Making a word search book to sell
The interior of a puzzle book is a solved problem: consistent pages, an answer section, correct page numbering, and a trim size that matches what the printer expects. These are the decisions that actually matter, and how this tool handles each.
This covers the interior PDF, meaning the pages of the book. You will still need a cover, which is a separate file made to your printer’s template, and that template depends on your final page count. So the interior comes first, and the cover after, once you know how many pages you have.
Trim size changes the puzzle, not just the paper
This is the decision people most often make last and should make first. The page size determines how much room each letter gets, and that determines what grid sizes are usable at all.
On Letter (8.5×11), a 20-column grid gives each cell about 0.36 inches. On 6×9, the same grid gives about 0.23 inches, roughly two thirds. A grid that reads comfortably on Letter can be genuinely hard to use at 6×9, particularly for older eyes.
Both sizes are free here, deliberately. Someone planning a 6×9 book cannot judge it by looking at Letter, and finding that out after paying would be a poor experience. Build it at the size you intend to sell.
Page count, and why short books are a problem
Print-on-demand services set a minimum page count for a paperback, commonly around 24 pages, because a spine has to exist for the cover to wrap around. A ten-puzzle book does not reach it.
Page count follows from three settings, and the studio shows the total as you change them:
- Puzzle count
- One puzzle per topic in your word list
- Puzzles per page
- One is standard for large print; two fits more in
- Solutions per page
- Answers are usually packed several to a page at the back
- Total
- Puzzle pages plus solution pages, shown live above the download button
A hundred puzzles at one per page, with solutions six to a page, is about 117 pages before any front matter. That is a normal-sized puzzle book.
The count under the preview updates as you change puzzles per page and solutions per page, so you can hit a target length before you generate anything.
Margins and the inside edge
Every printer requires more space on the inside edge than the outside, because part of it disappears into the binding, and the requirement grows with page count, since thicker books curve more. Margins are adjustable here, but the specific figures are set by your printer and change from time to time.
Check your printer’s current specification for your page count and trim size, set the margins to match, and generate a proof before committing. Nothing about this tool can guarantee a file will be accepted; that judgement belongs to the platform you publish through.
No two books come out the same
Every grid is generated from a seed. Two people choosing the same topic on the same day get entirely different puzzles, and changing the seed regenerates a book from the same word list with a new arrangement throughout.
Keep the seed and the book is reproducible exactly, which matters when you need to correct one typo eighteen months later and do not want the other ninety-nine puzzles to shift.
What you own
Everything you generate. There is no royalty, no per-book fee, no attribution requirement, and no restriction on where you sell it. This applies to books built from the topic library as well as from your own word lists. Books you have already downloaded stay yours if you cancel.
The one thing you may not do is redistribute the topic library itself as word list data, or resell access to the tool. The distinction is between selling books you made with it and selling it. The terms set that out plainly.
A workable process
- Decide the trim size first. Everything downstream depends on it.
- Pick a grid size and check one puzzle at full size. Zoom the preview to 100% and ask whether you would want to solve it.
- Set puzzles and solutions per page to reach your length.
- Save the style. A saved style reproduces the same look on the next book, which is what makes a series feel like one.
- Generate, then read it. Actually open the PDF and look at the first page, a middle page and the answers.
Large print is worth considering
Large print puzzle books are a distinct category with a real audience, and they are easier to produce well than standard ones: fewer words per grid, a bigger cell, a heavier font. The Large Print preset sets those together as a starting point.
It also solves the 6×9 problem: at a smaller trim, a smaller grid with larger letters reads far better than a dense one shrunk down.
The paid plan removes the puzzle cap and opens 73 ready-made books and 1,346 topics. The free plan builds real, unwatermarked pages at the same quality, so you can judge the output before paying.