Q: Once my book is uploaded, how long before it appears in iTunes?

limtc wrote:

 

If this is not ridiculous (as the book was approved, and then pulled, and this is a Children book with multimedia content) - I am not sure what is.

You are at the mercy of a completely botched process without any transparency whatsoever

It's a bit like gambling, really…

Michi.

As an iOS/Android developer myself, at least I have a choice. I am moving back to App Store and bringing the content with me. I am redeveloping my books as apps.

I used to think App Store approval process is long and sometimes inconsistent, but it is no comparison with iBookstore.

I received a bad review because of a typo.  I realized this and resubmitted it before I got the bad review.  Now I am waiting for the update to go though.  Apple is a great company- they make amazing products, but I wish the book process would be a little quicker (I understand that the iBookstore team is small- they need more people).

Question for limtc and all those that have uploaded changes to an existing title in the bookstore.

It seems that there are two methods in iTunes Producer one can use to upload newly updated assets.  The first is to open your existing package and make changes.  However, this requires you to reupload the entire package, even elements you already uploaded but aren't making any changes to.

The second is to look up existing metadata for your title in the store, which creates a new package. Then you make your changes and upload the new assets. The benefit with this method is that you only have to upload the assets you need to update, and not the entire package.

I noticed when I used the latter method, the changes I made appeared in the store within a matter of hours.

So I'm wondering if with the first method, Apple treats it like any new submission, and puts it the back of the queue for review? Because it seems some people here have had quick success making changes while others have had to wait a long time...

Is it? I tried both methods and it seems that they always upload everything. That's why now I just use the existing methods. Both methods gave me changes within a day.

Since I am getting into trouble (2 of my books got pulled), I will suggest doing the 2nd method.

When I did the second method, aside from the basic metadata (book title, ISBN,etc.) i didn't have to re-upload any elements that I wasn't changing, including the book cover, and even the original book file or preview file. (In this case, I was only updating Rights & Pricing, street date and adding screenshots.)

Where as, when I tried the first method, it wouldn't let me resubmit the package unless I included everything again, including the existing iBooks file (which I wasn't changing.) In my case, since our book file is 1.4gb, it would have taken hours just to reupload and we didn't want to do that.

If that's the case, then probably you are right, and I might be doing wrongs all the time. But anyway, either way works, but of course choose the faster way.

I am starting to leave the development of iBooks until things got improved. I have been uploading apps (as books) in App Stores these few days and besides the initial painful setup, the process is way better than iBookstore.

limtc wrote:

 

If that's the case, then probably you are right, and I might be doing wrongs all the time. But anyway, either way works, but of course choose the faster way.

 

I am starting to leave the development of iBooks until things got improved. I have been uploading apps (as books) in App Stores these few days and besides the initial painful setup, the process is way better than iBookstore.

make sure your books have a lot more functionality in them as apps. I had a book rejected for the app store because it was too much like a book and was told to submit to the ibookstore instead

For the second option, you use iTunes Producer to upload only the metadata?  I have a typo that must be fixed- can I use your method to update the book?  Thanks.

My books are music books with music video & lyrics. So it is easy to change to apps - I use native controls like tabs, etc to make it not like a book.

Just submitted and see how fast/slow it will be approved compared to iBookstore (typically 1 month).

Can I use the second option to update the .ibooks textbook?

I am able to. From the main iTunes Producer screen, you should see three basic options: Create a New Package, Open an Existing Package or Look Up Metadata.

When I choose Look Up Metadata, I type in the ISBN and then it pulls down the existing data for that title. Then you can just upload the elements of the asset you want (say, just the book file).

Hope this makes sense...

I started out developing apps that allowed children who have reading issues such as dyslexia to help with reading. The apps were approved without any problems, until my last one. It was rejected, because it was not interactive enough (regardless of which category I put it in.. education, book, etc.). I actually talked to a person who was in charge of reviewing the rejected apps and he shared with me that if an app is a book and it does not have any interactive features, it will be more then likely rejected and refered to the iBookstore.

I do have one book in the iBookstore using iBook Author (eReading: The Best Thing) and was approved after about 3 1/2 weeks. So, if you plan on switching to developing apps that are books, just be aware that they are on the warpath of rejecting them, if the apps are not "interactive" enough (just added some video clips doesn't count either).

I have been reading this thread for awhile and agree with everybody's frustration in the slowness of the approval process, the randomness of the rejection, the mystery of updating your iBook, and the inability to search on keywords. Hopefully Apple will read these posts and start adjusting the approval process and streamlining for authors like us and make it more user-friendly for the developers.

Considering Apple doesn't even have an iBook Store feedback link setup (apple.com/feedback) they must not be so prepared. The closest thing is iBooks Author. I think they need to really open up their support options here and help us all out.

My process has been easy, so far. I had to make my 3rd Apple ID, which I did on April 4th. I emailed the iOS Dev team asking to be transfered to the iBooks team. I got an email saying my ID or name was not found in a Paid iBooks account. After emailing them a screenshot of my confirmaton I was confirmed and approved as an author within 24 hrs. But I did not recieve a response from them, my account was just active. Maybe it was planned to be active anyway, but who knows.

After that I purchased my ISBN and exported my iBooks Author file to iTunes Producer. It stalled and gave me a generic error, apparently I needed to update my version of Java. After doing so everything went well and my content was uploaded to iTunes about 4-5 hours ago.

Now the idea of waiting weeks and months for the apporval process only to be rejected and waiting additional weeks and months doesn't sit well with me. I think we all need to contact Apple. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, this needs to be fixed before it gets out of control.

The company I work for would love to use iBooks to publish their magazines and items, but honestly, from reading what I've read here I'd be hesitant on supporting that. I love Apple, and their tool and output is great. But they need to fix the submisison process, and fix it fast!

Maybe then they'll focus on manging this process a bit better or hiring more people. Whatever it takes they need to do something, or everyone will be flocking to Amazon where your product can be online in a matter of hours... not months.

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