Can I as an independent author publish to iPad?

Question

Texugo Author

Level 1

10 points

Can I as an independent author publish to iPad?

Hello

Is there a way to an independent author to publish to iPad without the "help" of an aggregator?

Best Regards

pc

Posted on May 1, 2010 5:04 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Tamara

Level 6

13,744 points

May 1, 2010 5:44 PM in response to Texugo

At this time, you would need to use an option like Smashwords to publish to iBooks.

Reply

Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

123,030 points

May 1, 2010 8:19 PM in response to Texugo

Is there a way to an independent author to publish to iPad without the "help" of an aggregator?

If you are talking about getting your stuff into iBooks, the answer is "no".

But there are lots of ways for things to be read on an iPad besides iBooks, including the Kindle app.

Reply

Answer 3

Texugo Author

Level 1

10 points

May 2, 2010 2:28 AM in response to Texugo

Hello
I am aware of smashwords, lulu and other companies, but for me these companies are acting like traditional publishing houses and getting their money from the work of the authors. What I am looking for is an option that lets me as an author self publish my works without having to pay money to companies that act as middle man. For that we already have the traditional publishers in paper. I don't mind to share profits with Apple because they have produced the iPad, but I am not interested in dealing with third parties. It is my opinion that if a company wants to have a real success with e-books must open a direct channel to the thousands of independent authors and let people buy what they want; a selection will follow but not made by companies that are acting as publishing houses. Apple can directly gain a lot by opening this new direct channel and please don't tell me that it is difficult to build software to convert documents into the epub format or other type of format in an easy way, because this is the XXI century.

Best Regards

Texugo

Reply

Answer 4

T_Bro54

Level 1

15 points

May 2, 2010 3:15 AM in response to Texugo

Terry White published his own iBook called 25 Tips For iPad, here is a link:

http://www.bestappsite.com/2010/04/21/25-tips-for-the-ipad-free-ibook/

This book is not in the iBook store, but it is very easy to download off another web site and add to your iPad library. This is one of the tips in the book. Plus Terry explains how you can publish your own iBook and distribute it the same way. The iTunes store is not necessary for getting an iBook into an iPad library. I'm in the process of publishing my own book the same way.

Reply

Answer 5

May 2, 2010 5:44 AM in response to T_Bro54

Tex,

You can sell your book through your site as an epub or PDF file. I have done this with a PDF in the past. The advantage of an electronic publisher is that they do much of the work, but you surrender SCADS of your profits.

ePub can be read in iBooks. Since ePub is just an XML file, it's best suited for books without a lot of graphics. There's free epub software, but you might have to do so XML touchup to get things looking good.

PDF can be created in many apps and saved a password protected file. Its the best graphics publishing format. To read them on an iPad, it would require a PDF reader like SimplyPDF or GoodReader. Links and bookmarks are not well supported, so the iPad as PDF reader is not as full featured as with EPub and iBooks..

Reply

Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

123,030 points

May 2, 2010 6:56 AM in response to Texugo

It is my opinion

The best place to tell Apple how you think they should do things with ebooks is here:

http://www.apple.com/feedback/ipad.html

Reply

Answer 7

Texugo Author

Level 1

10 points

May 2, 2010 9:24 AM in response to Texugo

Hello
Thank you all for you suggestions. They raise however other interesting questions such as:
1- How can you manage the drm from your website? I mean if you provide a link to a reader to donwload the e-book, how can you be sure that you have managed to lock the file to the reader's computer in order that he won't pass it along?
2- I agree that pdf is great for e-books but once they are open they can be copied and passed along. Is there some affordale drm software solution for this?

Best Regards

Texugo

Reply

Answer 8

Spadiyar

Level 1

15 points

May 17, 2010 1:03 PM in response to T_Bro54

I understand exactly what you are saying. For instance, on Kindle you can go and directly publish by dealing with Amazon at Dtp.amazon.com. There does not seem to be such a facility available at Apple to deal directly with their iBooks entity and publish on iBooks.

Reply

Answer 9

Spadiyar

Level 1

15 points

May 17, 2010 4:57 PM in response to Texugo

Lulu presents an option to publish to iBooks BUT requires you to first publish it in their marketplace. Smashwords, however, just told me that I could use their Distribution Manager feature and "opt out" of distribution channels I don't want. So the best option present today to get your book on iBooks/iPad is going through Smashwords until such time Apple opens up a direct channel to deal with book authors.

Reply

Answer 10

May 17, 2010 5:10 PM in response to Spadiyar

until such time Apple opens up a direct channel to deal with book authors

Given that they have never done this for musicians in itunes in all the years that's been around, I wouldn't count heavily on this when deciding what to do.

Reply

Answer 11

Spadiyar

Level 1

15 points

May 17, 2010 6:00 PM in response to Barbara Brundage

I would have to agree with you. However, Amazon's Kindle reader is a very viable competitor and if Apple wants to win in this arena they would have to get the critical mass on their side. With iTunes, Apple has a virtual monopoly and can do as they wish.

Reply

Answer 12

May 17, 2010 6:25 PM in response to Spadiyar

Apple will most likely not get in the content creation biz. But as with CDBaby and other providers do with audio on iTunes, there will probably wind up being a decent selection of providers that will publish iBook content for a reasonable cost.

Reply

Answer 13

May 28, 2010 9:31 AM in response to Texugo

Published a book by my li'l ol' self yesterday.

See http://undress4success.com/authors-rejoice-publishers-alert/

Reply

Answer 14

Jon Walker

Level 6

19,509 points

May 28, 2010 9:42 AM in response to Thomas Harnish

Congratulations!

Reply

Answer 15

Aug 25, 2010 4:38 PM in response to Texugo

It IS possible to self-publish directly 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 such as losing italics) - then uploading it through iTunes Connect is relatively straightforward. I can't remember which epub converter I ended up using. Just try the free ones you find with a search and go for the one that introduces the least errors.

Titus Powell

<Edited by Host>

Reply