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January 19, 2006 8:35 PM Subscribe
How does one make and distribute e-books?
What software does it require? Is PDF the preferred format? Is it possible to limit printing or copying of the file - and do such protection schemes actually work? Is it necessary to have a specialized distribution mechanism of some sort?
Adobe's site, for instance, directs me either to obsolete products or colourful sales graphics, with nothing that would clearly explain the process.
What software does it require? Is PDF the preferred format? Is it possible to limit printing or copying of the file - and do such protection schemes actually work? Is it necessary to have a specialized distribution mechanism of some sort?
Adobe's site, for instance, directs me either to obsolete products or colourful sales graphics, with nothing that would clearly explain the process.
You can use lulu.com to sell a PDF e-book.
You can restrict printing or saving in a PDF. This will prevent printing/saving by those who will just give up after they try to select print/save and get the message that this is not allowed (which is probably the vast majority of people). Anyone who looks for a workaround will probably find one.
posted by winston at 8:47 PM on January 19, 2006
You can restrict printing or saving in a PDF. This will prevent printing/saving by those who will just give up after they try to select print/save and get the message that this is not allowed (which is probably the vast majority of people). Anyone who looks for a workaround will probably find one.
posted by winston at 8:47 PM on January 19, 2006
MS has information on how to create content for their MS Reader setup over on their pages. They also have some other links from other companies on that page for creating ebooks that are compatible.
posted by sien at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2006
posted by sien at 9:12 PM on January 19, 2006
Is it possible to limit printing or copying of the file - and do such protection schemes actually work?
Yup, you can limit these things. Yup, it's crackable. I've cracked 'em on free eBooks for the mundane reason of wanting to change the PDF metadata to something sensible (I use the metadata to find files with Spotlight on Mac OS X, so the boneheaded values the author put in for "author," "title," "subject," and "keywords" gave me heartburn).
It took me minutes, with a bit of Googling, using a Unix tool (Xpdf, IIRC).
As for creating them -- under Mac OS X, it's super easy, as PDF is the native file format for such things. Under Windows, you can install that Adobe printer thingy. You can also buy Acrobat professional, and it can turn web pages and other documents into PDFs, with some extra options.
posted by teece at 9:21 PM on January 19, 2006
Yup, you can limit these things. Yup, it's crackable. I've cracked 'em on free eBooks for the mundane reason of wanting to change the PDF metadata to something sensible (I use the metadata to find files with Spotlight on Mac OS X, so the boneheaded values the author put in for "author," "title," "subject," and "keywords" gave me heartburn).
It took me minutes, with a bit of Googling, using a Unix tool (Xpdf, IIRC).
As for creating them -- under Mac OS X, it's super easy, as PDF is the native file format for such things. Under Windows, you can install that Adobe printer thingy. You can also buy Acrobat professional, and it can turn web pages and other documents into PDFs, with some extra options.
posted by teece at 9:21 PM on January 19, 2006
CutePDF or OpenOffice Writer will both let you create PDFs for free in Windows.
posted by ejaned8 at 9:50 PM on January 19, 2006
posted by ejaned8 at 9:50 PM on January 19, 2006
I've heard good things about PDFcreator, too, from several sources -- but I use a Mac so I've never tested it personally.
posted by matteo at 3:41 AM on January 20, 2006
posted by matteo at 3:41 AM on January 20, 2006
Another popular format is Microsoft lit. Creation of the files can be done with programs such as Readerworks which has a free standard version. On the Microsoft site check the Developers section for more info. I like the Microsoft Reader lit format. It has more functionality than Adobe PDF for actual reading of stories. I think it is less susceptible to content theft too.
posted by JJ86 at 5:58 AM on January 20, 2006
posted by JJ86 at 5:58 AM on January 20, 2006
I don’t know why you’re even considering something other than HTML. If you really had to use PDF, just don’t even bother with restrictions, because, like all of DRM, they are a failure. Use tagged PDF only, please.
posted by joeclark at 7:15 AM on January 20, 2006
posted by joeclark at 7:15 AM on January 20, 2006
If you want to sell 'em, PayLoadz.com makes it easy to sell downloads thru PayPal.
posted by spilon at 7:22 AM on January 20, 2006 [1 favorite]
posted by spilon at 7:22 AM on January 20, 2006 [1 favorite]
Probably a little harder work than you're up for, but rather than using traditional DRM, the guys at The Pragmatic Programmer personalize the PDFs they sell by putting 'Prepared exclusively for [your name]' at the bottom of each page. Of course, they do it via a program, so if you're not a coder it might not be a solution for you, but I like the approach -- it's more a "please don't distribute" concept.
posted by littleme at 9:44 AM on January 20, 2006
posted by littleme at 9:44 AM on January 20, 2006
This thread is closed to new comments.
Something else to conside are these print-on-demand publishing companies (both online and in your area) that let you produce books in very limited quantities without setup costs.
posted by glider at 8:41 PM on January 19, 2006