If you've been keeping track of Internet trends then you'll be aware of
huge potential of promoting and selling e-Books. E-Books are becoming a common medium used on Internet. An e-Book is simply a book, that can be read on a computer. Many books now aren't even published in hard copy. Perhaps you're considering writing an e-Book, well if so read on. This article explains some of mystery and might well save you a heap of cash.
E-Books have a wide popularity and avoid many of costs of traditional hard copy publishing. They don't need to be printed, and as such avoid associated costs of distribution, inventory and risk of not selling. In fact they don't need a traditional publisher. Anyone can write a manuscript, format it as an e-Book and promote it on their web site themselves. And of course there are numerous examples of e-Books being basis of promoting successful affiliate programs.
Many e-Books are used as a mechanism (often indirectly) to promote web sites. Authors of e-Books gain credence from fact they've achieved publication, not to mention information their book contains.
Creating an e-Book is technically very simple (once text of book and any associated artwork has been completed). In order to create an e-Book we need a software product. The software takes manuscript developed in a word processor and converts this into an e-Book.
The resulting e-Book created by software will usually be in one of three forms; either a PDF document file, an executable file (called an exe file type) or an 'ebo' file (the e-Book system used by Microsoft).
PDF, which stands for Portable Document Format, is file extension for e-Book (along with any other document) created with Adobe Acrobat Writer. This is de facto standard used in commercial printing industry. If you plan to have hard copies printed then you should seriously consider using PDF format.
An alternative is to use an e-Book software system called a compiler. Such products effectively do exactly same task as Adobe Acrobat Writer, but output is an executable (which is file name suffix of resulting file). Most such compilers are priced at around US$100.
And third alternative; Microsoft ebo file system which is making dramatic inroads. It is still relatively new, but like most things Microsoft do, once they decide they want to be market leader, competition beware!
So this raises question of which type of e-Book is most appropriate. Deciding answer to this question depends on several factors, not least of which is how e-Book is going to be marketed.
Advantages of using Adobe Acrobat Writer include:
Adobe Acrobat Writer will convert an entire document containing all of text and graphics in a single step. To do this original document needs to be a single word processing document (or a linked document equivalent). This also facilitates updated versions to be created if source needs to be edited.
The resulting file can incorporate an index, external links to internet, automated page numbering and a multitude of other facilities.
For person who wants to read book they use a software system called Adobe Acrobat Reader. Adobe makes this software available for free and it is widely distributed and used. It is an excellent product which allows reader to print, use index, and have complete control over size of text. It also facilitates add-ins such disability facilities (i.e. a synthesized voice system can read text). The free Adobe Acrobat e-Reader system is an alternative to Acrobat Reader. As well as all features of Acrobat Reader e-Reader system takes any existing PDF file and presents text in an e-Book form.
The resulting PDF file is almost always far smaller than an equivalent executable file. Thus download times are shorter and file occupies less space on reader's computer.
PDF files can be guaranteed virus free, where as executable files don't have this advantage. People generally don't like to download files that have an exe suffix in name. Exe files are a notorious way for viruses to be spread and people tend to be more reluctant to download them than they would with PDF files.
