It used to be ezines, but now everyone wants to jump on
the
e-book bandwagon.
They're being given away on marketing sites all over
the web,
and they're attracting a huge number of downloads.
They're
most often given away as free incentives to get people
to sign
up for ezines. But on some sites they're being sold for
between $7 and $69, and some are even being marketed as
affiliate programs.
Unless you can offer a substantial product it's better
to give
yours away for free. An e-book of your own can be a
great
marketing vehicle for promoting your site.
Imagine the traffic, a popular e-book can bring you, if
it's given
away free from hundreds of web sites. And not only
traffic.
Your e-book can contain advertising from businesses and
affiliate programs you're promoting, and, if you wish,
you can
even sell ad space in it.
But just how do you produce one? There's surprisingly
little
online information in how to put one together. This
article is
about to change that.
To put this article together I downloaded dozens of
e-books,
and put them through their paces. Instead of judging
them
on their content I went by their looks and ease of use,
then
discarded all the one's that didn't make the grade. I
also
asked for opinions from participants in business and
marketing forums.
The e-books I had left were all put together with the
same few
software programs. The e-books that topped my list were
those written in the programs E-ditor Pro and Web
Compiler, which
I liked because they looked just like Microsoft IE4.
The other's to make
the shortlist were Neobook, Super Winbook, and the
Windows version of
Writer's Dream. Evaluation copies of each of them are
available
for free download. The links ( along with a longer
version of
this article ) are posted on my web site at
http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm
If you can put together a web site, E-ditor Pro at $69
and Web
Compiler, which sells for US$149US or 99 pounds
sterling, are by far
the easiest to use.
This is because they're HTML compilers which allow you
to take a
collection of HTML, either from a Web Site you already
have or
maybe HTML you prepared specially, and turn it into a
single
self-contained "executable" file, ready for
download. Very little
technical knowledge is required to use these programs.
They can handle almost anything you can do with a
web
site, including: embedded video and audio; built in
searching;
Javascript, but not Java; and you can even use forms
and shopping
cart type applications, as long as it's being read
while connected
to the net.
Another feature is that the underlying HTML can be made
inaccessible, and groups of pages can be protected with
passwords, allowing information to be restricted to
authorized
users, or maybe even sold.
A downside of both E-ditor Pro and Web Compiler 32 is
that they
only work on computers using Windows 95 or 98. Though
an older
16 bit version of Web Compiler available for Windows
3.1 users if there
are any still around. There is no Mac or Linux version.
Read more here: http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm
Neobook came third on my list. It's an impressive
authoring
system, and though it's not as easy to use as the two
compilers,
it's just as versatile You can use it to create and
compile a
standalone multimedia application using pictures,
sounds, video,
hypertext, and other elements. Plus you can add custom
push
buttons, check boxes, radio buttons, and text entry
fields to create
an interactive learning environment. Again it's Windows
95 only.
A shareware download is available from
http://www.ozemedia.com/ebooks.htm, and it's $199.95 if
you
decide to keep it.
Super Winbook 98 Compiler is much lower in price, at
just
$39.95 for the registered version. It doesn't work with
HTML
files, but handles text from just about any word
processor, and
it compiles and compresses all of the book files into
one file
ready for download from web sites.
If you already have your book in Text (*.txt) or Rich
Text (*.rtf)
files, just load them into the Winbook Compiler, make
changes,
add sounds, and in a matter of minutes your book is
ready for
distribution.
Writer's Dream, is the grandfather of e-book programs,
and has
around longer than the Internet. Both the DOS and
Windows
versions use plain ASCII text files that you create
with any word
processor. Then add sound and graphics, and compile the
result
into one stand alone .exe file. The unregistered
version works
fully, but doesn't allow you to create files that you
can distribute.
Writer's Dream works with Windows 3.1 and is only $39
if you
decide to keep it.
___________________________________________________
Article compliments of Phil Wiley's All the Secrets
newsletter.
Phil puts together a unique weekly marketing and free
publicity letter,
that stands out from the rest of the crowd. He's got a
great personal
touch, and a lot of insider media knowledge which
teachs you how
to grab all the free publicity you can handle. You can
subscribe for
FREE at http://www.ozemedia.com
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