Apple To Offer Self-Publishing On iBooks?

Rumors are floating about like Autumn leaves in a blustery whirl today (it's an Apple tree) as speculation swirls around Apple's announcement of a press event later this month in New York, apparently aimed at publishers. Numerous tech blogs (AllThingsD, GoodEReader, TechCrunch, CMSWire) are reporting that "sources" have confirmed the event will focus on improvements to iBooks and the iBookstore publishing platform. As always, however, no specifics are forthcoming as yet (that's what the media event is for), although one source states that Apple plans to launch a new self-publishing program to compete with Amazon KDP and Barnes & Noble's PubIt, among others, so of course this is what most of the rumors are about.



However, one other possibility no one has mentioned yet is ebook lending. If Apple's intention is to battle head-to-head with Amazon's new exclusivity agreement for the Kindle Library Lending Program, there is a possibility that they have reached agreements with at least a few of the major trades to offer ebook lending via libraries. This is pure speculation, of course (but then so is everything else), but it would make great sense given Apple's relatively close ties to the Big Six and their need to respond to Amazon's efforts to draw away top authors with the lure of lending royalties. After all, a six million dollar pot is a pretty big carrot. Were I an Apple executive in charge of iBooks content I would want to nip that in the bud right quick. Garnering ebook lending deals with publishers who have rejected Kindle lending would be a massive shot across the bow of Amazon's flagship.



That said, a self-pub program would make the most sense, and certainly be most welcome to a great many independent authors, as Apple are the most locked down retail avenue out there. Getting ebooks into the iBookstore is difficult at best, requiring a $250 up-front fee and a Mac running OSX, or a third-party aggregator who take a cut of profits, whereas Amazon has gone to great lengths to make it as cheap and easy as possible for everyone to publish to the Kindle. In this respect, Apple have fallen ever further behind, even while the iBooks format surges ahead in terms of format quality. But if they truly want the iBookstore to succeed, they need to open it up to a larger market, and that includes independent self-pubbed authors who use Windows.



Whether or not this will happen is yet to be seen, particularly given Apple's penchant for relatively strict "quality" control, and it's unlikely they will ever completely open the floodgates, since (unlike Amazon) they've always had very rigid gatekeepers and high admission fees. But until they do it's unlikely that they'll ever gain a serious hold on the ebook market: the recent Aptara survey I discussed last month shows Apple with only a 4% share of the digital trade book market while Amazon has 56%, even though Apple sells vastly more iOS devices than Amazon sells Kindles. Granted, Kindles are designed primarily as eReaders and free Kindle apps are available for every platform, but even so one would think that Apple could sell more than 4% after nearly two years in the business. Clearly their strategy has failed and it's time to rethink the future.