Survey says...PDF #1

Question...When publishing an ebook what alternatives are there to buying Adobe Acrobat 4.0? I've seen the different html compilers that require IE 4.0+, and I've seen ebooks that open their own special browsers.

I started my ebook just using Notepad; but then the links are not active. So I transferred it into Netscape html which works OK, but then you have to check it in IE to make sure it displays OK in that browser, too.

If I'm not mistaken, Acrobat 4.0 has active links within itself and to the WWW. I guess I will have to invest in it to do what I want to do.

Maybe I could publish ebook version 1.0/html. Then when I sold enough copies, I could invest in Acrobat 4.0 and publish version 1.1/PDF.

Any comments or feedback would be appreciated.

JDB

> Question...When publishing an ebook what
> alternatives are there to buying Adobe
> Acrobat 4.0?

FWIW: PDF is the format most likely to give you the widest market; two major reasons being that PDF is both PC and Mac compatible, not to mention that most computers nowadays come with Acrobat Reader pre-installed.

There are a number of other options beside Acrobat for creating PDF files. For example, Pagemaker 6.x allows you to export as PDF, plus allows you to add internal/external hyperlinks to your e-books/documents. A plus of using it is that you can also use it to create camera-ready art for printed books, and in a ready-to-go format for most book printers.

Aside from Acrobat and Pagemaker, I'm not sure which allow you to create hyperlinks within the document (a very handy feature).

To Your Ebook Profits,
Marty Foley ~ Victory Ventures
Internet Business Success: http://ProfitInfo.com
Affiliate Program Success: http://AffiliateProfitInfo.com

Hi Marty and everyone,

Just a quick question about Pagemaker. I agree it's excellent for the job. But what about when you treat each chapter as a separate booklet?

When you are ready to make your pdf book with Pagemaker's Distiller, then Pagemaker will compile all your booklets (chapters) into one book with correct sequential pagination.

A great feature.

BUT, my question is: How do you get internal hyperlinks to work between booklets? Works fine within the booklet, but from one booklet to another, it doesn't seem to work at all.

Maybe I am doing something wrong, but I'd sure appreciate some advice and feedback from Marty and others in the forum. Thanks all!

Hey JDB!

There's NO NEED to fork over hundreds of dollars to Adobe, unless you dig doing that kind of thing.

You can create your own PDFs for free, using a piece of software called... FREEPDF

Whatever you want to turn into a PDF, Free PDF can do it. Any file. Any time. Just like Adobe.

Does it make hyperlinks active?

I wouldn't have a clue. You can find out though, by asking him on his discussion board.

Anyway. If you want to try it out you can read more about it and get it from here http://4.36.8.8/zipguy/freepdf.htm

It uses a couple of third party apps which are also free. It takes a few minutes to set up. Even I did it first go by following the setup intructions it comes with.

Even though it takes a few minutes to set up, what's there to complain about... it's free.

Oh... just spotted this on his page... "Note that some of the advanced PDF features, including PDF hotlinks and PDF Table of Contents, are not supported."

Hope this helps.

Michael Ross.

P.S. There's also HTML Doc http://www.easysw.com/htmldoc/ I believe it will create a PDF from your HTML and you can have the hyperlinks active. It's also free but support is $99, if you want it - you don't have to buy support.


Buy Buy Buy. Sell Sell Sell. Conquer The Market Forces, if you can.

Hi,

1.Just go there. (This is painful but essential.)
2.Click on the "Get Free Software" banner. (Secure.)
3.Register (it hurts, but only for 30 seconds)
4.Download CtrlP.exe (5 frustrating megs)
5.Install (1 minute down the drain)
6.Enjoy.

Simon

> BUT, my question is: How do you get internal
> hyperlinks to work between booklets? Works
> fine within the booklet, but from one
> booklet to another, it doesn't seem to work
> at all.

Because the file size for a sizeable book gets unwieldy (for example,
my own book of nearly 300 pages), it normally requires that you break the project down into separate files ("booklets," or chapters), as you have done.

Here's how to accomplish what you're asking about in Pagemaker (at least in version 6.5): Compile all those separate files as one unit, or file, using the Book feature (under the Utilities > Book sub-menu). Basically you just name the files to be included in the book, and the sequence in which they appear.

Be forewarned that in some Pagemaker versions there is a software bug that causes an error with hyperlinks.

It can be fixed by downloading a software patch from the Adobe site. It also required some extensive searching through their online help files to locate info on fixing the problem.

If you are already following the above advice to use the Book feature and your hyperlinks aren't working -- or you come up with an error when trying to use Distiller -- you likely need the bug patch fix. Search through Adobe's site (online help files) using terms such as Pagemaker, Distiller, hyperlinks, and the specific wording of any error messages. (Persistence was required, but the finished product was worth it.)

To Your Online Profits,
Marty Foley ~ Victory Ventures
Internet Business Success: http://ProfitInfo.com
Affiliate Program Success: http://AffiliateProfitInfo.com

A few months ago I did some research regarding different ebook formats....

I came across an ebook web site which said that they only accepted ebooks (for resale) in PDF format. Why?

They used to offer ebooks in both PDF and Ascii (normal text) format -- and they found that much fewer people asked for their money back with the PDF ebooks, compared with the plain text ebooks.

I don't know why that would be, but my guess is that documents in PDF format generally look quite nice and professional. Therefore, people probably feel better that they are getting a nice looking document to read....

Another benefit I like is that there are some good security features you can use with Adobe Acrobat too....

:)

Dien Rice

I always use http://www.journeyed.com/ to purchase software, they have Acrobat 4.05 for $99, or I use ebay. But PDF is the only way to go. The free PDF services have very limited capabilities.

Dave Roberts


Journey Ed Bookstore

Adobe also has a free trial service to create PDF files online -- from Microsoft Word files, HTML files, etc.

The link to it is below.... :)

Dien Rice




Create Adobe PDF Online