PenStranding is a publishing studio for self-publishing authors. One manuscript becomes every edition of a book, an ebook, a paperback and a hardcover in each language, with covers from your own artwork and a paste-ready kit for every store. You upload and publish yourself.
What it does
- Ebooks. EPUB 3, accessible by default and checked with EPUBCheck, from Word, Markdown, EPUB or plain text.
- Print. Paperback and hardcover interiors at every standard KDP trim size, large print, and a print preview with the trim and the gutter.
- Covers. A cover editor that works from your own artwork: the ebook cover, the paperback and hardcover wraps with the barcode, 3D mockups and social images.
- Store kits and ISBNs. Every field the stores ask for, in their order, ready to paste, for Amazon KDP, Apple Books, Kobo, Google Play Books, Barnes & Noble, Draft2Digital, PublishDrive, IngramSpark and local stores such as Empik and Legimi, with ISBN planning and a tracker of where each book is live.
- Translation. AI translation with a style bible, an editor's pass and a QA report, and your own reviewers by a private link.
- Writing and launch. A manuscript editor with a story bible and an outline; then a launch kit, a page for each book, a launch checklist, an audiobook kit and the files for selling from your own shop.
Free is one book with its ebook and paperback interior, and its covers carry a preview watermark. The Author plan or a Book Pass adds hardcovers, editions in other languages, cover wraps with barcodes, every store's kit and your own reviewers. AI work is paid in Studio credit, priced before it runs. Pricing has the details.
What it never does
- It never publishes for you. We never upload your book, publish it or register its ISBNs: you do, under your own store accounts, so your listings stay yours.
- It never trains AI on your book. When the studio runs AI for you, it uses a business service whose terms don't allow training on your text. With your own AI key, your provider's terms apply.
- It never writes a book from a prompt. The writing tools help you write and revise your own work.
- It never runs AI without a price first. Every AI job shows its price before it runs and stops at that price, you can set a monthly cap, and the credit for what a job doesn't finish comes back.
Your book and your files
Your manuscripts, covers and everything you make stay yours. Download every file at any time as ordinary EPUBs and PDFs, export all your data as one ZIP, or delete your account: your books go at once, and from the backups within 12 months. The Terms and the Privacy Policy say it in full.
Honest about AI
Stores ask whether AI made any part of a book. The studio keeps your answers for each edition, and a translation made in the studio fills them in for you to check and change, so you can answer KDP's questions truthfully. Every translation comes with a QA report, and you can do without AI altogether: layout, covers, store kits and ISBN planning work without it.
In brief
- Name
- PenStranding
- What it is
- A publishing studio in the browser, for self-publishing authors
- Status
- In a closed beta: authors join from the waitlist
- Where it runs
- The studio and its backups run on Hetzner's servers in the EU. AI jobs send their text to the AI provider the Privacy Policy names
- Payments
- Through Paddle, our merchant of record, which handles invoices and sales tax
- Pledge
- 20% of PenStranding's profits go to Ukraine: Stand with Ukraine
- Contact
- support@penstranding.com
Learn more
- Free toolsA book's costs and royalties, the spine and cover size, the page count, an ISBN barcode, an EPUB check and where each language sells, with no account.
- GuidesISBNs country by country, where each language sells, fixed book price laws and KDP in every marketplace, each with its sources.
- Formatting tools comparedVellum, Atticus, Reedsy Studio and Kindle Create beside the studio, from each tool's own pages.
- PricingFree for one book, the Author plan, the Book Pass, and Studio credit for AI work.
- Help centreHow every part of the studio works.
Try it with your own book. Free for one book, with a guide at every step.
Join the waitlist