I have Adobe Acrobat 5.0....should I stick w/it?

I know for example that two other compilers, allow you to lock your ebook only on 1 computer so no one can share passwords. unfortunately it seems that people need Internet explorer in order to read these books.

Do you know if acrobat allows security features?

Some reasons to use ebookcompiler
1. Passwords, scripting, splash screens forms,etc
2. Re-use HTML you use on your web site, or if you prefer HTML
3. The optional multi-media add-onwww.ebookpower.com
4. Rebranding

Some reasons to use Acrobat
1. Mac
2. You need it to print precisely (HTML used in ebookcompiler does not control printing exactly)

Say you make an ebook which you want to encourage other people to give away from their web site too (like viral marketing).  Basically you provide a capability for people to customize selected parts of an ebook (whichever bits you choose) before they pass on it.

For example, they might be able to put their name, their web link, their affiliate id, something like that in specified points in your ebook.  Obviously this gives them much more incentive to pass it on, and in the long run can help you.  

The best part about rebranding is you provide a tool that lets them do the desired customization themselves without having to come back to you,  or contacting you and using your time, or having to buy anything else.

If supporting Mac is the most important thing to you, then you've already answered your question.  Other people view different advantages or disadvantages of each approach to be more or less important to them - which is why there is no single right choice for everybody.

see for example
http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2002/September/os.php

so some people feel they can afford to lose these potential customers if they can sell a better product to PC users.  It all depends on what you feel is important for your book - you have to make a choice.

Yes you could make the EXE (PC version) by cutting and pasting the text.  It wouldn't be zero work - but it wouldn't need you to retype everything either.  Some people do this - check different ebook sites - and some do offer both formats - so it's not insane - again it's a choice you make.

While I have Adobe 5.0, most of my pdf files are created right in my WordPerfect 10 program and then edited, if need be, in Adobe. Print Shop Pro ver. 15 and ver. 20 also create pdf files for you. I use Print Shop for graphics pages. The finished pages are inserted later using Adobe.

I prefer the HTML compilers because it's easier and more fun to build a book. The graphics don't travel across pages as you work on them. And when you come back to work, everything's right where you left it when you closed the program.  Graphics, I've discovered might like to take walks across pages in a word processing program.

Still, even for all that, I'm pretty proud and happy when the final project gets properly distilled and looks better than I expected it to.

In surfing the net for places to promote my eNovels, I notice that stories are very often offered in more than one format to allow for reaching those smaller groups. And being the DIYer that I am, I go looking for the programs I need to get my stuff out there.

So, while Activ EBook is my favorite compiler, I have grabbed a couple that claim not to need IE to run so I can reach those who hate MicroSoft so much they won't buy my book if it needs IE to run.

One, Ebook Publisher, is really simple to run, but it's not very feature rich. Also, it limits, severely, the number of characters for your title. I suppose this shouldn't bother me too much, for I include pages for copyright, title, etc, anyway. Still---it's irritating. You're, naturally, required to fill that blank. I did it with ****'s. I'm feeling pretty  resentful that my ability to name a book has been dictated to me by someone else. Who are they to say how long my title should be???

The Ebook Creater Lite has a little more to offer, you can call your book what you want---but, it doesn't open enough folders to get to the source files where the codes for my books are. I had to create duplicate folders and put them someplace the program wanted to go.

I got a copy of Word 2002 and downloaded the builder to compile ebooks for the MicroSoft Reader.  Plus, I've just begun to compile books for the Hiebook Reader.

This is a Korean program which also doesn't have a bunch of features to it, and you apparently can't use the HTML files you built using your HTML editor. Thing froze when I tried. But, the converted HTMl from WordPerfect compiled fine.

Hiebook Builder controls the way your book finally looks. I couldn't find any way to get it to recognize end of the chapter breaks. So new chapters don't start on new pages. I don't think I was able to use more than one image for the whole project either. Not good news for my children's books, particularly the picture books. BUT---I can title my books the way I want to.

I belong to a few ebook elists, including the elist for the Hiebook, and those who use any of these devices are all looking for books for them---and wishing, too, that formats were interchangable between devices.  So for those people who own more than one type. I will be able to tell them my books come in several formats. Come check it out! 

With 3 completed books of vaying lengths, it's been a bit of a job to compile them in all the formats I plan to offer.  I've decided to burn all these formats on a CD so people can have their choice---not to mention it's a great way to fill up some space on the disk.

I've been encouraged in my travels to find that fiction does live on ebooks. And some authors are doing very well with them, selling in more than one format.

So, you're not crazy to go both ways. You might think it for a while, though, while you're learning new programs. Took me all day to figure out the best way to present the HTML so the Hiebook Builder would accept it and actually look decent once compiled. Now that I know that, the next ones should go a lot more smoothly.

If it really matters to you that someone may not get to read your words, hey, go for it. Look at it as a new skill you're acquiring.  If it doesn't matter, and you're having all you can do now to create what you're creating in whatever form you're creating it in, put your efforts into that. Worry about the rest another time if you want to. Good luck in whatever you decide to do!

Well, I'll zip it  for now, I guess, and be off to figure out the ramifications of building MicroSoft Reader ebooks.

Neenah