New Contract needed for new iBookstores

I got an email from Aaron Shepard, POD expert, this morning, letting me know that it's not enough to add your books to the new 18 iBookstores (Latin America and New Zealand) that Apple made available last week. You also have to download and accept the new contract addendums! Argh. So glad he told me.

Quick overview:

First, add the new territories to your books. Start by going into iTunes Connect and clicking Manage Your Books.



Next, click the cover of the book to which you wish to add territories.



Notice that the book on the right just says "32 stores", but there are currently 50 total possible. That means I need to add the remaining 18 new territories.

You can also see, under the Read Aloud EPUB book on the left, that I had already added the new territories to this book, but the book has still not been accepted into the new territories.

Next, you'll see the summary page for the chosen book. click the Rights and Pricing button in the upper-right corner.



iTunes Connect will show you the current list of territories where your book has been added, along with the Sales Start Date, DRM, Price, and other data. Click the Add New Territories button in upper-left corner.



Choose a DRM option, Sales Start Date, Base Currency (sales in most Latin American countries in their own currencies is not available, with notable exception of Mexico), Publication Type, List Price (of print edition), and Suggested iBookstore Price (which must be less than List Price). Then check the boxes next to the territories you wish to add. Or click Select All. Then click Continue.



iTunes Connect now shows you a list of the new territories and the price for each one. You are not limited to this price. Go through the list and adjust as necessary. (The book shown here is free, so the price is 0 in each case.)



Click Confirm when you're ready. Now you'll be back at the Rights and Pricing list, with the new territories added. But notice that they're still Not On Store. (Aaron tells me that if you click on the Not On Store label, you can see what the problem is.)



Click Done three times (always at bottom right of window) to get back to the iTunes Connect main window.

Now click Contracts, Tax, and Banking on the left side of the main iTunes Connect window.



Click Request next to the new Contract amendment. I recommend downloading and reading the document. If you agree, click the appropriate box and then click Submit.

Two more Done buttons and you're, well, done.

Now when you go to Manage Your Books, you'll see that your books are available on all 50 stores.



And if you visit one of the new territories in iTunes (by clicking the flag button in the lower-right hand corner and then choosing the desired country), you'll see your books listed. It might take some time for the new iBookstores to properly index your book's search terms. At first, I was unable to find my books, even by searching on my name. Searching on ISBN does seem to work, and I'm hoping that that will get updated quickly.



Note that my book that sells for $5 in the US sells for 65 Mexican pesos which, according to Google, is indeed the going rate.

One more thing I learned last week: reviews are posted only in the iBookstore that belongs to the country of the person who wrote the review. So, there is a lovely review of the Monarch Butterfly book by Laura Brady which I can only see if I connect to the Canada iBookstore:



and folks who connect from countries besides the US cannot see the five five-star ratings that the book has in the US iBookstore.



I think it would be nice if Apple made those out-of-country reviews available (perhaps after reviews from one's own country?) If it's the same book, this is information that would be useful to all.

At any rate, keep in mind that if you want to see reviews of your books in other iBookstores, you'll have to go to each store individually. And if you've reviewed my book on a non-US iBookstore, please let me know. I'd love to see it. (And thanks!)

Apple opens iBookstores across Latin America (and New Zealand)

Updated: 9:32am

Thanks to a tip from Miquel Hudin, I noticed that Apple has already made it possible for publishers to add books to iBookstore in Latin America: specifically, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, and Venezuela. And it has also opened the iBookstore in New Zealand.



Simply go to iTunes Connect, Manage your books, and then choose Add Territories in the upper-left part of the window.

I assume that there will be a new version of iTunes Publisher today as well.

Note that I added a few of my books this morning, but they still say "Not on iBookstore" in the new countries. I suspect that will change during the day.

There are books in Spanish for sale already on some of the new iBookstores. To see a different country's iBookstore, in iTunes, choose iTunes Store, and then go to the very bottom of the window and click the flag in the bottom-right corner.



Then choose the desired country from the list. Note that not all of the listed countries have the iBookstore (some only have the App store).

Here's a screenshot I took after switching to the Argentina iBookstore. Actual books for sale, in Spanish. Note the currency, however, all in USD.



As of 9:23, my books are still not available in the new countries, even though one is in Spanish. I'll let you know.

It is interesting to note that "Libros" now appears as a category on Apple's LinkMaker page for the new Latin American Market (and Books for New Zealand):



This is very exciting and is definitely an auspicious start to this day of new announcements by Apple. Can't wait for the rest.