PDF vs eBook

John Romaine

13 years ago

This poll makes no sense.

Have you started drinking already?

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GlenH 13 years ago

Originally Posted by John Romaine

This poll makes no sense.

I'll say it doesn't
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datingworld

13 years ago

Originally Posted by WillR

I have never like the sound of the word 'ebook'. To me it sounds cheap.

I would just call it a report. A lot of people outside of the IM niche will have no idea what you mean when you say PDF.

Now, let's all go and get on it.

Thanks for giving an idea, Even I never thought to call it a report but it seems better than Ebook or Pdf.

Originally Posted by John Romaine

This poll makes no sense.

Have you started drinking already?

This does make sense. If you don't have anything to contribute, just pass by, you don't have to call someone's post or poll without sense.

Originally Posted by Andrey Doichev

My point.

This isn't about the actual files and which one you use.
It's ONLY about which one sounds better to YOU.

I think it's a perfectly justifiable question. It may be to nit-
picky to you but I can't factor in if my question might
"offend" or irritate somebody. There was no need to be
cynical about it.

Now go post somewhere else that "how can i make money"
is to broad of a question.

I used to call it Ebook but as stated by WillR, I think calling it report is more appropriate.

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WillR

13 years ago

Originally Posted by datingworld

I used to call it Ebook but as stated by WillR, I think calling it report is more appropriate.

Yeah, I think ebook has been used for so long now that to me it just sounds a bit cheap and worthless. It conjurs up feelings of cheap plr material. Guide or Report sounds much better to me.

Others have stated that so long as the content is something they want it doesn't matter what you call it, but I don't 100% agree with that. Why do we as marketers use ecovers then to represent our products and quite often provide mp3 audios of written material and vice versa. The way you present a product does play a role into the perceived value of that product. Same reason why companies spend millions and millions of dollars on their product packaging and branding in the real world. All of that stuff can make a BIG difference. If you need milk would you rather buy a carton of milk or a bag of milk?

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by WillR

Yeah, I think ebook has been used for so long now that to me it just sounds a bit cheap and worthless. It conjurs up feelings of cheap plr material. Guide or Report sounds much better to me.

Others have stated that so long as the content is something they want it doesn't matter what you call it, but I don't 100% agree with that. Why do we as marketers use ecovers then to represent our products and quite often provide mp3 audios of written material and vice versa. The way you present a product does play a role into the perceived value of that product. Same reason why companies spend millions and millions of dollars on their product packaging and branding in the real world. All of that stuff can make a BIG difference. If you need milk would you rather buy a carton of milk or a bag of milk?

Is the bag of milk shelf-stable at room temperature?

Seriously, I think the issue will be muddied by the emergence of the Kindle, Nook and assorted other e-readers.

What happens when someone buys your "ebook" and can't get it loaded into their Kindle or Nook?

There are so many words available to describe a product, why limit yourself to only two choices? What do other sellers in your market call their offerings?

PDF, ebook, report, manual, guide, yada, yada, yada...

Here's an area where poking around the various 'answers' sites might be fruitful. Dig around and see what your potential customers are looking for, then (if it's truthful) call it that...

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Alexa Smith

Banned 13 years ago

Originally Posted by JohnMcCabe

There are so many words available to describe a product, why limit yourself to only two choices? What do other sellers in your market call their offerings?

PDF, ebook, report, manual, guide, yada, yada, yada...

Those ".yada" files are the worst: I can never find a way to open them, on my PC. I'm not downloading any more of them.

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WillR

13 years ago

I have never like the sound of the word 'ebook'. To me it sounds cheap.

I would just call it a report. A lot of people outside of the IM niche will have no idea what you mean when you say PDF.

Now, let's all go and get on it.

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onSubie

13 years ago

Originally Posted by WillR

I have never like the sound of the word 'ebook'. To me it sounds cheap.

I would just call it a report. A lot of people outside of the IM niche will have no idea what you mean when you say PDF.

Now, let's all go and get on it.

I read an article from a "guru", (can't remeber if it was on a blog or here in the forum) that you should never call your product an "ebook".

He said the term "ebook" was cheapened and cheapened the percieved value of your product.

He suggested using a term other than ebook that would raise the perceived value: Special Report, Case Study, Manual, etc.

I googled around but I couldn't find the source.

Mahlon

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Corey Geer

13 years ago

Originally Posted by onSubie

I read an article from a "guru", (can't remeber if it was on a blog or here in the forum) that you should never call your product an "ebook".

He said the term "ebook" was cheapened and cheapened the percieved value of your product.

He suggested using a term other than ebook that would raise the perceived value: Special Report, Case Study, Manual, etc.

I googled around but I couldn't find the source.

Mahlon

He's right.

Whenever I hear the term "eBook" I think of another $7 product.

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JohnMcCabe

13 years ago

Originally Posted by onSubie

I read an article from a "guru", (can't remeber if it was on a blog or here in the forum) that you should never call your product an "ebook".

He said the term "ebook" was cheapened and cheapened the percieved value of your product.

He suggested using a term other than ebook that would raise the perceived value: Special Report, Case Study, Manual, etc.

I googled around but I couldn't find the source.

Mahlon

Originally Posted by Corey Geer

He's right.

Whenever I hear the term "eBook" I think of another $7 product.

The guru in question is Allen Says, owner of this fine establishment, and it's published in his section of the War Room...

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robestrong

13 years ago

I've used both. Most people prefer PDF.

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Dan C. Rinnert

13 years ago

If I go to Amazon, they have tons and tons of these things they call "ebooks."

I imagine if the buying public was turned off by the word "ebook" that Amazon would be calling them something else.

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WillR

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

If I go to Amazon, they have tons and tons of these things they call "ebooks."

I imagine if the buying public was turned off by the word "ebook" that Amazon would be calling them something else.

We are talking about different markets here and just like with anything else in marketing, your market will dictate a lot of what you do... and different markets should always be treated differently according to their specific needs and behaviors.

An ebook in the Amazon kindle sense of the word probably works fine... and that's why they use it. That market of ebook readers have been trained to recognize those books they purchase as ebooks.

If on the other hand we are talking about the IM niche then ebook has a much different meaning and can give the perception of cheap and worthless since that format has been abused so much in the past.

Message to market match is very important.

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George Wright

13 years ago

You all know I am a Warrior Forum fan big time, so this is not a slam in any way shape or form.

Having said that, I believe we sometimes think we are the public. We are not.

Furthermore we are not even all the internet marketers. We are a small fraction of all Internet marketers.

We see the same things over and over again
and get jaded.

Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert

If I go to Amazon, they have tons and tons of these things they call "ebooks."

I imagine if the buying public was turned off by the word "ebook" that Amazon would be calling them something else.

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WillR

13 years ago

I think it makes perfect sense.

Do you prefer the word ebook or pdf?

What do you think of when you hear each of those words.

That's all the OP asked.

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Dennis Gaskill

13 years ago

Ebooks used to be .exe files and required the user have Internet Explorer installed to read them. As PDF documents all but wiped out .exe ebooks, the term "ebook" was used to describe PDF's as well. Perhaps the poll is about PDF vs. .exe ebooks?

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Andrey Doichev

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Dennis Gaskill

Ebooks used to be .exe files and required the user have Internet Explorer installed to read them. As PDF documents all but wiped out .exe ebooks, the term "ebook" was used to describe PDF's as well. Perhaps the poll is about PDF vs. .exe ebooks?

My point.

This isn't about the actual files and which one you use.
It's ONLY about which one sounds better to YOU.

Originally Posted by John Romaine

This poll makes no sense.

Have you started drinking already?

I think it's a perfectly justifiable question. It may be to nit-
picky to you but I can't factor in if my question might
"offend" or irritate somebody. There was no need to be
cynical about it.

Now go post somewhere else that "how can i make money"
is to broad of a question.

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Claire Koch

13 years ago

many people don't know what a pdf is. Ebook is what sounds better however if you want people to download a pdf you better not be calling it a ebook. Since pdf's are better to have on your computer some people might not download if you say ebook.

Marketers know some ebook software is obsolete now that microsoft has moved to many new version.

If you want to say ebook then imho you need to make sure the person also knows they are downloading a pdf NOT an ebook.

You can't seperate the NAME of these products from their definitions.

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George Wright

13 years ago

An eBook can be any electronic format. PDF, TXT, DOC, JPG, (Yes I said JPG) ETC.

To the op's question. It makes no difference if you present it correctly.

Tell me where to buy $10 bills for $5 each and I don't care if it's on floppy disk written in in pig Latin on a gif. I'll buy your eBook.

George Wright

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Dariuszden

13 years ago

It depends on your market, for IM niche PDF as everyone knows what it is. Other niches I would prefer ebook, just because its more clear, basically a book in electronic form. Just don't call it iBook

jk

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sbucciarel

Banned 13 years ago

Doesn't matter to me what you call it as long as it has the information that is advertised.

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agmccall 13 years ago

Originally Posted by sbucciarel

Doesn't matter to me what you call it as long as it has the information that is advertised.

As a marketer I think it does matter. Before I started really learning IM and I heard "ebook" or "PDF" I always thought the ebook meant more content. As a marketer I understand they are one and the same, but, we should not assume our potential customers know the difference.

It is like talking to a computer "Geek" they start talking code and all other kinds of crap and think everyone should understand them.

So, talking marketer to marketer then does not matter. Talking marketer to potential buyer then it might matter

al
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perfect

13 years ago

Content is what matters not the name. But ebook is more appearing as that sounds more information tool than pdf which sounds more of technology hence many people don't know what it is.

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Corey Geer

13 years ago

Originally Posted by Andrey Doichev

Practically - they are the same. But what do you think of when you hear
PDF and eBook?

Do you see them as different?
Is a step-by-step guide a PDF or an eBook?

Can a "PDF' be 50+ pages long, or do you consider only eBooks to be that long?

Poll question:
Which sounds better?

So.. out of curiosity.

What format do you usually save your eBooks in? An eBook is an eBook no matter how long it is. There are some people who sell 5-10 page eBooks and some people who sell 100+ page eBooks.

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laurencewins

13 years ago

If you are going to run a poll, you need to clarify what you actually want to know.
There is no difference between a pdf and an ebook. However, if it's the meaning or the actual words themselves that you want opinions of, that's another story and should have been written that way.

A PDF is a format for a document.
An ebook is a product.

That is how I see it. So you can't compare them if you are comparing products.
If you are comparing words, I find both are equally fine.

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laurencewins

13 years ago

Alexa, the trick is that they're actually called yada, yada files. If you only use yada once, the computer thinks it's some other format and won't recognise it.

I hope that helps you in the future.

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Jeffery

13 years ago

In my experience selling eBooks to the public that had never heard of "eBook" has been a positive term. People like the eCovers for the eBooks. Many of my customers actually print the documents, bind the works, and use them at their work desk or in the classroom.

My last eBook was a guide used by a government agency primarily as a desktop manual distributed in PDF as well as HTML on USB and DVD. When the agency realized that the eBook solved the problems of "access" to standard, but critical information, it was quickly adopted.

In any event, Amazon uses the term eBook, and that has made it very popular. When I point customers to eBooks on Amazon there is a certain subconscious ring of validity. For all of us that use eBooks in our marketing this will hopefully become quickly adopted by more online stores.

Jeffery 100% :-)

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28pounds 13 years ago

I just called it a Guide.. much more respected
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Andrey Doichev

13 years ago

In hindsight, I should've worded my question better to avoid confusion - I apologize for that.
Regardless, this thread has been very helpful for me, and I know what I'm going to call my next guide (did I just gave it away...I think I did!)

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John Romaine

13 years ago

You call it tomato, I call it tomato.

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vickybabe 13 years ago

Originally Posted by John Romaine

You call it tomato, I call it tomato.

Ha ha i think only the aussies will get that one
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Daniel Evans 13 years ago

To add to what's already been said, a PDF is merely describes a document format.for Adobe Reader / Acrobat. It doesn't describe what it actually is.

Outside of it's context of "books", a PDF could contain literally anything.

It's for this reason I wouldn't use the word "PDF" as a direct selling point but I'd mention it in the products FAQ.

Because the word "ebook" is related the the self contained exes of yesteryear I wouldn't use this term neither unless I was selling on Amazon. I feel the term has also been crippled by the extensive PLR packs which are sold on Ebay for pittance.

I side with "Guide" and "Report", provided those are the things I'm actually promoting.

Daniel
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alandijulian

13 years ago

In my opinion PDF is a format of file which means Printable Digital Format, Ebook is digital book.. mostly it is created in PDF format, but there also in .exe format or other. it depends the functionality of the Ebooks..

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aceshigh888

13 years ago

The item is likely an "instructional training course"

the format is either as an ebook, or pdf file. So for marketing call it an "instructional training course"