Reflowable EPUB: The Complete Publisher's Guide

What is a reflowable EPUB?

A reflowable EPUB is a digital book built from semantic HTML rather than fixed page images. Text automatically reflows to fit the reader's screen, font size, and zoom level. It is the right format for novels, memoirs, business books, and any text-dominant title where the words matter more than an exact page design.

No image layer between text and reader

There's no image standing between the text and assistive technology like JAWS, NVDA, or VoiceOver, unlike an image-based fixed-layout page. Reflowable EPUB can carry a full WCAG 2.1 AA conformance claim, but only for a specific export with a reliable text layer and complete alt text on every image — not an unconditional property of the mode.

File size and KDP delivery fees

Because reflowable EPUBs are text-based rather than image-based, they compress dramatically better than fixed-layout books — which matters directly for royalties, since Amazon KDP charges a delivery fee per MB on the 70% royalty tier.

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