Generating your print PDF and ebook with Generate Book
Generate Book turns your finished book into the files you upload to a printer and a store: a print PDF and one or more EPUB ebooks. The files are written from the book exactly as it is at that moment, so check the book before you generate.
Clear the Checks before you generate
Look at the status bar at the bottom of the window. It shows Checks: all clear, Checks: N to look at, or Checks: N to fix. Click it to open Checks before you publish.
Checks looks for anything KDP, a store or a reader would trip over. It sorts what it finds into two groups:
- FIX items will likely cause a problem, such as margins KDP would reject, a missing font, or a bad ISBN. Fix these before you generate.
- CHECK items are worth a look. Fix each one, or decide it doesn't matter.
CHECK items include notes to yourself left in the text. Pendrilo looks for TK, TODO, TKTK, [CHECK, [FIX and XXX. Other CHECK items include pictures that may print soft or have no description, empty chapters, chapters that end with only a few lines on the last page, links that go nowhere, index entries the book never uses, and a trim size that KDP doesn't offer.
Click Show beside any item to go to the place where it can be fixed.
Then look at Print Settings. Confirm your format, trim size, margins and bleed. If your printer needs bleed, it will tell you how much. Choose the same bleed when you upload.
Sections you've left out of the book aren't included in the files. Pendrilo tells you how many were left out, so check that number is what you expect.
Generating the files
- 1. Click Generate Book in the top bar. You can also choose Book → Generate Book… or File → Export…, or press Ctrl+E.
- 2. Choose a folder for the finished files.
- 3. Wait while Pendrilo shows "Generating your book…" and writes the files to that folder.
Files are named after your book. For example, the print PDF is "My Book - Print 6x9.pdf". For a hardcover or large print book, the name ends in "Hardcover" or "Large Print" instead. The ebook is "My Book.epub".
If you have added store links under Book Details → Also by this author, Pendrilo makes a separate ebook for each store that has a link. Each one links only to its own store. The stores are Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo, Barnes & Noble and Google Play. For example, you get "My Book - Kindle.epub". Pendrilo also makes "My Book - Generic.epub", which uses the universal link. Without any store links, you get one ebook.
Your book is ready
When generation finishes, the Your book is ready window shows:
- the number of Print pages;
- the Inside margin;
- the Page polish, such as "Every page ends evenly";
- the list of files made.
If any pictures have no description, the window says so. Add descriptions in Book Details → Picture descriptions, then generate again so the ebook includes them.
Click Open Folder to see the files, or Done to close the window.
If generation fails, Pendrilo says "The book could not be generated" and gives the reason. Fix that problem, then generate again.
What the files are
The print PDF has its fonts embedded, and its pages are at your trim size (plus bleed, if you chose it). This is the format KDP needs for a print upload.
The ebook is a standard EPUB 3 file, made to pass the industry's EPUB checks. It includes accessibility details and your picture descriptions.
Before you upload
Read the finished PDF and ebook through yourself. The checks can't catch everything, and the files are what readers and printers will see.
In Studio, the Publishing Desk (Book → Publishing Desk…) has a readiness list. Its last item is Your own read-through. Once you have read the finished PDF and ebook, click I Read This Version. Changing the text undoes it, so you will need to click it again after any edit.