I just finished my fixed layout book (epub) and its ready to go. I know I need to get an ISBN number before I can even submit the book to Apple to be aproved for the ibook store. But I am brand new to selling anything like this. So is there anyone out their who can tell me what the process is and if there are any tips you can give me?
iPad, Mac OS X (10.7.4)
I purchased my ePubBud ISBN on Thursday, published and fixed iBook Author eBook on Friday, went live on Monday. Search "Carpe Audience."
I had some reservations about epubbud but found enough online to risk the five bucks. ISBN is another ICANN like standards body/regulatory monopoly. Seeing epubbud front end the volume discount and then pass on the savings is kinda cool. Low risk in exercise of "Publisher" (see quotes) rights. If your book is a real seller, and epubbud gets pesky, pull ISBN from epubbud and buy from Bowker.
But, I have seen no evidence of epubbud being pesky. Face it, for self or small publishers, the iTunes Bookstore is a long shot investment. Reducing upfront costs is an imperative. Five vs. a hundred and twenty five could be a cost-of-entry showstopper. I look at it as a self solving problem. If sales justify a change, then you can afford to change it. Till then, save every dollar you can.
Good luck. Please let me know.
Do a search for "ISBN" in the iBooks Author forum. Also check the Apple publishing FAQ. You can buy your own ISBN, or get one for $5 from ePub Bud, if you don't mind ePub Bud being listed as the publisher.
Michi.
I looked at epubbud and it looks like its a scam to me. ISBN's for $5? Everyone sells ISBN's for $100 or more. Plus I don't see any endorsements and what they have on their site is VERY low quality. I would be too scared to put my book on that site. (I do high quality fixed layout read-aloud books with 3D HD graphics).
Also, I hope you don't work for Epubbud, because there is another person on here who answers questions as if she was a customer of that company and she actually works there and is using this forum to advertise.
I am willing to publish it on my own just to not pay any extra or get someone else involved (or getting a cut of the profit). The ISBN is a little confusing to me from the research I have done. Since I am brand new to this book publishing and online epub selling, what is the exact process of getting your book on itunes? What is it like to have a book online? How does it look when you "manage" your book pricing? How to you handle marketing the book, setting up a web site (I am also new to this), linking books you wrote to your web site (I liked your web site). ETC. No one seems to want to tell anyone the process. I have tried to buy a book in Barns and Noble and there is no book on ibook selling. If someone wrote one, I would buy it.
Jake,
I can assure you that I don't, haven't and won't be working for epubbud. (You can see more about me and the book at carpeaudience.com) My first experience with epubbud was in purchasing an ISBN number last week that was accepted by Apple. Since it was formatted in iBook Author the only place that eBook appears is on Apple's bookstore (Per contract.)
Recognize that distributing through Apple carries a 30% "Commission" going to Apple on every sale. My take is that is a fair price for the store exposure, digital delivery, reporting and payment processing.
I found a free eBook from O'Reilly Media called "Publishing with iBooks Author" that answered some of my questions. It may still be free at oreilly.com. But your first step is to create an account and decide if you want to abide by the Apple contracts. That can be all done online.
Managing books looks pretty cool. There's a simple dashboard that allows you to control your pricing and distribution. And provides you with feedback during the acceptance process. You'll also need to get iTunes Producer and Application Loader for uploading your books to the Apple store.
All that said, I'm still brand new to the process. Having heard that it takes weeks to go through the acceptance process, I was delighted that it only took a weekend. Wow. Seeing the software and reporting options that are available for iTunes Connect was also exciting. (And an iPad app for iTunes Connect). Getting Promo Codes so I can get promotional copies out is cool too. So it really is with wide-eyed wonder that I am walking down this path.
PS: One more thing on ISBN numbers. It really feels like domain names. You can spend hundreds to register a domain or you can do it for under $10. I was willing to risk a low cost ISBN and it was accepted by Apple. If it proves problematic, I can change.
Good luck.
PS: One more thing on ISBN numbers. It really feels like domain names. You can spend hundreds to register a domain or you can do it for under $10. I was willing to risk a low cost ISBN and it was accepted by Apple. If it proves problematic, I can change.
There cannot be anything wrong with an ISBN as such, as long as it is a legitimate ISBN with a checksum that matches. ISBNs do not need to be recorded in a database, and there is no such thing as a world-wide DNS for ISBNs. The only caveat is that the same number cannot be used for more than one book (although, in practice, that's not really enforceable; re-used ISBNs could go unnoticed if used with different distributors).
Basically, once an ISBN is used for a book, it's just a number in the distributor's catalog, and that's that.
Michi.
Need an ISBN Number for my first ibook (epub)
