Guys, thanks for this wonderful community.
I have been interested in economics right from my school days, and it was some 3 years back that I got introduced into the Austrian school. I poured myself into Austrian books since then, and now I have my first book which is a basic, but comprehensive education on Austrian economics.
Now the thing is, I am not a geek to know how to create a good, professional PDF. I would very much like to have a pdf like this (with around 30 lines a page, 12 words a line). Can somebody suggest me some good PDF software which is easy for a non-geek like me to use in creating a PDF version to a book?
Next, is it better that I get a copyright or a Creative Commons license? My aim is to let my book reach as many people as possible over the internet since I don't have the funds to get a printed version ready.
Thanks in advance.
Hedonistic Monk: Guys, thanks for this wonderful community. I have been interested in economics right from my school days, and it was some 3 years back that I got introduced into the Austrian school. I poured myself into Austrian books since then, and now I have my first book which is a basic, but comprehensive education on Austrian economics. Now the thing is, I am not a geek to know how to create a good, professional PDF. I would very much like to have a pdf like this (with around 30 lines a page, 12 words a line). Can somebody suggest me some good PDF software which is easy for a non-geek like me to use in creating a PDF version to a book? Next, is it better that I get a copyright or a Creative Commons license? My aim is to let my book reach as many people as possible over the internet since I don't have the funds to get a printed version ready. Thanks in advance.
You can use Inkscape (very profesional) http://www.inkscape.org/ or PDFedit (easier) http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfedit/.
I know the work in linux and if you have a normal distribution you have packages for easy installing. I have no idea if they work on windows or mac.
If you want it to be professional, but want to DIY it as much as possible, then its probably a good idea to look into getting and learning how to use Latex. There are plenty of guides and examples for this on the internet.
Also, if you already have it in word format or something similiar, have you thought about contacting Jeff Tucker or the Mises Institute about publishing it. Obviously, it helps to be a professional economist for that kind of thing, but I'm sure if it's good they should consider it.
As far as copyright, I'm no expert, but it might be a good idea to get one of the "copyleft" liciences that allows the work to be freely distributed but prevents anyone else from putting a copyright on it.
"When the King is far the people are happy." Chinese proverb
For Alexander Zinoviev and the free market there is a shared delight:
"Where there are problems there is life."
I use Bullzip PDF Printer, which allows you to just Print from any software, and it outputs a PDF. I can create exactly what I want with it (I use it with OpenOffice).
http://www.bullzip.com/products/pdf/info.php
Like Nielso mentioned, OpenOffice can provide PDF functionality. Additionally, if you're on a Mac, any program that can print can save a PDF from the print dialog.
Life and reality are neither logical nor illogical; they are simply given. But logic is the only tool available to man for the comprehension of both.—Ludwig von Mises
Life and reality are neither logical nor illogical; they are simply given. But logic is the only tool available to man for the comprehension of both.
Hedonistic Monk:Now the thing is, I am not a geek to know how to create a good, professional PDF. I would very much like to have a pdf like this (with around 30 lines a page, 12 words a line). Can somebody suggest me some good PDF software which is easy for a non-geek like me to use in creating a PDF version to a book?
Assuming you're using Word, I'd make it look as you intend as a Word document and then use one of the free conversion tools out there to export a PDF version. When I was still using Windows, the one I'd always get was CutePDF Writer, since it worked properly and was costless. Note that with CutePDF Writer you must install both the writer and the converter.
As others have noted, if you use OpenOffice instead of Word, you can export to PDF with one click.
Well, if your goal is to have as many people as possible read it, why put copyright in their way at all? Just put a note where a copyright notice would normally go that you're releasing it into the public domain, or use a copyright waiver like CC0. (You're still the author, just as Shakespeare is still the author of Romeo and Juliet even though it's in the public domain.)
-=Steve=-
I think Kinsella suggests a "Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License". I forget the whole reasoning behind it but I trust his opinion. If you want to just send me the file I could offer some suggestions on the typography and put in bookmarks like in the PDF you linked.
Democracy means the opportunity to be everyone's slave.—Karl Kraus.
I dont think the licensing matters anyway... Who would want to make money on someones esoteric economic school books. Only a small cult following reads this stuff anyway, not a money making industry. And the grasp of the copyright enforcers is so small in the area of e-books as to be totally irrelevant to the decision.
I found the article. That it probably doesn't matter isn't a good reason to choose the wrong thing (and I think I said the wrong thing before).
Roderick, If I’m not mistaken, “copyleft” is similar to the Creative Commons “share alike” license. Libertarian Papers, however, uses the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. After thinking about this, it seems to me that the “Attribution” license is more libertarian than “Share-Alike” (or copyleft). Now the new “CCO“, or “No Rights Reserved,” attempt to make one’s work “public domain” seems the most libertarian of all, but its efficacy looks doubtful to me, and it’s still embryonic as far as I can tell.
Roderick, If I’m not mistaken, “copyleft” is similar to the Creative Commons “share alike” license. Libertarian Papers, however, uses the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. After thinking about this, it seems to me that the “Attribution” license is more libertarian than “Share-Alike” (or copyleft).
Now the new “CCO“, or “No Rights Reserved,” attempt to make one’s work “public domain” seems the most libertarian of all, but its efficacy looks doubtful to me, and it’s still embryonic as far as I can tell.
E. R. Olovetto:I found the article. That it probably doesn't matter isn't a good reason to choose the wrong thing (and I think I said the wrong thing before).
I know what you mean. I think the way I'd put it is that it probably doesn't matter in the sense that it won't affect how many people read the book, but it does matter in that getting this right helps to promote a consistent philosophical argument, and since that's what I gather this book is then some thought is warranted here.
With that in mind, I'd argue that if one agrees that copyright is illibertarian, then none of the Creative Commons licenses are okay because they all require copyright to function. Same with the GNU Free Document License, etc. They're all basically like saying, "Sure, I'll take that government subsidy, but it's okay because I'm giving most of it back."
I mention CC0 because it's different in that it's not a license backed up by copyright, but instead is a waiver through which one disclaims copyright and related entitlements altogether. It serves the same purpose as a public domain dedication, but Creative Commons came up with it anyway because civil law jurisdictions don't always allow authors to disclaim so-called "moral rights".
I'm not sure why Kinsella was concerned about the efficacy of CC0, since it's a waiver that's been reviewed by the Creative Commons legal eagles, and I'm also not sure why he was concerned about it being "embryonic" since with this sort of thing critical mass isn't required -- you could be the only person in the world who uses it, and it would still work.
I experimented with open office, and this is what I got the PDF to look like so far: The Dangerous Lessons of 1937.
You can also download Celtx free online. After you input all of your text into the program, it lets you output it as a PDF file.
Use OpenOffice. A PDF converter already included.
Guys, he said "good, professional PDF", not crappy word-processor output :)
Sorry, there isn't any software that will do a good job automatically. (The only game in town is TeX. [InDesign is for glossy magazines, not books])
You don't have to "get" a copyright; you already have a copyright.
Earlier this year, I used a copy of WordPerfect 8, which I bought on eBay for $25, to retypeset my book. I used a larger type face, so it’s now 1,500 pages. I decided to publish it in three volumes. I then used a $97 program, pdfFactory Pro, to convert my Word Perfect files to PDF format, which can be posted on the Web. This took me under six minutes, total, for all three volumes.
I then used a $97 program, pdfFactory Pro, to convert my Word Perfect files to PDF format, which can be posted on the Web. This took me under six minutes, total, for all three volumes.
This is how Gary North did it.
The links in that article are dead, and Google can't find it, so we can't see what it looks like. But if if you've ever seen a proper book and the output from a word processor....
You can save documents as PDFs in Office 2010.