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Apple adds Breakout Books to the iBookstore to spotlight the self-published
As glad as we are that digital bookstores let authors skip the usual gatekeepers, that doesn't help much if they can't get noticed. Apple is giving those self-publishing writers more of a chance to shine with the launch of a permanent Breakout Books section in the US iBookstore. The section highlights hot-selling and well-reviewed independent books, many of them from distributors like Smashwords. Don't see the placement as a purely altruistic gesture, though: many of the books sell for significantly less than their peers from major publishers, which might help Apple snag a few more impulse purchases than it would otherwise. We doubt there will be many complaints when the category could pad both sides' wallets.
iBook Lessons: Childrens picture books
iBook Lessons is a continuing series about ebook writing and publishing. I recently had occasion to give advice regarding an author considering the move from traditional books to ebooks. Normally, in these cases, I recommend starting with Amazon. It offers the simplest tools for publishing manuscripts with a minimum of effort. In this case, the material was a children's picture book. And because of that, I suggested going with the iBookstore instead. The iBooks Author software, available freely from Apple, provides a much better match to picture book layout and interaction than standard document-to-EPUB conversion tools. For picture books, which typically run 32 pages in length, the layout is just as important as the content. iBooks Author offers fixed page layout, so you can be sure that the page you design and the page the reader sees are essentially the same. This makes it the best match for many cookbooks, textbooks, and of course, picture books. Best of all, it's pretty easy to pick up for anyone with some technological mastery. As an alternative, advanced design tools like Adobe InDesign enable you to create fixed layout using traditional EPUB 3, but the software is expensive and the technological demands are higher. (Link is to a PDF describing the process of converting childrens books to EPUB 3 using InDesign.) The advantage to EPUB is a potentially wider audience, but you do so subject to the whims of the rendering platform without the guarantees of page fidelity that Apple brings to the table with iBooks. There's no implied contract of performance. As Smashwords CEO Mark Coker points out, "Any time you add complexity to a book, you create opportunities for incompatibility or limit the number of supported platforms." One of the challenges of a fixed format book is that it limits the platform on which it can be read. With iBooks Author, you limit your audience to iPad owners. The expanded iBooks format is only available for tablet reading. The unfortunate side of choosing fixed layout is that you lose out on many services that exist to transform manuscripts to EPUB formats. Sites like Smashwords, Lulu, and FastPencil offer simple-to-use book conversion and publishing options. You upload a manuscript, choose a template, and publish. They are a perfect match for casual writers without a tech background. That kind of automated conversion just doesn't seem to exist for fixed layout projects. Coker explained that fixed layout isn't an easy path, even for a constantly evolving service. "We're looking to the future to see how we can add other formats," he said. Smashwords currently supports EPUB 2, but is exploring additional formats including EPUB 3 and other fixed layout solutions like iBooks. "Just within the last week, we introduced a new feature called Smashwords Direct," he said. "The service allows authors and publishers to upload their own professionally formatted EPUB files." Prior to the Direct service, Smashwords limited their uploads to Microsoft Word documents. "This is the first time we've allowed a format other than just Word docs. We see this as the first step, a foundational element for supporting other file formats." Coker expressed interest in distributing books in iBooks format to Apple as well. "We're taking it one step at a time. Our Direct service is in beta. We're going to work on working out the kinks for the first generation then look to the future to see how we can add the other formats." Coker could not offer a timeline due to the exploratory nature of the initiative. In the end, the best bet for the picture book situation is probably to give iBooks Author a try. There are many excellent books and websites that guide you through the process and teach you how to use the app. Have experience using conversion bureaus? Share your stories in the comments.
iBook Lessons: The absolute beginner
iBook Lessons is a continuing series about ebook writing and publishing. I get asked this a lot: what is the absolute minimum it takes to get started in ebook publishing. The answer is this: a manuscript in Microsoft Word .doc or .docx format, an Amazon account, and a smile. Everything else is gravy. With just those items, you can get started publishing on Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) system and start earning money from what you write. Just agree to KDP's terms and conditions, provide Amazon with a bank account routing number for your earnings, and if you are an American citizen, a Social Security number. You can find all the information you need to provide on this webpage. You can use a personal account to set up your direct deposit, although you'll probably want to set up a separate business account instead. Check around for whatever free checking deals are currently in your area. These days, in the US, expect to leave a few hundred dollars deposited in the account in order to skip fees. Once you've signed up, you head over to your KDP dashboard to upload and describe your ebook. You won't need an ISBN, you won't need to pre-format your book for mobi or EPUB, you just select the doc file from your desktop, upload it, and let Amazon do all the rest. It's insanely easy. What's more, your Kindle book can be read on nearly any platform out there from iOS to Android, from Mac to Windows. In exchange for selling your book, Amazon takes a fixed 30% of the sales price (which may range from $2.99 to $9.99) off the top plus "delivery fees," which amount to $0.15/megabyte. In other words, Amazon is not the place for you if you intend to sell image-heavy picture books. There are two exceptions to this model. First, if your book costs under $2.99, you must sell it using a flat 35% royalty option (they keep 65% of list price). Second, if you want to bypass the delivery fee model, you may opt into the 35% program for higher-priced ebooks. What if you absolutely need to sell through iBooks? Then, you'll either have to start doing a bit more work in terms of securing an ISBN, filling out paperwork and contracts, and converting to EPUB, or you can look into a third party-Apple approved aggregator. Apple requires: ISBN numbers for the books you want to distribute Delivery in EPUB format, where the book passes EpubCheck 1.0.5 a US Tax ID an iTunes account backed up by a credit card An easy way to work through this is to sell through an agregator like Smashwords. In exchange for a further cut of your profits, they distribute your ebooks to a wide range of stores, including the iBookstore. Instead of earning 70%, you earn 60% and Smashwords handles all the distribution details, including ISBNs. They promise: Free ISBNs Free ebook conversion to nine formats Free unlimited anytime-updates to book and metadata Regardless of where you publish, spend as much time as you can writing a compelling book. And, don't forget the proofreading! [For Federico Viticci, who asked]
