c

Text Site Map

  Practical Selling  

PDF Publishing: Make Your PDF Files Sell!

 		 
     

PDF Publishing: The Acrobat Advantage

If you are already using Adobe Acrobat for PDF publishing, you probably know the key reasons why most people believe it is the best choice for creating and publishing electronic books (or e-books). If not, here is a summary:
 		 
 
Click for a great price on Adobe Acrobat 4.0
 
  • Cross platform compatibility means your PDF files can be read on a wide variety of computers - certainly PCs, Apple, and UNIX systems. So - you have the widest possible audience for the e-books you publish.
  • The Look and Feel of your original document is retained in the published PDF file - for both text and graphics. Unlike HTML, the final user cannot change anything about the way your document looks. So - the care you take to convey your message and to lay out the information in a useful and meaningful way, is carried through into the PDF file.
  • The Acrobat reader is freely available - millions of copies have been downloaded, distributed on magazine CDs, and included with hardware and software products. So - you have a large ready-made audience for your e-books.
  • The Acrobat reader can be integrated into the users web browser to make download and read a seamless process. So - it's easy for users to get to the material you publish in PDF format.
  • Security options allow you to restrict activities such as printing or selecting text and graphics (for copying). So - your PDF publishing efforts can be protected against piracy and copying.
  • Graphic rich documents can be faithfully reproduced. So - you can produce colour products that would be uneconomical on paper
  • Powerful navigation options can be included - hyperlinks, bookmarks, thumbnails, and searches. So - you can create a flexible resource for your customer that goes beyond the sequential paper book model.
 
      So, PDF format is the de facto standard for PDF publishing on the internet. As well as PDF being the most widely adopted e-book format, Adobe Acrobat is the recommended choice of people like Ken Evoy.
Ken is the publisher of a number of e-books that are proving to be "must-haves" for anyone who is considering PDF publishing as the basis of a business - whether that be home based, full or part time, a startup business or an addition to an existing business.

  
     

On the Other Hand ... The HTML E-Book Alternative

I use Acrobat when I must preserve the look of a printed publication - for example when producing electronic versions of printed books for my hobby publishing house Circustuff.

But it is a relatively expensive piece of software if you are not going to use it a lot - and it isn't necessarily the right thing for every project..
For example, when producing my free e-book Practical DotCom Business, the need to regularly produce multiple, customized versions meant that Acrobat was going to be just too labour intensive - especially with lots of hyperlinks to code.

So - although I already owned Acrobat and had produced the book in Word format expecting to convert it to PDF, at the eleventh hour I decided to look at alternatives.

To cut a long story short, I eventually settled on Activ E-Book Compiler - which I consider to be best of breed among HTML compilers. Incredibly, it is also among the lowest cost!

HTML compilers take a folder of web pages and build them - with images and everything - into a self-contained .EXE file for distribution. Most require IE4 or above to be installed on the customers system - and they only produce PC files - so they are not cross-platform like Acrobat, but they are an excellent way to produce e-books with a fairly high degree of control over the final look.

Some of the things I especially liked about Activ E-Book Compiler include:

  • Variety of charging mechanisms, from free through to password access, time limited etc
  • Good branding options (icons, splash screens)
  • Try before you buy (indeed - the publisher doesn't like you to buy it unless you have tried the free version first)
  • Use of style sheets etc in controlled environment gives high level of control
  • It has reliably worked time after time!

But you don't have to take my word for it - try the free version first - and see what it looks like by downloading a free copy of Practical DotCom Business.

 
     

PDF Publishing: The Time is Right

  
      There has never been a time of greater opportunity for anyone involved in - or considering - e-book information products as the basis of an internet business.
Computer ownership is dramatically on the increase - and where ownership is an issue, access through school, library and cyber cafes is an option for more people than ever before.
The very biggest software and hardware companies are now backing e-book formats.

And the tools and support to make such a business - even when run as a part time or home based business - a great success ...

... are all now available.

  
     

PDF Publishing: The Bottom Line

 To be successful in your PDF publishing business, there are a small - but essential - number of basics that you must consider. These are summarised below, linked to our recommendations for the route to follow:
 		 
     

E-Books can also be a fantastic marketing technique if they are distributed freely - spreading virally and advertising your site, product or service. It's an idea that was effectively pioneered by Chayden Bates. I have a free version of his e-book available for download here or you can find out more from his site.

 
 




 

One Last Thing ...
We all know the best way to get more business is through referrals, so ...

If you found this information helpful - is there anyone you could help by referring them to this page?

And if we haven't "made the sale", we need to understand why ...

If we let you down in some way - please let us know so we can improve.