info about your PDF is coming but first…

It has been said that a writer should own their own content. That means you should have it residing on YOUR own machine, not a server somewhere in the ether. The reason being that if you don’t own your own stuff, that other place could go out of business and you could lose your data.

This has happened to me. The chances of it happening to a behemoth like Amazon is slight, however. But it COULD technically happen. So, having said that, I am going to tout the prospect of putting your work on your blog (ie. books, stories, poems, etc.) – let me just say that you should be backing up all your data everywhere on every platform before I continue. BACK IT UP! There, ’nuff said.

Now, let’s go over how to turn a document in Word into a PDF. I know there are a lot of other formats that you can use to distribute your work (they may even be more secure!)but I’ll go over why I want a PDF and why you shouldn’t worry about people stealing or giving away your information for free.

WHY PDF?

First of all, it’s easy, that’s the most obvious reason. Secondly, everyone can do this. You have to ability on your computer to do this straight out of the gate without any other software purchase, as Adobe Reader comes pre-installed on most all PCs today. But…if you don’t have it, get it here ADOBE READER

Here is a short video showing how to use an online PDF creator (free) also- in case you do not have this option in your Word program (older versions might not).

A few things to note:
1. Be sure to save your document as a word .doc before making into a PDF. That way if you find any typos etc. you can edit the word doc and make another PDF.
2. EDIT your work! Why would you make the final product unless you were ready to distribute it? GO BACK- edit!

The easy to use option in Word (I use version 10 but this is in 2007 as well) is just click the SAVE AS button and choose PDF.

THAT’S IT!!

woo hoo. Could it get any easier?

A word about security…

Yes, piracy exists and PDF can and is taken and used for malicious purposes. But pirates will get your work and abuse it regardless as to what format you use. Many authors who have work for sale on Amazon Kindle and other platforms are finding their work on pirate sites every day.

It’s a little inevitable.

But that is the nature of our “give everything away” Internet mentality. We want everything for free – or at least cheap. It’s certainly up to you. I am going to try it. You can look forward to some PDFs of stuff from me coming soon. If you want to pay for it, I have a Paypal account and you can certainly send me pennies to pay for it. My Lifestyle Reboot will thank you.