Scrivener to KDP in 30 Minutes

You finished your manuscript. You clicked Compile. Then you stared at a screen full of section types, section layouts, separators, and options nested three menus deep. You clicked some things, hoped for the best, and uploaded the result to KDP. The Look Inside preview showed chapter headings in the wrong font, scene breaks that disappeared, and a table of contents pointing nowhere.

Scrivener's compile system is designed for maximum flexibility. That flexibility means maximum confusion when you just want to export a Kindle file that works. The good news: once you understand the five decisions that actually affect your ebook, the rest is noise you can ignore.

Before You Compile: The Two Things to Check

Compile problems start in the Binder, not the Compile window. Before you touch any export settings, verify two things.

First: your manuscript should be organized in folders. Each chapter should be a folder. Each scene within that chapter should be a document inside that folder. If you wrote your entire book as one long document, or scattered documents at the root level of the Binder, Scrivener cannot tell where chapters begin and end. It will guess wrong.

Open your Binder and look at the Manuscript (or Draft) folder. You should see something like: Chapter 1 (folder) containing Scene 1, Scene 2, Scene 3. Then Chapter 2 (folder) containing Scene 1, Scene 2. This structure tells Scrivener what gets chapter headings and what does not.

Second: your front and back matter should live outside the Manuscript folder. Create a folder called Front Matter at the same level as Manuscript. Put your title page, dedication, and any other front material there. Create a Back Matter folder for your About the Author page, Also By list, and anything else that comes after "The End."

Scrivener ignores everything outside the Manuscript folder during compile unless you specifically include it. This separation keeps your writing space clean while giving you full control over what appears in the final book.

Step 1: Choose the Right Output Format

Go to File > Compile. At the top of the Compile window, you will see "Compile for" with a dropdown menu. This is where people make their first mistake.

You might think you want "Kindle eBook (.mobi)" since you are publishing on Kindle. Do not select this. Amazon stopped accepting .mobi files in March 2025. Even before that cutoff, the .mobi format caused more problems than it solved.

Select "ePub 3 Ebook." Amazon now prefers ePub. When you upload an ePub file to KDP, Amazon converts it to their internal format automatically. This conversion is cleaner and more reliable than Scrivener's direct .mobi export ever was.

ePub 3 also handles CSS better than legacy formats, which means your chapter headings, scene breaks, and fonts will survive the upload intact. The Look Inside preview issues that plagued authors for years? Most of them came from the old .mobi workflow. ePub sidesteps them.

Step 2: Pick a Compile Format (Or Make One)

On the left side of the Compile window, you see a list of Compile Formats. These are pre-built templates that determine how your book will look. Scrivener ships with several: Default, Ebook, Paperback, and others.

Select "Ebook" from this list. It is designed for digital publishing and handles most fiction requirements out of the box.

If you need to customize anything, do not edit the built-in format directly. Right-click "Ebook" and select "Duplicate & Edit Format." Name your copy something you will recognize, like "My Kindle Format." Now you have a personal template you can modify without breaking the original.

For most fiction, you will not need to customize much. The default Ebook format includes chapter headings, proper page breaks between chapters, and centered scene separators. If your book uses a standard structure, skip ahead to Step 3.

Step 3: Assign Section Layouts

This is the setting that confuses everyone. Here is what you need to understand: Scrivener separates "what something is" from "how it should look."

Section Types describe what something is. A folder in your Binder might be a "Chapter" type. A document inside that folder might be a "Scene" type. Scrivener assigns these automatically based on your Binder structure.

Section Layouts describe how that type should look when compiled. A "Chapter Heading" layout might display the folder title in large bold text. A "Scene" layout might just show the text with no title.

Click "Assign Section Layouts" at the bottom center of the Compile window. You will see a two-column view. The left column shows all the Section Types in your project. The right column shows available layouts for each type.

For standard fiction, set these assignments:

Chapter (folder type): Select "Chapter Heading" or similar. This layout will display "Chapter One" (or your chapter title) at the start of each chapter with a page break before it.

Scene (document type): Select "Section Text" or "Scene" layout. This shows your text without any title. Scene documents flow together within each chapter, separated by whatever scene break marker you configure.

Front Matter: Most front matter documents should use "As-Is" layout, which preserves your formatting exactly as you wrote it. Your title page needs specific formatting that should not be overwritten by Scrivener's compile rules.

Click OK to save your assignments. You have now told Scrivener how to format every element in your book.

Step 4: Configure Scene Breaks

When one scene ends and another begins within the same chapter, readers need a visual signal. By default, Scrivener might just insert a blank line, which can disappear on some e-readers. You want something visible: three asterisks, a decorative symbol, or a short line.

In your Compile Format (remember, edit your duplicate, not the original), go to the Separators section. Find the setting for "text separator" or "between documents of the same type."

Select "Custom" and enter your scene break marker. The standard is three centered asterisks: * * *

You can also use a single centered asterisk, three tildes, or any character you prefer. Scrivener will insert this marker between every scene document within a chapter folder.

One caveat: if you put manual scene break markers in your actual text, you will end up with doubles. Let Scrivener handle the separators through compile settings, and delete any you typed manually.

Step 5: Add Front and Back Matter

At the bottom of the Compile window, you will see checkboxes for "Add front matter" and "Add back matter" with dropdown menus next to each.

Check "Add front matter" and select your Front Matter folder from the dropdown. Check "Add back matter" and select your Back Matter folder.

Scrivener will now include everything in those folders, in order, at the beginning and end of your compiled book. The Manuscript folder contents appear between them.

If your front matter folder contains Title Page, Copyright, Dedication in that order, they will appear in that order in your ebook. Rearrange items in the Binder to change their compiled order.

Step 6: Fill In Your Metadata

Click the tag icon in the Compile window to open Metadata settings. This is where you enter information that appears in your ebook file itself and helps Amazon categorize your book.

Title: Your book's title exactly as it should appear.

Author: Your name or pen name.

Publisher: Your publishing imprint or your own name.

Other fields (contributors, keywords, description) are optional but useful if you want that information embedded in the file. KDP has its own metadata entry during upload, so you can skip these fields if you prefer to enter everything on Amazon's site.

Step 7: Compile and Verify

Click Compile. Choose a location to save your ePub file. Scrivener will process for a few seconds and then your file is ready.

Before you upload to KDP, test your ebook. Open the ePub in Calibre (free software) or drag it into Apple Books if you use a Mac. Check these things:

Table of contents: Does clicking a chapter in the TOC jump to the right place? Scrivener auto-generates a navigational TOC from your chapter structure. If chapters are missing, your Section Layout assignments are wrong.

Chapter headings: Do they appear where expected? Are they formatted correctly? If not, revisit your Section Layout assignments.

Scene breaks: Do your custom separators appear between scenes? If they are missing or doubled, check your Separator settings.

Front and back matter: Does everything appear in the right order? If pages are missing, make sure those documents are actually inside your Front Matter or Back Matter folders.

Uploading to KDP

Log into KDP and create a new Kindle ebook or update an existing one. On the Content page, upload your ePub file where it asks for your manuscript.

KDP will process your file and show you a preview. Use the Kindle Previewer built into KDP to check how your book looks on different devices: phone, tablet, e-reader. Pay attention to chapter headings, the first pages of each chapter, and scene transitions.

If the Look Inside preview shows different formatting than the Kindle Previewer, do not panic. Look Inside uses a separate rendering system that sometimes displays formatting differently. What matters is how the book appears on actual Kindle devices and apps. The Kindle Previewer reflects that accurately.

One thing to watch: if KDP warns you about "potential quality issues," read the warnings carefully. Some are cosmetic suggestions you can ignore. Others indicate real problems like missing TOC links or unrecognized formatting. Fix the real problems before publishing.

Common Problems and Fixes

Chapter headings are missing. Your Chapter folders are assigned to the wrong Section Layout. Go back to Assign Section Layouts and make sure folders use a layout that includes the title.

All text is the same size and style. You compiled with a layout that strips formatting. Check that your Scene documents use a layout designed for body text, not "As-Is" (which preserves your editor formatting exactly and can cause inconsistencies).

Scene breaks show as blank space only. Your Separator settings use blank lines instead of a custom character. Edit your Compile Format, go to Separators, and enter your scene break marker.

Table of contents links do not work. This usually happens when chapter folders are empty (containing no scene documents) or when the folder's Section Layout does not include title elements. Every chapter folder needs at least one document inside it, and the folder must be assigned a layout that generates TOC entries.

The book starts with Chapter 1 instead of the title page. You forgot to check "Add front matter" or your Front Matter folder is empty. The Manuscript folder compiles first by default. Front Matter only appears if you explicitly add it.

Fonts look different on Kindle than in Scrivener. Kindle devices override fonts for body text, letting readers choose their preferred reading font. Only special elements like chapter headings preserve specific fonts, and even those can be overridden. Design for readability, not specific font appearance.

Saving Your Settings for Next Time

Once you have a working Compile Format, you never need to configure it again. Your custom format (the one you duplicated and edited) stays in Scrivener for all future projects.

If you write series books that should all look the same, export your Compile Format: right-click it in the Compile window and select "Export." Save the .scrformat file somewhere safe. When you start a new book, import it, and all your settings carry over.

You can also set your custom format as the default for new projects. Go to Scrivener > Preferences (or Tools > Options on Windows), find the Sharing or Export section, and set your ebook format as the default compile type. New projects will start with your configuration ready to go.

When Scrivener Is Not Enough

Scrivener produces clean ebooks for standard fiction. If you need complex formatting (drop caps, inline images, elaborate chapter headers), consider using Scrivener for writing and a dedicated formatter like Vellum or Atticus for final production.

The workflow: export from Scrivener as DOCX, import into your formatting tool, apply your design, and export the final ebook. This adds a step but gives you more visual control. Vellum in particular generates some of the cleanest Kindle files available, though it requires a Mac.

For most fiction, Scrivener's ePub export is sufficient. But if you find yourself fighting with compile settings for hours, switching tools might save you time in the long run.

Now you have a workflow. Your next book does not need another four hours of compile configuration. Set up your Binder correctly, use the same Compile Format you just created, and click Compile. Thirty minutes from manuscript to uploaded file. Maybe less, once you have done it a few times.