Publishing and specifically E-books were initially touted as the next big thing in publishing and predictions were made about the end of the book as we know it. But their popularity has grown without any, or at least not much, damage to the physical book industry. It’s a bit like digital music versus CDs – there will always be those that buy CDs because they like the physical product. Books are the same.

E-books come in a variety of formats, although the most popular is PDF. PDF continues to be the gold standard because of a number of key characteristics. First, PDF is completely portable and is not platform specific. All you need is a copy of Adobe’s free PDF reader and anyone can read the document. In addition, the PDF is an exact copy of the file it is created from and offers some security features. There are also some quite funky elements to PDF, such as the read out loud feature. But PDF has some significant draw-backs. For a start, it doesn’t have the look and feel of a book and, even with the highest security in place; it’s pretty easy to get around it. There really is nothing to stop someone sending your PDF e-book to hundreds of people without you receiving any payment.

So whilst PDF is still King in terms of user numbers and recognition of format for style, interactive brilliance and security, I believe there is a very worthy challenger to that throne - DNL e-book format.

My book How to Write a Book in 33 Days... was originally created as a PDF but I transformed it to DNL format. PDF is awesome software but it’s static and is difficult to protect. DNL is dynamic and is completely secure. Download How To Write a Book in 33 Days... to check it out – you can read the first 33 pages for free.

In addition, the pages “turn” like a real book and it is designed for a desktop or laptop. Personally, I have never been convinced that people will ever want to read e-books on screens any smaller than that. But if you disagree and want your e-book to be compatible with the Kindle – Amazon’s digital book reader, then you will need to have it converted to Digital Text Platform (DTP). The Sony Reader does, however, read PDF and other ePub formats.

Whatever format you choose, e-books have huge potential. Having a physical book is perfect for kudos and is always ideal as a business card and business development tool but e-books offer great opportunities for additional, on-going product development and increased revenue.

Advantages:

• Speed to market - Once the manuscript is finished, edited and proofread, all you need to do is lay it out so that it looks professional and convert the file to your chosen format so it’s quick.
   
• Large margins - Because the book is never printed (unless by the customer) there are very few up-front production costs and no inventory to store. As a result, e-publishing offers the potential for almost pure profit.
   
• Instant delivery - Online shoppers are incredibly impatient and when they are on a quest to find something they invariably want immediate access to it. This is especially true of information products or “how to” products, where the searcher is often engaged in the task at hand and will hop online to find solutions to problems as they present themselves.
   
• Powerful marketing tool - Information products such as e-books or special reports offer a very cost effective promotion tool to add value to your product or service offering. They also offer a low entry point for customers to sample your knowledge and professionalism.
   
• Attract the attention of traditional publishers – if your eBook does well then you can use the sales figures to attract a traditional publisher. E-books also allow you to get to market quickly, test your product cost-effectively, improve on the idea and make some money too.

Disadvantages:

• Too many bad products - Because of the potentially lucrative nature of e-products, combined with the reach and speed of the Internet, e-books have attracted the attention of the “Get-Rich-Quick-Brigade”. As a result, there are a lot of really bad products out there.
   
• Limited control over distribution - Traditionally, when it comes to e-books, once someone buys an e-book and the product is delivered to their inbox or downloaded to their computer, the author has no control over what that person does with it. However that is changing with new formats such as DNL.
   
• Less clout than a physical book – a physical book will always pack more punch but credibility is rising fast with people like Seth Godin and Stephen King using e-Publishing to great effect.

E-books most definitely have their place in publishing so don’t dismiss them out of hand. They can offer a very valid revenue stream and can further establish you as a thought leader and innovator in your field. Make sure you make an outstanding product and you can reap the rewards of e-publishing.

E-Publishing Might Suit You If:

• Your book is time specific, meaning that creating a physical product would be pointless. For example, a how-to e-book on technology would be particularly useful, as the e-book can be easily up-dated and kept fresh and relevant as the technology evolves and the instructions change.
• You can make a better impact with speed rather than by sending a hard copy book. For example, you could e-mail your e-book to a potential client immediately. That speed of response is impressive in modern business. A book would take a few days to reach that client.
• You want to create a book cost-effectively. E-publishing still has costs (see checklist above) but it’s considerably cheaper than publishing a physical product.
• You want to get your ideas to market within weeks, not months or years.
• You are having trouble finding a mainstream publisher. Publish online initially and use sales figures to prove your product has a market.
• You want to test your material and fine-tune the book, while potentially also making a little cash up front.
• Your business is content rich and you are keen to experiment with online publishing to create a bank of information products that your business can either give away to clients as value-add loyalty building products, or sell as additional revenue streams.