
Creating a digital book has never been easier with the advent of user-friendly platforms like Folius. If you’ve crafted your narrative or non-fiction piece on Google Docs, the pathway to converting it into a professionally structured eBook is straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can transform your Google Doc manuscript into an eBook using Folius:

## Preparing Your Document

- **Chapter titles:** Style each chapter title as Heading 1 or Heading 2 in Google Docs. On import, choose that heading level under Chapter detection, or leave Auto to pick it.

## Exporting Your Document

- **Export to DOCX:** Once your document is well-organized, go to the File menu in Google Docs, hover over Download, and select Microsoft Word (.docx) to save your manuscript to your computer.

## Setting up on Folius

- **Create a New Book:** Navigate to [your books](/home) on Folius and create a new book by clicking on the Create a book option.
- **Add book information:** Navigate to your book's Settings page, and fill in information like author, date published, and copyright.
- **Add Cover:** Inside the settings area you can upload a cover image.
- **Add Content:** Click on the “Add Content” button to begin the process of importing your manuscript.
- **Import DOCX:** Select the Import .docx option and upload the DOCX file you saved earlier.

## Refining Your Folius

- **Verify Chapter Separation:** After the upload, check that Folius has separated your manuscript correctly. If any chapters are merged or misplaced, simply highlight the text, cut it, and then paste it into a new chapter.

## Exporting Your eBook

- **Ready for Export:** Once satisfied with the organization of your content, click on the Export button to proceed.
- **Download as EPUB:** Click on the EPUB button to download your book. Your manuscript is now an eBook!
- **Preview Your eBook:** Open the downloaded EPUB file using an eBook reader such as Calibre or Apple Books to see how your book will look to readers.

## Handling Images

Folius imports JPEG, PNG, and the Windows EMF drawings Word often embeds. Images land in the text flow, centred at medium size — you can change size and wrapping in the editor after import.

By following these steps, you'll have a well-structured eBook ready to be shared with the world. Folius makes it exceptionally simple for writers to transition from a manuscript to a polished eBook, ensuring your work is presented in a professional and engaging manner.

## Selling your book

Check out our guide how to [Sell your e-book on Gumroad](/guides/sell-your-ebook-on-gumroad) if you'd like to make money from your book.


How to convert a Google Doc to an e-book


A Kindle book is not a small printed page. Readers can change the typeface, font size, spacing, colour theme, and screen orientation. A good Kindle edition therefore preserves structure and meaning while allowing the layout to reflow.

Folius is built around that principle. You can maintain one structured manuscript, tune its ebook styling, and export EPUB without copying the book into a second layout tool.

## 1. Start with clean book structure

Organise your manuscript into front matter, body matter, and back matter. Use chapters for major reading units and heading levels for sections within a chapter.

In **Settings**, complete the title, author, language, description, publisher, copyright, and identifier fields that apply to your edition. Keep the title and author consistent with the details you will enter in KDP.

Amazon requires Kindle books with chapters or sections to include a working logical table of contents. Folius builds navigation from your book structure, so meaningful chapter and section names matter. Read Amazon’s [Kindle table of contents guidance](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201605710) for the current requirement.

## 2. Edit for reflow, not fixed pages

Use semantic elements—paragraphs, headings, lists, quotations, images, and footnotes—instead of using spaces or repeated blank lines to force a visual position.

Page numbers, print gutters, and recto/verso starts do not carry the same meaning in a reflowable ebook. A “page” changes with every device and reader setting. Use Folius’s ebook preview to concentrate on reading order, hierarchy, and rhythm.

## 3. Prepare images carefully

Insert images where they belong in the reading sequence. Add useful alternative text wherever the image conveys information, and avoid turning ordinary text into an image.

Images should be clear at common Kindle screen sizes without making the EPUB unnecessarily large. Amazon’s [ebook accessibility guidance](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GBPE3QVZ2J3HLQ4B) recommends real text, logical reading order, useful image descriptions, and navigable headings.

Your storefront cover is uploaded separately during KDP title setup. Amazon adds that cover to the Kindle edition, so do not insert a duplicate cover page into the manuscript unless you have a specific reason.

## 4. Preview the ebook in Folius

Open **Write + Preview** and change the preview destination to EPUB. Check:

- chapter and section order;
- heading hierarchy;
- paragraph breaks, lists, quotations, and footnotes;
- image placement and captions;
- front and back matter;
- navigation labels.

Folius builds the EPUB with responsive typography, so it adapts automatically to different screen sizes and reader settings. You do not need to tune separate narrow and wide layouts.

![An Alice in Wonderland manuscript and its formatted print preview shown side by side in Folius](/screenshots/homepage-writing.png)

_The same structured manuscript can be inspected against different output destinations without leaving the writing workspace._

## 5. Export EPUB

Open **Export**, choose **EPUB e-book**, and generate the file. Folius converts the structured manuscript to XHTML, packages the book resources, and generates ebook CSS from your theme.

EPUB is the best handoff format for a reflowable Kindle edition because it preserves structure and lets KDP perform its Kindle conversion. Amazon’s [ebook manuscript formatting guide](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G200645680) covers its current preparation recommendations.

## 6. Test before publication

Upload the EPUB to KDP and inspect it in Amazon’s Online Previewer. Test more than one device profile and pay particular attention to:

1. the table of contents and “Go To” navigation;
2. chapter starts and section headings;
3. images at small screen widths;
4. italics, bold text, lists, quotations, and footnotes;
5. the start reading location;
6. accessibility information requested during title setup.

If KDP reports a conversion problem, fix the source in Folius and export again. Keeping the correction in the manuscript prevents the Kindle edition from drifting away from your print and web editions.

## 7. Perform the final store checks

Before publishing, compare the title, subtitle, author, language, description, and cover in KDP with the book itself. Preview the sample opening as a reader would see it and remove accidental blank content or duplicated front matter.

Amazon performs the final conversion, content review, and store validation. Folius helps you produce a well-structured EPUB and keeps revisions repeatable; KDP’s preview remains the final authority for the Kindle file Amazon will deliver.


How to prepare a Kindle EPUB for Amazon KDP


Publishing a paperback is partly an editorial job and partly a manufacturing job. Your words need to read well, but the interior file also has to describe a physical object: a particular trim size, a safe gutter, and—when artwork reaches an edge—enough bleed for the page to be cut cleanly.

Folius keeps those decisions with the manuscript and generates the print PDF for you. It also runs a KDP-aware preflight before export, so several common submission problems appear while they are still easy to fix.

## 1. Finish the structure of your book

Before adjusting margins, make sure the manuscript has the parts it needs:

- front matter such as a title page and copyright page;
- body matter divided into clearly named chapters and sections;
- back matter such as acknowledgements, notes, a bibliography, or an author page.

In Folius, use the contents panel to keep these parts in the right order. Add the book title, author, language, publisher, copyright, and other metadata under **Settings**.

## 2. Choose a trim size

Trim size is the final width and height of a printed page. Amazon describes 6 × 9 inches as the most common US paperback size, but the best choice depends on genre, line length, illustration needs, and printing cost.

Open **Format** in Folius and choose a supported print trim size. The live preview repaginates the book immediately, so you can judge the page as a page—not as an abstract list of measurements.

![Folius trim-size picker comparing common regional print-book dimensions](/screenshots/trim-size-focused.png)

_Filter real publishing formats by region and genre, then compare their proportions before selecting one._

Amazon recommends choosing trim before margins because the trim size changes pagination, and pagination changes the required inner margin. See Amazon’s official [trim, bleed, and margin guide](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/GVBQ3CMEQW3W2VL6).

## 3. Let Folius resolve safe margins

For a KDP paperback, the minimum inner margin grows with the final page count:

- 24–150 pages: 0.375 in (9.6 mm);
- 151–300 pages: 0.5 in (12.7 mm);
- 301–500 pages: 0.625 in (15.9 mm);
- 501–700 pages: 0.75 in (19.1 mm);
- 701–828 pages: 0.875 in (22.3 mm).

The top, bottom, and outside minimum is 0.25 inches without bleed and 0.375 inches with bleed.

Folius’s automatic layout uses generous book margins. If you choose custom margins, the layout panel estimates the page count and flags margins that fall below KDP’s no-bleed minimums. The export screen performs the full check again with your final bleed choice.

Expand **Book statistics** to see the current word count, chapter count, and estimated print pages. This is particularly useful because changing trim, type size, or margins can change the page-count tier KDP uses for the gutter.

## 4. Decide whether the interior needs bleed

Use bleed when an image, illustration, background, or decorative element should reach the cut edge. If even one interior page needs bleed, Amazon requires the entire manuscript to be submitted as a bleed PDF.

At export, enable **Include bleed** in Folius. The generated page extends 0.125 inches (3.2 mm) beyond the trim edge. Folius then checks the larger bleed-aware safe margins.

Do not enable crop marks for the KDP upload. Amazon’s [paperback submission guidelines](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201857950) say submitted interiors should not contain crop or trim marks. Folius labels its crop-mark option for test prints only.

## 5. Run the KDP print check

Open **Export** and select **PDF for print**. Folius paginates the whole book using the same geometry as the export, then checks:

- the KDP paperback range of 24–828 pages;
- the inside margin required for that page count;
- top, bottom, and outside margins.

If Folius shows a warning, return to **Format** and adjust the layout. A short book may need more genuine content or a different publishing format; adding empty pages merely to reach a minimum produces a poor reader experience and may still cause quality-review problems.

The preflight covers rules Folius can determine from the interior. It is not an Amazon approval and does not check your cover, rights, listing metadata, or every content-quality rule.

![Folius print export showing output formats, bleed controls, and KDP image-resolution warnings](/screenshots/export-formats.png)

_The export screen keeps print options and KDP warnings together so problems can be corrected before generating the file._

## 6. Export and inspect the PDF

Generate **PDF for print**, then inspect the file at high zoom:

1. Check chapter openings, running headers, page numbers, and blank pages.
2. Confirm that images intended to bleed reach beyond the trim edge.
3. Look for isolated headings, awkward short final lines, or unexpected page breaks.
4. Make sure the cover is not included in the interior PDF; KDP asks for the cover separately.

Amazon recommends PDF for the best print results and requires PDF for interiors with bleed. It also asks for embedded fonts and images of at least 300 DPI. Review the current [paperback submission guidelines](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201857950) before uploading.

## 7. Upload to KDP and order a proof

In KDP, choose print options that match the Folius export—especially trim size and bleed—then upload the interior PDF. Use KDP’s Print Previewer and resolve every error it reports.

Finally, order a physical proof. Screens can show alignment, but only a printed copy reveals paper feel, binding loss, ink density, and whether the type is comfortable at real size.

Folius gets you to that proof with one maintained manuscript, a real paginated preview, and a preflight designed around the measurements KDP will evaluate.


How to prepare a paperback for Amazon KDP


Publishing your own eBook can be a rewarding endeavor, both creatively and financially. Folius provides a simple platform to convert your manuscript into a professional eBook. Once your eBook is ready, Gumroad serves as an excellent platform to sell your creation. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to take your eBook from Folius to Gumroad:

## Creating Your eBook on Folius

First create your book on Folius by typing it directly, or [importing a .DOCX file](/guides/convert-google-docs-to-ebook). Then export a PDF and ePub file.

## Preparing Your eBook for Sale

Before moving on to Gumroad, ensure you have your eBook files ready in both EPUB and PDF formats. Here are the pros and cons of each format:

- **EPUB**:
    - **Pros**: Re-flowable text, easier on the eyes, lightweight, and widely accepted.
    - **Cons**: Not all devices support EPUB.
- **PDF**:
    - **Pros**: Maintains formatting, universally compatible.
    - **Cons**: Heavier file, not re-flowable, can be hard to read on small screens.

You don’t have to choose between the two formats; offering both can cater to a wider audience.

## Setting up on Gumroad

- **Create a Gumroad Account**: Sign up for a Gumroad account if you don’t have one already.
- **Product Setup**: Click on Products then Start selling today, and then Start a new product. Choose Classic for a simple product setup.
- **Product Details**: Fill in the name of your eBook, set a price, and upload your eBook files (EPUB and PDF).
- **Create a Bundle (Optional)**: If you want to offer both formats as a bundle, simply upload both files under the same product. Customers appreciate having a choice in file format.
- **Description and Imagery**: Write a compelling description and upload captivating imagery to entice potential buyers.
- **Publish**: Once everything looks good, hit the Publish button to make your eBook live on Gumroad.
- **Promote Your eBook**: Share the link to your Gumroad product on social media, your website, and other platforms to attract buyers.

Gumroad makes selling your eBook straightforward and provides a platform for your readers to securely purchase and download your book. By offering both EPUB and PDF formats, you cater to a broader audience, ensuring a more successful eBook selling experience.


Master the craft of publishing.

Looking for a Vellum alternative for Windows?

How to convert a Google Doc to an e-book

How to prepare a Kindle EPUB for Amazon KDP

How to prepare a paperback for Amazon KDP

How to sell your e-book on Gumroad