Experience of Posting an iBook to Apple Directly

[Rosen]

One of my titles has just come out of Select and I'm free to distribute the eBook as I wish.

However, I prefer to deal with stores directly than to use an intermediary.

This has been fine with Kobo but I'm finding Apple terrifying to work with.

The contract is intimidating. I've done a little research and found lots of bad press about it (although they seemed to have rewritten the most worrying sections).

Not only that, but I can't even find the option to upload an ePub.

Is it really worth it, or should I steer clear of Apple altogether?

[D.J.]

I haven't actually read the contract but I've never heard of anyone having major problems with them. They do take quite a bit of time to approve each title, however, so you'll be in for a one to three week wait. You'll also have to download a piece of software called iTunes Producer and upload through that. And unfortunately that will mean you'll need access to a mac (I know, they don't exactly make it easy do they). It's not ideal compared with how easy it is to publish on Amazon, but once you learn the routine, it's actually not that bad (provided you have a mac).

All in all, I'd say go for it if you have a mac, if not, you could always try using Smashwords but then you won't be able to go direct. It is a pretty vibrant market (at least in the U.S.) so if you're not going Select then I'd list with them. Hope it works out for you.

Cheers.

[Rosen]

Mac specific software? Seriously? What age are we living in.

Thank you. All very useful info.