Bring one useful promise, not a finished manuscript.
Write one sentence that names the reader, the situation they are in, and the result the book should help them reach. Add any constraints that should stay true across the manuscript, such as audience age, professional boundaries, required examples, or facts that must not change.
You can begin from a blank project, build an AI-assisted outline, reuse a saved template, or import existing material. A finished draft is optional. A clear boundary is not.
- Title and topic: Use a working title and describe the subject in plain language.
- Target reader: Name a specific person and the moment that makes the book relevant.
- Reader outcome: State what the reader should understand, decide, make, or practice.
- Source material: Gather notes, examples, interviews, or documents you have the right to use.
Choose the structure the reader needs to use.
The project creator supports nonfiction, workbook, storybook, fiction, memoir, short guide, custom, and automatic format selection. The choice changes the suggested structure and, for a storybook, the visual workflow.
| Format | Use it when | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Nonfiction | The reader needs an explanation, argument, method, or evidence-led guide. | Repeated chapters that do not advance the promise. |
| Workbook | The reader must complete prompts, exercises, decisions, or practice cycles. | Reflection questions with no clear output or progression. |
| Storybook | A short, scene-led story depends on illustration and page-to-page rhythm. | Inconsistent character details or too much text for each scene. |
| Fiction | Character, scene, conflict, and narrative change drive the manuscript. | A plot summary stretched into chapters without lived scenes. |
| Memoir | Supplied facts and remembered scenes support a reflective life story. | Invented certainty, exposed private details, or unsupported memory. |
| Short guide or custom | A narrow outcome or a format brief matters more than a standard book shape. | Adding chapters only to make the project look longer. |
Make every chapter earn its place before drafting.
Generate an outline or build one manually, then rename, add, remove, and reorder chapters in the editor. Read only the chapter titles in sequence. If two titles promise the same job, combine them. If a later chapter depends on an idea that has not appeared yet, move it.
The outline is editable after generation. Treat it as a working plan, not a locked table of contents.
- One job per chapter: Write the question each chapter answers.
- A visible progression: Check that the reader can follow why one chapter comes next.
- Real inputs: Attach the examples, facts, and source notes a chapter should use.
- A clear boundary: Record what belongs elsewhere so the chapter does not wander.
Generate one chapter for control or the whole book for momentum.
Generate a selected chapter when you want to approve the approach before continuing. Use full-book generation in Author Lab when the outline is stable and the shared notes are ready. The full-book job runs in the background, reports completed chapters, and can be cancelled.
A completed generation is still a draft. Read the book at three distances: the whole argument or story, each chapter's job, and the sentence-level voice. Confirm facts and citations independently before publication.
Review the manuscript, then inspect an actual export.
Use the editor for chapter text and structure, Author Lab for sources, research, voice, consistency, and artwork, and the Publishing desk for front matter, formatting, metadata, and downloads.
Exporting is part of editing. Open the PDF, EPUB, or DOCX outside the workspace and check headings, scene breaks, images, page transitions, links, and front matter in the software or device the reader will use.
Related help for the next step
Import documents, web pages, and source notes
Bring a PDF, DOCX, public web page, or pasted text into a project without losing sight of rights, extraction limits, or structure.
Edit safely with revisions, history, and project tools
Format chapter text, handle an edit conflict, restore a prior revision, duplicate a project, save a template, or invite a collaborator.
Export PDF, EPUB, DOCX, or a KDP preparation package
Choose the right output, set front matter and formatting, complete book metadata, and understand exactly what the KDP ZIP does not do.