If you write and publish eBooks, sooner or later youwill probably be faced with a dilemma - should youcreate your eBooks as .exe files or .pdf files?

PDF, which stands for Portable Document Format, is thefile extension for files created with Adobe Acrobat.

Exe, which stands for 'executable', is the extensionfor files created by eBook compilers.

PDF is widely considered to be the 'industry standard'for eBook publishing, and for good reason. Here aresome of the advantages of PDF files over exe files:

(1) With most eBook compilers you have to set up eachpage of your eBook as a separate web page. With AdobeAcrobat you can use a single MS Word file as thesource document.

(2) PDF files automatically number each page - exefiles don't.

(3) PDF files are very easy to edit - you can insertpages, replace pages and delete pages (and the pagenumbering is automatically adjusted).

(4) Printing from a PDF file is much easier thanprinting from an .exe file.

(5) The 'bookmark' column on the left side of a PDFfile makes navigation very easy - much easier than inan exe file.

(6) PDF files compress better than exe files, so youend up with a smaller, more manageable file.

(7) It's virtually impossible to transmit a virusthrough a PDF file - exe files are susceptible tovirus transmission and can become corrupted duringdownload.

(8) Finally, by using PDF you automatically expandyour potential market because PDF files can be read onboth a PC and a Mac (exe files can only be read on aPC). Over 8 percent of the online population in theU.S. are currently Mac users(www.nielsen-netratings.com) - not a huge increase inyour market, but nevertheless significant.

But exe files do have some advantages over PDF files.Until recently, one of the most important of these wasprice - most eBook compilers are a fraction of thecost of Adobe Acrobat.

However, a number of PDF creators have recentlyappeared on the market with price tags similar to thoseof 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 therebranding feature. The following eBook compilers allhave 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 aremuch more likely to promote your free eBook if theycan customize it with their own affiliate links.

Author: Michael Southon         Posted: 2005.04.06         Print this article         Send to a friend

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Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3
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