Summary: eBooks have evolved tremendously ever since its inception and will continue to grow as long as independent publishers continue to write. However growing concerns with eBooks are its lack of printing capabilities.
Summary: eBooks have evolved tremendously ever since its inception and will continue to grow as long as independent publishers continue to write. However growing concerns with eBooks are its printing capabilities, more and eBooks are being produced with poor design making for an awful printing function. Authors must realize that it’s not realistic to expect customers to read a 100-page eBook on a monitor.

Are Your eBooks Available Off-line? By Andres Munoz

It’s a valid question: Can I print your ebook offline and read it at my leisure? This is the number 1 question from eBook buyers and more and more they are disappointed with eBooks that don’t allow this simple feature. The number one complaint with eBooks are those with very wide rules and dark backgrounds that gulp the printers ink cartridges. Wide rules, unconventional background colors, large fonts and skimpy content are signs of a poorly designed eBook. These pitfalls can be easily avoided with careful planning and attention to detail.

eBook buyers demand a top quality eBook, they visited your site read the copy and were enticed by all the benefits, so enticed that they pulled out the credit cards and made the purchase. As an eBook publisher, don’t you think you owe it to your customers to allow for easy printing? Who has the time to look at a 100+ page ebook or for that matter a 1000 page eBook on a monitor?

Sensible eBook design is top priority for all eBook publishers and the printing capability must be taken into consideration. If the eBook is a 150-page tutorial on ebook marketing why are you going force the reader to print one page at a time? The reader finds it incredibly annoying and most eBook readers are not fooled by the hidden intentions of using wide margin rules and thin content on each page.

The print capabilities should be improved because it’s simply unrealistic to expect a customer to complete these books by reading them on their monitor. Therefore, the ability to print them out is valid customer request.

In addition there is no reason for oversized margins or skimpy content. Your customers will take

It Takes Time To DIY
Over at <em>The Record</em>, NPR arts editor Tom Cole has an interesting thought about the new self-empowered music economy and jazz artists. Not that creating an online profile is a good or bad thing, he writes -- just that it takes a minute to do right.

By far the best format for eBooks are PDF documents. A simple click and the reader will have a printed version of your eBook to read off line.

A perfect solution to HTML eBooks is POD services or Print on Demand. You basically offer 2 versions of your eBook, electronic or book bound. In the ordering process give your customers the choice of a digital version or hard copy. If your customer chooses a hard copy only one copy of your book will be printed for each order. This is known as print on demand you avoid all the hassles of stocking and shipping. There are several print on demand services available and they’re all relatively accessible to small time publishers. A new POD service to emerge and promises to satisfy even the most demanding customer is from www.ebook-printing.com They offer a wide range of services at affordable prices. The initial set-up fee can be easily recouped with just a few sales of your eBook.

Some other print on demand services include www.iuniverse.com, www1.xlibris.com and a few others. These services make a great addition to your business model in allowing you to offer a more flexible format of your published work. Offering your customers flexibility will increase your profits and strengthen your image.

As an eBook publisher you must take into account every facet of eBook production including printing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright (c) 2003 Andres Munoz Andres Munoz is the Editor of MyBiz eZine Newsletter where he writes about the skills needed for successful internet marketing and running an on-line business. To subscribe, visit: http://www.mybusiness-resource.com/ Other articles are available from Andres Munoz in his FREE eBook, "The MyBiz Article Collection" -----------------------------------------------------------------------

About the Author

Andres Munoz is the owner of Mybusiness-resource.com. Dedicated in helping the home-based entrepreneur in developing a serious web presence, mail order business, home-based business and creating a permanent presence through effective marketing.