eBook Publishing:
Should I use PDF or EXE format?
By Michael Southon
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| Ebooks
are becoming a fantastic method of promoting websites and retaining
visitors and Michael Southon discusses the pros and cons of publishing
ebooks using the most popular formats.
If you write and publish eBooks, sooner or later you will
probably be faced with a dilemma - should you create your eBooks as .exe
files or .pdf files?
PDF, which stands for
Portable Document Format, is the file extension for files created
with Adobe Acrobat.
Exe, which stands for
‘executable’, is the extension for files created by eBook compilers.
PDF is widely
considered to be the ‘industry standard’ for eBook publishing, and for
good reason. Here are some of the advantages of PDF files over exe
files:
(1) With most eBook
compilers you have to set up each page of your eBook as a separate
web page. With Adobe Acrobat you can use a single
MS Word file as the source document.
(2) PDF files automatically number each page - exe files don’t.
(3) PDF files are very easy to edit - you can insert pages, replace
pages and delete pages (and the page numbering is automatically
adjusted).
(4)
Printing from a PDF file is much easier than printing from an .exe
file.
(5) The ‘bookmark’
column on the left side of a PDF file makes navigation very easy - much
easier than in an exe file.
(6) PDF files compress better than exe files, so you end up with a
smaller, more manageable file. |
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(7)
It’s virtually impossible to transmit a virus through a PDF file - exe files are
susceptible to virus transmission and can become corrupted during download.
(8) Finally, by using PDF you automatically expand your potential market because
PDF files can be read on both a
PC and a Mac (exe files can only be read on a PC). Over 8 percent of the
online population in the U.S. are currently Mac users
(www.nielsen-netratings.com) - not a huge increase in your market, but
nevertheless significant.
But
exe files do have some advantages over PDF files. Until recently, one of the
most important of these was price - most eBook compilers are a fraction of the
cost of Adobe Acrobat.
However, a number of PDF creators have recently appeared on the market with
price tags similar to those of eBook compilers. Here are some of them:
http://pdfcreator.com/
http://www.jawspdf.com/
http://www.win2pdf.com/
Another advantage of exe files over PDF is the rebranding feature. The following
eBook compilers all have a built-in rebranding function:
http://www.ebookcompiler.com/
http://www.ebookgenerator.com/
http://www.ebookedit.com/
http://www.ebookpaper.com/
If
you use free eBooks as a viral marketing tool, rebranding is the key to success,
because people are much more likely to promote your free eBook if they can
customize it with their own affiliate links.
Copyright © 2002
Michael Southon, All Rights Reserved.
Author Information:
Michael Southon
msouthon@ezine-writer.com
http://www.ezine-writer.com
Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. Join his 3
Day ‘Ezine Writers Email Course’ and discover the #1 Secret of Ezine
Advertising:
http://www.ezine-writer.com/email-course.html
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