How to Create an EPUB in 2027: One Ebook File for Amazon, Apple, Kobo and More

How do you create an EPUB? Clean up your manuscript with proper heading styles, convert it to EPUB 3 with an ebook converter or formatting app, validate the file with the free EPUBCheck, then upload it to each store. According to their own help pages, Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Google Play Books and Tolino accept a reflowable EPUB 3, and Kobo Writing Life and Barnes & Noble Press take EPUB files too (as of November 2026). Below you will find what each store accepts, when you need fixed layout, which tools to use and how to check your ebook before you upload it.

What is an EPUB?

EPUB is the open standard format for ebooks. Under the hood it is a ZIP archive of web files: the text as XHTML, the styling as CSS, plus images, fonts, a package file with the metadata (title, author, language) and a clickable table of contents. The current version is EPUB 3.3, a W3C Recommendation since May 25, 2023, last updated January 13, 2026; EPUB 3.4 is a Candidate Recommendation. When a store asks for "EPUB 3", it means a file built to this standard.

Reflowable or fixed layout?

If your book is mostly text, reflowable is almost always right. Readers expect it, and every store accepts it.

What each store accepts

From each store's help pages, accessed November 7, 2026:

Two limits come up often: Kobo and Tolino take files of up to 100 MB, and most stores want the cover as a separate image (Tolino: JPG up to 5 MB). Kobo and Barnes & Noble do not name an EPUB version on their help pages, and the B&N ePub guide still refers to EPUB 2.0.1. A clean EPUB 3 is therefore the file that works everywhere.

How to create an EPUB in six steps

1. Clean up the manuscript. Mark chapter titles with the "Heading 1" style, create spacing with paragraph styles rather than blank lines, and never indent with tabs or spaces. Insert images in line with the text, not floating. The cleaner the Word file, the less you fix in the EPUB.
2. Set the metadata. Title, author name and language belong in the file. They decide how your book appears in the reading app and in the store.
3. Convert. One of the tools in the next table turns the Word file into an EPUB.
4. Check the table of contents. Every chapter has to appear in the clickable contents. If one is missing, its title was usually not formatted as a heading.
5. Validate. Run the file through EPUBCheck and fix every error (more below).
6. Preview and upload. Open the EPUB in a reading app, and in Kindle Previewer for Kindle; change the font size, tap images and contents entries. Then upload it to the stores.

Tools to create an EPUB

Our guide to book formatting software in 2027 compares prices and platforms of the formatting apps in detail.

How to validate an EPUB with EPUBCheck

EPUBCheck is the official validator for EPUB files, built by the DAISY Consortium for the W3C, free and open source on GitHub. The current version is 5.4.0, released September 15, 2026. It reports errors you must fix and warnings worth a look: missing files, broken links in the table of contents, invalid XHTML or CSS, wrong metadata.

Ways to run it:

• EPUBCheck itself is a Java program you run from the command line. This is the most precise option.
• Online: Tolino Media recommends pagina's EPUB checker, which runs in the browser.
• For Kindle: Amazon recommends opening your EPUB in the free Kindle Previewer before uploading (Windows 10 or later, macOS 12 or later).
• Accessibility: Ace by DAISY is a free, open-source tool that checks how accessible an EPUB is. It complements EPUBCheck rather than replacing it.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Uploading a PDF instead of an EPUB. A PDF is a fixed page and hard to read on a phone. Tolino does not accept PDF ebooks at all.
• Typing the table of contents by hand. A typed list is not clickable in an ebook. The clickable one is built from your headings.
• Blank lines and tabs. They turn into uneven spacing in the ebook. Spacing belongs in the paragraph style.
• Huge images. Photos at full camera resolution bloat the file, and Kobo and Tolino cap uploads at 100 MB.
• MOBI from old tutorials. KDP no longer accepts MOBI. Upload EPUB, DOCX or KPF.

The Bookfairy EPUB tool

With the EPUB tool you upload the same Word file you use for print. You preview your book in the reader with chapters, contents and styles, exactly as readers will see it, then download the EPUB for $12.00100 tokens:

• Reflowable EPUB 3, with the EPUBCheck result shown in your job.
• Clickable table of contents; title, author and language set in the metadata.
• Accepted by Amazon KDP for Kindle ebooks, and as EPUB 3 a match for Apple Books, Google Play Books, Kobo and Tolino.

The file is yours, and you upload it to each store yourself. The tool does not make fixed-layout EPUBs for picture books. If you need the paperback too, the print PDF and EPUB together cost $26.40220 tokens with the formatting tool. You upload the cover separately in each store; the cover tool gives you the front cover as an image.