General guidelines for PDF uploading
In order to process your books efficiently, we have certain guidelines in place regarding the formatting of your PDF files. The most basic formatting guidelines for a single PDF file are as follows:
- The main content of your book should be named <ISBN>_content.pdf. For the remainder of this page, we'll use the demonstration ISBN of '0123456789.'
- Important: Never include dashes in filenames
- Please name your file using only alphanumeric characters (accented characters are not supported)
To upload a file with covers included:
- The first page of your file should correspond to the front cover of your title
- The following pages are the full content of the book
- The last page of your file should correspond to the back cover
- Name your file in accordance with this example: 0123456789.pdf
Split files
You can submit your content files in multiple parts. Just name each part in accordance with the following guideline:
- 0123456789_1of5.pdf
- 0123456789_2of5.pdf
- 0123456789_3of5.pdf
- and so on.
Covers in separate files
- The main content of your book should be named 0123456789_content.pdf
You may submit images for your front or back cover separately from your content file. We're able to process cover files in JPG, PDF or TIF format. Please only name your file as follows:
- 0123456789_frontcover.XYZ
- 0123456789_backcover.XYZ
Non-ISBN books
We are able to accept books without ISBNs for inclusion in Google Books. If you choose to upload a PDF without an ISBN, we recommend you upload a single file which includes any cover images your book may have. Your file should be named with only alphanumeric characters - we suggest giving your file the name of the corresponding book.
You may submit images for your front or back cover separately from your non-ISBN book's content file. We're able to process cover files in JPG, PDF or TIF format.
For example, if the title of your book is "Your First Book," and you have its cover as a separate JPG file, you would name the content and cover files as follows:
- YourFirstBook_content.pdf
- YourFirstBook_frontcover.jpg
- YourFirstBook_backcover.jpg
Further guidelines
If you have remaining questions about uploading a PDF file not covered by this page, please review our Advanced PDF configuration page or contact our team here.