The difference between formatting an ebook and a paperback comes down to one thing: an ebook reflows to fit any screen, while a paperback is locked to a fixed printed page. In practice that means you edit your manuscript once, then build two separate files from it: a reflowable EPUB for the ebook and a fixed print-ready PDF for the paperback.
- The Short Version: One Manuscript, Two Builds
- Reflowable vs Fixed: Why You Need Two Builds
- Which Tools Can Make Both an Ebook and a Paperback?
- Which Formatting Choices Carry Over, and Which Don’t?
- Print-Only Settings: Trim Size, Margins, and Bleed
- How Do Images Differ Between an Ebook and a Paperback?
- Frequently Asked Questions
The Short Version: One Manuscript, Two Builds
For a first-time author, the practical path is the same every time: prepare one clean manuscript, then produce two files from it. Here is the whole process at a glance, before we explain why each step matters.
- Edit and proofread first. Get the words final before you format anything, so you are not fixing the same typo in two separate files later.
- Format with styles, not manual spacing. Tag chapter titles as headings and body text with a single paragraph style. Avoid using tabs, extra blank lines, or the space bar to push things into position.
- Decide how you will make the two files. Some tools produce both a print PDF and an ebook from one project; others make only one, so you add a conversion step. The tools section below covers this.
- Build the paperback as a fixed print PDF. Choose a trim size, set your margins, and add bleed only if artwork runs to the edge of the page.
- Build the ebook as a reflowable EPUB. Let the text reflow, then open it on a phone or e-reader app to see how it actually behaves.
- Check before you publish. Validate the EPUB and preview a print proof, so you catch problems on screen rather than in a printed box of books.
The step authors skip most often is the first one. Formatting a manuscript that still has edits pending means every correction has to be made twice, once in each edition, which is exactly where the two versions drift out of sync.
Reflowable vs Fixed: Why You Need Two Builds
An ebook and a paperback are built on opposite ideas about where words sit. An ebook is “reflowable,” meaning the text pours into whatever screen it lands on and rearranges itself when the reader adjusts their reading settings, such as text size. A paperback is “fixed,” meaning every word, image, and margin is pinned to an exact spot on a page that never moves.
The two editions use different file types for this reason. The ebook is an EPUB, the format every major ebook store accepts; the paperback is a print-ready PDF. EPUB is built from the same building blocks as a web page (HTML and CSS), which is why, according to the W3C’s EPUB 3 overview, it “reflows to fit the available screen space” and lets readers change font size and spacing without breaking the layout. A PDF does the reverse and freezes the page exactly as designed.
This is also why an ebook may not keep the exact fonts you chose. A reflowable file leaves much of the type up to the reader’s device, while a print PDF embeds the font so it prints exactly as set. The practical takeaway: save any distinctive display font for the print edition, and pick a dependable, widely available body font that works in both, as we cover in choosing the right font for your book interior. If you want the deeper version of the reflowable-versus-fixed idea, we go further in reflowable vs fixed-layout EPUB.
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Which Tools Can Make Both an Ebook and a Paperback?
Whether you need one tool or two depends on what your software can export. Dedicated book-formatting programs are built to produce both editions from a single project, while general word processors handle print well but need extra help with the ebook.
- Tools that make both editions: Adobe InDesign, Vellum, and Atticus can each output a print-ready PDF and a reflowable EPUB from one project. Adobe’s own guide shows InDesign exporting to EPUB, in reflowable or fixed layout, alongside its standard print PDF export. With these, you format once and export twice.
- Microsoft Word: Word produces a perfectly good print-ready PDF, but its “Save As” list has no EPUB option. To make the ebook you add a separate step, either a conversion tool or a dedicated formatting program that takes your Word file and builds the EPUB.
- Google Docs: Google Docs can download a basic EPUB directly (File > Download > EPUB Publication) as well as a PDF, though very detailed layouts may need more control than it offers.
The practical point for a first-timer is to pick your route before you start formatting, not after. Choosing a tool that exports both editions saves you from rebuilding the whole book in a second program; choosing Word or Google Docs is fine too, as long as you plan for the extra ebook step from the start.
Which Formatting Choices Carry Over, and Which Don’t?
The content of your book carries over between editions; the page design mostly does not. Your words, chapter order, headings, and front and back matter (the title page, copyright page, and dedication) stay the same in both. What gets rebuilt is everything that controls how a page physically looks: page size, margins, page numbers, running headers, and how images are sized and placed.
This is why styles matter so much. When chapter titles are tagged as real headings rather than just enlarged bold text, the ebook build can create a working, clickable contents list and the print build can start each chapter on a fresh page, both from the same source. Manuscripts positioned with tabs and blank lines look fine in print but scatter once an ebook reflows them, because none of those manual nudges survive a screen that resizes. Getting the styles right once is what lets a single manuscript feed both builds cleanly.
Print-Only Settings: Trim Size, Margins, and Bleed
Trim size, margins, gutters, and bleed are physical-page settings that simply do not exist in a reflowable ebook. A print book is manufactured at a chosen page size, so the paperback build has to account for the physical sheet; an ebook has no fixed page at all, so you can ignore all of them. These are the print-only settings to handle for the paperback:
- Trim size: the finished page dimensions, such as 6″ × 9″ or 5.5″ × 8.5″. You pick one before you format. (More on this in choosing a trim size for your book.)
- Margins and gutter: the white space around the text, plus extra room on the binding edge. IngramSpark’s guidelines recommend margins of at least 0.5″ (13 mm) from the trim on all sides, with an added 0.125″ along the gutter on longer books so text does not disappear into the spine.
- Bleed: artwork that runs off the edge of the page. When a print book has edge-to-edge images, KDP requires 0.125″ (3.2 mm) of bleed on all outer sides; the PDF is set up slightly larger than the trim so the page can be cut cleanly. A plain-text novel that runs to the edge needs no bleed at all.
- Embedded fonts: a print PDF carries a copy of each typeface inside the file so the printer reproduces it exactly. An unembedded font is one of the more routine reasons a print upload is rejected.
- Page numbers and running headers: standard in print, and meaningless in a reflowable ebook, where the “page” changes every time the reader resizes the text.
The table of contents differs for the same reason. A print contents page lists fixed page numbers; an ebook contents list links straight to each chapter instead, because a reflowable ebook has no stable pages to number. If your ebook seems to have “lost” its page numbers in conversion, it never had them to begin with.
How Do Images Differ Between an Ebook and a Paperback?
Print images are made for ink on paper, while ebook images are made for screens and small file sizes. For a paperback, images need to be high resolution so they print sharply: KDP recommends a minimum of 300 DPI (dots per inch) for interior images, and print covers are usually prepared in CMYK, the four-ink colour system presses use.
An ebook treats images more like web images. Screens show far fewer dots per inch than a printing press, so a very high-resolution image mostly adds file weight without looking any better, and a heavier file downloads more slowly. In practice the same photo often needs two versions: a high-resolution copy placed in the print PDF, and a lighter, screen-sized copy for the EPUB. Reusing one press-ready image in the ebook usually just makes the file bigger and slower, not better.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use the same file for my ebook and paperback?
No. The two editions are different builds: a reflowable EPUB for the ebook and a fixed print-ready PDF for the paperback. A single file forces one format to behave like the other, which usually leaves the ebook cramped or the print pages misaligned.
Can Microsoft Word make an ebook?
Word can save a print-ready PDF but has no built-in EPUB export, so you make the ebook with a separate conversion tool or a dedicated formatting program. Google Docs, by contrast, can download a basic EPUB directly from its File menu.
Should I format the ebook or the paperback first?
Finish all editing and proofreading first, then format either edition first from that final manuscript. Working from one corrected source keeps the two versions consistent and saves you from copying late fixes twice.
Why does my ebook look different on every device?
That is reflowable text working as intended. Each reading app and each reader’s settings, such as font size and typeface, change how the text lands on screen. An ebook is designed to adapt rather than to look identical everywhere.
Do ebooks have page numbers like print books?
No. A reflowable ebook has no fixed pages, so it has no printed page numbers. Its table of contents links directly to each chapter instead of pointing to a page number, and reading apps may show their own progress indicators.
Does an ebook need bleed?
No. Bleed is a print concept for artwork that runs off the edge of a physical page. Ebooks have no trimmed edge, so bleed never applies; it only matters for print editions with edge-to-edge images.
Formatting an ebook and a paperback are two related but separate jobs, and the cleanest way to think about it is one finished manuscript, two builds. Edit and proofread once, format with proper styles, then produce a reflowable EPUB that adapts to readers and a fixed PDF that prints exactly as designed. Once you know which of those two files each setting belongs to, the whole process stops feeling like guesswork.
