Re: Re: 1st time writer and new to forum

On Tue, Dec 1, 2009 at 10:43 AM, sandimarketing <[email protected]>wrote:

> Hi Joseph,
>
> "For example if you collect money via PayPal [the account is free] there is
> a free way of having a payment system. For a single book from your own
> website you really do not need more than that. So you just made $113, by not
> paying Go-Daddy! ;-)"
>
> This is me jumping up and down.  I just called paypal and they recommended
> setting up a free account.  There is apparently a url button I can set up
> after they receive the payment, the document will go to the reader.  You're
> the best!!!!
>

You can also sell PDF ebooks through Lulu.com, and sell other formats at
smashwords.com (which probably isn't best for something with lots of
technical layout requirements, but has the option of getting a lot more
potential readers.)


> "PDFs are one form of ebook, and probably the most popular for all uses.
> And the size is unlimited. But the size you select should be a commercial
> decision."
>
> Ok, I don't know what you mean by selecting the size.  Also, I think I got
> a little confused re: Adobe.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but I will convert my
> book into a pdf file which can be any software and doesn't have to be adobe
> software.
>

One of the biggest problems with PDFs as ebooks is that many of them are
formatted for print, not for reading on a screen. The margins are bigger
than they need to be, and the page sizes are such that the reader has to
scroll around or zoom in to read all the content on a page.

I have a Sony Reader. (PRS-505, which is not important here.) It has a 6"
screen--which means the pages I read on it show up as about 90mm x 120mm. So
a PDF created with letter-sized pages is shrunk down to be pretty much
unreadable. When I'm reading a letter-sized PDF, I have to either zoom in
(which my Reader doesn't do, but some others have that option), or resize
the text larger, which loses all the original formatting. In order for the
resizing to work, and not put a return at the end of every line, the PDF has
to be "tagged"--which some conversion programs will do automatically, but
others won't.

When I make PDFs to read, I make them with ~90x120mm pages, because that's
the size page I'll be looking at. Letter-sized PDFs are only best for people
who are planning to print them; if they're intended to be read on a screen,
the pages should be sized to work best with the screen size. Letter-sized
pages on a computer screen often don't look good either, but half-letter
size works fairly well, and has the bonus of not being horrible on the
portable ebook readers.

PDF files can't be read by "any software," but they are readable by several
different free, open-source programs. Acrobat Reader is the most well-known,
but Sumatra and Foxit both have free PDF readers.


> 2.  Do I need to type in the url or is there a way they can click on the
> title and that will bring them to the referenced website?
>
> Let's assume I'm going to use PrimoPDF 5.0.0.19 which my neighbor suggested
> who is an IT guy, then there is something within that software that will
> automatically link to the website and the reader won't see the url???
>

There are ways to embed hyperlinks in PDFs. Exactly how, depends on what
software you're using to make the original file, and what software you're
using to convert to PDF.

When I make a Word document to convert to PDF, the conversion automatically
keeps the links in the original document. (However, I'm using Acrobat Pro
7.0 for the conversion, and that's not cheap.) I'm not sure if PrimoPDF or
CutePDF keeps links when it creates the PDFs; you may need either other
software, or to hire someone to create the links in the PDF itself.

Links in PDFs are mostly useless to me; I generally read them on a portable
reader with no web access. Keep in mind that some of your readers may not
have web access while reading.

"By the way, you do know to keep the original file and do all the work on
> copy files?"
>
> Uhhh???? Can changes be made within the pdf file if needed or do I have to
> make corrections in my original file that was typed in word?
> How am I doing so far LOL.
>

After you have your book completed, set it aside, and make an extra copy to
tinker with formatting for PDF or other ebook types. Don't accidentally lose
your original content or formatting.

Making changes to PDF files is very limited; most of the time, it's
easier/better to make changes to the Word document & re-convert.


> What does Adobe have that other software programs don't?
>

1) Make (and edit) bookmarks in the PDF. This feature is almost nonexistent
in other software, and there's no free software that does it after initial
PDF creation. (Some programs will create bookmarks based on headers, or
combined documents, when they make PDFs.)

2) Make (and edit) links, in a variety of ways. (Visible, invisible; opens a
page in the PDF; opens another document; runs a menu command, etc.)

3) Edit text, and move around text & objects. These abilities are limited
and touchy to work with; they don't allow you to, for example, change the
point size of all the text in a document at once.

4) Combine PDFs, insert pages, delete pages, move pages around. Other
software has this ability, but it's more troublesome to work with.

5) Crop & rotate pages. Again, other software is available. Not the same
software that does the other things.

6) Edit metadata: include title, author, keywords, copyright info & other
details. Some other software is available for some metadata editing.

7) Create form fields, to make a fillable PDF.

8) Embed multimedia--videos & sound clips.

9) Interactive features--popup info boxes, notations, attachments, etc.

10) More stuff that's not on the top of my head because I don't use those
features as often. (Print-readiness features, for example. I don't make many
PDFs with the intention of printing them, so offset printing features are
not interesting to me.)

Not all of those are remotely of interest to any one person. (With 10 years
of professional PDF experience, I've never had a need to embed a sound file
in a PDF.) But the combination of those abilities all in one program is very
useful--if you're going to make or edit hundreds of different PDFs.

If not, there are other programs that will cover everything you need;
they're just a bit more hassle to get together.


> 4.  Which program do you recommend to create a "book cover"?
>
> "This might depend on your skill level."  I think by now you know I don't
> have a skill level.  I am creative though and have a good eye.  It's just
> the technical part I'm weak on.
>

I recommend either Photoshop, Illustrator, or GIMP. But those are advanced
graphic arts manipulation programs, not book cover design programs.
("Advanced" means "often takes a new user an hour to figure out how to draw
a square with a line around it." Powerful & versatile... and entirely
non-intuitive, and cluttered with *hundreds* of options.)




You can create a bookcover in Word. A lot depends on your specific needs. If
it's going to be uploaded to a site that shows the bookcover alone, you need
an image version of the cover--which you can get with a screencap of the
cover open in whatever program you're using to make it. A screencap is
low-resolution and won't be good for printing, but is fine for web viewing.


-- 
"I follow Eris blindly in all things. That She is the Goddess of Chaos
simplifies this immensely."  -- Christian the Pagan


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



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