Cloud vs. Desktop software: Which is better for designing books?
In these ever-trending, ever-changing times of technology comes a new set of challenges and opportunities for self-publishers. Depending on budget, need, and personal preference, there are many design options; from the traditional route of hiring a professional book artist to design your book ($$$$) to doing the design work yourself ($), the overall goal is the same: To get discovered and sell books. But designing a book to sell—whether you’re paying someone else or doing it yourself—is not without its risks. You’re vying for the reader’s attention amongst a hugely crowded landscape, especially if it’s an e-book.
Let’s say you want to design your own book.
Type “ebook software” in Google and you will see a plethora of cloud-based program choices, most of which are exclusive to a publisher (for example: Amazon’s Cover Creator for Kindle). Adobe used to be desktop-based, but now it is all cloud-hosted and comes with a hefty subscription.
Cloud-based software is a great choice in terms of cost efficiency, unlimited storage, and maintaining file backups. If you’re an indie publisher who doesn’t mind signing an exclusive agreement with one publishing company who provides free cloud-based software, or having your information read by a third party, then this may be the right fit for you.
However, there are also some notable disadvantages to consider with cloud computing:
- Technical Issues
Cloud-based technology is always prone to outages and other issues. To avoid this happening often, you will need to have a very good internet connection to avoid the connectivity problems that will inevitably arise. - Must Have Internet Connection
That being said, internet connection is a requirement to work on cloud-based software. So forget about designing your book at your favorite remote little love shack in the mountains, or on a deserted island. - Security
A lot of people are still in denial about this… but whenever you use cloud-based software, your information is exposed to the world. If you’re writing a sensitive book that needs to remain confidential, or just don’t want your writings to potentially be sabotaged and stolen (which is a reason why you chose to DIY in the first place), then you probably should think twice. - Prone To Hackers
As mentioned, nothing on the internet is completely secure, including your book and the cloud software on which your book is saved. Nothing. It could all become hijacked and taken down.
The moral of the story is: if you want to design your book wherever you wish, however you wish, keep your information completely safe and private until publishing, and have the freedom of choice to use any publishing house, then consider using a desktop application such as ours. Generally yes, it costs a little more, but many self-publishers find it is well worth the one-time cost to design unlimited e-book AND print titles, while keeping all their information secure and intact.