Content publishing
This section covers the programmatic ways to get products into your store and keep them up to date. There are three, and they solve different problems:
- Content API v3: you call an endpoint and the product appears in your catalog. Real time, every content type, full control.
- Scheduled automations: you drop PDF files in a bucket and the platform publishes them on a schedule you define. No code required.
- ONIX intake: you send us an ONIX feed and we ingest the catalog from it. Built for large or ongoing catalog onboarding.
Choose a path
| Content API v3 | Scheduled automations | ONIX intake | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best for | Syncing your own system with your store | Recurring editions on a fixed publishing calendar | Onboarding or maintaining a large catalog |
| What triggers it | Your request | A cron schedule you define | A feed we process on a schedule |
| Content types | pdf, epub, audio, physical | PDF only | PDF, EPUB, MP3 |
| Volume per operation | One item, or 50 per bulk request | One edition per run | Whole catalogs |
| Updates existing items | Yes | Yes, on a manual trigger | Yes |
| What you need | An API token and development work | Files named to a convention, plus bucket access | An ONIX 3.0 feed, plus SFTP access we provision |
| Setup | Self-serve | Request access, then submit a configuration | Contact support |
If more than one path fits, prefer the API. It is self-serve, it covers every content type, and it does not depend on us to configure or change it.
Content API v3
A REST API over your catalog. Create, read, update, and delete products; create up to 50 items per bulk request; manage audiobook tracks; and share collections with other tenants. It supports incremental sync with updated_at filters, so you can pull only what changed since your last run.
Use it when your content already lives in a system of record (a CMS, a DAM, an ERP) and you want that system to stay the source of truth.
Scheduled automations
You upload PDF files to an S3 bucket following a naming convention, and the platform publishes them on the schedule you configured. It suits publishers who release on a predictable calendar, such as a daily newspaper or a weekly magazine, and who prefer not to build an integration.
Two features extend it:
- Early access: publish tomorrow's edition tonight, for an audience you release to ahead of the regular time.
- Smart Zoom articles: turn a static PDF into an interactive edition with tappable article hotspots, defined in XML alongside the PDF.
Scheduled automations handle PDF files only. For EPUB or audiobook content, use the Content API v3.
ONIX intake
To onboard or maintain a catalog at scale, we ingest it from an ONIX feed you provide. ONIX for Books is the publishing industry's metadata standard, so this is the usual path when your metadata already flows to distributors and retailers.
ONIX intake runs as a managed setup. We configure the intake, map your identifiers, and monitor the ingestion. Email [email protected] to scope one.
Deliver an ONIX feed covers the folder layout, the file naming, the metadata we read, and how updates behave.
If your catalog does not have an ONIX feed, we can also ingest it from a spreadsheet describing the titles to create or update, matched against your own identifiers. Ask support about a spreadsheet import.
After content is published
Publishing is one half of an integration. To react to what happens next:
- Notifications and webhooks: receive events when orders and payments occur.
- Redirect routes: deep link a reader straight into a product.
- Auth integrations: connect your identity provider so your users reach that content already signed in.
Getting help
Email [email protected], or check status.publica.la for service status.