Why is it that I sell a total of 41 books (various titles) in November through Kindle, yet not one through iBooks? I don't promote either, and I'm sure there are more iPads out there than Kindles. Doesn't Apple do any promotion?

Why are you asking us? That's between you and Apple.

Contact link at the bottom right of every page on the website

Glenn Cheney wrote:

I guess my questions should be "How does one contact someone at Apple?"

You could try the numbers at the bottom of the FAQ.

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

But I can't imagine that anyone at Apple could ever tell you why your book is not doing as well as you would like.

For another experience see

http://9to5mac.com/2015/08/11/opinion-ibooks-vs-kindle/

Glenn Cheney wrote:

I just wonder what Apple's doing wrong.

One disadvantage is that iBookstore ebooks are essentially excluded from Windows or Android devices. Amazon ebooks can be read on anything, including all iOS devices.

Did you write your ePub with the new iBooks ePub so that you had a menu page for a non-fiction book with photos? Is this the best way to move onto other platforms? I am rather bemused by all the mixed messages on different web pages about publishing and the best route!

There may be more iPads than Kindles, but Kindle software runs on all iOS devices. I purchase all of my books through Amazon. Many reasons, but in general, they are less expensive than iBooks. Also, I started my electronic book collection with Amazon (since they were the first). I don't have any need or desire to have libraries in two different apps.

Finally, I also own several actual Kindles. So, with Kindle books, I can read them anywhere - iPhone, iPad, Kindle, Mac, etc. With iBooks - not so much.

As a voracious reader and purchaser of books, I can tell you that advertisement also means nothing to me. I purchase books by reading reviews about them in various magazines and newspapers, or by going to the NYTimes Bestseller list, or other "lists". If I go to a brick and mortar bookstore, I browse the New Fiction section and select books by browsing that way. With electronic books, the "browsing" experience is simply not comparable, so, again, I purchase books by getting info via other sources.

So, there is a consumer viewpoint for you 🙂

Cheers,

GB

as soon as i read your post and before i read the many replies, i knew immediately the essence of your question and with all due respect to the esteemed people who did reply, i think the first reply missed the mark. after all, the point of the forum is to attempt to answer the question. i don't think that "Why are you asking us?" That's between you and Apple" is a suitable answer to a question on this forum and it might have been better to just not reply. I also think you had a very good question and there is likely no need to change it to how does one contact apple, even though that might also be a different valid question. i don't mean to upset anyone, so please send any hate mail elsewhere.

both tom and gail had some good observations although i don't necessarily agree 100% with them. Tom is correct about the deficiency he points out, but i think that the new iba moves in the direction of easier publishing books to other epub readers. i haven't tried this so that is all i will say about it and for sure, if you are a fan of the many widgets of ibook, you are out of luck i.e. you have a made for iPad only book.

gail's advice is mostly sound and the first part of it parallels tom's point. i haven't done much in the way of price comparison, but i thought that apple had a rule that you could not set the price higher on the ibook store than what you sold it elsewhere. perhaps amazon is discounting off that price. and advertising means nothing to her, but i think that would be terrible to incorporate that into any business plan concerning your book. btw, i looked at your bio. in my most recent previous life, i too worked in IT. i bought my first apple computer out of a garage in california and before you knew it, had many of the apple II's in all the different flavors. my first mac was the fat mac which i bought as soon as it was available, either in '84 or in early '85. i bought the laserwriter plus as soon as it came out and still have it in the basement, as well as all my previous devices.

here is how i answer your question:

1. i don't think apple is really that interested in selling books. they are interested in selling iPads and since there are more iPads out there than similar types of devices, people are buying them for other reasons, not the least of which is why apple came out with a bigger iPad for business. it also helped that apple was early to this market with a color device. plus, it is an eco system device. in fact, i seem to remember that their vision was to make information available to everyone for as little of a cost as possible, just like information on the internet. i haven't looked lately, but when i last did, there was a wealth of free information in the iTunes university, all free and thus a lot cheaper than what amazon offers. nothing beats free, unless you can find someone who will give you money to read your book. amazon largely started as a bookstore. that is not apple's niche. it's not where they make their margins. this is the same reason why they gave up on neat things i used to use like iDVD and the like. they are not shy against dropping things that aren't making a difference in their bottom line. along these lines, i think that apple figured that the iPad would make the costs of traditional textbooks cheap. the difference between the electronic version and a hardcopy of a college textbook is not that much when i go looking. the book manufacturers have to protect their territory. so it is not so highly promoted by apple. out of sight, out of mind for the person looking for a book. i doubt anyone working for apple would admit this, especially if it is being recorded and monitored.

2. if someone has both a kindle and an iPad and the book was available on both platforms and pretty much identical, chances are they will buy the kindle version i suspect and for the reason that gail writes. all in one place.

3. if your intention is to buy hardcopy but you change your mind at the last minute when you see the price differential, you are likely to buy from amazon since you are already there.

4. in the technical book realm for the learning student versus the pleasure reader, you go where the books are plentiful and where your choices are greater. i don't know the type of book you sell, so i don't know which category it is in and whether this pertains to you as i rarely look at the novels at the book store. later i will try to do a search of your name on the bookstore to see if i can find it and what types of books you author.

5. a good strategy is to develop your content in such a way that you can port it to many readers quickly and as cheaply as possible.. i need someday to work on doing this. this will maximize your selling no matter what the viewpoint is of the consumer.

6. from the perspective of the author and not the consumer, apple is better than amazon with respect to the amount of money they extract from the sell. amazon has their hands deeply into your pocket. watch your wallet.

7. which takes us to advertising. if your book is pretty much equivalent on all platforms where you have it, being a good sells person with a good advertising plan will increase sells, if not the relative amounts sold at each of the bookstores. but hand in hand with this you must create the "must have book" and your advertising campaign must make this known to the potential consumer. My latest book, which will only be available on the iPad and which will be out soon, shows people how to retire as a multimillionaire with just $10 down, become twice as pretty as your beauty already is, give a cat 18 lives and have a 360 degree panoramic view of the bay (sorry but if you want the entire circular view, you will need to buy the deluxe version of my book). This is truly the must have book if i ever i saw one. Perhaps an amazon devotee might buy it.

richard the old wrote:

6. from the perspective of the author and not the consumer, apple is better than amazon with respect to the amount of money they extract from the sell. amazon has their hands deeply into your pocket. watch your wallet.

Don't both Apple and Amazon basically take 30%?

You are right of course about Apple's priorities. If book sales were really important, they would have long ago released iBooks apps for Windows and Android.

i made that statement based on a previous post in this community if i remember. i can go back and look for it if it is important. what i remembered is the person said that amazon took 65%. amazon was having some reported problems with publishers over some issue, perhaps this one, sometime in the last two years but i thought i heard that things got patched up. i should have checked amazon but i had already spent a lot of time on this post, distracting me yet again from getting my book done.

in any case, i just looked it up. they publish two royalty plans for digital books. one you get 35% of the retail price (retail minus vat if applicable) flat. they may discount the book under certain conditions if a competitor discounted it. i don't know the rules of discounting from other vendors, but hopefully i would have control over it.

they have a 70% royalty option that is similar, but they charge extra fees which would not work for any graphically oriented book.

i would have to choose the 35% option.

i don't know how it is nowadays with a hardcopy book done by a reputable publisher, but when i was richard the young the only one not making money was the buyer and the author.

can't believe i wrote sells instead of sales. Mr. Cates is rolling in his grave.

Disclaimer: My books are not on English.