barkest

Q: Distribution of free ibook

Hi,

 

I intend to distribute my iBook for free. Can I just upload the .ibook to my website and allow downloads (is this really allowed under the license?)

 

thank you

iPad

Posted on Apr 6, 2012 12:09 AM

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Q: Distribution of free ibook

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  • by MichiHenning,Solvedanswer

    MichiHenning MichiHenning Apr 6, 2012 2:49 AM in response to barkest
    Level 4 (1,350 points)
    Apr 6, 2012 2:49 AM in response to barkest

    Yes. You can make your book available for free, even in .ibooks format. You don't need Apple's permission to do this, and you can distribute the file any way you like.

     

    If you want to charge money for it and the book is in ibooks format, you must sell it through the iBookstore.

     

    If the book in some other format, PDF or ePub (I believe you cannot actually generate ePub with IBA), there are no restrictions. You can sell it or give it away by whatever means you choose without owing anything to Apple.

     

    See here for the relevant section of the FAQ:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5071#2

     

    Michi.

  • by barkest,

    barkest barkest Apr 6, 2012 3:22 AM in response to MichiHenning
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 6, 2012 3:22 AM in response to MichiHenning

    Thank you Michi

     

    One final question. When I distribute my work for free via my website do I make the .ibooks available or do I have to use the itmsp folder and make that available?

     

    thank you again

  • by MichiHenning,Helpful

    MichiHenning MichiHenning Apr 6, 2012 3:29 AM in response to barkest
    Level 4 (1,350 points)
    Apr 6, 2012 3:29 AM in response to barkest

    You need to give people the .ibooks file, which they can just drop into iTunes and then sync with their iPad. The itmsp package is for delivery to the iBookstore with iTunes Producer. The .iba file is the iBooks Author source file.

     

    Michi.

  • by barkest,

    barkest barkest Apr 6, 2012 3:58 AM in response to MichiHenning
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Apr 6, 2012 3:58 AM in response to MichiHenning

    Thank you very much

  • by ..k..,

    ..k.. ..k.. Jun 7, 2012 8:10 AM in response to MichiHenning
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 7, 2012 8:10 AM in response to MichiHenning

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  • by Obospieler,

    Obospieler Obospieler Jun 7, 2012 8:08 AM in response to MichiHenning
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 7, 2012 8:08 AM in response to MichiHenning

    Michi!

     

    Thank you for your help on this topic.  I cann't seem to do this.

     

    I can see the book (.ibook) in my library in iTunes but when I connect my iPad to iTunes, I click on devices, iPad, Then I click on Books and I see ALL my ebooks, but not the one that I just put into the library.

     

    I'm desperate.  I am making an eBook and I need the author to be able to see what interactivity I have added to her text. 

     

    iPad 2 iOS 5.1, Black MacBook running 10.6.8 and iTunes 10.6.1

  • by MichiHenning,

    MichiHenning MichiHenning Jun 7, 2012 2:05 PM in response to Obospieler
    Level 4 (1,350 points)
    Jun 7, 2012 2:05 PM in response to Obospieler

    Obospieler wrote:

     

    I can see the book (.ibook) in my library in iTunes but when I connect my iPad to iTunes, I click on devices, iPad, Then I click on Books and I see ALL my ebooks, but not the one that I just put into the library.

    I see similar behavior occasionally. Seems to be a bug in iTunes or iBooks. What usually works for me is to deselect all books, sync, shut down iTunes and iBooks, re-start them, and the select to sync all books. (Not all of these steps may actually be necessary.) At any rate, that causes the list of books available for syncing in iTunes to refresh to the correct list for me.

     

    Michi.

  • by Obospieler,

    Obospieler Obospieler Jun 7, 2012 4:43 PM in response to MichiHenning
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 7, 2012 4:43 PM in response to MichiHenning

    Thank you so much for the reply!

     

    The problem seems to be that the book doesn't even show up in the books tab under devices.  It IS in the library in iTunes.

  • by MichiHenning,

    MichiHenning MichiHenning Jun 7, 2012 4:47 PM in response to Obospieler
    Level 4 (1,350 points)
    Jun 7, 2012 4:47 PM in response to Obospieler

    Obospieler wrote:

     

    The problem seems to be that the book doesn't even show up in the books tab under devices.  It IS in the library in iTunes.

    Yes, I think I understood you correctly. Did you try what I suggested? Did it make any difference?

     

    Michi.

  • by Obospieler,

    Obospieler Obospieler Jun 9, 2012 8:41 AM in response to MichiHenning
    Level 1 (4 points)
    Jun 9, 2012 8:41 AM in response to MichiHenning

    Hi Michi!

     

    Thanks again!!!  :-)

     

     

    In fact i DID try this and no resutls.  the book is still not showing up in the list under devices->ipad->books

  • by MichiHenning,

    MichiHenning MichiHenning Jun 9, 2012 12:27 PM in response to Obospieler
    Level 4 (1,350 points)
    Jun 9, 2012 12:27 PM in response to Obospieler

    In fact i DID try this and no resutls.  the book is still not showing up in the list under devices->ipad->books

    Strange. Have you checked that you have the latest version of iBooks on the iPad? Also, you might want use the "consolidate library" feature in iTunes. It's possible that the iTunes library XML file got out of sync. Consolidating the library should fix this.

     

    Michi.

  • by Ren3e,

    Ren3e Ren3e Jun 11, 2012 2:32 AM in response to barkest
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jun 11, 2012 2:32 AM in response to barkest

    Hi,

     

    i'm working on a series of free iBooks for a client and had no troubles with this way of distribution:

     

    1) loading the .ibooks-file on my server

    2) opening iOS-Safari on an iPad, choose the file-url, downloading this .ibooks-file

    3) no worry, while download there is absolutly nothing to see but the growing blue graph

    4) pressing button "Open in iBooks"

    5) waiting :-)

    6) the iBook opens automatically in iBooks

    7) closing the file, choose the file for moving to a folder and move (leaving this first folder, or the "root" if you like, brings better stability, especially if you work with much full-screen content as I do)

     

    Ren3e