Fiction novels & series
Standard print interior, reflowable Kindle EPUB, and series branding across multiple titles with consistent typography, drop caps, scene breaks and clean chapter pages.
New · AI book discovery
Does AI recommend your book?
When a reader asks ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity or Amazon's Rufus what to read next, does it name your book? A free 90-second check across 2 of the 5 engines.
ALLi Approved Partner · part of the LoveReading family · founded by Robert Prime
The data behind it · AI Book Discoverability Index · snapshot, July 2026
We don't guess what AI recommends — we measure it.
Our AI Book Discoverability Index logs every source the AI engines cite when readers ask for books. The figures below are a July 2026 snapshot — explore the live index for today's totals.
141,282AI citations logged
981books audited for AI discoverability
16genres tracked
7,983distinct domains cited
Act I — the manuscriptAct II — the machine readsAct III — the citation
What we do, in one paragraph
publishing.co.uk is a UK-based book-formatting and Amazon-KDP launch service for first-time authors, non-fiction writers and memoirists. We hand-format manuscripts into KDP-ready print PDF, Kindle EPUB and picture-book fixed-layout files in 24 hours, then run five free 60-second diagnostics — KDP readiness, cover readiness, ad conversion, AI discovery, and editorial (coming 2027) — so you can publish on Amazon with confidence.
ink → tokens → citations. This is how a book becomes an answer.
How we help · for first-time authors, non-fiction & memoir · UK-based · KDP-ready in 24 hours
Where are you in your book?
Four pillars. Pick the one that fits where you are. Not sure? Find your stage →
Pillar 1 · Courses
Learn to sell it yourself.
Two self-paced courses: Sell More Books (17 modules, £197) and AI Discoverability (39 lessons, £149). Both personalised to your book with AI exercises that do the hard bits with you.
See the courses → Pillar 2 · AI AuditsDoes AI recommend your book?
Test your book across ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Amazon Rufus. Free 90-second check or full £29.99 report with verbatim AI answers, citation sources and a paste-ready listing rewrite.
Run the AI audit → Pillar 3 · Format my bookManuscript to KDP-ready, properly.
Send us your file in any format. We hand-format the interior, build the EPUB, calibrate the cover, pre-flight every image against KDP's spec, and deliver print-ready PDF + Kindle EPUB inside 24 hours.
See what we do → Pillar 4 · Expert guidesEverything we know, published free.
372 expert articles covering KDP formatting, self-publishing, book design, marketing, tools and AI search discoverability. No paywall, no gating, no drip sequence.
Browse the guides →Every kind of book
We treat each one as a different craft.
We don't just do novels. We do every shape and format a book takes.
Non-fiction with footnotes & sidebars
Business books, history, popular science. We handle proper footnote linking, callout boxes, multi-level subheadings, sidebars, exercises and end-of-chapter summaries.
Memoir & biography
Image plates, photo sections, family-tree diagrams, multi-perspective chapter labels, foreword/afterword integration. We handle the production so the writing stays in focus.
Cookbooks & recipe books
Two-column ingredient lists, recipe-card layouts, full-bleed food photography, chef's-tip sidebars, multi-axis indexing, metric/imperial alongside, optional colour-cost-saver split.
Picture books & illustrated children's
Fixed-layout EPUB for Kindle Kids, two-page-spread metadata, KDP picture-book trim sizes, full-bleed cover wrap, soft-proofed colour against KDP's printer profile.
Workbooks, planners & journals
Form fields, checkboxes, prompt boxes, week/day templates, low-content-page layouts that print cleanly and read properly.
Multilingual & bilingual
Right-to-left typesetting (Arabic, Hebrew), Asian-language vertical layout where supported, parallel-text bilingual books, language-tagged accessibility metadata.
Hardback & gift editions
Cover wrap calibrated for spine-fold tolerance, sprayed-edge artwork, foil-stamping prep, KDP and IngramSpark hardcover specs, premium-binding production files.
Trusted by UK self-publishers
Join hundreds of authors who've published with confidence.
500+Books formatted
5/5Average rating
100%KDP approval rate
24hAverage turnaround
★★★★★
"Publishing.co.uk is a fantastic service. They did an incredible job of formatting my book, made all the small edits I requested, and turned it around — as promised — within 24 hours. It took a massive load of stress off my plate, and they caught and corrected a few last little typos too. The guides they provide are so, so helpful — I've already caught a few things I was completely unaware of that would've caused me pain later. If you're really not sure, just get their full do-it-for-you bundle. Highly recommend."
Approved Partner Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors — vetted against ALLi's Code of Standards for ethics and excellence in self-publishing.Choosing what's right for you
A clear-eyed look at the main options.
Different tools fit different authors — pick the one that actually matches what you need.
| Feature | Vellum | Atticus | Reedsy editor | BookBaby | publishing.co.uk |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | DIY desktop app | DIY web app | DIY editor + marketplace | Full-service hybrid publisher | Done-for-you service |
| Cost | £200 lifetime | ~£115 lifetime | Free editor; freelancers cost extra | From ~£800; full packages £2,000+ | From £69 / book |
| Your time investment | 5-20 hrs learning + 2-4 hrs / book | 5-15 hrs learning + 2-4 hrs / book | 1-3 hrs (simple books) | Briefing only; 4-8 weeks delivery | Briefing only; 24-72 hours delivery |
| Cookbooks & picture books | Best for fiction; image-led layouts limited | Limited column & spread support | Founder advises against for cookbooks | Yes (in higher packages) | Yes — specialist tier |
| KDP-approval guarantee | DIY (you fix rejections) | DIY (you fix rejections) | DIY (you fix rejections) | Yes (in package) | Yes — formatting fixed free |
| Amazon listing audit | — | — | — | Marketing add-ons (paid) | Free, anyone, any book |
| AI search visibility check | — | — | — | — | Free (live retrieval test) |
Pricing and features summarised from each provider's public pricing pages and documentation as of May 2026. If you're writing a fast-moving fiction series and you're comfortable on a Mac, Vellum is genuinely excellent and the lifetime cost is unbeatable. Atticus is the natural fit for cross-platform DIY. Reedsy's free editor is brilliant for simple ebooks. BookBaby works for authors who want everything bundled into one expensive package. We're built for everyone in between — done-for-you, every book type, with the marketing readiness baked in rather than sold as an upsell.
Five free diagnostics, one per stage
Manuscript · Cover · Conversion · Discovery · Editorial
Free to run, refreshable every 90 days, embeddable badge for your author site. Use them whether or not you ever buy from us. Editorial coming 2027.
- Step 1 · Production · Pre-launch
KDP Readiness Score
Drop your DOCX, PDF or EPUB. We run the same 30+ checks Amazon does — margins, gutter, image DPI, font embedding, ToC links, blank pages, ISBN match, bleed — and score it /100 with the exact rejection risks flagged. The score every author should run before they pay anyone, us or anyone else.
Score my manuscript → - Step 2 · Cover · Thumbnail size
Cover Readiness Score
Drop your cover JPG or PNG. We render it at 90×135 px — the exact size Amazon shows in mobile browse — and score thumbnail legibility, resolution, aspect, genre fit, greyscale survival, and edge safety. Catches the #1 cause of "good cover, bad sales".
Score my cover → - Step 3 · Conversion · Live listings
Advertising Readiness Score
Drop your Amazon URL. We score the cover at 90×135 px (mobile thumbnail size), the title block on search results, the blurb opener, the review base, plus A+ Content / format / category / price. Out of 100, with a clear verdict.
Run the scorecard → - Step 4 · Discovery · AI search
AI Discovery Score
Live retrieval test against 5 engines — ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Amazon Rufus (simulated). Tells you what each model actually knows about your book — both with web search active and from training data alone. Refreshable every 90 days, with an embeddable badge.
Run the AI score → - Step 5 · Editorial
Editorial Score — coming 2027
The fifth diagnostic is in development. No preview, no waitlist theatre — it ships when it's ready.
New · the AI discovery layer
Will AI recommend your book?
Readers now ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini and Amazon's Rufus what to read next. Our AI Discovery Audit tests your book against all 5 engines (Rufus simulated) — shows which books get recommended instead and the exact sources behind them, checks whether your book was scraped into AI training data, and rewrites your Amazon listing for Rufus.
The courses · learn to sell it yourself
You love writing. You hate marketing.
Two self-paced courses that do the hard bits with you — built on the same data and tooling as everything else we run. See both courses →
Course 1 · Sell More Books
Seventeen modules. One system.
The interactive course on marketing your book in 2026 — personalised to your book, with AI exercises that do the hard bits with you, in your browser. Formatting, covers, KDP metadata, Amazon Ads, going wide, email, reviews and the 90-day launch plan.
See the full course → Course 2 · AI Discoverability for AuthorsGet recommended by the machines.
The complete self-paced course on getting your book discovered and recommended by AI — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity and Amazon Rufus. 39 lessons, 14 copy-paste templates, and a 90-day action plan.
See the full course →