What ebook conversion costs

Every option, side by side

Conversion and formatting mean the same job here: turning an edited manuscript into a file ebook stores accept, usually EPUB, or for Kindle a KPF or Word file. Print layout is priced separately in the interior formatting guide.

Sources: each tool's own page (listed at the end) and the EFA 2026 Rate Chart, checked October 21, 2026.

The free tools and their limits

KDP's own Word upload. Amazon's file format page says "Most DOC/DOCX files convert well to eBooks," while files with complex formatting "may not convert as well," and tells you to check the result in Kindle Previewer (KDP). Kindle Previewer is a free desktop application for Windows 10 (64-bit) and macOS 12 or later (KDP). The catch is that this route makes a Kindle book only. KDP also accepts EPUB files made with any tool; since March 2025 it no longer accepts MOBI files for fixed-layout ebooks.

Kindle Create. Amazon calls it "a free desktop application that helps you turn a completed manuscript into a professional looking eBook" (Amazon). It imports .doc and .docx files, offers four themes, builds a table of contents, and exports a KPF file for KDP. Its own FAQ lists the limits plainly: it cannot edit tables, lists, footnotes or paragraphs with complex formatting, it does not support image captions, and it is meant for books published on Kindle, though it can export an EPUB for viewing on other devices. Those limits matter for a book built on tables and notes.

Draft2Digital. Its FAQ says you can "create, convert, and download a pixel-perfect paperback PDF or ebook EPUB file without having to publish through D2D," at no charge, from a Word, RTF, ODT or TXT file (Draft2Digital). If you then publish through it, there is a one-time $20 activation fee, an annual $12 maintenance fee for accounts earning less than $100 a year (waived the first year, per its home page), and a commission of about 10% of the retail price of each sale. The EPUB it makes can go to any store.

Reedsy Studio. The free core plan includes importing a manuscript and exporting "to PDF and EPUB" with unlimited books; the paid add-ons are writing features such as goals and outlining, not formatting (Reedsy). Reedsy's cost guide says a book that is primarily words, nonfiction included, can be typeset to professional standard in Studio (Reedsy).

What the free tools have in common: they work best on a finished manuscript. Kindle Create's own advice is to complete the book in Word before importing it, since tables, lists and footnotes cannot be edited afterward, and KDP warns that complex formatting may not convert well. Simplifying the Word file before conversion costs nothing.

Vellum and Atticus

Both are one-time purchases rather than subscriptions, and both make print and ebook files from the same manuscript.

• Vellum sells two editions on its home page: Vellum Ebooks at $199.99 for unlimited ebooks, and Vellum Press at $249.99 for unlimited ebooks and paperbacks, price before tax. You can download it free, build, style and preview the book, and pay when you are ready to publish. It runs only on a Mac with macOS 13 or newer, and it lists validated EPUB 3 and EPUB 2 files and "ACE-Approved Accessible Output" (vellum.pub).
• Atticus costs $147, "One time payment," for ebook and print with updates included, unlimited books and a 30-day money-back guarantee. It works on Windows, Mac, Linux and Chromebook and exports EPUB, PDF and DOCX (atticus.io).

For one text-only ebook, the free tools do the same core job. The software pays when you want the print interior too, plan more books, or revise often: an update becomes a new export, not a new invoice. Atticus at $147 costs less than the EFA low end for a 140-page book ($263), but you supply the time and judgment.

What a freelancer charges

The EFA's 2026 chart, built from member surveys of 2025 rates, lists ebook layout at $45 to $55 an hour, $1.88 to $4.38 a page, at 7.5 to 22.5 pages an hour (EFA). For a 50,000-word nonfiction book, which runs about 140 pages at 6 x 9, that is:

Our arithmetic from the EFA rates; page estimate from the formatting guide (360 words a page at 6 x 9).

Two other published figures put ebook work in context. The EFA lists "self-publishing assistance" for print and electronic books at a median of $800 a project, and Reedsy reports an average of $800 for book interior design, with about half of projects between $475 and $1,275 (Reedsy). Many designers include the ebook when they lay out the print book, so ask before paying for it twice.

We found no published rate specifically for fixed-layout conversion. Expect a per-project quote, and ask what happens to the price if pages change after conversion.

Reflowable or fixed layout

Most nonfiction should be reflowable: the reader picks the font size and the text flows to fit the screen. Amazon describes reflowable books as typical for "novels, essays, and memoirs," and its Print Replica format as typical for "textbooks, travel books, and cookbooks" (Amazon). The trade-offs of fixed layout are written into KDP's help pages:

• Print Replica ebooks "don't allow the reader to resize text and are only available on certain devices." Kindle Create builds them from a PDF of the print edition (KDP).
• For fixed-layout books without pop-ups, Amazon requires body text whose capital letters are at least 2 mm high on a 7-inch device, so a print page simply shrunk to fit may not qualify (KDP).
• Print Replica and image-based fixed-layout Kindle books "are not readable in read aloud and braille" (KDP).

Workbooks. KDP's content quality guide says books whose main purpose is "to allow the reader to write or color on the pages" are not suited to Kindle, naming puzzle books, blank journals, pattern books and coloring books, and that such books "may be rejected upon submission or removed from sale" (KDP). In our reading of that rule, a nonfiction book with exercises can still have a reflowable ebook if the exercises are written as prompts the reader answers elsewhere. The fill-in version belongs in print; the workbook printing guide prices it.

Image-heavy books and the delivery fee. On KDP's 70% royalty option, Amazon.com deducts a delivery cost of $0.15 per megabyte from each sale (KDP). At $9.99, a 2 MB text ebook earns 70% x ($9.99 - $0.30) = $6.78 a sale. The same book at 20 MB, which photos can produce, earns 70% x ($9.99 - $3.00) = $4.89. Compressing images before conversion is free. The file sizes are examples; KDP shows yours at upload. The KDP cost guide covers the rest of Amazon's ebook math.

Accessibility basics

An accessible ebook can be read with a screen reader, a braille display or enlarged text. The standard is the W3C's EPUB Accessibility 1.1, a Recommendation since October 17, 2024. To conform, an EPUB "MUST, at the minimum, meet the requirements of WCAG 2.0" at Level A, with Level AA "strongly recommended," and must carry accessibility metadata so stores and readers can see what the file supports (W3C). In the European Union, the European Accessibility Act lists e-books among the products and services it covers (European Commission).

For a text-only nonfiction book, most of the work is free and happens in the manuscript. KDP's accessibility page (KDP) asks for:

• Alt text on every meaningful image, so a screen reader can describe it.
• A logical heading hierarchy for chapters, sections and subsections.
• Tables with column or row headers, and a caption.

KDP also asks about accessibility features during title setup and shows the answers on the book's detail page (KDP). To check an EPUB, the DAISY Consortium's Ace is "a free, open source tool designed to check the accessibility of EPUB files" (DAISY). We found no published price for accessibility work as a separate line; if you hire a converter, put it in the brief and ask for an Ace report with the files.

A budget for your ebook

For a 50,000-word, mostly text nonfiction book:

Spend the money where a free tool cannot help: an edit before conversion, and a front cover. To see the ebook line next to everything else, open the calculator with a typical ebook formatting fee and switch it to "Free tool" to see the difference.