How to Format a Book in Reedsy Book Editor for KDP and Ebook (2026)

Finishing a manuscript is a huge achievement, but for many first-time authors the next step feels like the hardest one: turning a finished draft into a book with clean chapters, a proper table of contents, and pages that read well on a Kindle and in print. That is exactly the job Reedsy Book Editor was built for, without asking you to learn desktop publishing software first.

Reedsy Book Editor, also called Reedsy Studio, lives entirely in your browser at editor.reedsy.com. There is nothing to download or install, so you can open your book from any computer with an internet connection. Signing up is free, and the basic features, including writing and formatting, are free too. Reedsy also offers premium plans called Craft and Outline, but you do not need them for basic formatting and export, so a tight budget is no barrier to getting started.

This guide walks through the whole process, from importing your manuscript to exporting files you can upload to Amazon KDP and other ebook retailers. It covers the templates, export settings, trim sizes, and honest limits, so you can decide whether it fits your book before you invest hours in it.

Getting Started in Reedsy Book Editor

The first step when you format a book in Reedsy is to create a free account and start a new book project. Its interface is deliberately simple: a writing pane, a sidebar listing your book’s sections, and formatting controls that stay out of the way until you need them. If you have used a word processor, you will feel at home within minutes.

You can either write directly in the editor or bring in an existing manuscript. Pasting from a word processor works, but importing a .docx file tends to preserve your chapter breaks and basic styling more cleanly. After import, check that nothing went missing: smart quotes, italics, and scene breaks usually survive, but a quick skim of the first and last chapters catches formatting that did not transfer.

One habit to build from day one is keeping your own backup. Reedsy lets you export your manuscript as a .docx file at any time, and you should do so regularly, especially before major edits. Because the editor is online, your backup is your safety net if your connection drops or you ever move the book to another tool. Never keep your only copy inside a single app.

Reedsy Book Editor suits authors who want a professional result without a professional price tag. It works best for text-heavy fiction and nonfiction, for writers working with a collaborator or editor who also uses Reedsy, and for anyone publishing their first book on a budget. If your book is a simple, well-structured manuscript, the editor will carry you all the way from draft to publishable file.

Structuring Your Manuscript: Chapters, Front Matter, and Back Matter

Good formatting starts with good structure, and Reedsy makes structure visible. Your book is organised into sections, and each section has a type: a chapter, a part divider, or an item of front or back matter. These types control how the table of contents is generated, how page numbering behaves in print, and how readers navigate your ebook. Spend time here and the rest of the process gets easier.

Front matter is everything before chapter one, and Reedsy supports the standard pieces. A copyright page protects your work and tells readers who published it. A dedication adds a personal touch. An epigraph sets the tone with a quote. A foreword or preface lets someone else, or you, introduce the book. Keep front matter lean: a copyright page and a dedication are essential, while the rest should earn their place.

Back matter is everything after the final chapter, and it is where smart authors do quiet marketing. An acknowledgement page thanks the people who helped, and Reedsy lets you place endnotes at the end of each chapter or at the end of the book. An about the author page builds a connection with readers and points them toward your other books. A short “also by” list or a preview of your next book can turn a finished reader into a returning one.

Once the sections are in place, check the order twice. It is easy to leave a chapter out of sequence after importing, and the table of contents is generated automatically from your section structure, so an ordering mistake shows up in the finished book. Read the section list top to bottom: front matter first, chapters in order, back matter closing the book.

Choosing a Template and Styling Your Book

Reedsy keeps styling deliberately simple by offering exactly three templates, and choosing one is the single biggest visual decision you will make. The Reedsy template pairs Lato and Merriweather and works well for nonfiction, where readability matters more than decoration. The Classic template uses Crimson and gives a traditional, literary feel that suits most novels. The Romance template also uses Crimson but adds a decorative chapter title and ornament, which fits romance and genre fiction that wants a little flourish.

Pick the template that matches your book’s genre and tone, then leave it alone. The temptation is to fiddle endlessly with fonts and spacing, but Reedsy’s strength is restraint: the templates are professionally designed, and a consistent look reads as more professional than competing styles. Your words should be the star, not your drop caps. Reedsy does give you a few meaningful choices within each template, worth setting deliberately rather than accepting defaults blindly.

Drop caps are one such choice. A drop cap, the large decorated first letter opening a chapter, looks elegant in literary fiction but out of place in a business book or how-to guide. Reedsy lets you switch drop caps on or off, so match the setting to your genre. You can also hide chapter numbers, which suits books with titled, unnumbered sections.

The honest limit here is control. With only three templates and a small set of styling toggles, you cannot achieve the fine typographic control that a desktop layout program offers, and you cannot build unusual page designs. Authors comparing options often look at tools like our guide to formatting a book in Atticus and our Vellum book formatting guide as well, which offer more templates and styling choices at a price. Reedsy trades that control for simplicity and a free starting point, and for most text-heavy books that trade is a good one.

Export Options: EPUB, Print PDF, and Word Backup

When your manuscript is structured and styled, export is where Reedsy turns your project into files you can actually publish. For ebooks, export EPUB 3, the modern standard that Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, and other retailers accept. For print-on-demand paperbacks, export the PDF/X-1a:2001 PDF, a print-ready format built for commercial printing. And export the .docx manuscript backup for your own records, keeping your text portable.

Before you export, review the settings: drop caps on or off, chapter numbers shown or hidden, and endnotes at the end of each chapter or the end of the book. Check that the table of contents generates automatically from your final section order. These settings are small, but they are the difference between a file that looks finished and one that needs a second export and another round of checking.

Trim size matters only for print, but it matters a lot, so choose it before you export the PDF. Reedsy offers four verified trim sizes: Trade at 6 x 9 inches, Digest at 5.5 x 8.5 inches, the Reedsy standard at 5 x 8 inches, and Pocket at 4.25 x 6.87 inches. Trade 6 x 9 is the most common choice for fiction and general nonfiction, Digest suits workbooks, and Pocket fits small gift-style books. Whatever you choose, your cover must match the same trim size, or KDP will reject the upload. For a deeper look at how trim choices affect the whole project, see our guide to KDP trim sizes.

After export, do not upload blind. Open the EPUB in a reader app or Kindle Previewer and check the opening chapters, table of contents, and back matter. Open the PDF and check the margins, chapter openings, and page count. Proof the exported file as carefully as you proofed the manuscript, because readers judge the book by what they see.

Uploading to KDP: What to Check Before You Hit Publish

Uploading to Amazon KDP is straightforward once your files are ready, but a few checks before you click publish will save you from the most common first-timer mistakes. First, match your trim size to your cover: if your interior PDF is Trade 6 x 9, your cover must be built for the same size with the correct spine width for your page count. A mismatch is one of the most frequent reasons KDP flags an upload, and it is entirely avoidable if you confirm the size before you start the cover.

Second, check the exported PDF or EPUB yourself before uploading, not after. Open the EPUB on a phone and a tablet if you can: reflowable text looks different on different screens, and a long heading or wide table can break awkwardly on one device. For a look at another popular free tool, see our Kindle Create formatting guide. For print, check the first pages, a middle chapter opening, and the final page, and confirm page numbers and table of contents entries are correct.

Third, order a proof copy for print, every time, even if the digital preview looked perfect. A proof copy shows the real paper, margins, and cover colours, and reveals problems no screen preview can, such as text too close to the gutter or a cover printing darker than on your monitor. Many authors catch their only embarrassing mistake in the proof copy, and fixing it before publication costs far less than after readers have bought the book.

Pre-Export Checklist: Proof Every File Before You Publish

The last pass before export is the one that catches the mistakes readers notice first. A book can have brilliant content and still look amateur if a chapter is out of order, the table of contents is stale, or a proof copy was never ordered. Build this check into your routine for every book, because these errors slip through when you are tired and eager to publish.

Work through the list in order, and do not export until every item is ticked off. If you find a problem, fix it in the editor, not the exported file: the editor is your source of truth, and every fix should live there so the next export carries it.

• Manuscript imported completely, with no missing chapters, italics, or scene breaks.
• Sections in the correct order: front matter, chapters, then back matter.
• Template chosen to match the book’s genre, with drop caps and chapter numbers set deliberately.
• Table of contents set to auto-generate from the final section structure.
• Endnote position chosen: end of chapter or end of book.
• Trim size confirmed and matched to the cover file for print.
• Exported EPUB and PDF opened and skimmed before any upload, and a print proof copy ordered.

Conclusion: A Clean, Professional Book Without a Big Budget

Reedsy Book Editor earns its popularity by doing one thing well: turning a finished manuscript into a clean, professional-looking book without charging you or forcing you to learn layout software. For first-time and budget-conscious authors writing text-heavy fiction or nonfiction, it is one of the most sensible starting points available, and its free basic tier means you can test it on a real chapter before committing your whole book to it.

Know its edges before you start. Three templates, limited styling control, four trim sizes, and a browser-only workflow are real constraints, and image-heavy or unusually designed books will outgrow it. When that happens, the honest move is to step up to a desktop layout tool or hire a human formatter rather than fight the tool. But for most books, the ones most authors actually write, Reedsy gives you everything you need to publish with confidence.