---
title: "Your first book"
description: "Start a new book, import a manuscript from Word, or derive a translation — then meet the dashboard, your home base in Galley."
source: https://usegalley.com/docs/your-first-book
---
# Your first book

Three ways to begin: start fresh, bring in a manuscript you've already written, or
base a new book on one you already have here. Whichever you pick, you'll be writing within a
couple of minutes, and nothing you choose now is permanent.

## The New book window

From your dashboard, click **New book**. The window
opens with three tabs across the top:

**Blank / Import / From existing**

## Starting a blank book

Galley asks a few things up front. Don't overthink any of them; every one is changeable later on
the **Metadata** page.

1. **Title and author.** Working titles are completely fine. Polish them later.
2. **Book or idea.** Mark it an **idea** if it's more of a someday
project than a live one, and it waits on a separate shelf on your dashboard until you're ready.
3. **Trim size.** The physical size of the finished paperback. Unsure? Leave it on
**US Trade (6×9″)**, what most novels use. Full rundown in
[Book design](https://usegalley.com/docs/book-design#trim-size).
4. **The pages around your story.** Tick the front and back matter you want (title
page, copyright, dedication, table of contents, and so on). Add or remove them any time.

Galley sets up the book with an empty Chapter 1 and whichever extra pages you picked, then drops
you straight into writing.

## Importing a manuscript you've already started

Got a draft in Word or elsewhere? Don't copy and paste it chapter by chapter. Switch to the
**Import** tab and pick your file.

- **Accepts**: Word (`.docx`), plain text (`.txt`), and Markdown (`.md`).

- **Auto-splits**: Galley reads the document and breaks it into chapters wherever it finds a heading or a line like "Chapter 1" or "Chapter Two".

- **Shows you first**: Before anything saves, you see the chapters it found and a word count, so you can check the split looks right.

📄 Most manuscripts come across in under a minute, formatting and all. If a chapter break
landed oddly, no harm done: rename, reorder, split, and merge once you're inside. See
[Chapters & structure](https://usegalley.com/docs/structure).

## From an existing book: translations & editions

The **From existing** tab bases a new book on one you already have: a translation
into another language, or a separate edition. Galley copies the structure and story bible across
and links the two. This is a whole workflow of its own, covered in
[Series, editions & translations](https://usegalley.com/docs/series-and-translations).

## Your home base: the dashboard

Once a book exists, the dashboard is where you land every time you sign in. It's built around
getting you writing fast. From anywhere in the app, `⌘K` opens the command palette and
jumps to any chapter, character or place by name, and the rest of the
[keyboard shortcuts](https://usegalley.com/docs/shortcuts) are worth ten minutes early on.

*The Galley dashboard showing the book in progress with a resume button, a daily word goal ring, a fourteen-day chart and the other books on the shelf.*

The dashboard: the book you were last in up top with Resume and momentum, then your other books, ideas, and recent sessions.

- **Continue writing**: The book you were last in, front and centre, with its cover and a **Resume** that drops you back into the exact chapter you left.

- **Momentum**: If you've set goals, a filling ring for today, a two-week chart, and a running streak, all for that book. Optional, and covered in [Account](https://usegalley.com/docs/account-and-devices#goals).

- **Your other books**: Everything else you're writing, with word counts and a little progress bar built from each book's [chapter stages](https://usegalley.com/docs/structure#stages).

- **Ideas**: Parked someday-projects, kept on their own shelf so they don't crowd the live work.

- **Recent sessions**: A short log of the days you wrote and how much.

From the moment you start typing, everything saves on its own. There's no save button to
remember. Head to [The editor](https://usegalley.com/docs/the-editor) next to learn the writing page
itself.

[PreviousIntroduction](https://usegalley.com/docs) [NextSeries, editions & translations](https://usegalley.com/docs/series-and-translations)