Manuscript Formatting Checklist for Print and EPUB

Give print and ebook separate approval paths

Print preserves a page. A reflowable ebook lets the reader change the presentation, including text size. That difference affects headings, tables, notes, illustrations and navigation. Decide which editions you are preparing before someone begins layout, and keep a list of the files each destination requires.

For example, an illustrated family history may need a print PDF with carefully placed photographs and an EPUB in which each photograph stays near its explanation. Exporting the print layout and assuming the ebook is finished can leave readers pinching to zoom or hearing captions in an unhelpful order.

Use the chosen platform’s current specifications. Amazon’s paperback submission guidelines explain its production requirements; another printer’s specifications may differ.

Clean the source manuscript first

• Save one clearly named approved manuscript and archive earlier versions.
• Use paragraph styles for chapter titles, subheadings, body text and quotations.
• Use real page or section breaks rather than repeated blank paragraphs.
• Make scene-break markers consistent.
• Resolve tracked changes and comments in the production copy.
• Label every illustration, caption, table and note so they can be checked together.
• Confirm the title, subtitle, author name and edition information.

A simple naming system helps: orchard-memoir-text-approved-2026-09-24.docx is clearer than final-final-new.docx. Keep the approval message with that file. If a later correction arrives, record it and issue a new version instead of letting several people overwrite different copies.

Review a representative print sample

Before typesetting every chapter, approve sample pages containing normal prose, a chapter opening, a photograph, a long caption and any unusual content. A designer needs to solve the difficult pages as well as the attractive ones.

Print a few sample pages at actual size. A full page shrunk onto a laptop screen cannot tell you whether an older reader can comfortably follow the body text. Review a physical proof from the selected printer before final release, particularly when photographs or fine details matter.

Test reading tasks in the EPUB

Open the finished ebook in appropriate reading software. Try a narrow screen, a larger text setting and a different orientation. Navigate to a middle chapter using the contents, follow a note and return, inspect a table, and find the next chapter without swiping through the entire file.

W3C’s EPUB accessibility techniques describe useful checks for content structure, text alternatives and reading order. The author’s role is to explain what each image or complex element means; the production team must carry that meaning into the file.

For a family photograph, “image.jpg” says nothing useful. A description such as “Three generations outside the family bakery on opening day” can communicate why the image is present. Avoid repeating an adjacent caption word for word if that creates unnecessary repetition in the reading experience.

Keep a correction log that survives re-export

Use a table with the file version, location, existing text or issue, requested correction and verification status. For EPUB, a chapter heading and a distinctive phrase are often more useful than a page number that changes with the reader’s settings.

Example: “Chapter 4, paragraph beginning ‘The bakery opened’: change the year from 1964 to 1965; verified against the dated photograph.” A precise instruction is easier to apply than “fix the date somewhere in chapter four.”

After corrections, review the new exports. Changes can create a stranded heading, a shifted illustration or a broken link elsewhere. Approve the exact print and EPUB files separately, then save them with the cover files and metadata sheet.

For help preparing those deliverables, discuss book production and publishing support with Greenfield. Contact us for a quote that specifies formats, revisions and the final files you receive.

Review the reading task as well as the file

A publication file should support the reader's actual tasks. Open a chapter, follow a contents link, find a note and understand an illustration. A technical validation pass does not answer every usability question.

• Print: check page order, running heads, chapter openings, captions and a representative image at its final size.
• Reflowable ebook: change text size and orientation; check chapter navigation, heading structure and reading order.
• Images: explain information that readers need through useful descriptions or nearby text.
• Changes: verify corrections in the revised export, not only in the source document.
• Approval: record the exact filename and unresolved limitations for each edition.

If the manuscript changes after layout, check dependent elements. A new section can move pages, alter contents entries and affect the print cover. Keep the edition specifications with the approved files so later updates use the same decisions.

Distinguish manuscript preparation from final typesetting. A clean draft is helpful input, but it is not automatically a print-ready interior or tested EPUB. Ask which source files, exports and proof checks are included before approving a production scope.

Greenfield's publishing and formatting support can be scoped around your actual text, images and editions. Request a production project proposal and contact for pricing.