Publishing Studio

What Is Publishing Studio?

Publishing Studio takes a finished manuscript and produces the actual files retailers require: a validated ebook file, a typeset print interior, and a cover ready for print — instead of a plain Word document. You choose which formats you want, StorytellerOS generates the files, and you download them to upload wherever you sell.

Publishing Studio does not upload anything to Amazon or other retailers for you — it prepares the files, and you take the download and upload it yourself, the same way you would with any professionally formatted book.

Getting to Publishing Studio

There are two ways in:

• From the dashboard — open Publishing Studio in the sidebar to see all your books and everything you have generated so far.
• From a book — open any title and click Publish This Bookto jump straight into that book's wizard.

A book needs at least one chapter before you can generate anything — an empty book has nothing to typeset.

eBook vs. Print — Same Book, Different Variations

A variationis a different format of the same book — the story doesn't change, only how it is delivered. Publishing Studio can generate:

• eBook (.epub) — the standard reflowable ebook format accepted by Amazon KDP, Draft2Digital, Apple Books, and Kobo. Every ebook is automatically checked for quality issues before it is marked ready.
• Manuscript (.docx) — a clean Word file, useful for editors, ARC readers, or a retailer that accepts Word uploads directly.
• Print (paperback or hardcover) — a typeset interior file sized to a specific trim size, plus cover artwork sized for that same trim and page count.

Ask for as many as you want in one pass — for example, an ebook and a paperback together — and Publishing Studio generates each as its own file.

The Publish Wizard, Step by Step

Clicking Publish opens a six-step wizard for that book:

1. Formats

Choose what to generate: eBook, Manuscript (.docx), and/or Print. Pick any combination.

• An Audiobook package option packages your own narrated audio files into a distribution-ready bundle.

2. Theme

Pick one of three built-in interior designs. The theme controls chapter openers, scene breaks, and typography in both the ebook and the print interior, so your book looks consistent across formats:

• Meridian — classic trade-book styling: old-style serif type, drop caps, and a small ornament at scene breaks. The traditional choice.
• Lyra — contemporary and airy: a humanist serif, no drop caps, generous spacing, and understated chapter openers. Reads modern.
• Atlas — editorial and crisp: small-caps chapter numbers, a classic * * * scene break, and a tighter measure. Suits thrillers and non-fiction.

A live preview shows how your choice will look before you commit.

3. Print Setup

Only shown if you selected Print. Choose:

• Binding — paperback or hardcover
• Platform — which retailer you are printing through (this changes the available trim sizes and paper options to match what that retailer accepts)
• Trim size — the physical page size, for example 6" × 9"
• Paper — white or cream interior paper, or color paper for books with images
• Cover finish — matte or gloss

This step also shows an estimated page count and spine width based on your book's word count, updated live as you change trim size or paper.

4. Front & Back Matter

Add the pages that surround your story: dedication, epigraph, foreword, preface, acknowledgements, copyright page, and about-the-author. Everything here is optional:

• Leave the copyright page blank and StorytellerOS builds one automatically from your pen name, publication year, ISBN, and publisher.
• Leave about the author blank and it uses your pen name's publishing bio, if you have one set up.
• A toggle controls whether this book appears in the auto-generated "Also By" page in your other books.

These fields are saved to the book, so you only need to fill them in once.

5. Assets

Confirm your cover art. The same cover image is embedded in the ebook and used as the front panel of the generated print cover — manage the actual image file from the book's own page, not from the wizard.

6. Generate

Review any warnings, then click Generate. StorytellerOS builds each requested format and shows live progress. When a file is ready, a download link appears — download links stay valid for 24 hours. Everything you have ever generated also stays listed on the Publishing Studio dashboard, so you can come back for it later.

Cover and Spine Requirements

Print books need a cover sized to wrap around the exact spine width for your page count and trim size — get the spine wrong and the cover will not line up when printed. How Publishing Studio handles this depends on the retailer:

• Amazon KDP paperback and Lulu publish their spine math, so Publishing Studio builds you a complete, ready-to-upload cover wrap: your front cover art, extended around the spine and back panel, sized exactly for your page count.
• KDP hardcover, IngramSpark, Barnes & Noble Press, and Draft2Digital Print don't publish a spine formula — they require you to finish the cover in their own online cover tool. For these, Publishing Studio gives you the finished interior file plus a measurements sheet (trim size, spine width, and margins) to plug into that retailer's cover tool.

For best results, use a cover image that is high resolution — at least 300 pixels per inch across the full front panel. If your cover art is too low-resolution for the trim size you picked, Publishing Studio warns you before you generate.

Supported Print Platforms

Troubleshooting

Generate button won't work

• Make sure the book has at least one chapter — an empty book has nothing to generate
• Make sure at least one format is checked on the Formats step

A file failed to generate

• The wizard shows the specific error for that format — most often it means the automatic quality check found something to fix in the manuscript itself
• Click Try again after making any needed changes to the book
• If it keeps failing, contact support with the error message shown

Download link says expired

• Download links are valid for 24 hours after a file is generated
• Every past generation is kept on the Publishing Studio dashboard — open the book again and generate a fresh link, no need to redo the whole wizard

Cover looks off, or a resolution warning appears

• Upload a higher-resolution cover image from the book's page, then regenerate
• For hardcover and the measurement-sheet retailers, double check your numbers against the platform's own cover tool before uploading — StorytellerOS gives you the numbers, but their tool builds the final print-ready cover file