Frequently Asked Questions

Common questions about using Pubblish.

Your question not here? Click Help in the page header, then Ask. The assistant answers from these guides. It can also look up your own books, imports and conversions, so it can tell you what is wrong with your book, not books in general.

General Questions

What is Pubblish?

Pubblish is a publishing workflow automation platform designed for self-publishers and micro-publishers. It helps you manage your book catalog, automate your publishing process, and generate professional metadata for distribution.

Who is Pubblish for?

Self-publishers managing their own book catalog
Small publishers with a catalog of titles
Author collectives publishing together
Literary presses needing professional tools
Anyone who needs to manage book metadata and workflows

How much does it cost?

Pricing information will be available when Pubblish launches. Join the waitlist for early access and launch pricing.

Is my data secure?

Yes. Each workspace’s records live in a separate part of the database, so one workspace can never read another’s. Your data is encrypted in transit and at rest, and regular backups are performed.

Account Questions

Signup is by invitation while Pubblish is in early access. Join the waitlist and we will email you an invitation. When you accept it, you’ll create: - A workspace name — how your workspace appears in Pubblish - Your Pubblish web address — the subdomain your workspace uses - Email address - A password

Can I change my subdomain later?

Yes, and you do it yourself. Click your workspace name, choose Settings, open the Workspace tab, then click Change web address. Only the owner sees the button. Changing the address signs everyone out and your old address stops working, but Pubblish keeps it for you so nobody else can take it and you can move back later.

Can I have multiple users on my account?

Team features depend on your subscription plan. See Billing & Subscriptions for details on team member limits.

How do I cancel my account?

There are two separate things you can do:

Cancel your subscription but keep the account — click your workspace name at the top of the page, choose Billing, then Cancel subscription. Only the owner sees that button. Any refund you are owed is worked out and paid automatically. The workspace and everything in it stay for 90 days, and paying again before then brings it all back exactly as it was.
Close your account entirely — click your avatar, choose User Preferences, then Close account…. This deletes your login and your personal data, so take a backup of anything you want to keep first.

A workspace that is still running blocks the account closure. The page lists it and asks you to cancel its subscription first, so no live workspace is left with nobody who can pay for it. That is self-service now — you do not need to email us. A workspace that is already closed does not block anything. See Workspace Settings & Your Account.

I stopped paying — what happens to my workspace?

Nothing at once. Your card is retried for as long as our payment provider keeps trying, and you keep full access the whole time. A banner tells you how many days are left, and we email you.

If the retries run out, the workspace closes. Everything stops: newsletters stop sending, your website stops being updated, and any book widgets on your own site stop. Your published website itself is not affected — it lives on your own hosting.

Signing in then shows one page: why it closed, the date it will be deleted, and two buttons — Download your data and Pay to come back. The workspace is kept for 90 days, we warn you 30 days, 7 days and 1 day before the date, and paying at any point in that window brings everything back exactly as it was. On the date it is deleted for good. See Billing & Subscriptions.

I closed my workspace by mistake. Can I get it back?

Yes, for 90 days. Sign in, and the one page a closed workspace shows has a Pay to come back button on it. Paying restores the whole workspace exactly as it was, and cancels the deletion.

If your subscription is still alive at our payment provider, that is the Keep subscription button on the Billing page. If it has already ended, choose a plan on the same page and subscribe again — a canceled subscription cannot be reinstated, so that is a new one at whatever the prices are that day.

The page and every warning email name the exact deletion date. After it, the workspace and everything in it are gone and cannot be recovered.

What happens to my smart links if my workspace closes?

They keep working while the workspace exists, closed included. A reader following one of your links still reaches the right store page.

They stop when the workspace is deleted at the end of the 90 days, because the links live inside the workspace. If you have printed a smart link anywhere you cannot reprint, bring the workspace back before the deletion date.

Title Management

What’s the difference between a title and an edition?

Title = The intellectual work (the book)
Edition = A specific format (paperback, ebook, hardcover, etc.)

One title can have multiple editions, but they all share the same core content.

Do I need an ISBN for each edition?

Yes. Each format (paperback, ebook, hardcover, audiobook) needs its own ISBN. You can purchase ISBNs from your national ISBN agency.

Can I import my existing catalog?

Yes — from a spreadsheet. On the dashboard, open the Import your catalog card, or on the Titles page click Import. See Importing for the walkthrough.

How many titles can I add?

There’s no limit on the number of titles you can manage in Pubblish.

People & Contributors

Why are People and Contributors separate?

People = Legal entities (for contracts, payments) Contributors = Public personas (pen names, author brands)

This separation allows one person to have multiple pen names, or for estates to manage deceased authors’ works.

Can one person have multiple pen names?

Yes! Create one Person record, then multiple Contributor records linked to that person. Each contributor can have their own bio, pen name, and public identity.

What contributor roles are supported?

Eight roles are available: Author, Editor, Illustrator, Translator, Narrator, Photographer, Foreword by, and Introduction by.

See the People & Contributors Guide for details.

Metadata

What is BISAC?

BISAC (Book Industry Subject and Category) codes are standardized subject codes used by the book industry to categorize titles. They help retailers place your book in the right section.

Example: FIC009000 = Fiction / Fantasy / Epic

How many BISAC codes should I use?

Choose 3-5 specific codes. More isn’t better - focus on accuracy, not quantity.

What is ONIX?

ONIX (ONline Information eXchange) is the international standard format for book metadata exchange. Retailers and distributors use ONIX files to receive your book information.

Do I need to understand ONIX?

No. You just enter your book information in the interface using familiar terms. Pubblish follows industry standards behind the scenes.

Flows

What are flows?

A flow is a step-by-step checklist that tracks a book through your publishing process. You start one from a title’s Publishing flow panel by picking a blueprint. The Actions page in the sidebar collects the outstanding steps across all your flows.

Are flows required?

No. Flows are optional. You can use Pubblish just for catalog management without ever starting one.

Converting Manuscripts

My converted book has no chapters — it came out as one long section

Pubblish finds your chapters by looking at the paragraph styles in your Word document, not at the words on the page. A line that merely looks like a heading — bigger, bold, centered — is still body text unless it has a heading style applied.

So the first thing to check is that your chapter headings use a paragraph style. In Word, click on a chapter heading and look at the Styles panel. If it says “Normal”, that is the problem: apply a heading style to each chapter opening and convert again.

If your headings already use a style, the style’s name may be the problem. Pubblish recognizes names it can read — “Chapter Title”, “Heading 1”, “Chapter Number”. Manuscripts prepared by a designer often use short in-house names instead, like “CT”, “TX” or “EP”, and those mean nothing on their own.

Pubblish works out what unfamiliar styles mean from keywords in their names. This happens automatically, at no extra cost. When a name doesn’t show what it means, tell Pubblish yourself: on the Conversions page, open Style Mappings and map each style to what it is. Then rebuild the conversion.

My scene breaks all look the same, or there are two of them

Scene breaks come from a paragraph style too — one named something like “Scene Break” or “Section Break”. Pubblish replaces whatever character you typed (an asterisk row, an ornament) with the marker chosen in your conversion template, so you get one consistent break through the whole book rather than a mixture.

If you want no visible marker at all, choose the blank-line option in the template.

Technical Questions

What browsers are supported?

Pubblish works with: - Chrome/Edge (recommended) - Firefox - Safari - Modern mobile browsers

Is there a mobile app?

Not yet, but the web interface is mobile-responsive and works well on tablets and phones.

Can I access Pubblish offline?

No. Pubblish is a cloud-based platform requiring internet access.

What file formats can I upload?

Pubblish supports common image formats (JPEG, PNG, WebP, GIF and more) for cover images and author photos. Manuscript files and other documents can be uploaded as assets.

Data & Privacy

Who owns my data?

You do. All content you enter into Pubblish belongs to you.

Can I export my data?

Yes, two ways, both self-service:

Your catalog as a spreadsheet — on the Tools page, use Export.
Your whole workspace as a file — Owners and Admins can click the workspace name, choose Settings, then Download your data. Click Request a backup. Pubblish builds the file in the background and emails you when it is ready, so allow up to 24 hours — longer if you tick the box to include your uploaded files. If you are not an owner or admin, choose Billing & export in the workspace menu instead — it names the people who can do this for you.

Does my manuscript get sent to an AI?

No. Working out which of your paragraph styles are chapter headings happens inside Pubblish, using the style names alone. Your manuscript text is not sent anywhere.

The AI features you press a button for (descriptions, taglines, keyword suggestions) work from the details you have typed into Pubblish, not from your manuscript file.

The help assistant in the Ask panel is the same. To answer your question, it reads the published guides. It also looks up details in your workspace — books, editions, open setup jobs, and the errors from failed imports, conversions and campaigns. It sees the file name of a manuscript that failed to convert. It never reads what is inside the file.

Yes. Pubblish follows GDPR guidelines for European users, including data protection, right to access, and right to deletion.

Where is my data stored?

Data is stored in secure cloud infrastructure with regular backups and encryption.

Support

How do I get help?

Start with the assistant and work down the list:

Ask the assistant — click Help in the page header, then Ask. It answers from these guides. It can also look at your own books, imports, conversions, newsletters and setup jobs.
Read the guide — search from the box at the top of the help panel, or browse the sidebar.
Write to us — under an Ask conversation, click Send this to Pubblish to send us the whole exchange. Anywhere else, click Help and choose Send feedback at the foot of the panel.
Email [email protected] — if you can’t get into Pubblish at all.

We usually reply within one working day. See Support for the full details.

What can the assistant do, and what can’t it?

It can explain how Pubblish works. It can also look up what is in your workspace — so it can tell you why one book is missing from an ONIX file, or what stopped an import.

It cannot change anything. It has no way to edit, create or delete a record. It tells you which screen to open instead.

It can be wrong. If an answer does not match what you see, use the thumbs down. Then click Send this to Pubblish — we will look at it.

Is there phone support?

No — we’re a small team, so help is written rather than by phone. That way you get an answer you can keep, and we can look at your account while we reply.

Can you help me format my book?

Pubblish is a catalog and workflow management tool, not a book formatting service. However, the workflows feature can help you track your book through professional formatting services.

Do you provide editing or design services?

No. Pubblish is software for managing your publishing process, not a service provider. You’ll still need to work with editors, designers, and other professionals for those services.

Feature Requests

How do I request a feature?

Click Help in Pubblish, choose Send feedback at the foot of the panel, and tell us what you would like it to do. We love hearing what would make Pubblish more useful.

Troubleshooting

I forgot my password

Click “Forgot password?” on the login page and follow the email instructions to reset.

I’m not receiving emails from Pubblish

Check your spam folder. Add [email protected] to your contacts to ensure delivery.

A page isn’t loading correctly

Try: 1. Refresh the page (Ctrl+R or Cmd+R) 2. Clear your browser cache 3. Try a different browser 4. Contact support if issues persist

My changes aren’t saving

Make sure you click the “Save” button. If you navigate away without saving, changes will be lost. If you clicked Save and it still didn’t work, contact support.

Getting Started

I’m new to publishing. Where do I start?

Read the Getting Started Guide
Create your first title
Add your author information
Explore the features at your own pace

Is there a demo or trial?

Trial information will be available when Pubblish launches. Check pubblish.com for current offers.

Do you offer training?

This documentation site covers all features with step-by-step guides. Additional resources may be added over time.

Still have questions?

Click Help in the page header, then Ask. Put the question to the assistant. If it can’t answer, click Send this to Pubblish underneath and we will.