Edgar wrote:
I suspected the capitalization but wasn't sure. However, this seems pretty ridiculous to me. I decided to keep everything in lower case on purpose. What happened to artistic freedom, what happened to "Think difffferent"? BTW, Shouldn't "different" be upper case? Would Apple's own logo pass the iBooks censorship bureau?
I'm afraid that these are questions that only Apple can answer…
I have already published 4 physical books on Amazon that contain the subtitle "A new type of manual - the visual approach". The book cover of my ebook is similar to the physical book. I can change the subtitle in the metadata, but will Apple force me to change the graphics of my book cover too to match the metadata? They didn't issue a ticket on the front cover yet. (Policing - ticket, now it all makes sense). This is getting really ridiculous. No wonder that the approval process takes forever.
I'm afraid that Apple will force you to change the graphic. From the Publisher User Guide:
If a cover art file has one of the following problems, it will be removed from sale.
Wrong cover art attached (that is, the title on the cover doesn’t match the metadata)
That language appears quite clear and unambiguous.
Another example of that paranoid over-policing. At the end of my book, I posted some links to my website and links to Amazon for my physical book and my music as a composer. Amazon sells my music as CDs and mp3 downloads. But because the Amazon link to my Amazon Artist page lists all my Amazon music products (CD and mp3), I "got a ticket" to remove the Amazon link, because my music is also available as downloads on the iTunes store. That competing link violates the user agreement. So technically you would not be allowed to have a link to your own website when you are selling your own stuff and competing directly with the iTunes store or iBookstore.
Apple can write whatever user agreement they like, and authors can accept that agreement or reject it, at the cost of not having their work made available in the iBookstore.
However, I just had another look through my distribution agreement with Apple and (at least in my contract, yours may differ), there is nothing that would stop me to add a link to a page at Amazon or anywhere else, for that matter. However, the Publisher User Guide says:
If a book’s EPUB file has one of the following problems, it will be removed from sale.
Contains advertisements or links to competitor’s sites or competitor’s products
I do not know whether this is actually legally binding, seeing that my contract with Apple does not mention any such thing, and does not refer to the Publisher User Guide as being part of the contract. Moreover, as far as I can see, Apple can change the User Guide any time they like, without consulting any of the publishers who pragmatically (if not legally) are bound by it. That much at least appears dubious to me.
Not being a legal expert, I think that practices such as this might violate antitrust legislation. But, as usual, that will not be tested until someone is willing to take the matter through a very expensive legal process. (And I am sure that the lawyers who advise Apple are very good at what they do.)
Michi, I like to dream too, but at the moment that whole thing is more of a nightmare - and I can't wake up ...
That's the price of being an early adopter, and the price of working with Apple.
For what it's worth, I believe that many of the problems will be resolved over time. What is happening here is not some giant conspiracy but plain and simple immaturity. Apple have no prior experience with this process. The extremely long wait times for books an example of this. Obviously, Apple grossly underestimated the amount of effort that would be required on their part.
As to the rules in the Publisher User Guide, I'm not enough of a legal expert to decide whether such clauses might run afoul of anti-trust legislation or whether they are legally binding, seeing that the Guide is not mention in the contract. Pragmatically, the Publisher User Guide is binding because, if you don't follow the rules there, you won't get your book published.
Michi.