These are field notes and pointers, not legal advice.
Platform prices and flows change; check the provider's current terms (as of July 2026).
Your book is typeset. Here is how it reaches the world.
Fonsli built two files for you, and they cover the whole road to a printed book:
Print PDF — your book block in the trim you chose (for example 6×9 inches, the KDP standard).
Margins, gutter, running heads, page numbers: already in place. This is the file you upload as the “interior”.
Screen PDF — the reading version for screens. Good as a sample, for beta readers and your website.
What you still need: a cover. Fonsli typesets the interior; the print cover (front, spine, back in one file)
is built with the provider's template, because the spine width depends on your page count.
Route 1 · Amazon KDP, step by step
Create an account at kdp.amazon.com — including the tax interview (takes a few minutes).
Choose “Create paperback” and enter the metadata: title, subtitle, author name, description.
Write the description like back-cover copy, not like a synopsis.
ISBN: KDP offers a free one. It is tied to Amazon and only valid there.
If you want the same book in bookstores too, use your own ISBN (see below) — but one ISBN
belongs to one edition on one distribution route.
Pick the trim size: exactly the size set in Fonsli (see the book details, e.g. 6×9 in).
No bleed, as long as your book has no images running to the edge —
Fonsli sets the text with margins, nothing needs trimming.
Upload the interior: your print PDF, unchanged. Then page through the online previewer COMPLETELY —
especially the first pages, chapter openings and the last page.
Cover: download the template for your trim and page count from the KDP Cover Calculator,
build the cover on it, upload as PDF. Or use KDP's cover builder to start.
Set the price: KDP shows print cost and margin per marketplace.
For Germany, fixed book pricing applies — more on that below.
Publish. Review usually takes 24 to 72 hours. Order an author copy before you start promoting —
paper forgives nothing that the screen swallows.
Route 2 · Books on Demand (BoD)
BoD is based in Germany, brings your book into the German book trade (VLB listing) with its own ISBN and
prints on demand. The flow is similar to KDP: create a project, upload the interior PDF, build the cover on their
template, set the price. Interesting if bookstores and libraries matter more to you than Amazon reach.
Expect a setup fee depending on the package.
Route 3 · epubli and tolino media
epubli (print + e-book, German distribution) and tolino media (e-books across the Tolino alliance: Thalia,
Hugendubel, Weltbild) complement KDP well. E-books need an EPUB file — Fonsli does not build that yet;
use the manuscript export with an EPUB tool or the provider's converter.
Route 4 · Substack & serial fiction
Not every book has to be printed first. On Substack, authors publish their novels as a
serial — one chapter a week as a newsletter post; readers subscribe for free or for money.
That builds a readership BEFORE the book exists, and every instalment advertises the next.
What works: a fixed publishing day, a cliffhanger at the chapter break, a short "what this is" in the
first post, and a link back to part one at the end of every instalment. Substack has no posting API —
you paste each part by hand, and that is exactly what this export is built for: one click copies the
chapter fully formatted; just paste it into the Substack editor.
The chapter export appears here once the book is loaded.
ISBN: buy one or take the free one?
Free from the platform: quick, and entirely enough if you only sell on that one platform.
Your own ISBN: from your national ISBN agency (in Germany: MVB, buchhandel.de). You appear as the
publisher, the number is yours and travels with you wherever you print. One-time cost; the pack of ten pays off
from the second book on. Add the books-in-print listing (in Germany: VLB) if bookstores should find you.
Imprint and fixed book pricing (Germany)
Pointers only, not legal advice — ask a professional when in doubt.
This section matters if you publish for the German market.
Imprint in the book: German press law expects an identifiable provider — usually name and a
serviceable address of the responsible person or publisher, on the imprint page. A bare pen name without a
reachable address is not enough.
Fixed book pricing: in Germany the retail price of a book is fixed by law (BuchPrG).
You set ONE price and it applies everywhere the same — even your own shop must not undercut it.
Price changes are possible, but uniformly and for all channels at once.
Deposit copies: state and national libraries require copies of your book.
Providers with trade distribution (BoD, epubli) often handle this — ask.
Metadata that sells
Categories: pick the most specific one that is honestly true — “fiction” is not a category, “coastal crime” is.
Keywords: the way readers would search. Place, genre, mood, theme — no superlatives.
Sample: the first pages decide. Fonsli's screen PDF is your sample for everything outside the shops.
Checklist before uploading
Paged through the print PDF COMPLETELY (chapter openings, running heads, page numbers, last page)
Title, subtitle and author name in the book details match the cover
Imprint page with a reachable address is in the book
Trim at the provider = trim in Fonsli (e.g. 6×9), bleed setting matches
Cover built on the provider's template for YOUR page count
One retail price set for all channels (fixed pricing where it applies)
Description reads like back-cover copy, categories and keywords set
Author copy ordered and held in hand BEFORE promotion starts