Free Preview · No Credit Card

You wrote the book.
Now watch it become a real one.

See it happen to your own words, free. Upload your Word document, pick a design, and Cantos, your professionally trained AI book shepherd, sets your first 30 pages into a beautifully typeset PDF. Free, no credit card, ready in minutes.

Pick a look for your book

Atlanta · Literary

Nin · Memoir

Leadership · Business

Noir · Thriller

Bard · Fantasy

Asimov · Sci-Fi

Inspire · Self-Help

Historian · Historical

Elite · Classic

Magnificent · Large Print

Brisk · Modern

Indie · Novel

Lightning · Bold

Minimalist · Clean

Pulp · Genre

Spark · Fresh

Format My 30 Pages Free

Bring your manuscript as a Word document (.docx). You will choose your file on the next screen, and the whole thing takes just a few minutes.

Free forever. No credit card, ever. You keep the copyright to every word.

Your manuscript is never used to train AI. Ever.

Before: the Word document

The First Images

On July 11, 2022, the White House released a single photograph: a patch of sky the apparent size of a grain of sand held at arm's length, crowded with thousands of galaxies. Webb's First Deep Field, centered on the cluster SMACS 0723, took less than a day of observing time. Hubble's comparable deep fields had taken weeks.

The next morning brought the rest: the spectrum of water vapor in the atmosphere of the exoplanet WASP-96b; the death-shroud of a dying star in the Southern Ring Nebula; the compact dance of Stephan's Quintet; and the image that ended up on posters everywhere, the Cosmic Cliffs of the Carina Nebula, a coastline of dust and starlight seven light-years tall.

After: the same pages, designed by Cantos The same passage professionally typeset by Cantos: real margins, running heads, figures, and chapter openings

The same passage professionally typeset by Cantos: real margins, running heads, figures, and chapter openings

The very same words, before and after. This is the difference between a book that looks generated and one that looks crafted by a designer. See it happen to yours, free.

Do not take our word for it. This is a real book we designed, and you can inspect both files yourself:

↓ The Word Manuscript (.docx) Open the Finished Book (PDF)

How It Works

Three steps. A few minutes. No payment.

1Upload your manuscript

Any Word document. Raw, messy, half-formatted, it does not matter. Cantos cleans it up before a single page is laid out.

2Choose your design

Pick from professional designs built for memoirs, novels, business books, and more. Not sure? Try a few. Your free account includes five preview passes.

3Cantos sets your first 30 pages

In a minute or two you get a professionally typeset, watermarked PDF to open, read, and hold up to the light. See your book before you spend a cent.

Prefer the Full Tour First?

Watch a whole book come to life.

We filmed the complete, unhurried walkthrough: a real manuscript becoming a finished book, interior and cover, start to end. Twenty minutes, nothing skipped, nothing staged. Or skip the film and try it on your own book; that only takes a few minutes.

▶ Watch the Full Walkthrough

One App, The Whole Book

Cantos handles the full stack.

Interior, cover, copy editing, and the marketing kit, all in one place, each $99.99, with bundles that save up to $150. Start with your free interior preview today and add the rest whenever you are ready.

InteriorYou are here. Try it free. CoverThree complete designs. You choose. Copy EditingThree ways to work, your voice kept. Marketing Kit18 pieces, written from your book.

Why We Built This

A note from Tracy Atkins, founder

Fifteen years ago, my team and I started BookDesignTemplates.com because first-time authors kept telling us the same thing: I wrote the book, but I have no idea how to make it look like a real one. Since then more than 70,000 authors have trusted our designs, and more than 300,000 books have been published with our work inside them.

Cantos is the next step. It is not a gimmick that spits out AI slop for you to fix. It is a professionally trained book designer that reads every word you wrote and sets it with a craftsman's care, so your book looks made, not generated.

And your words stay yours. We claim no copyright on your book. We never use your manuscript to train AI. We built this for authors, by people who have spent their lives around books. You bring the story. We help you cross the finish line.

Tracy Atkins, founder

Before You Upload

The questions every author asks us first.

Is my manuscript safe and private?

Yes. Your manuscript is sent over a secure, encrypted connection only for the moment it takes Cantos to design your pages. We never sell, license, or share it with anyone. You can delete your files or your entire account at any time, permanently, from your account page.

Will my book be used to train AI?

No. Never. The AI providers we work with operate under contracts that expressly prohibit using your manuscript to train their models. Your words are yours. This is the promise we take most seriously.

Is it really free?

Yes, genuinely free. Your 30-page preview costs nothing, and no credit card is required. Your free account includes five preview passes so you can try different designs or different manuscripts. You only pay if you decide you want the full, watermark-free book.

What happens after the preview?

You download a watermarked PDF of your first 30 pages to keep and review, and your free account holds your remaining preview passes so you can come back any time. If you love it, you can format your whole book starting at $99.99, with no deadline. Your project waits for you. If you are not ready, nothing happens. No charges, no pressure.

What if I don't like it?

Try another design. Your free account includes five preview passes, so you can see your book in a few different looks before you decide anything. And when you do buy, every book comes with a generous pool of revision passes, so you can tell Cantos exactly what to change until it is right.

Do I keep the rights to my book?

Completely. BookDesignerAI claims no copyright on your book, ever. The small optional "Design Assisted by BookDesignerAI" credit on the copyright page is yours to keep or remove with one checkbox. Your work is yours, start to finish.

What kinds of books can Cantos format?

Text-forward books, both fiction and non-fiction: novels, memoirs, business and leadership, self-help, how-to. It even handles the hard things that break ordinary tools, like footnotes, endnotes, tables, and a real index. It is not built for children's picture books, cookbooks, or heavily illustrated books.

You wrote the book.Now watch it become a real one.