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Anyone publishing on iBooks?
- Thread starter Adey
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I see no-one's been able to answer your question, so as thread starter I guess I should have a go. I have a meeting with Last Passage next week so I'll see what I can find out for you. I also have a meeting with the Features Editor of the Nottingham Post (UK) on Monday regarding Codex's success on the iBookstore (it hit #5 overall and is currently the top selling full-length novel on the UK iBookstore), so that's kinda cool!
Adey
Hey thanks, I hope you can tell me how it all ends up in your meeting.
I told my mother about your book, she read the sample and liked it so much she bought it and is reading it right now.
Good job! Keep on working hard.
Very Important Update!!!
Codex was published on the iBookstore via Smashwords while Last Passage received Apple direct approval. I attended a meeting with the local paper today as Codex was ranked #6 on the entire UK iBookstore, and #2 in Mysteries and Thrillers. An hour after I got back my book disappeared. Completely.
As they are currently liaising with Apple, Last Passage phoned Apple UK and discovered that ALL Smashwords titles have been removed from the iBookstore due to the large amount of "Cheap Erotica" (though it was MUCH filthier than 'erotica') that Smashwords had pumped on to the iBookstore with no degree of checking or control.
The result is that my book, a truly quality title with a lot of hard work engrained into it, has gone from iBooks. It is not coming back until Last Passage publish direct with Apple which should be in about a week. ALL my reviews are lost. My rankings are lost and will be hard to get back. The newspaper article will have to be pulled. The money Last Passage have spent promoting the success of the book on the iBookstore is all lost.
To say I am angry is an understatement. Smashwords has transpired to be a joke of epic proportions. Whilst I have stated in this thread that they are far from perfect, I cannot believe that I recommended them as a quick route into the iBookstore for budding authors. I can only apologise.
Sorry everybody.
Adey
And yes, I WILL change my signature. When I've calmed down!
Codex was published on the iBookstore via Smashwords while Last Passage received Apple direct approval. I attended a meeting with the local paper today as Codex was ranked #6 on the entire UK iBookstore, and #2 in Mysteries and Thrillers. An hour after I got back my book disappeared. Completely.
As they are currently liaising with Apple, Last Passage phoned Apple UK and discovered that ALL Smashwords titles have been removed from the iBookstore due to the large amount of "Cheap Erotica" (though it was MUCH filthier than 'erotica') that Smashwords had pumped on to the iBookstore with no degree of checking or control.
The result is that my book, a truly quality title with a lot of hard work engrained into it, has gone from iBooks. It is not coming back until Last Passage publish direct with Apple which should be in about a week. ALL my reviews are lost. My rankings are lost and will be hard to get back. The newspaper article will have to be pulled. The money Last Passage have spent promoting the success of the book on the iBookstore is all lost.
To say I am angry is an understatement. Smashwords has transpired to be a joke of epic proportions. Whilst I have stated in this thread that they are far from perfect, I cannot believe that I recommended them as a quick route into the iBookstore for budding authors. I can only apologise.
Sorry everybody.
Adey
And yes, I WILL change my signature. When I've calmed down!
Is this posted anywhere on Smashwords? I don't see any news updates on their site.
At any rate I got everything together to submit to Smashwords finally and have been struggling with their auto-converter all evening. It says everything is fine, but the epub file it spits out puts extra paragraph returns at the end of every paragraph, looking like crap. Despite my efforts to fix it, it doesn't change.
I am frustrated nearly to the point of tears and completely stressed out about it.
Thankfully I took your advice and handled the Kindle thing myself, and got that submitted as well. That was a lot easier to do and I was able to control the formatting on my own, so the uploaded/converted file looks the same on my Kindle as it's supposed to.
Amazon was what I was more interested in targeting, but it would be nice to have it in the iBookstore as well. That's what attracted me to Smashwords in the first place, knowing that they could distribute it to Apple and B&N and Sony themselves easily.
However if Apple is pulling their books there is no point I guess. I'm a US citizen and I do have a US tax ID, but I can't seem to figure out how to self-publish with Apple directly either way.
At any rate I got everything together to submit to Smashwords finally and have been struggling with their auto-converter all evening. It says everything is fine, but the epub file it spits out puts extra paragraph returns at the end of every paragraph, looking like crap. Despite my efforts to fix it, it doesn't change.
I am frustrated nearly to the point of tears and completely stressed out about it.
Thankfully I took your advice and handled the Kindle thing myself, and got that submitted as well. That was a lot easier to do and I was able to control the formatting on my own, so the uploaded/converted file looks the same on my Kindle as it's supposed to.
Amazon was what I was more interested in targeting, but it would be nice to have it in the iBookstore as well. That's what attracted me to Smashwords in the first place, knowing that they could distribute it to Apple and B&N and Sony themselves easily.
However if Apple is pulling their books there is no point I guess. I'm a US citizen and I do have a US tax ID, but I can't seem to figure out how to self-publish with Apple directly either way.
I have been looking for this news as well, but not finding it. Considering possibly having everything pulled, and starting to hear many complaints about conversion, I'm thinking of avoiding Smashwords as well. That's unfortunate since it originally looked like a good first step.
To publish directly to Apple, you go through iTunes Connect, I believe.
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wa/apply
The only other limitations are that you will need to provide ISBNs for all books, and there is a minimum payment threshold. I think it's $250 for most regions, but I haven't gone all the way through the application to be certain. I could be entirely wrong - I just googled around about it, but mostly found info on App sales and payments.
Thanks for that ken; I signed up for it just to be safe.
I spoke to Mark Cocker yesterday on the subject of my extra paragraph returns and although he said the issue was being looked into, he didn't really feel it was a huge priority because books on the iPad "look fine." It certainly doesn't look fine to me, it looks ridiculous, but it is what it is.
Looking into it, I think I will let Smashwords handle the ISBN appropriation along with the distribution to lesser stores like Barnes & Noble that I don't care as much about. Amazon and iBooks I will target myself.
I spoke to Mark Cocker yesterday on the subject of my extra paragraph returns and although he said the issue was being looked into, he didn't really feel it was a huge priority because books on the iPad "look fine." It certainly doesn't look fine to me, it looks ridiculous, but it is what it is.
Looking into it, I think I will let Smashwords handle the ISBN appropriation along with the distribution to lesser stores like Barnes & Noble that I don't care as much about. Amazon and iBooks I will target myself.
Sigh, it's never easy I guess. I went through the whole thing and my submission kept getting rejected due to the ISBN. Even though I have one, it isn't registering it.
Has anyone had any luck with Lulu? They offer a similar system as Smashwords, but they let you upload your own epub. They just don't have as advantageous pricing, but looking over how the file formats came out on the Smashwords output I'm so thoroughly disappointed that I can't even speak.
They look nothing like how my input doc did.
Has anyone had any luck with Lulu? They offer a similar system as Smashwords, but they let you upload your own epub. They just don't have as advantageous pricing, but looking over how the file formats came out on the Smashwords output I'm so thoroughly disappointed that I can't even speak.
They look nothing like how my input doc did.
I've used Lulu for other things over a few years, as have a number if people I know/in my online circle. I can't recall many complaints at all, and as the have been doing self-publishing type of things for awhile, would be a name I'd trust.
Not that that means anything (the trust thing), but well, you have to start somewhere! Lol!
Good luck sorting it out!
Silver lining in all things I guess, it showed up on Amazon earlier than I thought:
http://www.amazon.com/Iyetra-Book-S...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280426710&sr=1-1
I'm presently running around giggling in excitement!
http://www.amazon.com/Iyetra-Book-S...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1280426710&sr=1-1
I'm presently running around giggling in excitement!
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
Way cool!!, now, go write a description
I did! It looks like that hasn't shown up on their site yet, although I still see it when I go to edit the description on the page.
I'll just hope the pretty cover artwork captures sufficient attention in the meantime.
I did! It looks like that hasn't shown up on their site yet, although I still see it when I go to edit the description on the page.
I'll just hope the pretty cover artwork captures sufficient attention in the meantime.
I was going to get to post an EVIL amazon story, but I spent 10 minutes on the phone and they are making it right. I didn't expect them to fix a problem i just discovered that was screwed up since march, but i guess i spent enough money there this year they are making things right. I didn't expect them to do anything, but I also wasn't going to shop there again.
It is very pretty, I'm just guessing that it isn't my typical read based on that pretty artwork
I'm seriously excited that these types of opportunities exist for writers today. I worked with a lady that was trying to get some stuff published and know how hard it is to get somewhere. This is what tech should be about! Giving you the chance to make it on your own if you want.
It has just got to be so darn exciting to see your book ON SALE!!! yahoo!!!!!
Yeah, I've had a lot of stuff published before in the past (I've worked as a freelance writer in a number of places) but it's always been journalism-esque. This is the first fiction I've done despite that being one of my primary interests ever since I was a kid.
Anyway I indirectly took Adey's advice and redid the whole thing by hand in InDesign. I'd never used the software before so I got a crash course on both it and how epub files work in the first place, but after a lot of trial and error I finally got an output that looked great and also passed Apple's automatic validation.
The only downside is the $250 threshold on sales before payment, but I suppose it's a better tradeoff to getting something on sale that looks exactly the way I intended it to.
Smashwords has been really frustrating to deal with. I wasn't really impressed with the way their automatic output looked (not just the epub form, even the mobi file looks bad compared to the one I made for Amazon myself) nor was I that thrilled by the level of concern I got when I asked what was going on. I think I will just go through the distribution networks on my own and maybe offer an epub or mobi file on my site for purchase by people who want to manually sync it. It's more work, but at least I can be sure that what someone is purchasing looks the way I wanted it to.
Anyway I indirectly took Adey's advice and redid the whole thing by hand in InDesign. I'd never used the software before so I got a crash course on both it and how epub files work in the first place, but after a lot of trial and error I finally got an output that looked great and also passed Apple's automatic validation.
The only downside is the $250 threshold on sales before payment, but I suppose it's a better tradeoff to getting something on sale that looks exactly the way I intended it to.
Smashwords has been really frustrating to deal with. I wasn't really impressed with the way their automatic output looked (not just the epub form, even the mobi file looks bad compared to the one I made for Amazon myself) nor was I that thrilled by the level of concern I got when I asked what was going on. I think I will just go through the distribution networks on my own and maybe offer an epub or mobi file on my site for purchase by people who want to manually sync it. It's more work, but at least I can be sure that what someone is purchasing looks the way I wanted it to.
I applaud mixvio for taking things more into his own hands, and for taking the crash course - it seems it was worth it.
For my part, my novels reappeared on the iBookstore after 2 days and the reviews and ratings were intact, but positions were lost through lack of sales. In the interests of fairness, Apple claimed it was to do with Smashwords high volume of erotica and Smashwords claimed it was a technical issue. I don't know which is true. Certainly the erotica, whilst still on the store, is gone from the top selling books lists completely.
Codex reappeared at #58 overall (it had been #7 previously) and #16 in Mysteries and Thrillers (it had been #2 for two weeks straight!). It's been climbing for the last few days and is back at #2 for M&T and #11 overall. It's a shame it lost momentum and I'm sure Smashwords' automated approach played some part in it, but I'm happy that it's doing well again and we'll just see what happens from here.
This week's shenanigans have meant that I've been unable to get an answer on the publishing from Colombia question, but I will try to find out a.s.a.p.
Adey
For my part, my novels reappeared on the iBookstore after 2 days and the reviews and ratings were intact, but positions were lost through lack of sales. In the interests of fairness, Apple claimed it was to do with Smashwords high volume of erotica and Smashwords claimed it was a technical issue. I don't know which is true. Certainly the erotica, whilst still on the store, is gone from the top selling books lists completely.
Codex reappeared at #58 overall (it had been #7 previously) and #16 in Mysteries and Thrillers (it had been #2 for two weeks straight!). It's been climbing for the last few days and is back at #2 for M&T and #11 overall. It's a shame it lost momentum and I'm sure Smashwords' automated approach played some part in it, but I'm happy that it's doing well again and we'll just see what happens from here.
This week's shenanigans have meant that I've been unable to get an answer on the publishing from Colombia question, but I will try to find out a.s.a.p.
Adey
I finally read Codex on my last transatlantic flight and really enjoyed it. It was a page turner. You did a good job. As good or better than many of the much more expensive novels by more famous authors, like Dan Brown. I'll be looking for other titles from you.
I will be putting a short review on the US iBookstore when I get a chance and figure out how to do it. I'm not sure if it is because I am currently in Germany, but somehow I can't locate the book when I search for it, both by searching for Codex and for Adrian Dawson. Hopefully it wasn't pulled from the US store during the mishap you described.
I will be putting a short review on the US iBookstore when I get a chance and figure out how to do it. I'm not sure if it is because I am currently in Germany, but somehow I can't locate the book when I search for it, both by searching for Codex and for Adrian Dawson. Hopefully it wasn't pulled from the US store during the mishap you described.
K
Ksarul
Guest
Sluggish sales of non-fiction
Nice to hear about success Adey. Thought I'd share with you my not such good sales! I have recently published two books on bridge (the card game) by UK author David Huggett. I published simultaneously on Kindle. So far in about 4 weeks Book 1 has sold 18 copies (14 on Kindle, just4 on ibookstore). This is a shame since the end result seems much nicer on the ipad/iphone than on a kindle reader. Also use of hyperlinks in the book I hope will add to the novelty factor. Book 2 is still only on Day 6 out of 10 of the review process in the ibookstore. I must say I'm finding it difficult to advertise the product on the ibookstore when you can't provide a direct link for the purchaser. Further, in ibooks I can't see a category to describe these books - not games, not lifestyle... Does anyone know if Apple intends to change their selling model to allow for sales directly through itunes?
Nice to hear about success Adey. Thought I'd share with you my not such good sales! I have recently published two books on bridge (the card game) by UK author David Huggett. I published simultaneously on Kindle. So far in about 4 weeks Book 1 has sold 18 copies (14 on Kindle, just4 on ibookstore). This is a shame since the end result seems much nicer on the ipad/iphone than on a kindle reader. Also use of hyperlinks in the book I hope will add to the novelty factor. Book 2 is still only on Day 6 out of 10 of the review process in the ibookstore. I must say I'm finding it difficult to advertise the product on the ibookstore when you can't provide a direct link for the purchaser. Further, in ibooks I can't see a category to describe these books - not games, not lifestyle... Does anyone know if Apple intends to change their selling model to allow for sales directly through itunes?
Hey Adey!
I´ve been reading all the thread with excitement and I´m glad your book is back again to the store... I live in mexico city so its impossible for me (at least for now) to get your book. I have Ibooks but can only get free books from Gutemberg project collection and no book sales are appearing at the horizon.
So I have taken another route, Downloaded the Amazon Kindle app for the iPad and my collection is getting bigger for now and then.
Are you thinking to take the Kindle way too?... I would be really glad to buy your book.
greetings from mexico City
Eduardo Capdeville.
I´ve been reading all the thread with excitement and I´m glad your book is back again to the store... I live in mexico city so its impossible for me (at least for now) to get your book. I have Ibooks but can only get free books from Gutemberg project collection and no book sales are appearing at the horizon.
So I have taken another route, Downloaded the Amazon Kindle app for the iPad and my collection is getting bigger for now and then.
Are you thinking to take the Kindle way too?... I would be really glad to buy your book.
greetings from mexico City
Eduardo Capdeville.
I published on iBookstore (from the UK)
Hey Adey, well done on the success of your novel Codex. I'll check it out.
I also found it is possible to self-publish onto Apple's iBookstore... and have done it with my thriller 'The Dare Ring', which is accessible through the iBooks app on all iPads and iPhones very cheaply (hint hint!). I'm based in the UK.
May I ask how you got into Apple's Featured section? I would looooove to know!
Best regards,
Titus
www.tituspowell.com/TheDareRing.htm
Hey Adey, well done on the success of your novel Codex. I'll check it out.
I also found it is possible to self-publish onto Apple's iBookstore... and have done it with my thriller 'The Dare Ring', which is accessible through the iBooks app on all iPads and iPhones very cheaply (hint hint!). I'm based in the UK.
May I ask how you got into Apple's Featured section? I would looooove to know!
Best regards,
Titus
www.tituspowell.com/TheDareRing.htm
I've found it, well I think, are you Mr Dawson?
Glad to find your book at Amazon which is the only way to get ebooks for the iPad in Mexico at this time.
Have the book in my electronic shelf, it's a shame you can't sign it for me
I will read it, and come with commentaries about it
Glad to find your book at Amazon which is the only way to get ebooks for the iPad in Mexico at this time.
Have the book in my electronic shelf, it's a shame you can't sign it for me
I will read it, and come with commentaries about it
@Ksarul
Slow sales to start with are a given. You can have the best book in the world but for customers to find it in a sea of books is very difficult. I was lucky that Apple picked up on Codex and featured it and I firmly believed that if people knew about it they would buy it - that has proved to be true as it's STILL selling well (despite not being in featured any more) and is still top 5 in Mysteries and Thrillers and fluctuating between around 13 and 30 overall. My advice is to advertise, promote, blog and scream the book's existence. Any forum you feel may help your cause - get on there and scream from the rooftops - the sales will come.
@ecapdeville Glad to see that you found the novel on Amazon. I'm on holiday at the moment, so I did not get to reply to your earlier post in time. Yes, it's available on Kindle (as you've found) and many other e-reader formats. It's also available in print from November. I'll see what I can organise with the publishers regarding a signed copy.
@TitusPowell You can't get on featured apparently, not even if you pay. Apple pick the books they like and run with them and they won't be influenced, they claim. In which case I was very lucky that they saw Codex and loved it. It might not harm to drop a few emails to Apple though, to get them t take a look at it. If you promote it outside of Apple though, it may climb the charts, them Apple will see it and perhaps think "this is selling well, maybe it's worth featuring!". Meantime, when I'm back from holiday, I'll check out your book. Definitely.
To all - keep plugging and keep trying. Codex is now a runaway success, the local paper eventually ran their story and, as I say, it's still running high in the charts. Many other books have climbed ahead of mine and are now not even in the top 100 whilst mine has stayed top 30 overall for over 8 weeks - as I say it's still ranked top 5 in Mysteries and Thrillers and has been for a long time. If you build it they will come - but you've got to keep blogging, pushing and screaming of its existence. When I'm back from holiday I'll post some more, so any questions - ask away.
Good luck to all - and let's buy the books listed above (even if they're not our usual thing) and give these guys a hand, eh?
Adey
Slow sales to start with are a given. You can have the best book in the world but for customers to find it in a sea of books is very difficult. I was lucky that Apple picked up on Codex and featured it and I firmly believed that if people knew about it they would buy it - that has proved to be true as it's STILL selling well (despite not being in featured any more) and is still top 5 in Mysteries and Thrillers and fluctuating between around 13 and 30 overall. My advice is to advertise, promote, blog and scream the book's existence. Any forum you feel may help your cause - get on there and scream from the rooftops - the sales will come.
@ecapdeville Glad to see that you found the novel on Amazon. I'm on holiday at the moment, so I did not get to reply to your earlier post in time. Yes, it's available on Kindle (as you've found) and many other e-reader formats. It's also available in print from November. I'll see what I can organise with the publishers regarding a signed copy.
@TitusPowell You can't get on featured apparently, not even if you pay. Apple pick the books they like and run with them and they won't be influenced, they claim. In which case I was very lucky that they saw Codex and loved it. It might not harm to drop a few emails to Apple though, to get them t take a look at it. If you promote it outside of Apple though, it may climb the charts, them Apple will see it and perhaps think "this is selling well, maybe it's worth featuring!". Meantime, when I'm back from holiday, I'll check out your book. Definitely.
To all - keep plugging and keep trying. Codex is now a runaway success, the local paper eventually ran their story and, as I say, it's still running high in the charts. Many other books have climbed ahead of mine and are now not even in the top 100 whilst mine has stayed top 30 overall for over 8 weeks - as I say it's still ranked top 5 in Mysteries and Thrillers and has been for a long time. If you build it they will come - but you've got to keep blogging, pushing and screaming of its existence. When I'm back from holiday I'll post some more, so any questions - ask away.
Good luck to all - and let's buy the books listed above (even if they're not our usual thing) and give these guys a hand, eh?
Adey
I almost forgot, you can post links to your work. They look like this:
USA
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
Canada
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
France
http://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
UK
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
On an iPad/iPhone, they take you to the iBooks App and flip you into the Store, on a Mac or PC they take you to an Apple Web Page which details the book.
Cheers,
Adey
USA
http://itunes.apple.com/us/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
Canada
http://itunes.apple.com/ca/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
France
http://itunes.apple.com/fr/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
UK
http://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/codex/id365801187?mt=11
On an iPad/iPhone, they take you to the iBooks App and flip you into the Store, on a Mac or PC they take you to an Apple Web Page which details the book.
Cheers,
Adey
That's awesome, Adey. Very inspiring and helpful - thanks a lot! I'm buying your book now. Enjoy 'The Dare Ring' if you get a chance to read it!
Titus
http://www.tituspowell.com/TheDareRing.htm
Titus
http://www.tituspowell.com/TheDareRing.htm
Hi Titus,
I've just purchased "The Dare Ring" after reading the sample and you're certainly off to a cracking start. Great writing. I'll rate and review when I get chance to complete it. It's also good to see you and I above and below each other respectively on the ipad's Mysteries and Thrillers Featured Page.
Codex is still selling extremely well and is currently #28 overall and #3 in Mysteries and Thrillers, though it fluctuates heavily. I wish you the same success. On the strength of the sample of "The Dare Ring", you certainly have the writing skills and ability to grab the reader to have a lot of success with the novel.
All the very best,
Adey
I've just purchased "The Dare Ring" after reading the sample and you're certainly off to a cracking start. Great writing. I'll rate and review when I get chance to complete it. It's also good to see you and I above and below each other respectively on the ipad's Mysteries and Thrillers Featured Page.
Codex is still selling extremely well and is currently #28 overall and #3 in Mysteries and Thrillers, though it fluctuates heavily. I wish you the same success. On the strength of the sample of "The Dare Ring", you certainly have the writing skills and ability to grab the reader to have a lot of success with the novel.
All the very best,
Adey