Your AI ebook production agent — DOCX into a Kindle-ready EPUB
Format your ebook for Kindle, Apple Books and Kobo — all in one upload
Drop a Word manuscript, review the detected structure with Tim (your production agent), and get a Kindle-ready EPUB with proper typography, chapter design, and a validated TOC. £49 for the full Tim-led pipeline + 1 revision, or£9.99 for basic conversion only. No software install.
Built for self-published authors on Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo and Google Play. The output passes Kindle Previewer with zero warnings and is accepted by every major distributor. Not sure if your manuscript is ready? Run a free audit first — deterministic, no AI cost, scored 0–100 with specific fixes.
- Timyour AI production agent
- £49AI Ebook Designer (or £9.99 basic)
- Confirm before payreview structure first
- Kindle, Apple Books, Kobodistributor-ready
How it works
The flow should be simple enough to use quickly and structured enough to produce a useful publishing decision.
Upload your Word DOCX manuscript
Drop any .docx — even messy headings, Word styles, footnotes. Tim reads the manuscript and detects chapters automatically.
Confirm the structure
Tim shows you the detected title, author, and chapters. Edit anything that's wrong BEFORE paying — no more KDP uploads with the wrong author name.
Pay £49 (or £9.99 basic)
Pick the AI Ebook Designer (£49 — recommended) for the full Tim-led pipeline + 1 revision, or the £9.99 Instant Formatter for bare-bones conversion.
Download a Kindle-ready EPUB
We email a publish-ready EPUB validated against epubcheck and accepted by Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, and Draft2Digital.
FAQ
People also ask about ebook formatting
What format do eBooks need to be for Kindle?
Amazon Kindle officially uses EPUB (since the 2022 KFX/EPUB transition) and falls back to MOBI for older devices. Our ebook formatter outputs a publish-ready EPUB that uploads directly to Amazon KDP without any further conversion — Amazon's pipeline handles the EPUB → KFX/MOBI step on their end. You don't need a separate MOBI export.
How do I format an eBook for Amazon Kindle?
Four steps: (1) save your manuscript as .docx in Microsoft Word or Google Docs, (2) drop it into our chat-led ebook formatter where Tim (our AI production agent) reads the structure, (3) confirm the detected title, author, and chapters BEFORE paying — Tim catches the AI's mistakes so you don't ship a book with the wrong title, (4) pay £49 for the full AI Ebook Designer pipeline (with QA + 1 revision) or £9.99 for basic conversion, then download the EPUB. The whole flow takes under 20 minutes for most books. Output passes Kindle Previewer with no warnings and uploads cleanly to KDP.
How do I convert a DOCX file to EPUB?
Free options like Calibre work for technical users but produce raw output without typography or chapter design. Our tool is purpose-built: drop your DOCX, our pipeline parses chapter headings, applies proper typography (drop caps, small caps, scene breaks), generates a navigation TOC, embeds metadata, and validates the EPUB against epubcheck. The result is a Kindle-ready, Apple-Books-ready EPUB — not just a converted file.
What app converts DOCX to EPUB with proper formatting?
Vellum (Mac only, $249), Atticus ($147 one-time), Reedsy Studio (free but limited), and our HMD Publishing chat-led ebook formatter (£49 AI Ebook Designer or £9.99 basic) all do DOCX-to-EPUB. The differences: Vellum and Atticus require install + manual formatting work; Reedsy locks you into their distribution. Our tool runs in any browser, AI agents handle the formatting, and Tim — the chat agent — has you confirm the structure BEFORE paying so you don't end up with the wrong title in your KDP dashboard.
What is the best Vellum alternative?
It depends on your platform and pricing tolerance. On Mac with budget for software: Atticus ($147 one-time) covers 80% of Vellum's interior features. On Windows (where Vellum can't run at all): our HMD Publishing ebook formatter, Atticus, or Reedsy Studio. Per-book vs subscription: our tool is £49 per book for the full AI Ebook Designer (with structure confirmation, QA, and 1 revision) or £9.99 for bare conversion if you publish occasionally; Atticus is better if you publish frequently and want a desktop app.
Is there a Vellum alternative for Windows?
Yes. Vellum is Mac-only and won't run under Boot Camp, Parallels, or Wine reliably. Windows authors typically use Atticus (web + desktop), Reedsy Studio (web), Calibre (free, technical), or our HMD Publishing chat-led ebook formatter (web, no install, £49 with QA + 1 revision or £9.99 basic). Our tool is the fastest option if you just want a single book formatted without learning new software.
What is an ebook designer?
An ebook designer is the person — or in our case, the AI-driven pipeline — that takes your raw manuscript and produces the formatted interior: typography, chapter openers, scene breaks, drop caps, table of contents, navigation, embedded metadata. It's distinct from cover design (which is a separate visual job). Our ebook designer tool replaces the manual layout work with a 10-stage agentic pipeline that handles each layer automatically.
Do eBooks still make money in 2026?
Yes — the global ebook market crossed $20bn in 2025 and is still growing, especially in self-published genre fiction (romance, thriller, sci-fi/fantasy) on Amazon KDP and Kindle Unlimited. Our pricing reflects that authors should keep more of the revenue: £49 per formatted book (or £9.99 for basic conversion) leaves the rest of your launch budget for editing, cover design, and ads — see our publishing services for the full launch package.
Trusted by self-published authors across fiction, non-fiction, memoir, devotional, cookbook, and technical genres. Same team behind HMD Publishing's human-led formatting service (from £147) — the £9.99/£49 tool is the same engine, automated.
What you'll get in your finished EPUB
Every book — instant or designer tier — passes the same QA gates before delivery. The £49 tier adds Editor-in-Chief review and 1 revision; the £9.99 tier ships the same engine output without the extra polish pass.
- Detected chapter structure (you confirm BEFORE paying)
- Drop caps + small caps + scene-break ornaments
- Auto-generated navigation TOC + landmarks
- Validated against epubcheck (zero warnings)
- Embedded fonts (premium pairs licensed for redistribution)
- Title page, copyright page, validated metadata
- Tested on Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play, Draft2Digital
- Outputs a single EPUB 3 — uploads directly to KDP
How we compare
Our tool, Vellum, Atticus, and Reedsy Studio — the four most common DOCX → EPUB workflows for self-published authors. Pricing and features as publicly listed by each tool's site at time of writing.
| Feature | HMD Ebook Designer | Vellum | Atticus | Reedsy Studio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Per-book price | £9.99 / £49 | $249 (one-time) | $147 (one-time) | Free + revenue share |
| Runs on Windows | ||||
| No install required | ||||
| Pre-payment structure check | ||||
| Free distribution (no lock-in) | ||||
| Revision included | 1 revision (£49 tier) | Manual re-export | Manual re-export | Limited |
What authors say about HMD's formatting
Quotes from authors who hired the same team that built this tool. The agentic engine you're paying £9.99 / £49 for codifies the formatting playbook these authors received.
“My 400-page fiction had complex formatting needs - maps, family trees, and historical notes. HMD handled it all beautifully. The print version looks like it came from a Big 5 publisher.”
“I write technical guides with lots of tables and diagrams. Other formatters said it would take weeks. HMD delivered in 5 days and it's perfect. They've done all my books now.”
“They turned my Word document mess into a beautiful cookbook. Recipe boxes, ingredient lists, gorgeous typography - it's magazine-quality work.”
Next step
Once your ebook is formatted, the next decision is distribution.
Upload to Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, or Google Play — or hand the formatted EPUB to our publishing team for a full launch.