Generally I center the content area on the page for an ebook that is published as a PDF. If you are publishing for a reader device like a Nook or Kindle, there is no margin setting. Kindle uses basic HTML with a few custom tags for formatting – there aren’t many options to control. The MOBI e-publishing format works the same way for other reader devices.

That said, there are times when I use the same formatting as a print text for an ebook. If I am releasing the text as a PDF and I want it to feel like the reader is getting content from a ‘real book’ (or if there is a print version available and I’m giving away the PDF as a bonus) using a print-style layout adds a subtle perception of increased authority to the ebook.

Since most ebook authors don’t bother to hire a book designer to layout their ebooks (they mostly seem to hit ‘Export to PDF’ in Word), going this extra step can help your book to feel more official. And, that usually equals increased perceived value in the reader’s mind. It’s like the effect of putting a really nice frame around a picture – it magically becomes ‘art’.

I hope that helps,

Andrew

Thanks

Even though it is an official Call to Action, I like to teach my students and members to use what I call “invitational language” in their Resource Box. Invitational language can be something as simple as “and now I would like to invite you to…” and then name the next action you would like them to take.

This is as opposed to something like “get this great new product now and all your problems will be solved by morning and if you don’t you will be broke forever!” Sure I’ve exaggerated a bit, but not by much.

The article above outlines most of the relevant things I learned about creating a template. Coming from an MS Word background, I had to figure out where the controls were for the settings.

One thing that was tricky is that each page style you create leads to another. So, if you set the title page style to lead to a page style for your disclaimer page, anytime you apply the title page style OpenOffice will automatically apply the disclaimer style to the next page.

Since these styles ripple through your whole document, you can really screw up a document if you haven’t carefully planned out all of your styles.

My template is just a document with placeholder content and boilerplate content. The ebook I link to in the article was created using this template document. I just opened the template, changed the text and images on the title page, updated the disclaimer page, and added the body content for the new ebook. Then, I saved it under a new name.

All my ebooks are exported as PDF files. I never compile my ebooks.

Bombs explode, I mean implode as in collapse in on itself due to extreme external pressure – self destruct.

I’m in business and I know websites cost money. There’s bandwidth, servers, domain names, programmers, etc. The more traffic you get the greater the pressure on the technical side. Server farms and programmers cost money. Load-balancing technology, secure gateways, and back-up hardware cost money. Accountants to manage the finances to run the whole operation and lawyers to keep it compliant with federal regulations cost money.

My questions are who is paying for it, what’s in it for them, and what is my risk that they might shut down and cut off my cash flow? I think these are reasonable concerns for a business person to have.

I also know that the life blood of my business is my order processing system. It takes time to setup all of the components of a product ordering sequence (integration with mailing lists, cross-sells, upsells, affiliate tracking and payments, etc.)

To have all of that resting on the services of a company that appears to have no plan for earning a profit (which in my mind equals a sustainable business) makes me very uneasy.

I have an uncle who’s a very nice guy and means well. But, he has a tendency to not follow through on the things he ‘means to do.’ That doesn’t mean that I never ask him to be part of anything. It just means he’s never responsible for anything that is critical.

For anyone who is just dabbling in online publishing and isn’t creating a significant business infrastructure – a totally free service is cool. Nothing lost if it doesn’t work out.

If your ability to pay the mortgage or pay vendors doesn’t depend on stable income from your ecommerce system processing sales – who cares?

Beyond that, folks might want to consider other business needs and risks when choosing an ecommerce service.

Thanks for the lead.

Personally, I’m highly suspicious of any ‘business’ that claims it doesn’t want to make any money. This site will quickly amass a huge database of content and some equally huge bandwidth bills to go with it.

The money to pay for that has to come from somewhere. If the site’s owners are truly benevolent, I think the whole thing will implode some day (and take your business with it.) Or, they will start selling something or charging fees.

Before you get your business to wrapped up in this service, read over the TOS carefully so you know what you are getting into.

Maybe I’m just overly suspicious…