updating an already published, free iBook?

Content changes, as opposed to meta data only, constitute another review. Taking the book out of the store is triggered as a default response as you are effectively saying you don't want the version that has already been reviewed and approved.

As always, it can reap benefits to be thorough up front, and thereby avoid repeating the process by collecting mistakes as an afterthought.

K T wrote:

Content changes, as opposed to meta data only, constitute another review. Taking the book out of the store is triggered as a default response as you are effectively saying you don't want the version that has already been reviewed and approved.

I don't believe that's established fact. According to Jim's post here, Apple have confirmed that updates to the content do not automatically trigger removal of the currently selling version from the store. (We have had recent reports from people who said that updates to the content of their book propagated through to the store in a matter of hours.)

However, there are people who have reported here that updating their book did cause the existing title to be removed from sale while the new version was under review.

I guess the upshot is that it's possible that updating a book will cause it to be removed (we have evidence for that), even though that's not supposed to happen (according to Apple's message to Jim).

That's another aspect of the process that Apple would do publishers a great favor to publish in their guidelines.

Michi.

I suspect we're simply seeing more evidence of process-in-progress. Apps don't come out of the store when an update is pushed and since we've heard of books going missing, I have to wonder if whomever from Apple took their lead from the app review process...

I expect at some point there will be no talk of apps going MIA because of an update and the review process will become similar to app reviews. In any case, and at this time, I think it's risky to not bother with the caveat, and just emptor away - it's up to the individual, tho, of course.

And again, the best way to aviod such risk is to simply not go down that road, double down on reviewing and proofing up front, rather than shipping something less than perfect. We all know the saying "Why is there always time to do something twice but never enough time to do it right in the first place." Resist the urge to see your book in the store long enough to make sure it's something you want your name on.

K T wrote:

I expect at some point there will be no talk of apps going MIA because of an update and the review process will become similar to app reviews. In any case, and at this time, I think it's risky to not bother with the caveat, and just emptor away - it's up to the individual, tho, of course.

I sure hope that, going forward, updates to a book won't cause the currently selling copy to go AWOL. Apple's message to Jim seems to indicate as much. But, given the reports around here, I'm not going to casually push an update to my book until well after we've established that doing so isn't going to endanger my currently selling version…

And again, the best way to aviod such risk is to simply not go down that road, double down on reviewing and proofing up front, rather than shipping something less than perfect. We all know the saying "Why is there always time to do something twice but never enough time to do it right in the first place." Resist the urge to see your book in the store long enough to make sure it's something you want your name on.

Getting it right as much as possible the first time is definitely preferable, I agree. But there are reasons for wanting to update a book other than just mistakes. I had to replace an entire chapter in my paper book for the third printing due to a change in an international standard, for example. Especially for technical books, such updates are often inevitable. I see this as a big advantage of electronic books: cheap and easy to update.

Once Apple add a notification mechanism similar to what is available for apps, it'll even be easy for customers to find out when a book has been updated.

Michi.