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Publishing
DasBook can export your book as a PDF or EPUB. Each format is generated independently — publish one without affecting the other. Publishing overwrites the current version's output, so you can iterate on your typography settings freely without burning through version numbers.
- Open Publishing in the left sidebar (or Settings > Publishing)
- If your universe has multiple books, select which book to publish from the dropdown
- Configure your settings (see below)
- Click PDF or EPUB to generate that format
- Click the file to open it, or click the green download button to save to Downloads
- When you're satisfied, click Bump Version to lock the current output and start a new version
All settings are shared between PDF and EPUB output. They're saved per universe and remembered between sessions.
- Page Size — 6x9 (standard trade paperback), 5.5x8.5 (digest), 5x8 (mass market), or 8.5x11 (letter)
- Margins — uniform margins from 0.25" to 1.0"
- Binding Gutter — extra space on the inner edge for book binding (0" to 0.5")
Six one-click presets that configure font, spacing, chapter numbers, drop caps, and scene breaks all at once:
- Classic — Liberation Serif, drop caps, word-style chapter numbers ("Chapter One")
- Modern — Lora, left-aligned chapters, numeric numbers, no drop caps
- Elegant — EB Garamond, drop caps, ornamental scene breaks
- Literary — Libre Baskerville, no chapter numbers, drop caps
- Clean — Merriweather, left-aligned, tight spacing
- Manuscript — Liberation Serif, double-spaced, hash scene breaks
Twelve professional serif fonts, all open-licensed and embedded in the output:
- Liberation Serif, EB Garamond, Libre Baskerville, Lora, Merriweather
- Crimson Pro, Cormorant Garamond, Spectral, Alegreya, PT Serif, Source Serif 4, Gentium Book Plus
All four variants (regular, bold, italic, bold italic) are included. Markdown emphasis in your text (*italic*, **bold**) renders with the correct font variant.
- Font Size — 10pt to 16pt
- Line Spacing — 1.0x to 2.5x
- Paragraph Spacing — extra space between paragraphs (0–12pt). Set to 0 for traditional indent-only style
- Chapter Title Style — Centered or left-aligned
- Chapter Numbers — On/off, with format: "Chapter 1" (numeric) or "Chapter One" (word)
- Drop Caps — Large first letter at the start of each chapter
-
Scene Break Symbol — Text between scenes (e.g.,
* * *,❧,—) - Chapters on New Page — each chapter starts on a fresh page
- Chapter Start — Right-hand page (recto, standard for print), left-hand page (verso), or next page
- Page Numbers — centered at the bottom of body pages
- Header: Author Name — shows on left-hand pages
- Header: Chapter Title — shows on right-hand pages
- Front matter pages (title, copyright, dedication, etc.) never show page numbers or headers
- Author Name — appears on the title page, copyright page, and optionally in running headers
- Additional Copyright Text — the copyright page always auto-generates "Copyright (c) {year} {author}. All rights reserved." from your author name and the publish date. Use this field for additional lines like the fiction disclaimer and reproduction notice
Cover images are now managed as Image nodes in the binder, not uploaded in the Publishing settings:
- Create an Image node under your book in the binder (or drag-and-drop an image file onto the book)
- Select the image node to see the preview in the editor area
- Set the Role dropdown to Cover
- When publishing, DasBook automatically uses this image as the book's cover
Each book can have its own cover. If a book has no cover image node, the universe-level cover (if any) is used as a fallback.
Cover images are stored full-resolution in the database. During EPUB generation, they're automatically resized to max 1600x2400 and converted to JPEG for KDP compatibility.
Image nodes can also be placed between chapters or scenes in the binder to include illustrations, maps, or artwork in your published output:
- Create an Image node (or drag-drop an image file) as a sibling of your chapters/scenes
- Leave the Role as Inline (the default)
- Optionally add a Caption (shown below the image in both PDF and EPUB)
- Position it in the binder where you want it to appear — the sort order determines its location in the publication
In PDF, inline images are scaled to fit the content width, preserving aspect ratio. If the image won't fit on the current page, a page break is inserted first. Captions appear centered in italic below the image.
In EPUB, inline images are wrapped in <figure> tags with <figcaption> for the caption. They respond to the reader's screen size.
Images with Role set to "Cover" are excluded from the page flow — they're only used as the book's cover.
The Metadata tab contains fields that are embedded in the EPUB's OPF package document. KDP and other ebook distributors use these:
-
Description / Blurb — book description for the store listing (
dc:description) -
Publisher — publisher name (
dc:publisher) -
Series Name — series title (EPUB3
belongs-to-collection) -
Book # in Series — position in the series (
group-position) -
Genre / Subject Tags — comma-separated keywords (
dc:subject) - Language — language code, defaults to "en"
Optional pages that appear before your chapters. Each field opens a rich text editor with Source mode for pasting HTML. Leave blank to skip:
- Half-Title Page — just the book title, centered
- Praise / Endorsements — review quotes
- Dedication — centered on the page
- Epigraph — a quote that sets the tone
- Foreword — written by someone other than the author
- Preface — author's introduction
Optional pages after your chapters. Each field opens a rich text editor with Source mode for pasting HTML:
- Author's Note
- Acknowledgments
- About the Author
- Also By — list of other books
- Watermark — adds text to every body page footer (e.g., "ADVANCE READER COPY — NOT FOR DISTRIBUTION")
- Uncorrected Proof Notice — adds a disclaimer to the title page
| EPUB | ||
|---|---|---|
| Best for | Print (KDP, IngramSpark), ARC copies | E-readers (Kindle, Apple Books, Kobo) |
| Text layout | Justified, exact positioning, real glyph metrics | Flows per device/reader settings |
| Fonts | Embedded (all 12 families, 4 variants each) | Embedded or reader default |
| Page numbers | Yes (body pages only) | No (reader handles pagination) |
| Running headers | Author name / chapter title (toggleable) | No |
| Binding gutter | Yes (alternates sides for recto/verso) | N/A |
| Cover image | Full-page first page | Standard EPUB cover |
| Watermark | Page footer | ARC notice page |
For books with parts or acts (e.g., "Act II — The Return"), add a Section Break node under your book in the Binder. It renders as a standalone title page in both PDF and EPUB output, appearing in the table of contents.
If your universe has multiple books, use the book picker dropdown above the publish buttons to select which book to generate. Each book produces its own separate PDF and EPUB.
Publications are saved with version numbers. You can see all past versions in the Publishing tab, open them, download them, or delete them. Use Bump Version when you're ready to move to the next version.
DasBook compiles all Books > Chapters > Scenes, Section Breaks, and inline Image nodes that have "Include in Compile" enabled. Scenes directly under a book (no chapter parent) are promoted to chapter-level in the output.
Image nodes with Role "Cover" are used as the book's cover image but are not included in the page flow. Image nodes with Role "Inline" (the default) are rendered at their binder position in both PDF and EPUB.
Characters, research, timelines, documents, folders, and codex entries are NOT included — they're your working materials.