Not all writers are IT geeks, but those who are have an advantage.  If you know something about HTML and PHP, you can tweak your blog to look just right.  If you know a thing or two about domains, nameservers, web hosting, FTP clients and the like, you can set up your own website and promote yourself as a writer.  And if you understand SEO, keywords, page rank and the power of social media, you can gain the fan base and name recognition you need to sell an agent your next book.

As much as we writers would like to think that our words are what matters most, the medium is part of the message.  Hosting your blog on Blogger.com says something different about you than hosting it on your own website.  A well-formatted manuscript can catch an editor's eye in a way that a typewritten one can't.  A badly-done website can turn fans away while a well-designed one will keep bringing them back.

There's one place where the medium is everything: file format.

A Word document is different from an RTF file (Rich Text Format) which is different from a PDF.

As a writer, you should understand the advantages and disadvantages of each format and know when each is appropriate.

For this article, I'd like to focus on the PDF file format.  At the end, I'll show you how you can turn a Microsoft Word document into a PDF without needing a special program.

What is a PDF?

You must know what a PDF is.

Thanks to Adobe, the software giant that also gave us Photoshop, the digital document standard on the internet is "Portable Document Format," or PDF.

Most computers recognize the PDF file format instantly, because Adobe Reader, the program that "reads" PDFs, comes pre-installed.

But, just in case you want to know how to recognize a PDF when you see one, the file name ends with the extension .pdf, such as mybook.pdf.

Why Bother When I've Got Word?

There are three main advantages to a PDF document:

1. Your readers see the document exactly as you intended it, with all your original formatting preserved.
2. Your readers won't be able to modify your document (or erase your name and put their name in the byline).
3. In a word: professionalism.

I recently sent my CV off to a potential employer, and after I'd done it I could have slapped myself.  Why, oh WHY did I send it as an ancient Word document?  With its unusual spacing and odd font, it would have surely appeared as gobbledy-gook in their Microsoft Office 2010 suite.

How Do I Create My Own PDF?

Whether you're sending your CV off or publishing a special report on your website, it pays to know how to create a PDF.

I've heard that Micosoft Word 2007 allows you to "Save As..." a PDF.  But, unfortunately, if you have an older version of Word you're still stuck.

A while back, I downloaded one of the numerous free Word-to-PDF converters I found on the internet.  Many of those converters work on the same principle as a printer.  When you print your document, instead of choosing your default printer, you choose the PDF converter program.  Your file then "prints to PDF."

I thought it was a great idea, until I tried it and found that only a handful of fonts were supported.

I'm a bit of a font geek, because I believe that your choice of font influences how you read the content.  If you're writing for the web, for example, then you want to choose a font with maximum readability, like Arial.  But, then again, everyone uses Arial, and I like to stand out from the crowd.

I tend to choose fonts that look like the sort of font you'd see in a published book: clean, professional, and easy to read.  I may use a special font for my headings to make them stand out, or a font that looks like handwriting for quotes, but that's the extent of it.  You wouldn't think that would be too much to ask of a Word-to-PDF converter.

Luckily, today I happened upon an online converter that solved my problem completely.  It seems to handle multiple fonts, colored tables, footers, and even hyperlinks with ease.

The best part of all is that you don't even have to download the program onto your computer to do it!  You can convert your documents from anywhere, even an internet cafe.

Just go to WordToPDF.com and upload your Word document.  Nitro Software will email you the finished PDF.

In exchange, they ask if they can send you their newsletter.  Make sure to uncheck the box if you don't want to receive it.

Nitro also has a PDF to Word converter, a PDF to Excel converter, and a PDF reader that replaces Adobe Reader.  I've heard rave reviews of the reader and can't wait to give Adobe Reader the boot.

I like to be different, after all. ;-)