Navigation and cover are the reader’s two entrances to an ebook. Navigation leads into the chapters; the cover identifies the publication. This workflow builds a four-chapter book, replaces its cover once, and proves that the chapter order survives the replacement. Detailed colophon editing and figure relocation are outside its scope.
Write reader-facing chapter names
The sample chapters are Beginning, Map, Gallery, and Afterword. Use those headings as navigation labels rather than exposing technical filenames. Write the expected four labels in order before creating the book; the list becomes a simple comparison after export.
Build with cover candidate A
Enter title, author, publisher, language, and writing direction, then designate cover A. Select the four chapters in order. The resulting EPUB contained four navigation links to the four generated chapter pages. Its package assigned the cover image the cover-image role, separate from two figures inside chapters.
A picture displayed at the front is not sufficient evidence. Confirm that the package identifies it as the cover rather than as an ordinary body image.
Replace the cover and inspect unchanged structure
Designate cover candidate B and build the same four chapters again. In the worked comparison, the packaged cover bytes changed while its packaged name and cover role remained. Beginning, Map, Gallery, and Afterword stayed in the same navigation order.
After replacement, inspect more than the new pixels. Count navigation items, read each label, follow each destination, and confirm that no body figure gained the cover role.
Return to the correct source
Correct a wrong label in the chapter heading, wrong order in chapter selection, missing item in navigation inclusion, and an old cover in cover designation. Do not edit a generated navigation page directly because the next export will replace it. Keep cover candidates under distinct filenames so their contents can be compared.
The shortest dependable sequence is: name chapters, order them, enter book information, designate a cover, build, follow four navigation links, and inspect the cover role. Repeat the final checks after every cover replacement.
Completion means one EPUB contains four correctly ordered destinations and exactly one intended cover. This guide does not cover publication history, body-image relocation, or store submission. Maintaining those two entrances together prevents a visual cover correction from silently disturbing navigation.
