CLIENT:
To recap the conversation: You want to make changes to your printed book so you can publish it for Kindle and are not sure of the best way to do so. You have your original Word .doc for your printed book, and want to know if you can make the changes there for both printed and Kindle books.

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SOLUTION:
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We discussed the following.

• MS Word creates a text file that is used to write your manuscript. **This file, text, is a flowing representation of your text.
• The text file is sent to a book designer to professionally format the interior for a printed book or can be used as the interior for the printed book.
• Printed books are usually created using a professional layout program such as QuarkXpress or InDesign. The final outcome is a pdf file that can be sent to the printer. **This file is a page-by-page representation of your text.
• Readers, like Kindle, Sony Reader, Nook, etc. all will accept and convert both the pdf and .doc text files the above programs make.
• I suggested that you look into a book “Kindle Formatting” to read and find out the best way to format your book for use on a Kindle
• I also referred you to the smashwords guide file for conversion set-ups  http://www.smashwords.com they are a company that convert files for ebooks online. They are also one of your choices for distribution.
• Readers will read both text and pdf files. But if you ever want to reprint the book with the new changes you will need to either,
  1. redo the whole book from scratch using a corrected MS Word file
  OR
  2. make the changes to the layout source file and use the pdf for the printer and convert to a reader.