Editions and the print-readiness check
If you're setting prices and files for a book's formats, this covers what each edition type needs, and why print files get checked automatically before submission.
Three edition types
A Work can carry any combination of three edition types: ebook, paperback, and hardcover. Each edition is priced independently, so you can, for example, price an ebook lower than its paperback counterpart, or offer only one format if that's all you want to sell.
Ebook editions
An ebook edition needs a price and an EPUB file. There's no trim size, page count or print check, since nothing is printed. You can add an ISBN if you have one for the ebook.
Print editions: paperback and hardcover
A print edition needs a trim size and two PDFs: the interior and a full-wrap cover (back, spine and front in one file). You don't need to type the page count: it is read from your interior PDF when you upload it. BooksOasis supports five trim sizes:
- 5 x 8 inches
- 5.5 x 8.5 inches
- 6 x 9 inches
- 7 x 10 inches
- 8.5 x 11 inches
Pick the trim size that fits your book's genre and length, novels and novellas commonly use the smaller sizes, while workbooks and illustrated titles often use the larger ones.
The print-readiness check
Before a print edition can be submitted, BooksOasis runs a print-readiness check on your interior manuscript and cover file against the required print specifications for the trim size and page count you've chosen. This catches formatting issues automatically, before your book goes to moderation review, rather than after.
The interior is checked page by page against the trim size. The cover is checked against the exact wrap size for your page count, since the spine gets wider as the page count grows. So upload the interior first, then the cover. If the page count changes later, re-upload the cover.
Once the interior is uploaded, each print format shows the exact cover size (in inches and in pixels at 300 dpi) and the spine width, with a Download template link: a PDF at the exact size with the trim, spine, safe area and barcode area marked. Hardcovers are casewrap: the cover wraps about 0.875 in around the boards on every side, so extend your background into that edge and keep text inside the safe area. Interiors can be exactly the trim size, or include 0.125 in bleed on every side for artwork that runs to the edge. Paperbacks need 32 to 800 pages, hardcovers 24 to 800.
Use Preview on any uploaded PDF to see the cover laid out at its real size with every zone marked (or as the finished book), and the interior as printed spreads with the margins and gutter shown.
If the check flags something, fix the file and upload it again with Replace. The editor always shows the current file for each slot and its check result.
Print cost and minimum price
Once a print edition has a trim size and page count, its printing cost is quoted automatically. The minimum price is the printing cost plus a print handling fee of 30% of that cost, and a print format can't be sold below it. Readers pay shipping separately at checkout.
The cover image
Separately from the print cover PDF, every book needs one front cover image (JPG, PNG or WebP, ideally 1600 x 2400 px). It is shared by all formats and shown on the storefront.
After editions are set
Submitting checks everything at once: a description of at least 100 characters, at least one genre, a cover image, the files for every format, print prices at or above the minimum, and passing print checks. If anything is missing, the message lists exactly what to fix. You can edit or delete a format any time the book isn't under review; a format that has sold can be taken off sale instead of deleted. See the listing a book guide for that step.
Setting up your book's editions?
Prices and files are managed from the book's listing in your dashboard.