Forum Moderators: buckworks
Several questions!
1. Which ebook "compiler" is recommended? A couple of people told me that I shouldn't consider any format other than Adobe or MS Reader. Is this true?
2. For MS, I did not see any program on the microsoft website for creating an ebook, only for reading one. How would I create one?
3. With Adobe, I am confused: they have Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader and Adobe ebook Reader. Among other things, opening the same Adobe document created with Reader and ebook Reader, it looks different. Specifically, the same document looked more blurry in eBook reader than in plain reader.
4. A big concern is that one person will download the ebook and make it available for free to others. Is there any way to prevent copy/pasting within the opened ebook, as well as copying the entire ebook, or is this simply one of the risks of ebooks?
5. Related to the above question: I created a test ebook using one of my 5 free trials that the adobe website provides. The result seemed quite acceptable, with only 1 problem that I could see: it allowed 'Select All' then 'Copy'.
Adobe costs about $250. Assuming that I do not need more than the 5 trial compilations, does this mean that I will have to buy Adobe simply for the ability to suppress 'Select All' / 'Copy' (assuming that Adobe allows this)?
6. For online purchasing, we are thinking of using paypal. Does this seem okay?
7. Finally, any tips from anyone who has experience in creating ebook websites would be highly valued.
Thank you kindly in advance.
1. Use PDF, anything else is trouble. You will still get e-mails from people who can't open it; make sure you always link to the free download of Reader.
2. See # 1 above.
3. See # 1 above, forget "e-book". Use Acrobat and your customers will use Reader.
4. Answer greatly depends on target audience and content. I don't think there is a foolproof way to keep people from distributing copies, unless you use a technology that will make the book itself undesirable to buy. There is a longer marketing-oriented answer to this question which has to do with using this book to promote other info products; then you *want* people to "steal" it and distribute it.
5. See # 4.
6. Depends on target audience. If audience is business at all, answer is no. Paypal will only depress response.
7. See 1 - 6?
Thank you for your very helpful response.
My client, who is a veteran in the ESL field, has written a short book which teaches how to become an ESL personal trainer. Her target audience is any individal who would like to embark on such a career.
Yisrael
If you can figure out who the people are likely to be, that will guide your decision. My guess is unless this area for some reason focuses on tech-savvy people, go with simple / most widely available, which is Acrobat / Reader.
I know it is difficult for an author to accept the material may be copied and distributed (it was for me), but the downside of bullet-proof copy protection is low demand for the book and endless customer service problems. For the most part, people who receive copies are people who would not pay for the book in the first place. I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule - any NYT best seller, for example - but in a focused, self-help area, it really doesn't seem to be a problem. Otherwise, it would be impossible to sell 4,000 $49 PDF copies of a book on using Google AdWords, to name a specifc example (not my book).
If the author promotes, for example, a set of tapes or a personal training session over the phone in the book, then the distribution of "pirate" copies can be a very targeted way to sell other services to people who would not have bought the book in the first place.
Also if you ever want to set up affiliate program its also easy with them
