Guide

How to convert a Word manuscript to EPUB

The stores want an EPUB, not a Word file. Here is what an EPUB actually is, what to fix in Word first, and how to get a clean, Kindle-ready file in a few minutes.

By the Book Publishing Tools Online team · Updated 2026-09-07 · 5 min read

What an EPUB is

An EPUB is a zipped bundle of web pages, one per chapter, plus a table of contents, your cover, and a small metadata file naming the book and author. Because it is built from web pages, the text reflows to fit any screen and any font size the reader chooses. That reflow is the whole point: a Word file is a fixed page, an EPUB is a book that adapts.

Amazon KDP accepts EPUB for Kindle books, and so do Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, and the distributors that feed the smaller stores. A valid EPUB 3, with proper XHTML and a navigation document, uploads without complaint everywhere.

Fix these in Word first

  1. Chapter titles as Heading 1. Select each chapter title and apply the Heading 1 style. Converters, including ours, use those headings to split chapters and build the table of contents.
  2. Scene breaks as a line on their own. Three asterisks or three hyphens on a blank line. Not a row of blank paragraphs, which vanish in reflowable text.
  3. No manual page breaks or tab-indented first lines. Indents and spacing are set by the ebook's style, not by the manuscript.
  4. Images placed inline, not floating in text boxes.
  5. Real lists, made with Word's bullet and numbering buttons rather than typed dashes.

The manuscript formatting guide goes deeper on each of these.

Convert

  1. Open the EPUB Creator and import the .docx (or paste from Google Docs).
  2. Check the chapter list. If a chapter is missing, its title was not a Heading 1; fix it in the editor or in Word and re-import.
  3. Pick a style and typeface, turn drop caps and ornaments on or off, and switch the preview between phone, Kindle, and tablet sizes.
  4. Run the fidelity check. It counts paragraphs, headings, lists, and images against the original and reports anything that went missing.
  5. Export the EPUB. Open it in a reading app on your phone before you upload it anywhere; five minutes of reading catches what no validator does.
The fidelity check exists because conversions fail quietly: a dropped paragraph looks fine until a reader emails you. Counting against the original is the only way to know.

Upload to the stores

KDP: create the Kindle edition, upload the EPUB as the manuscript file and a JPEG as the cover, and use the online previewer. Apple Books and Kobo take the same EPUB directly or through an aggregator. Keep the EPUB; it is the master file for every store.

Questions

Do I need Kindle Create or Vellum?

No. Any valid EPUB 3 works on KDP. Dedicated apps are one way to make one; a browser-based converter with a live preview and a fidelity check is another, with nothing to install.

Will my fonts carry over?

Reading apps let readers choose their own font, so a book's typeface is a default, not a guarantee. Set a good default and let the reflow do its job.

What about a PDF?

PDF is fixed-layout and reads badly on phones. Use EPUB for ebooks and a PDF only for print. See EPUB vs PDF.

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