Publishing your work
Publishing turns a finished story into a public reading page that anyone with the link can read. It never exposes your drafts: publishing takes a frozen snapshot, and the reading pages only ever show that snapshot. You keep writing; the public edition stays as it was until you publish again.
Before you can publish
An administrator enables publishing for your account. Once it is on, claim a handle on your account page, under Profile. Your handle is the address your public pages live at, and it is permanent, so choose it with care.
Publishing a story
Open the story's settings and publish it. You can give the edition a label, such as "First edition". Publishing again replaces the public version with a fresh snapshot of your current text.
Visibility
Each story has a visibility:
- Private keeps it to yourself.
- Unlisted is reachable by direct link but is not listed on your public page.
- Public is listed on your page at your handle.
Edition downloads
When you publish, Codex also prepares download files of the edition: a markdown archive, an EPUB, and a PDF. Find them in the story's settings under "Edition downloads". They capture the edition exactly as published, so they do not change when you keep writing.
If you want readers to download your story too, turn on "Let readers download this edition" in the same place. Readers then see EPUB and PDF links on the story's public page. The markdown archive is yours alone; it is never offered to readers.
The files are prepared shortly after publishing. If they have not appeared, use "Generate again".
Page setup
Page setup controls how print and PDF output is typeset: page size (including book trim sizes), margins, font and size, paragraph style, line spacing, the binding gutter, the scene-break text, and page numbers or a running title on the PDF. Set your defaults on your account page under Display; a story can override any of them in its own settings.
Line spacing (single through double) and paragraph style also show in the preview, so what you read while writing matches the export. The binding gutter adds extra margin on the inner, spine edge, alternating between left and right pages so a bound book has room at the seam; because that alternates per page, it shows in the Print view rather than the continuous preview, and it only affects PDF and print.
Changing the page setup does not change a published edition's text. Use "Generate again" under Edition downloads to re-typeset the files with your current setup. The EPUB stays reflowable - reading apps control its page size and margins - but the paragraph style, line spacing, and scene-break text carry over.
To force a page break inside a chapter, put \page alone on its own line in your prose. It breaks the page in print and PDF and is invisible everywhere else.
Your public page
Your handle page is your shelf: your name, your handle, and every story you have set to public, each with its title, when it was published, and its description. When your profile is set to public it also shows a short bio, any links you add, and whether you are open for commissions. You control all of that on your account page, under Profile.
A story you set to public gets its own reading page under your handle. It opens with the title, who wrote it, how long it is, and the story's description, then the contents and the prose itself.
What a reader sees
The reading pages are the outward face of your work, so they are plain and quiet: one column of prose, chapter headings, and nothing between the reader and the words. A cover is the story's own title set in the reading typeface.
Both pages name you the way you asked to be named: your pen name if you set one on your account page, otherwise your display name. The first time you claim a handle or publish with no pen name set, a dialog asks which name should go on the page, offering your display name to keep; what you choose becomes your pen name, and you can change it on your account page. Your handle stays the address in the link.
A reader gets two controls in the bar: the theme, which starts in whichever of light or dark their device asks for and remembers a change they make, and the question mark, which opens these pages. At the end of both pages a footer says the work was written in Codex, who published it, and offers a link for a reader who wants to write something of their own.
Taking something down
Set a story back to private, or republish after edits. An administrator can also take an edition down if needed.