---
title: "EPUB, Print PDF, or Both? The Files You Actually Need to Self-Publish"
description: "What each publishing file is for (print-interior PDF, EPUB, DOCX) and which ones you need for Amazon KDP, IngramSpark, Apple Books, and Kobo."
source: https://usegalley.com/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf
---
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# EPUB, Print PDF, or Both? The Files You Actually Need to Self-Publish

June 18, 2026 [Publishing](https://usegalley.com/blog/tag/publishing)

![A print PDF page beside the same text reflowing on an e-reader](https://usegalley.com/images/blog/epub-vs-print-pdf.png) TL;DR For a paperback you need a print-interior PDF (fixed pages, mirrored margins, real gutter). For ebooks you need an EPUB (reflowable text that adapts to any screen). Most authors need both. DOCX is for editors and a few older uploaders, not for the finished book. Don't try to make one file do every job, that's where formatting goes wrong.

Print and ebook are two different objects with two different files. Most
formatting pain comes from trying to make one file do both jobs, so start by
accepting that you probably need two.

## Print-interior PDF

A PDF is fixed. Every page is exactly where you put it. Margins mirror between
left and right pages, and the inside margin, the gutter, is wider so text
doesn’t vanish into the binding. This is what a printer or a
[KDP paperback](https://usegalley.com/blog/format-a-paperback-for-kdp) wants, and nothing else will
do, because print is physical and the page can’t reflow.

## EPUB

An [EPUB](https://usegalley.com/glossary#epub) reflows. There are no fixed pages. The reader’s device decides where
lines break based on their chosen font, text size, and screen, which is the
whole point of an ebook. That’s also why a [print PDF](https://usegalley.com/glossary#print-pdf) makes a terrible ebook: it
locks the layout your reader is trying to change.

For a novel you almost always want a reflowable EPUB, not a fixed-layout one.
Fixed-layout is for picture books and cookbooks where the design is the content.
Your EPUB needs your cover embedded and working chapter navigation, and that’s
most of it.

## Which stores want what

- **[Amazon KDP](https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/help/topic/G201834190)** - print PDF for the paperback, EPUB (or KPF) for Kindle

- **[IngramSpark](https://www.ingramspark.com/blog/file-requirements-for-ebooks)** - print PDF plus a separate cover PDF, EPUB for the ebook

- **Apple Books / Kobo** - EPUB

So the honest answer to “which do I need” is usually “both.” A print PDF for the
paperback and one EPUB that every ebook store accepts.

## Where DOCX fits

[DOCX](https://usegalley.com/glossary#docx) (Word) is not a finished-book format. It’s for two things: sending the
manuscript to an editor with track changes, and the handful of older uploaders
that still take Word and convert it for you badly. Use it for the workflow, never
as the file you publish.

## Keep them in sync

The trap with two files is drift. You fix a typo in the print version, forget the
ebook, and now your paperback and your Kindle disagree. Galley
[exports the print PDF and the EPUB](https://usegalley.com/features/make-the-book) from the same book,
so both come from one source of truth and always match. Same text,
[two correct formats](https://usegalley.com/blog/manuscript-to-published-book).

What each format earns is a separate question. The
[Kindle royalty calculator](https://usegalley.com/resources/kindle-ebook-royalty-calculator) covers
the ebook side, delivery fee included, and the
[KDP royalty calculator](https://usegalley.com/resources/kdp-royalty-calculator) covers the paperback.

## More on publishing

- [Standard Manuscript Format, and What Agents Actually Check](https://usegalley.com/blog/standard-manuscript-format)The Shunn manuscript format specification in plain terms: font, spacing, margins, indents, scene breaks, the running header, and the word count that should be rounded.
- [Writing Software for Novelists Who Don't Write in English](https://usegalley.com/blog/write-a-novel-in-your-language)How to write and typeset a book in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew, Hindi, Bengali, Thai, Japanese, Chinese, Korean, Russian, Greek or Vietnamese, which typeface each script gets, and what still needs building.
- [Accessible Ebooks and the European Accessibility Act](https://usegalley.com/blog/accessible-ebooks-and-the-eaa)What the EAA means for a self-published novel sold in the EU: accessibility metadata, what makes an EPUB accessible, the microenterprise exemption, and the large-print edition nobody makes.

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Galley is the tool that does the part this post is about — the finished, printable book.

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