Your PDF eBooks - Printable? Editable?

I print out most ebooks I buy. The local paper supply store that sells to printers sells pre-drilled 3-hole paper. This saves time and makes the book easy to stick into a binder. BTW Three-ring binders are really inexpensive at Sam's Club.

I find it much easier to read, use a highlighter, and make notes when it is printed on paper rather than a computer screen. I used to try highlighter on my computer screen, but then the words would move up the page while the highlighting wouldn't. Eventually my computer screen became all yellow! :-)

I can sit at a table with a printed book, sit on the couch, or in an easy chair outside on the screened porch. It sure beats having a computer in my lap. Those things get pretty warm.

:-Don

I make mine unprintable and uneditable and then if a customer emails me and says that they prefer to sit in a chair and read a printed copy, I'll give them a printable copy. Otherwise, I'd rather not make it that easy to steal the copy.

Why on earth would you make life difficult for
your customers? You're inconveniencing the
folks who pay you.. limiting the value of your
products by restricting functionality.

John

I've only had one refund request on my ebooks and it had nothing to do with being unprintable, so that doesn't worry me.

I actually print out at least 50% of the bigger e-books I buy, I sit downstairs with a glass of wine and my feet up on the sofa, beats being at the PC.

For the record, anybody worth their salt can crack PDF security, it's horribly easy in real terms, whether you set security settings to print or edit, the entire thing can have the perms edited.

As a seller of e-books , and one who has been in the business since the days of Corey Rudels e-book pro etc, we came to realise that passwords, encryption, disallowing printing, online verification etc, are all to much hassle, cause to much customer service and ultimately end up wasting more of your time than is worth while.

My 2 cents...

First, I agree with Don - I print out every ebook I buy, unless the e"book" is a 5 page piece of crap. Then, I probably read it on my computer and hit delete. (A small peeve of mine,BTW, is calling a 5, 10, 20 page report a "book" - a book is lots of pages, if not it is a report, a white paper, a booklet, a pamplet or some other things that describes less than a book. Anyway...)


For me, I like to be able to print it and read it while I am not stuck to my computer. We all spent too much time staring at our monitors as it is. Trying to read and take notes and really get eductated by whatever it is, is very difficult to me on a computer screen. I guess it is more of just wanting to be more comfortable when I read multiple pages.

And, when an ebook is locked up, I get really pissed off. Not much I can do about it since you already have my money (I rarely request refunds, even if the product is garbage, but I do in these cases most of the time. I figure I deserve a refund as the product is not usable to me by my standard of usable). Then, I just choose not to do business with the person again.

To answer your question: I think 1) get over it - the whole world is not trying to steal your copyright (and those who really want it, will do it anyway) and 2) yes, I think your customers will be more appreciative. You may not make or lose sales on the surface since no one knows up front if it will be difficult to use or not. But you may cut down on refunds and you may get more repeat business.

Just my thoughts.

Uneditable is fine - but I also prefer to print out ebooks and read them in a more comfortable place than my computer chair, highlight key points and make notes in the margins.

I would think you'd get a lot of feedback on making ebooks unprintable, espeacially in the IM market. You may not get as many complaints in other niches. I guess your feedback would give you a better idea on that.