editions, it checks the Kindle edition.
- Export an EPUB. The Validate this EPUB for Amazon KDP panel appears at the bottom of the dialog.
- If Kindle Previewer isn't installed, click Download Kindle Previewer, install it, then export the EPUB again.
- Click Validate with Kindle Previewer.
- Read the result. It says either No issues found — looks KDP-ready, or gives the number of errors and warnings.
- Click Show details to list them. Fix the manuscript, export again, then click Re-run.
Export the print PDF
The PDF is the interior for the paperback. It uses your trim size, Facing Pages setting and margins. In print, store links and author links appear as plain text.
- Run the preflight report and clear any failures.
- Click PDF in the Export Book dialog.
- Choose where to save the file.
Read the guide: Printing and Saving PDFs · Read the guide: Print-Ready Check
DOCX for editors
Click Word Document to export a DOCX for an editor, agent or proofreader. It uses the same template, trim size and margins as the PDF. Footnotes become real Word footnotes. Store links and author links stay as live hyperlinks. Don't upload the DOCX to KDP or IngramSpark as the print interior: upload the PDF instead.
What you get
EPUB. One EPUB 3 file per edition, named after your title. Store editions get a suffix, such as " - Kindle Edition". The file includes accessibility metadata and your template's fonts, and footnotes open as pop-up notes.
PDF. A print interior at your trim size. It is bleed-sized if the book has edge-to-edge art.
DOCX. A Word document at your trim size and margins, with native footnotes.
Preflight report. A pass, warning or failure for each check. You can save it as a Markdown file.
What to upload where.
- KDP eBook: the EPUB. If you use editions, upload the Kindle edition.
- KDP Paperback: the PDF as the manuscript, and the KDP Cover Wrap PDF from Cover Studio as the cover.
- IngramSpark print: the PDF as the interior, and a Custom Cover Wrap PDF (Paperback) sized from IngramSpark's cover template. The cover wrap is exported in RGB, and IngramSpark asks for CMYK under 240% total ink, so convert it or check IngramSpark's eProof closely.
- IngramSpark ebook: the EPUB. Use the Standard (universal links) edition unless you want links that point to a single store.
- Your editor: the DOCX.
Common problems
The EPUB, PDF and Word Document buttons are greyed out. Every chapter, scene and section is excluded from the export. Click the eye icon next to at least one item in the sidebar to include it.
An Export Failed dialog appears with "Export failed", "PDF export failed" or "DOCX export failed". Read the message after the colon, fix what it names, and export again. If the EPUB fails, the preflight report's EPUB builds cleanly row shows the same error.
Binding margin is under KDP's minimum for your page count. KDP's minimum inner margin rises with page count, from 0.375″ up to 0.875″. Increase Inner (binding) in Settings → Project → Print, then click Re-run.
Binding margin meets KDP but is under IngramSpark's 0.5″ minimum. This is a warning. If you plan to print with IngramSpark, increase the inner margin to at least 0.5″.
Page count exceeds KDP's 828-page maximum or is below its 24-page minimum. For a long book, choose a larger trim size or split it into volumes. For a short one, add front or back matter.
"Lines overflow the live area." Click Open Print-Ready Check to review and fix these. It takes you to each overflow.
Font issues found in the print PDF. A font isn't embedded, or the engine used a different font from the one the template asks for. Pick a template font that ships with Bookshaper.
Images fall below 150 DPI (failure) or 300 DPI (warning) at print size. Replace them with higher-resolution originals. Aim for 300 DPI at the width they print.
Images without alt text found. Add alt text to each image so screen readers can describe it.
No table of contents in the export. Add a Table of Contents section to the front matter. Leave it empty and the entries are generated for you.
ISBN fails its checksum. Check the digits of the ISBN in Settings → Project → General.
"The copyright page is turned off for this export." Turn it back on in the manuscript sidebar. Retailers expect one.
"Preflight couldn't finish." The message under it gives the reason. Fix it, then click Run checks again. Checks marked skipped didn't run, for example because the compile failed. They haven't passed.
The Edition picker is missing. It appears only when the project has Also By books or author profile links in Settings → Project → Store Links.
"Kindle Previewer is Windows/macOS only." Amazon doesn't make Kindle Previewer for Linux. Check the EPUB on a Mac or Windows computer before you upload it.
"Validation failed" in the Kindle Previewer panel. Kindle Previewer couldn't run. Check that it's installed, then click Try again.
KDP rejects the cover size. The paper stock in Cover Studio → Export → KDP Cover Wrap must match the paper you chose in KDP. Change it and export the wrap again.