Extras
Add bonus content to your work — covers, character sheets, interviews, bonus art, and more — with draft status, gating, and a reader preview.
Extras are bonus content that readers can browse alongside your story: covers, concept art, author interviews, behind-the-scenes material. Open the Extras Manager from the Backstage sidebar of a work.
Content buckets
Extras are organized into eight tabs (buckets), each with its own count:
| Tab | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cover | Cover art as browsable content (see below — not the same as the work's metadata cover) |
| Alt Covers | Alternative cover art — add as many as you like; readers see all of them |
| Character Sheets | Character reference sheets (each linked to one or more characters) |
| Author Info | About the author |
| Interviews | Author interviews |
| Bonus Art | Bonus artwork and panels |
| Fan Art | Community fan art |
| Behind the Scenes | Process, sketches, soundtrack |
A stats bar tracks totals across all buckets: Total, Gated, Shareable, Total Views, and Downloads.
The two covers
PanelWave has two distinct "covers", and the Cover bucket is the less important one:
- The work cover (set in Work Properties → Metadata) is the canonical one — it appears on work cards, in libraries and social embeds, and it's what preflight's "missing cover" check looks at.
- The Cover extra in this bucket is optional bonus content: cover art readers can view full-size in the Extras section, optionally shareable, downloadable, or gated, with Alt Covers as siblings.
The Cover tab explains this in-app and bridges the two: an empty tab offers Use work cover (creates the cover extra from the work cover), and an asset-linked cover extra offers Set as work cover.
Adding and editing an extra
Click Add Extra (the new extra lands in the currently selected tab). The dialog contains:
- Title (required) and an optional Description — these are the default-language fallbacks.
- Translations — pick a locale and enter a localized title and description; empty fields fall back to the defaults. See Localization.
- Content Type — Image, Video, Audio, PDF, or Text. For Text you write the content directly. For media types the content can come from two sources:
- Browse library… opens the asset picker — choose an existing asset from the work's library or upload a new file right in the dialog. The linked asset shows as a compact chip (thumbnail, filename, and an × to unlink); dimensions, duration, and file size are filled in automatically.
- Or enter an external URL or path (validated to start with
http(s)://,/, or./) — for content hosted elsewhere.
- Status — Published or Draft (hidden from readers). Drafts stay visible in the manager but are excluded from the exported manifest and from the reader preview.
- Characters — required when the extra lives in the Character Sheets bucket: tick one character for a single sheet, or several for an ensemble sheet (a cast overview, a family, a team). The characters appear in the order you ticked them, and the sheet lists their names. Sheets without a linked character are dropped from the export.
- Poster (video) or Thumbnail (everything else), optional — likewise a library pick or an external URL.
- Width/Height for images, Duration for audio/video.
- Three toggles:
- Requires Entitlement (Gated) — the extra is locked behind a purchase; set the Required Tier (e.g.
premium). See Monetization. - Shareable — readers may share a link to it.
- Downloadable — readers may download the file.
- Requires Entitlement (Gated) — the extra is locked behind a purchase; set the Required Tier (e.g.
Click Create Extra / Update Extra to save.
The gated, shareable, and downloadable toggles are also available directly on each card — no need to open the editor for quick changes.
Prefer linking a library asset over pasting its URL: the extra stays connected to the asset, so Replace File in the Assets library updates it automatically, and readers always receive a fresh, working link. External URLs remain fully supported for content hosted outside PanelWave.
Managing the grid
Each extra card shows its thumbnail (with Gated and Draft badges where relevant), description, content type, file size, dimensions or duration, and view/download counts. From the card you can:
- Preview — click the thumbnail (images, video, and audio play inline).
- Reorder — drag the grip handle, or use the move up/down buttons; the order is what readers see.
- Edit and Delete.
Previewing as a reader
Preview as reader opens a full-screen view of the extras section exactly as it will appear to readers:
- Grouped by bucket, drafts excluded.
- A Locale switcher shows localized titles/descriptions.
- Gated extras render locked ("Unlock to view"), including the required tier.
Draft vs. published
Use Draft status for anything you're still working on — fan-art submissions under review, an interview awaiting approval. The workflow is: create as draft → review in Preview as reader → flip to Published → the extra is included the next time you publish or export.
Extras end up in the extras section of the manifest — see the Extras schema reference.