This is going to be a controversial post but it’s something I feel very strongly about. No doubt a lot of very experienced marketers are going to disagree with me. That’s fine. On the one hand we have PDF ebooks compiled using the industry standard Acrobat Reader, a product that has been around for 15 years, developed by a very respectable company – Adobe. And on the other hand we have the dreaded “Ebook Applications” or “Executable Ebooks”. Grrrrrrrr.
This craze of making ebooks into a standalone executable program started a few years ago. Anyone who has downloaded the big ebook packs “200 Free Ebooks” etc will know what I mean. Here are my 5 main reasons why I hate them and will have nothing to do with them:
Reason # 1 – Many Will Only Work If You Are Connected To The Internet
They don’t tell you that do they? Well, not until after you’ve bought. Then you open the program and there is a small note on the opening page “Note – This Ebook Requires An Internet Connection”. Why is this?
Simple – a lot of the “executable ebooks” link to a page on the author’s web site. If the author decides that internet marketing isn’t for him or her, or if they take the page down your nice little “executable ebook” is also gone. So instead of buying a product you thought was “for life” you only bought a product that is only available to you for as long as the author can be bothered to maintain his or her site. Nice.
What happens if you don’t have an internet connection where you currently are? What if you’re on the move – on a train, ferry, car, plane? What if your home or office connection is down? You have NO access to the product you have paid for!
Reason # 2 – Many Are Just Disguised Google Adsense Sites
This is another reason why so many will only allow you access if you have an internet connection. I have seen so many that are basically just a “copy and paste” job from a “made for” Google Adsense advertising site. You get a little bit of content in the middle of the page surrounded by a sea of ads. Is that really something you want to sell to your customers?
Reason # 3 – Most Cannot Be Printed
This is a bigger thing than you might think. A lot of buyers like to be able to print out their ebooks. If you have a PDF it’s as easy as clicking “File” and then “Print”. Can’t do that with most of the executable ebooks….
Reason # 4 – Cannot Be Used On A Portable Device
The world is getting more mobile. We want to carry our information with us. Many people have Iphones, Smartphones or PDAs. Mobile versions of Adobe Acrobat run on all of them, Windows Mobile (Microsoft’s operating system for mobile devices) includes it as standard. So whilst you can read your PDFs on a mobile device, unfortunately that doesn’t hold true for “executable ebooks”.
Reason # 5 – Cannot Be Read By Portable Book Readers
Staying with the mobile theme, these kind of devices are becoming more popular. The most well-known is Kindle, distributed by Amazon. Yet again, PDFs present no problem to Portable Book Readers. In contrasts don’t even think of trying to open an “executable ebook” with one.
I took the decision to ONLY sell ebooks in PDF format, both on my web site
www.bestmultimediaguides.com
and my eBay shop
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/bestmultimediaguides
I strongly suggest you do the same.