What is an Ebook?
An ebook is simply an electronic document which you can read. Ebooks are typically PDF files, which can be read by Acrobat Reader, or EPUB files, which can be read by many free EPUB readers. You probably have read PDF files as you have roamed the web. PDF files allow you to combine graphics and text in a manner that is easy to read and print. If you own an ebook reading device such as a Kindle, iPad, or Nook, you probably have read EPUB files as well.

How Do I Read an Ebook?
You can get free software from Adobe.com to read a PDF file. There are also many other software packages that let you read PDF files with a variety of options. Many of the software packages are free. For EPUB files, you can use a FireFox epub reader Add-On or the MobiPocket Reader, just to name two of many free options.

How Do I Buy an Ebook?
To buy an ebook from BellaOnline, you must first be a BellaOnline Member so we can keep track of which ebooks you have access to. That way if you delete one by accident you can download it again. Once you have created a membership, simply go to the page describing the ebook you are interested in. At the bottom of the page is a BUY button. BellaOnline handles its sales through PayPal which is a free service. Many books are free, so those would not require any payment.

How Do I Pay For my Ebook?
All ebook sales are priced in US dollars and all sales are sent through PayPal. That means anything PayPal accepts - any currency, any credit card, any bank account, any online payment, we can take. Sign up for PayPal and you'll learn about the wide variety of options you have available! Again, for the free ebooks, there is no need for any payment nor PayPal account.

How Do I Download and Read my Ebook?
Once you have paid for the ebook at PayPal, follow the link back to the BellaOnline website. You will be taken to your ebook listing page, where your ebook will be made available to you instantly for download. If you somehow forget to press that final button, or if for any other reason you have paid for an ebook but it has not yet appeared on this list, please email the author of the ebook. You will find her email address and bio by clicking on her name on any ebook page. If you do not hear from her in a day or two, please contact the Ebook Manager. We will verify that you paid and then hook you up manually.

How Do I Read my Ebook on my Kindle?
Look at the bottom of your Kindle - there's a USB mini port there. Your Kindle probably came with the cable to fit in here, or they're very inexpensive to buy. Plug the cable in to your Kindle and computer. Turn on your Kindle. You can now easily transfer PDF files onto your Kindle by dragging and dropping from your PC. Kindles can natively read PDF files, and all BellaOnline ebooks are offered in PDF format. Simply open the BellaOnline ebook you wish to see with your browser, save the PDF somewhere on your hard drive, and then transfer that onto your Kindle.

What If I Delete My Ebook?
Your BellaOnline membership area will allow you access to the ebooks you have bought, in case your computer dies or other emergencies happen. Note that our editors have put a lot of work into their ebooks. You are not allowed to send copies of the ebook off to other people. The ebook is for your personal use only. If you enjoy your ebook, please tell your friends and family so they can get copies of their own! BellaOnline editors are not paid for the content they write at BellaOnline, they write for the sheer love of helping others. These ebooks are one of the only ways BellaOnline editors are reimbursed for their efforts.

Are your Ebooks Online for Eternity?
It's hard to know what eternity means on the web :) There are always forces outside of our control. From a practical sense, yes, an ebook will be online for as long as the editor remains with BellaOnline - and most of our editors have been with us for 3 years or more. That being said, if an editor leaves the BellaOnline network, they often choose to remove their content from our site. In that case, we will send you an email message letting you know that you have 30 days to save a copy of the ebook to your hard drive. It's always best to do a File - Save on any ebook you buy, so you have a copy on your local hard drive, as a backup.

Why Should I Pay for Content on the Web?
This is more of a philosophical question. Remember, nothing on the web appears for free, if you are honest about it. The site hosting fees and software fees to run BellaOnline.com cost large amounts of money each month. We are run out of our homes, we have no corporation to give us cash. The women on this site volunteer their time; they are not reimbursed. The women work for many hours each week, answering questions, writing content, all for free. We refuse to run pop-up or pop-under or other intrusive ads to make more money. So we are already incurring great costs to give you our entire site FOR free. You are paying nothing. I doubt any magazine seller or bookstore can make that offer.

The only way in which editors get some small reimbursement for their enormous workload is the fee for these ebooks. In most cases the ebook content CAN be found on their site for free, if you feel like paging through the site and looking for that information. The editor has spent the additional time and trouble to compile it, organize it and PDF it for you. The fee asked in return is small - usually much smaller than what you would pay in a bookstore for the same content. If you would pay for a book at your local Barnes & Noble - why would you begrudge an editor who has put just as much work (if not more) into an ebook and is online answering questions and fielding queries on it the ability to ask for the same consideration?

You don't have to buy an ebook! Read our site for free if that makes you happy. But many people DO buy our ebooks because they want the convenience of having an easy to print, easy to use version of our content. They find that the product is valuable enough to reimburse us, and are thrilled with what they receive. Many people write us to tell us that our ebooks are far better (and less expensive) than the books they find at the local bookstore. In some cases, our buyers write us thrilled beyond belief, because they have been searching for a book on this topic for years, and are ecstatic that we wrote one for them.