Q: Adding a cover to a book in iBooks

There is a way, but it is not particularly user friendly and you have to be comfortable rolling up your sleeves and reaching into the guts of an epub file.

1. Start with a .epub file that is not in the iBooks library.
2. Unzip it. (I use "ePub Zip/Unzip 2.1.1")
3. Save the artwork you want to use as the cover art as a .png file named iTunesArtwork (no extension)
4. Copy that file to the top folder of the epub, replacing any existing file by that name.
5. Rezip the epub.
6. Import it into iBooks.
7. iBooks will use the iTunesArtwork file as the cover art for the epub. This then transfers to your ios device when you sync.

This is why an app like Google Drive or Dropbox is handy.  Just put it in to one of those.  Update.  Go to your iPad.  Open either app.  Click on the file.  Open in iBooks.  Easiest way.  I'm not connecting my iPad until I can edit them in iBooks for the Mac.  I can't believe this app is so half-baked.

Tested and working:

How to edit iBooks meta data under Mac OS X Mavericks

First of all, I GOT THIS FROM ANOTHER SOURCE.  I take no credit nor responsibility.

IT WORKS

Edit metadata with Calibre for Mac

Although edit metadata with iBooks is impossible, it doesn't mean this is the end of the story. With another software, Calibre for Mac, we can edit book's metadata then load the book into iBooks for Mac app.

First we import the book into Calibre and delete it from iBooks

Right click on the book title, choose "Edit metadata", then "Edit metadata individually".

In this window we can customize almost all the important metadata, including adding a cover to the book

After you finish the editing, click "OK" to confirm.

But job is not finished yet, in fact the editing is only done in Calibre's library. To display the edited book in iBooks for Mac, we need add the editing into the book file.

No matter if we are adding cover or modifying other metadata like title, author & publisher, genre, etc. , converting the book to EPUB again is necessary, only in this way, we can completely edit the metadata inside the book, not only in Calibre library.

So the last step is to convert the book to EPUB, even this file is already an EPUB file.

Find the converted file in Calibre's library and drag it into iBooks for Mac, now we can see the book displayed in iBooks for Mac with all the gorgeous editing present.

Using the same method we can also add or modify other metadata like title, author & publisher, genre, etc. on Mac OS X Mavericks even the iBooks for Mac won't permit us to do so.

I have tried this and it works!!!

The only problem with that is that many PDFs (which comprise much of our libraries) do not convert very well to epub.

you can also do this with pdfs.  move the pdf into calibre.  do your editing.

So the last step is to convert the book to pdf, even this file is already a pdf file.

Find the converted file in Calibre's library and drag it into iBooks for Mac, now we can see the book displayed in iBooks for Mac with all the gorgeous editing present.

Using the same method we can also add or modify other metadata like title, author & publisher, genre, etc. on Mac OS X Mavericks even if the iBooks for Mac won't permit us to do so.

I have tried this and it works!!!

This is just a bit clunky for Apple.  They have the greatest music library application.  I just figured it would have the same ability we already had in iTunes.  Now if you need to change anything on a PDF, I find preview is quite powerful.  You sometimes have to export it or save it out, to change them.  But once done you can delete or add things into the PDF that way. 

Here is an easier fix...

http://ebookconverter.blogspot.com/2013/02/how-to-add-cover-to-epub-pdf-mobi-boo k.html

Someone else published some instructions for doing this but this URL is a little more user-friendly! :-)

Thank you Steve! I already used Calibre and knew how to edit metadata.  But it wasn't carrying over into iBooks.  Converting it to epub again after making the changes did it.

another thanks to steve. 

adding cover then reconverting to epub with calibre works a treat.

The solution you shared has solved my problem... thanks!

Thanks, Steve, wherever you got it. It works!

So if you use dropbox to load the book to your iPad, and then also load the book to your phone from Dropbox, will the bookmarks sync across the devices? Or will it think it's two different books, since it did not come through iTunes?