EPUB ebooks
EPUB uploads are on paid plans. On the Free plan, export a PDF instead; every tool below can.
EPUB or PDF?
Section titled “EPUB or PDF?”An EPUB has no pages. It holds the text and images of a book, and whatever reads it (a Kindle, Apple Books, a phone) flows that text into pages to fit its own screen. That’s why the same ebook has a different number of pages on every device.
A flipbook needs pages, so when you upload an EPUB we flow it into pages ourselves, at A5 with 11pt text. The result is a faithful reading of the book, not a copy of any particular layout, and page 40 in Living Page won’t be page 40 on someone’s e-reader.
| Upload an EPUB when | Export a PDF instead when |
|---|---|
| It’s a novel, a report or anything that’s mostly running text | The layout is the point: a designed ebook, a cookbook, a children’s book, a brochure |
| You don’t mind our page size | You want your own page size, fonts and page breaks |
| You only have the EPUB | Page numbers need to match a printed edition |
If your book tool can export both, a print-ready PDF is usually the better upload, because it’s already laid out the way you designed it. Remove crop marks and bleed first; see Getting a PDF under 50 MB for why a print file is often large.
Getting an EPUB out of…
Section titled “Getting an EPUB out of…”Vellum: press Generate in the toolbar, choose your platforms, and add Generic EPUB. Press Generate again, then Show Files. (Generating needs a Vellum purchase.)
Reedsy Studio: from your Bookshelf, hover over the book → Manage → the Exports bar → Export book. Reedsy emails you a .zip containing the formats you chose. Reedsy’s free plan includes PDF and EPUB export.
Calibre: select the book and use Convert books with EPUB as the output, then Save to disk to get the file out of your Calibre library.
Google Docs: File → Download, and choose the EPUB option.
Before you upload
Section titled “Before you upload”- DRM: an EPUB bought from a store is usually copy-protected, and it isn’t yours to publish anyway. Upload your own books.
- Cover: the first page of the flipbook shows alone as the cover. Check it after conversion; if it isn’t the page you want, export a PDF with your cover as page 1 instead.
- Links: web links in the book are kept where the conversion can find them. Check a couple in the flipbook after it’s converted. See Keeping links clickable.