Apple Reveals New Service for Authors to Sell Their Books Directly in the iBookstore
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Are you a budding author? The next Stephen King? Or an author currently looking to cut out the middle man as you rollout your own books? It looks like your time has come -- Apple has released information on self-publishing for the iBookstore!
We have to say we were really excited to hear about the iBooks app on our new iPads and the iBookstore that went along with it. Why? Simple, Apple or its partners generally create technologies that empower people to generate content in all kinds of ways and then monetize it. The iBookstore is what iTunes was to Music and Apps -- a way to publish your own books and sell them without a publisher, agent, etc. Once we saw the possibilities in iBooks we immediately queried Apple for information on how an individual could participate and over a month ago they had no answer, but today they do.
Apple sent us an e-mail today with details on how someone could sign up to sell their own books in the iBookstore. Their books would have to adhere to these criteria: each one would need to have a 13-digit ISBN, be in ePub format, validate against epubcheck 1.0.5, and contain no unmanifested files. If you are not familiar with any of these Apple suggests working with their aggregation partners.
In addition to these requirements you will need to have a US Tax ID, a valid iTunes Store account with a credit card on file, and an Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.5 or later.
The good news is that once you are established, Apple's online agreement allows you to sell your book in the iBookstore in several countries. If you don't feel like your selling your book in every country available, you can set which countries it'll be available in and the price for each of the titles.
A welcome addition to iTunes as far as we are concerned - global distribution of your book titles at prices you set. Additionally, once iPhone OS version 4.0 is released with an iBooks app, you'll reach a larger customer base.
You can sell your books after applying to participate in the program or connect with an iBookstore aggregator to get the help you need. Note that before applying you will need to have the ISBN-13 for at least one book otherwise your application will not be accepted.
Start your word processors people! Time for you to dust off Adobe Indesign and get to work!
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dejudicibus
December 17, 2010 at 8:17am
Well, it does NOT work if you are not an US/UK writer or if you do not write in English language. It is not surprising if there are not so many non-English titles on iBookstore: it si not a matter of quality or availability, but policies!
DrEBurton
October 06, 2010 at 6:37pm
I would love to publish my online beginning reading e-books through this service but to get an ISBN number for each would be expensive for 90 easy reader books. Is there a way to get around the ISBN number? Could you use the same number repetitively to publish to the I-Book Store.
Please come check out the 6 high interest beginning reading programs at http://www.steppingstonestogether.com.
If you have a son or daughter between the ages of 3-6 who is ready to read and you want to be empowered to help them with easy to use resources 15 minutes a day please stop by at http://www.steppingstonestogether.com
vacheron
September 24, 2010 at 9:32pm
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TitusPowell
August 25, 2010 at 2:56pm
It IS possible to self-publish onto Apple's iBookstore... I have done it with my novel 'The Dare Ring', which is accessible through the iBooks app on all iPads and iPhones. I'm based in the UK, so it is possible here too.
It wasn't all that easy - creating the epub book is non trivial as none of the free conversion tools did exactly what was needed. But it can be done. Once you've created the epub document (and triple checked it - some of the conversion tools make unexpected changes) - then uploading it through iTunes Connect is relatively straightforward.
If you like thrillers or Fight Club, check out The Dare Ring by Titus Powell. Only $2.49 and I guarantee it'll be the most gripping novel you have ever read.
Titus Powell
www.tituspowell.com/TheDareRing.htm
basil.bourque
August 16, 2010 at 6:28pm
Runs locally on your own Mac. Uses the "epubcheck" engine as required by Apple to submit your iBook. Easy to use, just drag-and-drop your book, then click "Check".
http://www.rainwater-soft.com/epubchecker/
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