Turning your manuscript into a finished book

A conversion turns your Word manuscript into a finished ebook and print PDF. Pubblish adds a title page, copyright page and other front matter before your chapters. It adds an “about the author” page and more after them. You choose which parts to include. To start, open the left navigation, and under Media, select Conversions.

Working copy or release files?

The first choice on a conversion is What are you making?

  • A working copy builds from a title. Use it for a reading copy, or a copy to send a reviewer. It needs no ISBN.
  • Release files build from a specific edition. Use these for the final files you publish. They carry the edition’s ISBN.

Both make the same kinds of file. A working copy is linked to a title; release files are linked to an edition.

Building a book (Advanced Convert)

Advanced Convert is the full form. Open it from the Advanced Convert button on the Conversions page. Fill it in top to bottom:

  1. Title — pick the book first. It decides which manuscripts and editions the form offers you.
  2. What are you making? — a working copy, or release files (pick the Edition).
  3. Manuscript — the file to convert, narrowed to the chosen title’s own files. You can also upload one here.
  4. Output formats — tick EPUB, PDF (Proof), or PDF (Print-ready). You can pick more than one.
  5. Style rules — how your Word styles map to the book. The default suits most manuscripts.
  6. Scene-break marker — how scene breaks look in the finished book. Pick a built-in marker. Or choose the custom option and type your own text in Custom marker. Or choose the image option and pick a Marker image. If you pick custom or image, that matching field must be filled in, or the form won’t submit.
  7. A template for each format you ticked (see Genre templates and fonts below).
  8. Front matter and Back matter — the extra pages to add (see below).

Click Start Conversion. The conversion runs in the background. When it finishes, the page lists your files under Generated Outputs, each with a Download button.

Front matter

Front matter is the pages before your first chapter. On the form, the Front matter list controls which to add:

  • Praise — review quotes recorded on the title. Off by default.
  • Title page — on by default.
  • Copyright page — on by default.
  • Table of contents — on by default.

A front-matter page with nothing to show is skipped. For example, the praise page is skipped if no review quotes are recorded on the title. The conversion tells you why. Whatever you wrote in the manuscript before chapter one is always kept.

If your manuscript already has a copyright page

Many manuscripts contain their own copyright page, typed straight into the Word file. Pubblish builds a copyright page from your book’s details, so yours would appear twice.

When the conversion finishes, open it from the Conversions page — click View on its row. If Pubblish finds a copyright page inside your manuscript, a panel headed Copyright page found in your manuscript shows it. Nothing changes until you choose an action:

  • Remove from manuscript — takes your copyright page out, leaving the one Pubblish builds.
  • Keep mine — leaves it alone and stops offering it.

Click Show what would be removed to see the exact text first. This never touches your original file — only the working copy Pubblish converts.

Back matter

Back matter is the pages after your last chapter. On the form, the Back matter list adds them. They are off by default. Tick the ones you want:

  • About the author — the author’s biography.
  • Find the author online — the author’s website, email and social links.
  • Also by this author — the author’s other published titles.
  • Sample chapter — a first chapter printed at the back, taken from a file you choose.
  • Review request — a short note asking the reader to leave a review.

Most of these are filled in automatically from your catalog. The biography and links come from the author’s contributor record. The also-by list is the author’s other titles that aren’t drafts. If a section has nothing to show — no biography recorded, no other titles — it is left out, and the conversion notes why.

Sample chapter is the one that needs a source from you. Under the back-matter list, pick the file in Sample chapter file — the form lists that title’s manuscript files. Or pick …or take it from a finished conversion instead. Pubblish takes the first chapter of whichever you choose. If you tick the page but choose neither option, Pubblish skips it, like any other empty page.

Genre templates and fonts

A template controls how the book looks — its fonts and chapter styling. Pick one for each format on the conversion form: EPUB template, PDF proof template, Print PDF template.

For EPUBs, Pubblish ships genre templates — Non-fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, Romance and Thriller — each with its own heading font and decorative details, such as drop caps. For print, there are three templates, one per standard trim size: Trade Paperback 6x9, Mass Market Paperback 4.25x6.87, and Large Print 7x10, which uses a highly legible font at a larger size. The fonts are built into the file, so the book looks the same on any device.

Ebook body text is left to use the reader’s own font. Ebook readers expect to be able to change the font themselves. Print always uses the template’s font.

Rebuilding a book

If you change your book’s details — fix the copyright, add a dedication, publish another title that should show under “also by” — you do not re-upload anything. On the Conversions page, open the conversion — click View on its row — then click Rebuild. Pubblish rebuilds the files from your manuscript and the latest details, and replaces the old files. It takes seconds.

A quick preview (Quick Convert)

Quick Convert is the fast way to see your manuscript as clean HTML, with no book pages added. Use it to check that a file converts cleanly.

  1. On the Conversions page, click Quick Convert.
  2. Upload a Word, Markdown or plain text file, or pick one from your manuscripts.
  3. Click Convert & Preview.

From the preview you can Download Clean DOCX, Download HTML, or Save to Assets.

Converting from a title

You can also start a conversion from a title. Open the title and go to its Conversions tab. It lists that title’s conversions and lets you start a new one. On a title you have not saved yet, the tab opens but reads “Save the title first to convert it.” Save the title, and the tab fills in.

Style rules

A style rule set tells Pubblish how to turn a Word style into part of the book. For example, a paragraph styled as a chapter heading becomes a chapter. Manage these from Style Mappings on the Conversions page.

Most authors never change this. The default rules handle standard Word documents. Create a custom set only if your manuscripts use unusual styles the defaults do not recognize.