Authors often ask which file to upload: EPUB or PDF. The answer depends on one question. Does the design of each page matter to your book?
The Short Answer
- If your book is mostly text, such as a novel, a memoir or a collection of essays, publish it as an EPUB.
- If the page layout is part of the book, such as a picture book, a comic or a magazine, publish it as a PDF.
What an EPUB Does
An EPUB is a reflowable file. The text adapts to the screen, so the same book reads well on a small phone and on a tablet.
The reader is in control. They can change the type size, and the text flows to fit. Nobody has to pinch and zoom to read a line.
Sọna books are read in phone and tablet apps. For a text-led book, that makes EPUB the right choice.
What a PDF Does
A PDF is a fixed-layout file. Every page looks exactly as you designed it, whatever the screen size.
That is what you want when words and pictures are placed together on purpose. A picture book spread, a comic panel or a magazine page loses its meaning if the text moves away from the art.
The cost is that a fixed page does not adapt. A novel in PDF shows small text on a phone, and the reader has to zoom and pan. That is why a novel should not be a PDF.
A Quick Way to Decide
Ask yourself these questions.
- Would the book still work if the text flowed differently on each screen? If yes, use EPUB.
- Do illustrations or designed pages carry the story or the information? If yes, use PDF.
- Is it a text book with a few images between chapters? That is still an EPUB.
You Do Not Need to Make the EPUB Yourself
If you wrote your book in Microsoft Word, you can upload the DOCX file to Sọna, and it is converted to EPUB for you. Use Heading 1 for chapter titles and Normal for the body text so the chapters come out right.
What Sọna Accepts
Reflowable books: an EPUB or DOCX file of up to 10 MB.
Picture books, comics, graphic novels, magazines and periodicals: one finished PDF of up to 50 MB. Sọna keeps your page layout and prepares protected pages for reading. Readers are not given the source PDF.
Two rules apply to fixed-layout titles in the store. They start at ₦3,000, and they cannot be offered as a completely free book. You can choose sample pages so that readers can look inside before they buy.
Check Before You Submit
Whichever format you use, preview the book before you submit it. For an EPUB, check the chapter structure and the formatting. For a PDF, confirm that every page appears in the right order.
