How to Decide which Format(s) Is Best for Your E-Book

E-book authors have lots of choices to make when it comes to putting their content into a package that is ready to sell. There is much to say on these subjects, but I've tried to condense the learning curve a bit, to make this easier to digest and understand.

E-Book Formats and Their Usefulness

The first question, strangely enough, is not What e-book format you should use? But, Who is your market? E-books have moved from a fringe publishing approach to the big time. Each major online bookseller now offers e-books, but the formats these books come in is telling.

Acrobat eBook Reader and Microsoft Reader are both trying to reach the mainstream book reading public. See a comparison between the two at Amazon USA. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/560748/ Amazon calls PDF files that aren't in Adobe eBook format "e-Documents" rather than e-books. Rather than popular-level books, they tend to be business reports (often rather expensive) and niche topics under the following headings: business, computers & Internet, investment reports, market research, science & technology, and travel.

I took a look at Adobe Acrobat eBook Reader and was impressed. It is designed to allow purchases of commercial e-books, and easy reading with optimized typeface clarity. Adobe recommends a 6"x9" page size for Adobe eBooks, though the reader is able to display standard PDF documents designed for 8-1/2" x 11" pages.

The dedicated e-book readers out there currently come from Gemstar (formerly Softbook and Rocket eBook) and are designed for mass market books -- mainstream fiction and non-fiction. Some observers, however, wonder how much longer Gemstar will manufacture such devices. (www.gemstar-ebook.com/ebcontent/devices/default.asp)

PDAs or mobile devices use several formats. Palm Reader is popular. Pocket PC uses Microsoft Reader. PDF format documents can be read on PDAs on Symbian OS, Palm OS, and Pocket PC. Hiebook (a Korean PDA) requires e-books in its own proprietary format.

If you're writing for the mass market, you'll be looking at Acrobat eBook Reader and Microsoft Reader and perhaps Palm Reader and Gemstar. But if you're writing business reports and niche e-books, then your choice is between PDF and perhaps compiled HTML.

Pros and Cons of HTML Compiled as .exe File

One approach that has been widely used by e-marketers is to prepare materials in HTML format, and then use a compiler which compresses all the files into a self-extracting .exe file that requires a password to open.

The advantages are that it is easily distributed, easy to make, and compilers are cheap or free. Activ Ebook Compiler for example, one of the best, sells for $29.95 (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/activ.htm).

The disadvantages of the compiled HTML approach, however, are several. HTML can't be controlled as well as you'd like, since it is very dependent upon the user's web browser and the way the user has configured it. The user may not have the fonts you've used. Style sheets must be written for a lowest possible denominator web browser, and some HTML features may not show up correctly on older browsers.

Moreover, .exe files are widely suspected of carrying viruses. As a result, many people -- myself included -- are hesitant to open an .exe file on their computer unless they are very sure of the source. Finally, .exe files can only be opened by Windows users, leaving out Mac, Linux, PDAs, etc.

Pros and Cons of PDF

So far as my market is concerned, the best distribution format for e-books seems to be Adobe Portable Document Format or PDF in 8-1/2"x11" page format so it can be easily printed out if desired. PDF truly is platform independent. Adobe distributes free Acrobat Reader software for Windows, Mac, Palm OS, Pocket PC, various flavors of Unix, and OS/2 (www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html). PDF can be designed using precise desktop publishing tools to look -- and be seen by the user -- in exactly the way you want it. Fonts may be imbedded so they can be seen whether the user has them installed on his computer or not. And PDF e-books can be protected against alteration as well as password protected against opening by unauthorized individuals.

On the downside, not all recipients have installed the Acrobat Reader plug-in and newbies especially can become frustrated in the process. Newbies sometimes don't understand how to save the e-book correctly. Longer pages sometimes require vertical scrolling to see everything on the page. Overall, however, the positives outweigh the negatives at the point in time.

Adobe Acrobat vs. PDF Knock-offs

If you decide to format your e-book in PDF, you'll need a program to convert your text and graphics into PDF. 

Adobe Acrobat 5.0 (www.adobe.com/acrofamily/) is the most recent (though expect version 6.0 to come out during Q1 2003). I use version 4.05, which includes everything I might need except perhaps adjusting the page size for smaller-format e-books. Acrobat comes with Acrobat Distiller that takes your MS Word or other text and converts, with any hyperlinks and graphics, into a top-notch PDF document.

FinePrint Software pdfFactory (www.fineprint.com/products/pdffactory) is a less expensive, but very fine substitute for producing PDF e-books. It comes in Standard ($49.95) and Pro ($99.99) Editions, but you'll probably need the Pro version if you want clickable URLs and bookmarks in your e-book -- and you'll need those for the table of contents. pdfFactory lacks some of the bells and whistles of Acrobat, but may be entirely adequate for your task.

See Preston Gralla, "No need for Acrobat-ics: 3 new ways to create PDF files," ZDNet AnchorDesk, 10/19/01 for similar tools. www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/stories/story/0,10738,2818436,00.html

Password Protections -- Pros and Cons

I question whether it's wise to password-protect e-books at all. Have you ever experienced the frustration of buying an e-book, taking a look, and then coming back to read it later in detail, only to find that you've misplaced the password?

E-book publishers seem paranoid that someone will steal their intellectual property and e-mail it to a friend. And they will -- occasionally. This is my take on the matter. Few people who spend $25 or more on an e-book are likely to e-mail a copy to friends. And most of the people who collect such illicit freebies never read them -- nor would they have likely bought the e-book if they couldn't get a free copy. I argue that you lose very few potential sales by leaving password protection off your e-book. It's not an issue to lose sleep over -- this from a writer who has had hundreds of articles pirated onto websites by ignorant or unscrupulous webmasters. People who steal from others are seldom successful in business and are unlikely customers.

Having said this, let me explain the copy protection available using PDF Acrobat 4.05. (The 5.0 version has some problems, and is going to be replaced by 6.0 in Q1 2003, I understand.) Once you have prepared and saved your e-book in PDF format look at the top menu and select File | Save As.

At the bottom of the "Save As" dialog box, you'll see a drop-down menu under security. Select "Standard" security.

The "Security" dialog box has space for two passwords. The "Open the Document" password, if filled in, will require the reader to type in a specific password to open the PDF file. If left blank, no password will be required.

The "Change Security Options" password, however, should be filled in. Without a password, any user can change the document or select and copy text and graphics if they like. Normally, I recommend allowing printing and annotating, but prohibit changing or selecting text and graphics.

Adobe's password scheme isn't foolproof. There's a free program circulating that will allow someone to disable password protection if only one password is given (but not both). But for most users it will allow you some protection against your work being changed.

E-Book Templates for a Professional Look-and-Feel

If your customer opens your e-book and is impressed -- Wow! -- with the way it looks, you're not likely to get many returns. A professional look is vital if you expect to be taken seriously. 

However, many authors just don't know how to prepare a book for printing or e-book formatting. This is a desktop publishing skill. You'll find some help in Neil Tarvin's Word E-Book Templates and The "But I'm Not an Artist" Guide to E-book Design. (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/tarvin1.htm). He designs e-books professionally and has developed Word templates that simplify the process of producing a professional-looking e-book -- in living color. For tips on formatting an e-book page using PDF, see the companion article, "Ken Evoy and Neil Tarvin on E-Book PDF Page Formatting," Web Marketing Today, 2/5/03 (www.wilsonweb.com/wmt8/ebook_evoy_tarvin.htm).

E-Book Covers

The finishing touch for your e-book is a cover. Silly, isn't it, since bits and bytes don't need covers. But they help your potential customers think of your work in terms of a virtual book, and that's important to help sales.

Amazon uses two-dimensional book covers supplied by the book publisher to sell print books. But many e-books these days are pictured with three-dimensional books, slightly at an angle to the reader, and complete with a shadow caused by the virtual density. There are many very fine e-book cover artists. I'll mention only two that come highly recommended by someone I trust:

KillerCovers (www.wilsonweb.com/afd/killercovers.htm), Vaughn Davidson. Excellent covers from artist experienced with marketing and advertising. $117. Takes credit cards.

New Vision Graphics (www.newvisiongraphics.com), Lori Taylor-Hutcherson. Sharp looking. Single cover $70, 2 for $125. Takes PayPal.