Images, text messages, and email

PNG and JPEG images placed inline just work — each is normalized automatically and given its own line in the book. Two ways to caption one. In Word, right-click the picture → Insert Caption… and type your text — Word numbers it and applies its built-in Caption style, which is what we look for. Writing in Google Docs (which has no caption tool), just type Figure 3: … on the line directly under the picture. Either way the caption travels with its picture and is set in caption type:

Worth two minutes per picture: in Word, right-click → View Alt Text… and describe what the image shows. That description is carried into your ebook, and it’s the only thing a reader using a screen reader will get in place of the picture. It also lets your EPUB truthfully declare that its images are described — metadata that stores read, and that ebooks sold in the EU are expected to carry. A caption is not a substitute: everyone sees the caption, nobody sees the picture without alt text.

Charts and most pasted graphics are converted for you, and the rest have a quick fix:

• Word charts — converted to pictures automatically, the newer chart types (waterfall, treemap, funnel) included. If one can’t be converted, the Chapters step shows a note naming it — the fix is right-click → Save as Picture, insert the picture in its place, and upload again.
• Images pasted from Excel — converted automatically too. If one can’t be, the same kind of note says so — re-paste it as a PNG or JPEG picture.
• SmartArt — conversion is attempted, but it’s the least dependable; if a note appears, right-click → Save as Picture and insert the picture instead.
• Equations — the one that still needs the manual step every time: copy the equation, then Paste Special → Picture.
• Text boxes — their text isn’t lost: it’s pulled into the story at the paragraph the box was anchored to, which can land mid-sentence. The risk is placement, not loss — check where it landed, or move the text into the body in Word to control it.

And one note on covers: the cover image you upload here is embedded in your EPUB. The print PDF deliberately has no cover — printers want the cover as a separate file, sized to their own spine calculator.

Turn on Text-message bubbles in Settings → Theme → Special formats, then wrap each conversation in [TEXT] and [/TEXT] lines — one message per line, written as Name: message. That’s the whole format. One rule decides the layout: lines from Me: render as the blue “sent” bubble with no name shown; every other name shows as a received bubble with its name, all in the same way.

Writing in first person

Use Me: for your narrator — their bubbles are blue and unlabeled, like a phone’s own screen:

Writing in third person

There is no “Me” in third person — just use your characters’ names on every line, and every sender shows with their name. To put one character’s phone on the blue “sent” side, name them in the opening tag: [TEXT right=Mara]. Mara keeps her name label — unlike “Me”, the reader has no other way to know whose phone it is. Group texts work the same way, with any number of senders on the left:

With Email blocks switched on in Settings, wrap the email in literal [EMAIL] and [/EMAIL] lines. First lines starting From:, To:, Subject: or Date: (Cc and Bcc too) become the header; blank lines separate paragraphs; a short final block reads as the signature; and a “P.S.” line renders in italics.