iBooks update improves author tools for pre-orders and discovery
- jun
- 23
Apple has opened the doors for ever more authors to get their next book off the ground.
Indie authors have no shortage of publishing options available to them nowadays, but few of them are particularly good at making it easy to tell anyone about your book before it is done and ready to publish. Some of the smaller publishing service, particularly those that cater to indie authors, have been slowly improving this process. Now it looks like Apple has joined the mix, and in doing so opens the doors to a significantly larger base of readers.
Among several significant updates to the iBooks, Apple will now allow authors to create pre-orders without the entire book. Using only the metadata info and pricing information for your book, iBooks will allow pre-orders to be created and published to iTunes. When the book is ready to be uploaded to iBooks, authors will be able to modify that iTunes listing and prepare the book for publishing just as you could before.
Getting the word out about your book will be a lot easier now as well, thanks to an update to iTunes Link Maker. Anyone can now access Link Maker from any device, which means authors can create links to books wherever they are, and can also access embed code for website badges directing users right to the desired content.
Apple has made a slight change to Multi-Touch books as well. Starting July 8th, anyone submitting a Multi-Touch book with a price tag attached to it must also include a sample of that book for readers to check out. This sample content is expected to be delivered when the rest of the book is uploaded to iTunes, and puts the Multi-Touch books in line with the rest of the offerings in the store. If the Multi-Touch iBook is free, however, no sample will be required.
This is an exciting step forward for iBooks. These updates enable even more folks to get into the store and get writing, and sets iTunes head and shoulders above the other major eBook retailers in empowering the author.
