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

I think we all got someone's attention at Apple. My new version I sent up last night is now in the store!

My totally re-submitted book (with a new ISBN number) was ok'ed and is now in the store in less than 24 hours after I sent it up! The older version is STILL indicating it has not cleared anything and nothing has been done since I uploaded an "update" to it several days ago.

If you are interested and would like to see it (or even download the first chapter for free)--The book is a fundraiser for a charity I work with in Thailand for help abused kids escape the streets and have anew life in peace. I am a fine art photographer and this is a photo book of my work there. All profits go to the 3L Foundation.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/spiritual-visions-thailand/id524251168?mt=11

I resubmitted my new book with a new ISBN number and it was clear that THIS time, iTunes producer uploaded the correct version. The previous version I had up online that I tried to update apparently NEVER actually did despite indications some of it had, some of it hadn't. Either way, I'm glad the new version is up and running. I'm still not happy about the way I was treated and how this process went but if it seems to be improving for everyone, especially those who had such intolerable problems, I may hold off on my pursuing my complaint with Apple with the open letter I was witting. The jury is still out. Let's see what happens. But thank the lord this process is over for me. I still may make it into an app.

I just got my approved and uploaded to iTunes!!! So excited!!! It's an guitar instructional http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/melodic-expressions-art-line/id524002410?mt=11&i gn-mpt=uo%3D4

Congratulation! I hope your book is a sucess!

I am still looking for a good success story for iBookstore.

I still don't see the love from Apple on my side.

and this is just the wait time for the revisions

More than a week for waiting to just approve the correction of one single link. Pretty pathetic. And now another week went by and no approval, not even a single email response after trying to contact them numerous times. I guess even they find it embarrassing to send those insulting email asking for patience, after waiting for 3 month now.

Besides the lottery system, I think they added another element to their approval process. Black Lists, and I can say for sure that I'm on that one.

I'm so fed up with those %$#  that today I sent an email to Tim Cook to bring to his attention what is going on in the iBooks approval department. What the heck, at least there is a higher chance to get a response from the chief himself than from any of the iBookstore guys.

Edgar wrote:

 

Besides the lottery system, I think they added another element to their approval process. Black Lists, and I can say for sure that I'm on that one.

I strongly suspect that there is no such thing as a black list. It just doesn't make sense to have one. To what end?

The most concerning aspects of the approval process to me:

• The inconsistencies in wait time. It's pretty upsetting for publishers to wait for two months with no action while, simultaneously, other people submit their book and see it a approved in two weeks. A "first come, first served" policy would seem a lot fairer, and would avoid needlessly upsetting publishers (and avoid the associated bad publicity).

• The poor quality of tickets when it comes to describing a defect. It would be in both Apple's and the publishers' interest to send good quality bug reports that unambiguously identify a problem.

• The lack of notification. That one seems a no-brainer to me. It's very easy to do and standard practice for shared workflows such as this. Requiring publishers to continuously poll with iTunes Connect for status changes is truly archaic. Not to mention that really important events, such as pulling a book from the store, really need to be communicated to the publisher.

Michi.

My book in Pregnancy Photography was approved at some point within the last 48 hours.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/illustrated-guide-to-pregnancy/id514590839?mt=11

It was submitted March 28th of this year.

My wife works with a US womens' health publisher and their first two books tooks almost a month. Their third book took less than two weeks.

To contrast that, my first book (I've had apps before in the store) was uploaded on April 30th and was for sale May 5 (today) ... only six days later (book of artists). That said, I also found a handful of (stupid) minor mistakes that fell through my last checks that needed editing so I'm uploading a brand new version and we'll see if this only takes the five days too.

I have uploaded revisions of many of our books - and 2 of them resulted in the current version being pulled from the store during approval of the new process. One got back a month later, the other one still in approval process after a 2 months wait.

thye chean wrote:

 

I have uploaded revisions of many of our books - and 2 of them resulted in the current version being pulled from the store during approval of the new process. One got back a month later, the other one still in approval process after a 2 months wait.

This is truly serious. If a book is currently selling, I see no reason to pull the current version just because an update is under review. That's not in either Apple's or the publisher's interest. For starters, it makes a mockery of any book promotion that might be in progress, and it invalidates all the links to the store that may have been placed on websites or posted in forums. And, of course, it removes the revenue stream from the publisher without so much as "by your leave". Apple are of course entitled to remove a book at any time, such as when they detect objectionable content. But, assuming no such content exists in the currently selling version, an update to that version is not a legitimate reason to pull it from the store.

I suggest that you submit feedback about this to Apple. This part of the process urgently needs fixing.

Michi.

ArtSpin wrote:

 

My wife works with a US womens' health publisher and their first two books tooks almost a month. Their third book took less than two weeks.

 

To contrast that, my first book (I've had apps before in the store) was uploaded on April 30th and was for sale May 5 (today) ... only six days later (book of artists).

There are quite a few reports lately of books making it through the process more quickly. Let's hope that's a sign that Apple are catching up with the backlog and are getting the approval process more streamlined.

Michi.

Another example that proofs that easy and common sense issues seem way over the head of the current iBooks team. How hard can it be that if a book in online and you submit a revision, that the current book stays online until the revision is approved and someone pulls the switch - tataa - the new book is online - seamlessly - like magic.

Is the iBook team so out of touch with reality? Have these guys ever created a website, are they familiar with a dead link - obviously not. Once your book is online after the grueling validation process, it is up to the publisher to establish all the links and promote the books with that link. For Apple to just go ahead and pull the book is just unbelievable. I don't think it has nothing to do with arrogance, it is just plain unprofessional.

There are so many good books in the iBookstore about programming and how to do business, etc. . Maybe the iBook team should pay a bit more attention when they proof read those books, maybe they could learn a thing or two. It wouldn't hurt.

Edgar wrote:

 

How hard can it be that if a book in online and you submit a revision, that the current book stays online until the revision is approved and someone pulls the switch - tataa - the new book is online - seamlessly - like magic.

Not very hard at all, I would think. (It works like this for apps, for one thing.)

I think the best chance of getting this fixed is for every affected author/publisher to submit feedback about the problem. The more people complain, the better the chance of seeing it change.

Michi.

MichiHenning wrote:

Let's hope that's a sign that Apple are catching up with the backlog and are getting the approval process more streamlined.

 

I still believe the iBook team has a black list and I'm sure I'm on it. Even with lottery and luck, stuff doesn't make sense.

Let me get that straight. If forum member AtSpin submits a book on April 30th  and has it online by today, how come that one of my books submitted Feb 22nd and the other one March 7th and the last revision submitted on April 26th but both are is still pending ... really. And that "revision" was to remove one single Amazon link. It just doesn't make any sense, what so ever.

BTW, I just realized that I sold one copy of one of my books during the few hours it was online before it was pulled again.  I committed the most unthinkable heinous crime against Apple ... linking to the Amazon (physical) book store in my iBook [Thou shalt have no other gods before me]. You know what that means. One reader will find out about the existence about Amazon and if that knowledge will spread ... o my god. So you better sell your Apple stocks now, because this could mean the end of Apple as we know it.

Edgar wrote:

 

I still believe the iBook team has a black list and I'm sure I'm on it. Even with lottery and luck, stuff doesn't make sense.

 

Let me get that straight. If forum member AtSpin submits a book on April 30th  and has it online by today, how come that one of my books submitted Feb 22nd and the other one March 7th and the last revision submitted on April 26th but both are is still pending ... really.

I honestly don't believe that a blacklist exists, or that it would make sense to have one. For one, if such a list were to exist, I suspect that it could be illegal, and secrets of this magnitude are hard to keep. Sooner or later, one of Apple's employees or contractors would spill the beans, with obvious inconvenient image and legal problems for Apple. Second, there is no need for a blacklist to explain the inconsistencies in wait time: incompetence is all that is necessary to explain that.

Whenever you have the choice between a conspiracy and a stuff-up, 99.99% of the time, it's a stuff-up. (Stuff-ups are much easier to create than conspiracies…)

I committed the most unthinkable heinous crime against Apple ... linking to the Amazon (physical) book store in my iBook [Thou shalt have no other gods before me]. You know what that means. One reader will find out about the existence about Amazon and if that knowledge will spread ... o my god.

I don't l like it either. But Apple are well within their rights to enforce this. After all, a car dealer who sells Ford cars would hardly be expected to include a reference to General Motors models in his brochures either… And, to be fair, the iTunes Producer Guide quite explicitly states that links to competitors are not acceptable, so you knew what you were getting into up front.

Whether the iTunes Producer Guide is a binding part of the contract is questionable, because it is not mentioned in the contract, and the Producer Guide can change without consent of the publishers. We simply will not know whether this would hold up legally until someone challenges it in the courts. Even then, my guess is that the Publisher Guide is perfectly OK as long as it doesn't run afoul of antidiscrimination or antitrust legislation. Refusing to publish a book with a link to a competing business is not discrimination. In addition, you can bet your bottom dollar that Apple's lawyers are very, very good and would have vetted all the conditions.

So you better sell your Apple stocks now, because this could mean the end of Apple as we know it.

I very much doubt that will happen

I've been quite outspoken here in this forum about the problems with Apple's process. Despite this, I have not earned a spot on any hypothetical blacklist, evidenced by the publication of my book two days ago, after a five-week wait. Far too long for my taste, but better than not getting published at all.

Michi.

I got books that still got stuck since February without ticket. I got books that got approved within 10 days too. I don't think there is a blacklist - just the process is kind of random and you got random reviewers picking stuffs to review randomly.