I wrote a whole book on how to create EPUB files that you can upload to Apple's iBookstore, but what do you do once the EPUB is complete?
Apple announced in May that they were opening up the iBookstore to anyone who could satisfy certain requirements, including, but not limited to having a Intel-based Mac, having an ISBN for the book you want to distribute, having an EPUB file, having a US Tax ID, and finally, having a valid iTunes Store account.
You have to apply to Apple to be accepted as a publisher in the iBookstore. To do so, start at iTunes Connect. They will explain all of the requirements in more detail, and once you are accepted, you will be able to download iTunes Producer, which is the program you will use to upload your EPUB files to Apple. You can choose to apply DRM to your titles, or you can leave them DRM free.
But, contrary to an article I read today, Apple does accept your EPUB files as is, there is no conversion required or applied.
And, for those of you outside the US, don't forget that you can create and sell EPUBs directly from your own sites. It's not a perfect solution, but people can buy and download your books and then upload them to their iPads.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
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That final paragraph is surely a joke. No,
ReplyDeleteWeird-wonder where that author got the idea that Apple was requiring some conversion besides passing ePubCheck.
ReplyDeleteThere was also an article about how Apple was requiring DRM on all books-but yours is the 2nd article I've read that authors actually have a choice. Thanks for clarifying the process!
@kjkbook... I've uploaded books to the iBookstore and seen the DRM checkbox myself. The default is unchecked. Glad to be a help!
ReplyDeleteIsn't the third alternative to use a service like Smashwords to get your ebooks published by Apple?
ReplyDelete@Laurens: Absolutely, I should've mentioned that. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteYou can get a US Tax ID even if you live outside America. We're based in England and our first book has just been published to iBooks
ReplyDeleteDo you know how long it takes Apple to approve the iBookstore application to become a publisher? thanks
ReplyDeleteYou posted on Quora that an ISBN was not required and linked to this article that states it is. I just tried to register and you cannot proceed without an ISBN. If you know how I'd love to hear.
ReplyDeleteThanks.
@Brad. Sorry about that. I posted on Quora that I *thought* you didn't need an ISBN to sign up for iTunes Connect, so that you could access Apple's documentation. I'd love someone to confirm this. Have you gone through the whole signup process and they demand an ISBN right from the start? I was under the impression that they only ask for the ISBN when you upload the finished book. (But since I'm already signed up, I can't confirm it myself.)
ReplyDeleteThat all said, you definitely need an ISBN for publishing books in the iBookstore (as I also said on Quora).
Further, you can get someone to get an ISBN for you by publishing through a service like Smashwords.
how can you get a US tax ID without SSN or ITIN (for non US resident)???
ReplyDelete@French Spanish Online: Call the IRS, they should be able to help you.
ReplyDeleteHi Liz, I called IRS and the reply is they don't deal with Apple enquiries and invited me to contact Apple, no reply so far, so I am still struggling to publish my multimedia eBook!
DeleteI'm interested in information about embedding fonts in fixed-layout epubs for the iBookstore. This would breach the licence of most font foundries. How are people getting around this? We could redesign our print books with non-licenced fonts, but that would cause so much reflow it would be starting from square one.
ReplyDeleteAny suggestions?
I've submitted a book, and on iTunes Connect is a section for submitted books. As far as I understand, orange dot means it's pending approval/going through quality screening, and red means it failed. I had a red dot from the very beginning, and the pop-up explanation is that it's still going through quality-screening. But that's the whole point of orange, right? Do you know if this is some kind of bug, or am I worrying over nothing?
ReplyDelete@Rose. I think it's a bug. I've never seen the orange dot. They used to do a yellow one when it was pending, but lately, I just get a red one when it's not up and a green one when it is. Good luck!
ReplyDelete