What's the main difference between a etextbook and an ebook

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What's the main difference between a etextbook and an ebook

Hello,

I just created and uploaded a book to the ibookstore. I created it using the ibooks author software. In it there are sound and video files as well as interactive widgets. When I uploaded it, I labeled it a textbook. Then I found out that you couldn't sell textbooks in other countries and was very dissapointed. I'm wondering if I should have (or could have) called it an ebook instead. I have noticed that some ebooks (epub format?) have video and audio files. Is the only difference between the two the interactive widgets?

Also, is it possible to use ibooks author to create a regular ebook or is it only for textbooks?

Thanks for your time.

Posted on Aug 30, 2012 12:49 PM

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Answer 1

Support-

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Aug 30, 2012 3:48 PM in response to djc43

The Main Difference's between an Ibook and a Itextbook is that an Ibook is a Novel that is written but the Itextbook is Mainly a Reference textbook... there is A difference in the Widgets in the Textbook and the books.. but you can sell Ibooks in all Countires but Textbooks you cannot !!

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Answer 2

djc43 Author

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Aug 31, 2012 6:27 AM in response to Support-

Thanks for the quick response. I thought ibooks could be more than just text (i.e. Novels). I'm publishing a guitar method book and I could have sworn I saw a regular ibook that was another guitar method; and it contained audio and video.

Can ibooks contain audio and video? And if so, can you create them using "ibooks author" or do I have to use some other program?

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Answer 3

Sep 1, 2012 3:00 PM in response to djc43

Textbooks are educational books for use in schools and universities and the like. They are currently avaiable for purchase only in the USA. Textbooks have different contract clauses applied to them. Among them is an obligation on the publisher to offer textbooks that are sold in electronic form via other distributors in the iBookstore as well. Textbooks also have different (much lower) pricing tiers, and they must be made available via the bulk purchasing program. Textbooks must be authored with IBA (they cannot be ePub). I believe that textbooks also undergo a more stringent review process.

Normal eBooks (not in the textbook category) can currently be sold in 32 territories (US, Canada, Australia, and most of Europe), and their pricing tiers provide for much higher prices.

There is no difference in the widgets you can use in normal books and textbooks. The same widget set that is provided by IBA applies to both. In addition, a normal eBook can be published in ePub format and, therefore, authored with software other than IBA.

Books can contain audio and video and, yes, iBooks Author allows you to create such books.

Michi.

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Answer 4

djc43 Author

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Sep 3, 2012 7:32 PM in response to MichiHenning

Thanks for the information. That explains a lot.

In reading your answer though, it sounds like I could have created the same exact book (with audio, video, and widgets) and published it as an ebook instead of a textbook; allowing me to publish in more than one market. If so, that's quite a mistake that I made. I wonder if there is any way to switch its label from textbook to ebook.

Any thoughts?

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Answer 5

Sep 4, 2012 1:18 AM in response to djc43

I'm not sure whether you can change the book type after publication. You can try with iTunes Producer. If it won't let you change that field or there a problems during the update, I'd get in touch with iBookstore support. They probably can do it for you if you ask them nicely.

Michi.

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Answer 6

Sep 5, 2012 9:55 AM in response to MichiHenning

Is there a timeline for expanding the textbook market beyond the US market? Surely Apple intends to have global reach in textbook distrubution. Is there a way to view "textbook" offerings separate from all iboks?

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Answer 7

djc43 Author

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Sep 7, 2012 5:33 PM in response to DoozyWoozer

I just heard from tech support. I can keep my book as a textbook in the USA market and publish it again in other countries under the book label. The only problem there is that I would need a new ISBN number.

Doozywoozer

You can view the textbooks separately. I haven't heard anything about offering textbooks in other countries; but I can't imagine they're not looking into it.

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Answer 8

Sep 8, 2012 8:55 AM in response to djc43

Thanks djc43. Yeah I found the listing of "textbooks" but doing so isn't easy so I'll post the link here: http://www.apple.com/education/ibooks-textbooks/publishers.html. Click the link that says "See all textbooks in the iBookstore" and it will load the "entire" catalogue of textbooks into your iTunes. There are only about a dozon or so offerings and most of these belong to two heavily spotlighted partner publishers. At this point, at any rate there doesn't seem to be much value in being officially listed as a textbook given the additional administrative hasles. The whole area looks sadly neglected. I suppose that will change if iPad-equipped classrooms become more common.

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