A hand with your book.
Everything here is also known by Sienna, the Magik Book Fairy, who lives in the corner of every page. Ask her if you would rather talk it through. Sienna discusses your writing but does not edit it; she will ask before reading a chapter, and the words stay yours.
- Getting started
- Formatting your story
- Cover images
- Sharing your book
- The public Library
- My Books / My Brochures
- Downloading a PDF
- Buy Me a Coffee
- Your author shelf
- Uploading a PDF
- Lifetime Membership
- Password protection
- Do I need an ISBN?
- Copyright and your rights
- Your account
Getting started
Go to Create and make a free account with your name, email and a password. You land in the creator: the editor on the left, your book turning its pages on the right. Give it a title, type or paste your story, pick a template, and it saves as you go. On a phone, use the Write and Preview tabs at the top.
Formatting your story
Already written it? Press Upload manuscript above the story box (or drag the file onto it). Word (.docx), plain text (.txt) and Markdown (.md) all work, several files at once in filename order. Word headings become chapters; in plain text, lines such as "Chapter One" or "CHAPTER 3: The Gate" become chapters automatically. Old .doc files need saving as .docx first. After loading, skim the chapter headings and adjust any the converter missed. If your file arrived with the book title as the only # heading and the chapters as ##, the import shifts them up for you; the Fix chapters button does the same at any time. Only lines starting with a single # become chapters, appear in the Contents menu, and obey "chapters open on a left-hand page".
Otherwise you write in plain text with a few simple marks:
| Type this | You get |
|---|---|
# Chapter title | A new chapter. The title appears on its opening page and in the contents menu. |
## Heading or ### Heading | A sub-heading inside a chapter. |
| A blank line | A new paragraph. |
* * * | A scene break. |
**bold** and *italic* | bold and italic. |
> A quotation | An indented quote. |
- An item | A bulleted list. |
 on its own line | A full-page picture. The address must be a web link to an image. Easier: press Picture page above the story box and choose a photo; the line is written for you. |
! on its own line | A picture set between the paragraphs, instead of on a page of its own. |
[Button text](https://…) on its own line | A button your readers can press. |
-> Text <- on its own line | A centred line. Several in a row at the top of a fresh page (after \newpage or a full-page picture) sit together in the middle of that page, handy for a dedication or a sign-off. |
\newpage on its own line | Forces a new page. |
Below the story box, Reorder chapters opens a list of your chapters: drag one to a new place, use the arrows, or remove it. The text in the story box is rewritten to match. Under that you can add a title page, choose whether chapters open on a left-hand page, and set the type size. Straight quotes become curly quotes and dashes are typeset for you.
Cover images
Two description fields shape a generated cover: the Front cover description is one or two lines under the title (it is also the preview text when you share the link), and the Rear cover description is the longer blurb on the back. Leave the rear one blank and the front line is repeated.
Every book gets a generated cover from its title and template, and every brochure uses the first page of its PDF. Lifetime members can upload their own front and back covers instead, in the Cover section of the creator. It works the same for books and brochures.
| Formats | JPG, PNG or WebP. We convert everything to JPG and flatten transparency onto white, so a plain JPG is simplest. |
|---|---|
| Size | Between 1000 and 1600 pixels wide. Larger files are shrunk to 1600 wide on upload; smaller than about 1000 looks soft on big screens. Keep the file under 8 MB. |
| Shape | Portrait. For books, ISO proportions (A-series): 1600 × 2263 px. For US Letter brochures: 1600 × 2070 px. For a US trade paperback look, 6 × 9: 1600 × 2400 px. Any other shape works too: the crop frame lets you choose which part shows. |
| Colour | RGB, not CMYK. If you export from print software, choose "for screen" or "RGB". |
When you choose a picture, a Fit your cover window opens with a frame in the exact shape of your page: drag the picture to position it and use the slider (or your mouse wheel) to zoom. Fill the page uses the whole frame with no bands; Fit whole picture keeps every pixel and accepts bands. Adjust beside a cover reopens the frame later. Covers are saved at 1600 pixels wide in the page's exact proportions.
Handy hints
- Design at 1600 wide and check it at thumbnail size: your shelf shows covers about 200 px wide, so the title must still read. Big type, strong contrast, one focal image.
- Keep titles and faces away from the outer 5 per cent of the edges; the page corner and spine shading sit there.
- Canva: start a "Book Cover" design (1410 × 2250) and download as JPG at the highest quality. Word or PowerPoint: set the page to 148 × 210 mm, then File → Export as JPG.
- Have a PDF cover already? Open page one in your PDF viewer and export it as a JPG at 300 dpi, or let the brochure's first page be the cover, which is the default.
- A back cover is optional. If you add one, give it a short blurb and your website or QR code; readers see it when they reach the end.
- Only use images you own or have a licence for. Unsplash and Pexels offer free photos; AI-generated images are fine if the tool's terms allow commercial use.
- Changed your mind? Press Remove and the generated cover or first page comes back.
Sharing your book
Press Publish to a link in the creator and your book gets its own address on magikbooks.com. Anyone with the link can read it, turn the pages, change the type size and download a PDF. Press Unpublish at any time to take it down. Until you publish, only you can see it.
To send your book to someone, send the link or the PDF. Email programs and phones handle those well. The Share button (in the reader, in the creator under the share link, and in My Books) posts the link to Facebook, LinkedIn, X, WhatsApp or email in one tap, with your book's cover, title and description as the preview card. Social networks will not accept the book as a file, so the link is the way; the standalone file is for your own website.
Buy Me a Coffee
Every published book and brochure carries a Buy me a coffee button in its reader. Every member, free or Lifetime, can enter their own Buy Me a Coffee name once in Settings (the button at the top of the creator), and every one of their books then points to their page. A different link can be set for a single book in that book’s setup, under the story options. Leave both blank and the button points to the Magik Books page (buymeacoffee.com/mayluku), which helps keep the free creator free. Do not have a Buy Me a Coffee page yet? They are free to set up at buymeacoffee.com.
Your author shelf
Every author can have a shelf: a page at magikbooks.com/your-name that gathers all your published books, with a line about you. Press Settings at the top of the creator, choose your name (lower-case letters, numbers and hyphens), and save. From then on your books live at magikbooks.com/your-name/book-title. The old /book/ links keep working and simply forward to the new address. Choose a name you will keep; it can only be changed a few times.
Lifetime members also get an embed code under the share link: paste it into any web page and the book appears there, turning its pages, without visitors leaving your site.
Uploading a PDF
Lifetime members can turn any PDF into a Magik Book: brochures, magazines, reports, catalogues, portfolios, photo albums, pitch decks. No design yet? Start from one of the six free brochure templates. Open the Brochure Creator and drop the file in. Your browser turns each page into a picture and uploads it; nothing is processed on our servers, so even large files are quick. Up to 300 pages, and links inside the PDF keep working as hotspots.
Page size: the reader follows your file. A US Letter PDF (8.5 × 11 in) stays Letter; an A4 PDF stays A4; a square lookbook stays square. Design in whatever size you print in. Brochures have their own creator at magikbooks.com/brochure/create and their own shelf at magikbooks.com/your-name/brochures.
You can drop several PDFs at once; they are joined in the order you drop them, and + Add more pages from a PDF appends later. Under the options a Pages strip shows every page: drag a page to a new position (or use its arrows), or remove one. The order saves straight away.
By default the first page becomes the front cover; tick Last page is the back cover if your design has one. Everything else works as for a written book: publish to your shelf, download a PDF, download the standalone file, add your coffee and shop links. Tip: export your PDF at a good quality with fonts embedded, and keep each page under about 2,400 pixels wide. If a page comes out blurry, re-export the PDF at a higher resolution and upload again.
The public Library
Published books appear in the Library (and brochures in the Brochure Library) so readers can discover them. Pick a category under the share link in the creator, and untick Show in the public Library if you would rather share your work by link only. Password-protected publications are listed with a lock and still need the password to open.
Downloading a PDF
Press Download PDF in the creator, or the PDF button in any published book. For written books you choose the page size first: US Letter, Half Letter (5.5 × 8.5 in), Trade 6 × 9 in, A4 or A5. We suggest US sizes to readers in the United States and Canada and ISO sizes elsewhere, and remember your choice. Uploaded PDFs keep their own page size. Your browser then opens its print window with the book laid out with your cover; choose Save as PDF as the destination. If you only see a printer, look for a destination or printer menu and pick Save as PDF or Microsoft Print to PDF.
The Studio (Lifetime)
The Studio (the ✦ Studio button in the creator and in My Books) lays your book out part by part: cover, title page, copyright page, then every chapter and end page as a card with its heading and first line. Click a card and that part alone opens in a large editor with a live page preview. Save (or Ctrl+S) writes back only that part; the rest of the book is untouched. Drag the cards to reorder, use + insert to add a Dedication, Acknowledgements, Introduction, Prologue, Chapter, Epilogue, About the Author or Note from the Author, and the cross to remove a part (with an undo).
Pictures: Picture drops an image between paragraphs; Picture page gives it a page of its own. The same two buttons sit above the story box in the creator for every member, free or Lifetime, and put the picture in wherever your cursor is. JPG, PNG or WebP from your phone or computer; nothing to host yourself. Free accounts get pictures at 1200 px, up to 12 per book and 50 MB in all; Lifetime members get 1600 px within their 1 GB. Pictures travel with the standalone file too.
Edit with Sienna (in the Studio, and for every member in the creator, where the button above the story box works on the chapter your cursor is in): Sienna reads the chapter and tells you honestly what works and what she found, then goes through it one paragraph at a time. Each correction is shown as a marked-up change with her reason, and nothing is applied until you press Approve; you can Skip it or Ask her about it. She corrects spelling, typos, punctuation and grammar and flags contradictions for you to decide. She never writes, suggests or improves your content, even if you ask; the writing is yours. All of this happens on a work copy. When you have reread it, one button replaces the chapter with the work copy, and until then your chapter is exactly as you left it.
Lifetime Membership
One payment of $47, forever. It unlocks every premium template in the Templates Suite, a shop link inside your book, a note-from-the-author page, removal of the Magik Books branding, unlimited books, and the downloadable ebook file.
That file is a single .html file with your whole book inside: covers, pages and the page-turning reader. It needs nothing from us. Upload it to your own website, sell it as a digital product, or hand it to a client. Because it is a web page, it is best shared from a website rather than attached to an email; for email, use the link or the PDF.
Password-protecting a publication
Lifetime members can set a password on any book or PDF publication in the Lifetime panel of the creator. Readers who open the link, or an embedded copy on your website, see a short screen asking for the password; once they enter it they can read, turn pages and download the PDF for the rest of the day on that device. Share the password separately from the link. You can change or remove it at any time. The standalone download file cannot be protected, because it runs entirely on whatever site hosts it, so keep protected publications on Magik Books or your embed.
Do I need an ISBN?
No. An ISBN is not a legal requirement, and you do not need one to make, share or sell your book with Magik Books. You can give it away, sell it from your own website, email the PDF or share the link without one. Amazon KDP gives ebooks its own ASIN, and stores such as Kobo and Google Play will issue an identifier if you do not have one.
You will want an ISBN if you plan to put the book into bookshops, libraries or a distributor such as IngramSpark, or if you want it listed under your own publishing name in the book trade. One ISBN covers one format, so an ebook and a paperback are two.
Where to get one:
| Country | Agency |
|---|---|
| Australia | Thorpe-Bowker. There is a fee; a block of ten works out much cheaper per number than buying one. |
| New Zealand | National Library of New Zealand, free of charge. |
| United States | Bowker. Fee, cheaper in blocks. |
| United Kingdom and Ireland | Nielsen ISBN Store. Fee, cheaper in blocks. |
| Canada | Library and Archives Canada, free of charge. |
| Everywhere else | Find your national agency on the International ISBN Agency list. Many national libraries issue them free. |
If you have one, enter it in the ISBN field under the description and it prints on your copyright page. Buy ISBNs in your own name or your publishing name, so you are the publisher of record. Avoid free ISBNs offered by platforms unless you are happy for that platform to be listed as your publisher. Magik Books does not supply ISBNs, for the same reason: your book should be yours.
A note for Australian authors: books published in Australia, including ebooks, fall under legal deposit, which means lodging a copy with the National Library through National edeposit. It is free and takes a few minutes. Other countries have similar schemes; your national library can tell you.
Copyright and your rights
You own your book. Publishing it on Magik Books gives us only the permission needed to store and show it. Copyright arises automatically when you write; you do not have to register it in Australia, the UK or most countries, though a copyright line on your title page is sensible. Only include pictures, quotations and lyrics you own or have permission to use. If you have a legal question about your work, speak with a lawyer; Sienna and this page are not legal advice.
My Books and My Brochures
My Books and My Brochures (also in the Create menus and the button at the top right) list everything you have made with its status: Draft, Published, in the Library or link only, password. From there you can Edit (opens it in the creator), View, Archive or Delete. Archiving unpublishes a work and hides it from the creator and the Library without deleting anything; Unarchive or Publish brings it back. Delete is permanent and removes any uploaded pages and covers.
Your account
Forgot your password? Use the link on the sign-in form. To delete your account and every book in it, press Delete account at the top of the creator. For anything else, write to hello@magikbooks.com.