Header or Index facility on iBooks Author and Pages?

markanthonyhowell wrote:

Finally, to use the Publish facility on iBooks Author one must have a US Tax code.

This limits the use of iBooks Author to USA Residents only.

That is not correct according to the FAQ:

http://www.apple.com/itunes/working-itunes/sell-content/books/book-faq.html

where it says "If you only want to offer books for free, or you are an individual who is not based in the United States, you don’t need a U.S. Tax ID. "

For questions about what can be done with Pages, best ask in the forum for that

Pages for Mac

I am from Central America, and never have been to US in my live.

I have submitted books with price already and also sold them.

My account to get the payment is in my country also.

I think you should call Apple authors support line so they tell you how to get your account properly set up with no tax code.

I have no tax code and never have had.

Jonathan M.

markanthonyhowell wrote:

Obviously I don't want to sell my book for Free on iBooks author.

That's irrelevant. Like the FAQ says, an individual not based in the US does not need a US Tax ID. Countless people outside the US have done what you want to do. Even in the old days when Apple DID require a US Tax ID for such folks, countless people got one via a phone call to the IRS and published their stuff in the iBookstore.

With regards to the Headers and Indexes

When you say 'headers', do you mean a running head on the page that has the book title/Chapter name, etc? Because you can make these on the master pages.

As for indexes, I have not yet produced an iBook Author-produced title that really needed one. The search facility on the iPad basically replaces the need to have an index.

Hi Mark

Apologies for the confusion in not finding the 'masters' - coming from a print background, I tend to use the terminology of the main software I use. iBA calls them 'layouts'.

These can be accessed from top of the sidebar by going to the two horizontal lines next to the word 'Book', and dragging it down. There you will see the layouts for chapter, sections, etc. Looks like this:

These are the pages on which are used as the basis for the pages in the book. They can be changed (by clicking on the appropriate thumbnail on the sidebar), copied, or deleted (by right-clicking, and selecting from the options provided). I strongly recommend taking time to familiarise yourself with how these 'layouts' work, and really understanding them. Getting the template right from the outset is imperative. Take a look at the layouts for section and chapter starters. These already have text boxes which are set up to include Chapter name, section name, etc. 'Text variables', if you like. If you scroll down this list in the sidebar, you'll get to some alternative layouts for individual pages – 1 col, 2 col, 3 col, etc.:

Now - as you rightly point out - iBA has no idea what a facing page is - they are not relevant to what it does - make Apple-only ebooks. but if you wanted an 'illusion' of a facing page, this is where you could make it, by adapting one (or making a copy of one and adapting that), and sticking your name at the top of the page.

The problem is, this layout would not be used by default. You'd have to select every other page, right click on the thumbnail in the side-bar, and choose "Change Page Layout", whereupon you'll be able to select the layout you created for facing pages:

One final caveat - you say you want to create a print book from a PDF of this. You say "Print publishers always accept PDF files of my book, and iBooks easily creates PDF versions of the eBook". Have these printers ever used a PDF from iBA to print from before? It might not be as straight-forward as assumed. Print PDFs include crop marks (for imposition), will have 'bleed' if necessary (bleed is where images or colours actual go over the edge of a page), and will use the CMYK colourspace - used in both litho and digital print. The PDFs from iBA have no crops, and so do not support bleed, and the one I have tested was RGB, so you could expect colour variation conversion from one format to the other. And that's without taking into account page size/proportion, etc.

I would create a dummy book and make a PDF of that, and send it to your publisher/printer, and get them to see if they can use it first.

In my experience, the print books have always come first - done in specialist software (InDesign/Quark, etc), then the text content is then exported (either via a Word format, or .idml in the case of InDesign), and the resulting file is imported into iBA, and the images formatted (i.e. changed from CMYK to RGB .jpgs) resized, and images imported into iBA.

Hope that helps.

Mac_fool wrote:

In my experience, the print books have always come first - done in specialist software (InDesign/Quark, etc), then the text content is then exported (either via a Word format, or .idml in the case of InDesign), and the resulting file is imported into iBA, and the images formatted (i.e. changed from CMYK to RGB .jpgs) resized, and images imported into iBA.

Just to second this very wise advice. Both iBA and Pages are problematic for serious commercial printing, best use something else if that is part of what you need.

markanthonyhowell wrote:

It does seem to me crazy that Apple appear to have absolutely no interest in the printed book market....

I doubt that they can imagine any way in which an Apple printed book product could be somehow "better" than those produced by countless existing firms. But you can make the argument with them via

http://www.apple.com/feedback

(It's not possible to dialogue with Apple about new products or app improvements, but they do read the feedback channels.)

Hi Mark

I fairly regularly check this forum, but there are bundles of incredibly knowledgeable people who give trustworthy advice - Tom Gewecke being one.

As for connecting with people who actually work on iBooks Author - as Tom rightly says, that's not possible, but do leave comments on the feedback page:

https://www.apple.com/feedback/ibooks-author.html

I met a guy once who worked on Pages, (which is where much of the code initially came from for iBooks Author), and he said that Apple do take feedback into account - and often rate it higher than in-house requests.

That said – don't hold your breath for iBooks Author supporting professional print. From a technical standpoint, it would be a nightmare - it's a specialised field, and one that there already exists well-established software for handling that specialised task. There are SO many technical aspects of putting a print book together (especially for the Higher Education market) that would be problematic for a novice. Trust me – I've been making educational books for years. Apple would see no reason to re-invent the wheel, and they would be right.

As for accessing universities - that's already in place. Apple have their own department dedicated to supporting Apple hardware/software in the education sector, and encouraging curation of content. Apple also has iTunesU, of course (https://itunes.apple.com/app/itunes-u/id490217893?mt=8&ls=1). It's iTunes for universities. Many universities have entire courses, complete with eBooks, lecture podcasts, etc. Tutors can upload assignments, complete with resources, podcasts, etc., and subscribing students get notified. Stanford, MIT, Harvard, Cambridge, and Oxford all use it – It's pretty mind-blowing.

As far as iPads/educational iBooks being used in secondary school classrooms, there are hurdles. Leaving aside the cost of the devices in the first place, in the US, I believe parents pay for the textbooks, so having cheaper textbooks available as interactive ebooks works well. The iPad user has their own iTunes account/AppleID, and all resources bought belong to them. The ownership belongs to the same people in either case – paper or ebook.

However, in the UK, the school (via the LEA (Local Education Authority), via the Government, via the taxpayer) pay for the books. This causes a problem. Conventional books are passed from one class to another, from one year to the next. But if the school buys the ebooks, they cannot transfer ownership from one year to the next. Not unless the schools buy their own devices – which they generally don't. The devices are normally owned and insured by the parents. So thus far, Apple's current account management model literally cannot work effectively in the UK. As a result, the use of iPad is generally app-based, rather than ebook-based – using the free apps that come with new iPads.

The US IRS have an EIN requirement on all business in the USA where involving none USA residents. Its also an Apple "paid book" account contract requirement that you supply them a US tax file number for their records.

Income from any sales ( and you will need a lot to qualify) should be included in your annual tax return in whatever country you reside.

While income is taxable - do not forget that incurred expenses are also claimable. Use of internet and purchase of computers/ipads applications other than iBA etc,. can all be submitted to offser income!

The process to obtain and EIN tax file number is very simple and can be done over a team minutes telephone call. Search this group for "EIN" or "US tax form"

With regard headers and index pages - the application in its standard templates does not include them.

An Header can be simulated by a simple text box placed where you want it to appear.

An index can be created as a separate page NOT included in any chapter or section.

Simply use a copyright or preface page which has a flowing text box - if you consider it will fill more than one page - and drag it to the top of the root in the left "Book" column

vinnyvg wrote:

The US IRS have an EIN requirement on all business in the USA where involving none USA residents. Its also an Apple "paid book" account contract requirement that you supply them a US tax file number for their records.

The Apple FAQ says an individual not based in the US does not need a US Tax ID.

Must have missed something while away travelling Asia! Oooops comes to mind.