THE MANUAL
From Word files to a book, step by step.
Step 1
Prepare your manuscript
Galley reads Word files (.docx). If you write in Google Docs, Scrivener or Pages, export or compile to .docx first. Plain-text files (.txt or .md) work too, with *asterisks* around italics; each one is read as one chapter.
Chapter headings
Galley finds a chapter by its heading. Any of these work:
- “Chapter 7”, “Chapter Seven” or “VII”, with or without a title on the same line or the next
- Word’s Heading 1 or Heading 2 style
- “Prologue”, “Epilogue” and “Part One”
- other labels such as “Letter 1”, “Day 12” or “Act II”
You don’t have to style anything.
Scene breaks
Type a short line of symbols between scenes, such as * * *, *** or #. Galley replaces it with the ornament you choose. An occasional empty line between paragraphs also counts.
Everything else
Italics are kept. You don’t need to remove tabs, double spaces or straight quotes: Galley cleans them up as it typesets and never changes your files. Accept or reject tracked changes in Word first.
Step 2
Add your chapters
Open Galley and drop your files on the Manuscript tab, or click “Choose files…”. Add one .docx per chapter, a .zip of them, or the whole book in one .docx; Galley splits it at the chapter headings. Galley places each chapter by the number in its heading.
To fix a chapter, edit it in Word and drop it in again: a file with the same chapter number or file name replaces the old one.
In the chapter list you can rename a chapter, change its type (numbered, Part page, Prologue, Epilogue, Interlude, unnumbered), remove it, or use “Sort by chapter number”.
Step 3
Fill in the book details
| Field | Where it appears |
|---|---|
| Title, subtitle or series line, author, imprint | Title page, running heads, the EPUB’s details. |
| Copyright page | Printed small at the foot of the page after the title page; add your ISBNs once you have them. |
| Dedication, epigraph | Their own pages before chapter one; start an epigraph’s source line with a dash. |
| Also by this author | Opposite the title page. |
| Newsletter or next book | At the back; web addresses become links in the EPUB. Link to your own website, not a store: retailers can reject ebooks that send readers to a competitor. |
| Acknowledgements, about the author | At the back. |
| Ebook cover | The EPUB only; the paperback cover is uploaded separately. |
Leave a field empty and its page is left out.
Step 4
Choose the layout
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Page | The trim size you’ll pick at your printer (5 x 8, 5.25 x 8, 5.5 x 8.5 or 6 x 9 in) and cream or white paper. Paper changes the spine width. KDP’s minimum inside margin grows with page count; Galley raises it for you if your book needs more. |
| Type | EB Garamond, Literata, Crimson Pro or Libre Caslon Text. Changing the typeface resets size and leading to values that suit it. Set hyphenation to British or American English to match your spelling. |
| Chapters | Heading style, opening (small-caps first line or drop cap), start on the next page or a right-hand page, scene-break ornament, and how far down the page the title sits. |
| Running heads and page numbers | Author and title, author and chapter, or none; numbers at the bottom centre or the top outside corner. |
| Cleanup | Curly quotes, em and en dashes, the ellipsis character. Dash style makes every dash the same. |
Step 5
Go through the checks
Click Checks to see everything worth a second look, with page numbers; click an item to jump to it.
- Quotation marks that open and never close, or close without opening.
- Very loose lines (rewording a few words usually fixes one).
- Short pages that run one line short to avoid a widow or orphan, which is normal in professionally set books.
- Characters the typeface doesn’t have.
- Pictures, footnotes and tables left out.
- Print details for KDP and IngramSpark: margins, spine width, full cover size.
Step 6
Download and upload the print PDF
Click “Download print PDF”. The file is PDF/X-1a, the format printers ask for.
| Printer | What to do |
|---|---|
| KDP | Choose the same trim size and paper colour, no bleed; upload the PDF as your manuscript; give your cover designer the spine width and full cover size from Checks; look through every page in KDP’s previewer and order a printed proof before you publish. |
| IngramSpark | The same PDF works. IngramSpark recommends text at least 0.5 inch from the trim; Checks tells you whether your margins meet that. Use IngramSpark’s free cover template generator: its spine width can differ slightly from KDP’s. |
Step 7
Download and upload the EPUB
Add your ebook cover on the Book tab first (KDP recommends 1600 x 2560 pixels, JPEG). Click “Download EPUB” and upload it to KDP, Apple Books, Kobo or an aggregator. Check it in Kindle Previewer or your store’s preview first.
Step 8
Save your project
Galley keeps your work in this browser on this computer, so it’s there next time. Clearing your browser data removes it.
That’s the whole manual. Off you go.