HOW AN EBOOK WORKS--AND WHY I ONLY PUBLISH THIS WAY

I am Donna Cunningham, author of the materials on this site. For many of you, ebooks are a new experience, though they have been widely available on internet sites for quite a few years and are now replacing expensive hard copy texts in many universities. My personal commitment to the environment is to publish my books only in digital format. In my twelve years in the Pacific Northwest, I have seen serious changes in the air quality and rainfall levels due to deforestation.

With that concern as a stimulus, I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the advantages of electronic publishing. The technology isn’t difficult, once you have the free Adobe Acrobat Reader program installed on your hard drive, and there are great features like being able to search the document in seconds for any topic or key word that interests you.

I’ve had a delightful time, too, filling these books with photos and other graphics that vividly illustrate the points I am making. For instance, looking at the photos of various astrological types at work while simultaneously reading a description of them, you get to know them much more intensely and immediately than with words alone. My flower essence book, too, was much enhanced by photos of the actual flowers I was writing about--photos that would have made the book too expensive to print in hard copy.

We've written an easy guide for those who’ve never used an e-book before, complete with pictures of how your computer screen will look at each step--open it up by clicking here. Follow the easy steps, and you'll soon be using it as confidently as any other text, but a text with some very special features. (Can't download it? Ask for it by e-mail.)

Like many documents on the Internet, our e-books are in PDF format. To read them, you need Adobe Acrobat Reader Version 6.0 or higher, on your Hard Drive. (Version 5.0 will show you the text but not the graphics that are a great addition to these e-books.) If you don’t already have it, it's a free program that you download at the Adobe website.

Once installed on your hard drive, Adobe Acrobat will launch automatically when you click on the email attachment we send when you buy an ebook. Depending on the speed of your modem, the file will take several minutes to download, so chose a time when you can take a break from your computer or internet work. During the download, the screen may appear blank, with the cursor looking like an hourglass.

When the download is finished, the book will open up automatically. You should be seeing a miniature version of the text on the left side and some links to help files on the right. Click the button on the right that says Hide, and the text will fill the screen. (You can adjust the size of the text by going to the tool bar, where there is a percent sign.)

Now be sure to save the e-book to the special directory you created. In the toolbar for Adobe Acrobat Reader at the top of your screen, go to File, pull down that menu, and click on “Save As.” There will be a box at the top marked “Save In.” Click on that and find the C: Drive, then locate the special directory you created or the Documents folder. Then at the bottom of the box marked “Save In,” click on the “save” button.

I hope you enjoy your e-book experience! If you have any difficulty or have questions about using the book, feel free to contact us.

Donna Cunningham

NOTE: If you're an author and have been considering doing an e-book, see Moon Maven Publication's resource page for suggestions and a booklet of writing tips by Donna Cunningham. Donna is also now presenting online writing seminars. Read about them here.

This page is a creation of Donna Cunningham's Word of Mouth Web Design The layers of this treatment are based on stained glass from the exceptional collection by Kokomo Opalescent Glass. Graphic images from Clipart.com.