I
A book is a made object.
A desktop studio for indie publishers
The author's composing room.
Folio Format is desktop book formatting software for indie authors publishing on Amazon KDP and IngramSpark — with writing, page design and print-ready export in one local workspace.
Built in the UK by an indie publisher, for authors who care how a book reads and how it sits in the hand.
Live book view
KDP-ready exports
Local files, one-time purchase
Chapter Two
The harbour
he light was thin in the morning, and the boats had been brought in before midnight, but the harbour kept its night sounds the way a room keeps its tobacco. He listened, standing on the wet stones, the way a man learns to listen to a place that does not yet speak to him.
The boats were quiet, the ropes dressed and looped, the lanterns out. A gull rose from the breakwater, faltered, settled again. Somewhere up the lane a door was closed with the precision of someone who did not wish to be heard. He took it in. He had been told the town would test him and he had not believed it.
By the time the first boat went out he had read his letter twice. The paper smelled of his sister's house in Cornwall and of nothing else.
What Folio Format is for
II
Typography is part of authorship.
III
Local work, lasting files.
IV
Built by a publisher, for publishers.
How Folio Format works
01
Begin with the text
Start with a blank book, or bring in a manuscript already in motion. Folio Format gives chapters, sections and front matter a proper home from the first page.
- Chapters
- Sections
- Front matter
- Manuscript import
- Local files
The writing desk02
Shape the edition
Choose a typographic template, refine the page, and build low-content layouts where the book calls for them. Drop caps, ornaments, scene breaks and margins are treated as publishing decisions, not decoration.
- Templates
- Drop caps
- Ornaments
- Scene breaks
- Cover direction
The typographic studio03
Send the files out
Export validated, print-ready PDF, DOCX and ePub files for Amazon KDP, IngramSpark and your wider archive. They leave your desk finished.
- Print-ready PDF
- ePub
- DOCX
- KDP & IngramSpark presets
- Pre-export checks
The export desk
Before the files leave the desk
Catching what the platform would.
Folio Format runs a readiness pass before every export. Trim, margins, image resolution, embedded fonts, spine maths, bleed configuration, page-count thresholds. The checks the platforms make on upload — made by your studio before you click.
The panel beside is what a real check looks like on a draft mid-revision. Three flags caught, four passes confirmed. The file you upload is the file you intended.
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Trim matches interior6.00 × 9.00 in across all pages.PASS
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Image below 300 DPIchapter-3-illustration.png is 187 DPI at placed size. Replace at 1800 × 2700 px minimum.FIX
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Fonts embedded4 of 4 — Fraunces, EB Garamond, Archivo, Cinzel.PASS
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Gutter narrower than recommended0.375 in at 240 pages — increase to 0.5 in to match KDP's table.FIX
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Bleed configured0.125 in on every outer edge.PASS
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Spine text removed60 pages — KDP requires 79 minimum for spine type. Plan a wordless spine, or pad to 79+.FIX
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Barcode safe zone clearNo copy or artwork in the reserved 2.0 × 1.2 in panel.PASS
What Folio Format covers
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Fiction & memoir
Long-form writing, chaptered manuscripts, front matter and back matter — held together in one project from the first sentence.
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Low-content books
Planners, journals and structured interiors where the page itself carries meaning, shaped on a flexible canvas rather than forced into prose tools.
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Digital editions
DOCX and ePub exports prepared from the same source project as the print files — no reflowing the manuscript a second time.
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Print platforms
Designed to help users export KDP-ready files for Amazon KDP and print-ready files for IngramSpark, with checks before the files travel.
A library of made objects.
Fiction, memoir, historical work, almanacs and anthologies shown as finished editions. Each specimen reflects the same typographic care carried through the interior.
Literary fiction
The Salt Road
A coastal novel in a restrained Atlantic palette.
Gothic novel
Thornwick
Dark cloth, fine border rules and a haunted shoreline.
Memoir
Notes on Stillness
Quiet negative space with a soft landscape wash.
Historical fiction
The Cartographer’s Daughter
Map engraving and compass detail for a historical edition.
Almanac & guide
Gardener’s Almanac 2026
A structured seasonal cover for low-content publishing.
Anthology
Kindling
An anthology cover in charcoal cloth with copper accents.
The maker
Built by a publisher, for publishers.
Folio Format is made in the UK by an indie publisher who wanted the book-making parts of self-publishing — margins, trim, spines, covers, exports, checks — to live in one careful desktop workspace, instead of being scattered across half a dozen tools.
The studio is one person's work, carried out with the visual restraint and editorial care of a small press. Updates ship when there is something genuinely worth updating, not on a calendar.
What a purchase includes
What £210 brings to the desk.
One-time purchase · Mac & Windows · twelve months of updates included
The application
A desktop studio for Mac and Windows
The full Folio Format application as a native desktop install. Open it without an internet connection. Your manuscript stays on your machine.
Books you can make
Fiction, non-fiction, journals, planners
Novels, memoir, business non-fiction, low-content interiors. The book types most indie authors actually publish, with the typesetting and pagination each one needs.
Exports
Print-ready PDF, ePub & DOCX
Validated exports for Amazon KDP and IngramSpark, in the dialects each platform expects. The same source project produces every format.
Covers
A cover studio tied to the manuscript
Trim, spine and bleed dimensions computed live from the interior. Barcode safe zone overlaid. One flat PDF for paperback or hardback.
Templates
A library of typographic templates
Built-in templates for fiction, memoir, non-fiction, almanacs and anthologies, with chapter openers, drop caps, ornaments and running heads.
Readiness
A KDP readiness pre-flight
Pre-export checks for trim, margins, image resolution, embedded fonts, bleed configuration and spine arithmetic. The faults caught before upload.
Updates
Twelve months of updates included
All updates released in the first twelve months come with the purchase. New templates, refinements and platform-rule updates roll in automatically.
The licence
A perpetual licence — yours to keep
Folio Format is not a subscription. Your copy keeps working forever. After twelve months the studio continues to run; only the update window pauses until you renew.
All prices in GBP. VAT handled at checkout. Folio Format is designed to help users export KDP-ready files; it makes no claim about platform acceptance.
Asked & answered.
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Folio Format is opening in stages. Launch details will be shared here as access opens.
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Windows and macOS at launch, both as native desktop applications. Linux follows on the longer-term roadmap; iPad is considered after the desktop release stabilises.
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No, and no responsible tool can. Folio Format's readiness checks run before every export and flag the issues that most often cause Amazon KDP and IngramSpark uploads to be rejected — trim mismatches, low-resolution images, illegal spine text. Final acceptance is always the platform's call.
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Yes. The import wizard accepts DOCX, DOC, TXT, RTF, EPUB, HTML and direct paste. PDF is best-effort because PDFs are visual files rather than editable manuscripts; the wizard cleans what it can and asks you to confirm the rest.
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Your manuscript is yours. Folio Format works locally, doesn't claim rights to your text, and exports a full project bundle on demand. No cloud account is required to open existing books.
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No. Folio Format is a one-time £210 purchase. The studio is yours; subsequent paid updates may be offered later to fund ongoing development and support, but they're optional and not part of the initial price.
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The editor keeps the book view live while you work. Drop caps, scene breaks, running heads and page numbers appear as part of the working page, so the manuscript is always seen in the shape of the book.
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No. Folio Format explains the terms inline when they matter, and computes the values from your trim and page count. You can override anything when you want the control.
What you can expect
What you can expect
Provenance
Built in the UK
Designed and shipped by an indie publisher, not a venture-backed team.
Licence
£210 perpetual
Buy once. Your copy keeps working. Optional paid updates may be offered to fund ongoing development.
Where it lives
Local files
Your manuscript stays on your machine. No cloud lock-in.
Export discipline
KDP-ready
Designed to help users export KDP-ready files and catch common publishing issues before upload.
Acceptance
Platform's call
Folio Format makes no claim about acceptance on Amazon KDP or IngramSpark. Final review sits with the platform.
Build
Quiet release
Folio Format is in private development. Launch access details will follow here.
A finished book.
Folio Format is in private development. Launch details, development notes and sample exports will be shared here as they are released.
There is nothing to sign up to at the moment. Details will appear here when access opens.