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Writing an e-Book Needs Software - Free is Best!
by Grant McNamara
If you've been keeping track of Internet trends then you'll be aware of the huge
potential of promoting and selling e-Books. E-Books are becoming a common medium
used on the 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 the mystery and might well save you a heap of cash.
E-Books have a wide popularity and avoid many of the costs of traditional hard copy
publishing. They don't need to be printed, and as such avoid the associated costs
of distribution, inventory and the 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 the 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 the fact they've achieved publication, not to mention
the information their book contains.
Creating an e-Book is technically very simple (once the text of the book and any
associated artwork has been completed). In order to create an e-Book we need a
software product. The software takes the manuscript developed in a word processor
and converts this into an e-Book.
The resulting e-Book created by the 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 the file extension for e-Book
(along with any other document) created with Adobe Acrobat Writer. This is the de
facto standard used in the commercial printing industry. If you plan to have hard
copies printed then you should seriously consider using the PDF format.
An alternative is to use an e-Book software system called a compiler. Such products
effectively do exactly the same task as Adobe Acrobat Writer, but the output is an
executable (which is the file name suffix of the resulting file). Most such compilers
are priced at around US$100.
And the third alternative; the 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 the market leader, competition beware!
So this raises the question of which type of e-Book is the most appropriate. Deciding
the answer to this question depends on several factors, not least of which is how
the 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 the text and
graphics in a single step. To do this the original document needs to be a single
word processing document (or a linked document equivalent). This also facilitates
updated versions to be created if the source needs to be edited.
The resulting file can incorporate an index, external links to the internet,
automated page numbering and a multitude of other facilities.
For the person who wants to read the 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 the reader to print,
use the index, and have complete control over the size of the text. It also
facilitates add-ins such disability facilities (i.e. a synthesized voice system
can read the text). The free Adobe Acrobat e-Reader system is an alternative to
Acrobat Reader. As well as all the features of Acrobat Reader the e-Reader system
takes any existing PDF file and presents the text in an e-Book form.
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