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Apple Promotes Self-Published Titles with New 'Breakout Books' Section

Romance, mystery, and sci-fi novels? I don't think I really want to read the shlock coming from self-published authors in those particular categories.

I applaud the showcasing of 'indie' authors, but Apple should focus on quality. There's a ton of talented fiction writers who really need this kind of promotion and their work deserves it. Showcasing lowest-common denominator novels reflects badly on Apple.
 
BTW, in the academic world, self publishing can be somewhat considered cheating. In the poetry world, publishers generally run contests which you pay to enter. Usually it's something like $25. A couple hundred people might enter and the winner of the award gets published. The money pays for the printing and for a pannel of paid judges. Some presses will only look at a book upon referal from someone famous already and those people don't hand out referals like candy. Typically, if you tell someone you have a book out, the first question they will ask is: with who? The integrity of the press somewhat defines you. Self publication is considered taking the easy way out. That said, I'm not trying to discourage anyone; just sharing what currently goes on. In the end, every writer wants the same thing; someone to read what they wrote.
 
OK...

Where's self publishing for musical artists (make your own music available direct to consumers)? visual arts (make your own TV shows or movies available direct to consumers)? Options to charge for good podcasts & vodcasts? Etc.

Great for the womens romance book authors. How about all the other kinds of creative arts?
 
apple-win said:
I would rather watch soap opera on TV, it is colour, it has audio and it is free.
I think people can buy a stack of XXX VCDs for $6.99.

How come there is no computer books, engineering books in the "Breakout Book" section :confused:
It looks like this "Breakout Book" section is for ladies only :mad:
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The romance section generally is ladies only ;)
 
Vizin said:
Women can't read engineering books? Men can't read romance novels?

Apple's simply reacting to market demand here. YOU are the one enforcing gender stereotypes.
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No, Apple isn't just responding to market demand, they're also CREATING market demand with these promotions aimed specifically at women only.

Now, any women looking at a "breakout books" section will be tempted to conform to an ongoing stereotypical trend to consume emotional porn, because it is marketed as socially acceptable "romance" books.

How many women do you know that have read "50 shades of gray" and think absolutely nothing is wrong with it, and will even defend it against the comparison to porn? Many of these women can't think for themselves, and will always default to what society deems acceptable or not, especially if society seems to validate what they like doing.
 
CReimer said:
As if traditional publishers don't publish shlock in those categories?
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They do, yes. There is shlock in every genre of literature. But I'd wager that the best new fiction from unknown authors is not coming from the genres being promoted by Apple.

Apple's brand is based on the production and curation of quality. More often these days we're seeing Apple doing curation in their online stores based on their own business interests, instead of lifting up the best content. I am concerned about that trend.
 
apple-win said:
I would rather watch soap opera on TV, it is colour, it has audio and it is free.
I think people can buy a stack of XXX VCDs for $6.99.

How come there is no computer books, engineering books in the "Breakout Book" section :confused:
It looks like this "Breakout Book" section is for ladies only :mad:
Click to expand...

As an actual engineer you honestly think I'd expect fictional novels to include scientific works? Come on. What Apple could do is exactly similar to that of the Amazon or B&N experience and tailor craft one's entry point to show views of the top areas you've researched while on there by showing highlighted books, summaries and some of their reviews. Then use their expert settings to tailor craft it like they do for apps.
 
HMI said:
No, Apple isn't just responding to market demand, they're also CREATING market demand with these promotions aimed specifically at women only.

Now, any women looking at a "breakout books" section will be tempted to conform to an ongoing stereotypical trend to consume emotional porn, because it is marketed as socially acceptable "romance" books.

How many women do you know that have read "50 shades of gray" and think absolutely nothing is wrong with it, and will even defend it against the comparison to porn? Many of these women can't think for themselves, and will always default to what society deems acceptable or not, especially if society seems to validate what they like doing.
Click to expand...

"Breakout Books"... otherwise known as the Vibrator Book Club! :eek:
 
HMI said:
No, Apple isn't just responding to market demand, they're also CREATING market demand with these promotions aimed specifically at women only.

Now, any women looking at a "breakout books" section will be tempted to conform to an ongoing stereotypical trend to consume emotional porn, because it is marketed as socially acceptable "romance" books.

How many women do you know that have read "50 shades of gray" and think absolutely nothing is wrong with it, and will even defend it against the comparison to porn? Many of these women can't think for themselves, and will always default to what society deems acceptable or not, especially if society seems to validate what they like doing.
Click to expand...

no apple is responding to demand, amazon has created this market long ago and anyone who wants to read it buys it from amazon on the kindle
 
nagromme said:
Nah, it's US culture. We hate it when anything distracts us from non-stop glorified violence.
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Not sure I understand. The conundrum is why Apple is OK w/ explicitly promoting a soft core-ish book cover in its bookstore but almost gets away with banning a photo app because it hosts same -- and then does require it to censor such. Your mention to violence and US culture is a bit of a non sequitur.
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Not sure I understand. The conundrum is why Apple is OK w/ explicitly promoting a soft core-ish book cover in its bookstore but almost gets away with banning a photo app because it hosts same -- and then does require it to censor such. Your mention to violence and US culture is a bit of a non sequitur.
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because the ibookstore is a joke compared to kindle books? indie authors all blog about how ibookstore is a single digit percentage of sales compared to more than 50% for kindle versions
 
alent1234 said:
indie authors all blog about how ibookstore is a single digit percentage of sales compared to more than 50% for kindle versions
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As an indie writer who publishes on both Amazon and Smashwords, most of my ebook sales comes from Smashwords and the iBookstore is 90% of my Smashwords ebook sales. Amazon may be the biggest market in the world, but it's a tiny percentage of my ebook sales.

https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/c.d.-reimer/id415995049?mt=11
 
Chupa Chupa said:
Riiiiight. So depiction of topless man and women making out is OK for Apple iBook store promo but nearly banned 500px over the mere possibility of seeing same IF one looked for it. Oh Apple, you slay me with your obtuse moral code. But I think I figured it out: it comes down to profit margins.
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Quite a vivid imagination. You visualize all that at the sight of a bare female back? WOW! Someone needs to learn the difference between art, erotica, and porn.
 
When I read this announcement, I immediately launched iBooks to check it out.

Unfortunately, as I suspected would be the case, the "Breakout" section offers no love to comics.

The iBookstore still doesn't even have a proper "manga" section at all, despite the genre being one of the leading sellers among graphic novels.
 
HMI said:
It's a self-fulfilling prophesy!

"Women buy more books", so publishers market to women and ignore men altogether, then women definitely buy more books, and men have less options available to them. Many publishers now are afraid to publish books aimed at men because they think it won't sell, because they are so used to marketing only to women that they don't even realize they've ignored men altogether for a long time.

Just look at any mall now. 90% of anything at a mall is for women, but that didn't used to be so polarized and unbalanced a couple of decades ago. Now men have to go to the far back corner to find some things from a limited stock with less options available to choose from.

I've noticed the same thing about new cars. More and more of the new car models that men may have chosen in the past are now released with mostly colors that women might choose.

Society has been trying to write men out of the picture for a long time. It's really sad!
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I think your right, I can't remember the last time I saw a car in metalic 'bell end purple' now it's all 'steak drape red' and 'Areola brown', damn those women's colours. I'm just dreading the gay hues....:)
 
JHankwitz said:
Quite a vivid imagination. You visualize all that at the sight of a bare female back? WOW! Someone needs to learn the difference between art, erotica, and porn.
Click to expand...

Imagine? I described the actual book cover on the iTune's book promo:

someone+to+love.jpg

Go read my original post again for context and stop trying to be argumentative. If you have a valid point, OK, but you haven't done anything yet except make an ad hominem attack.
 
Self publishing is the future in most creative markets. The exception is movies because of the cost factor. You can write, record and publish your own songs or literature for a small amount of cash. However, even a small movie takes a comparatively large amount of cash to make, so this field needs middlemen or moneymen to front the cash. I can't see this changing much. If you are a composer or songwriter, or just a writer in general this really opens up great opportunity. :)
 
petsounds said:
Romance, mystery, and sci-fi novels? I don't think I really want to read the shlock coming from self-published authors in those particular categories.

I applaud the showcasing of 'indie' authors, but Apple should focus on quality. There's a ton of talented fiction writers who really need this kind of promotion and their work deserves it. Showcasing lowest-common denominator novels reflects badly on Apple.
Click to expand...

They're showcasing the high rated books, how is that lowest-common denominator?
 
Why are so many books on iTunes fluff romance novels? Seems like 9 out of 10 of them are. (unscientific measurement) I regularly check the top free section to see what is interesting to grab and there are a heck of a lot of them, more than any other category by far!

Not that I mind but makes it kinda hard to find anything else. :p
 
More writers will have the freedom to publish and more readers will have the freedom to discover and enjoy a greater diversity of high-quality books than ever before.
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Should say: … and more readers will have the freedom to sift through a bigger variation of writing standards than ever before, in search of high-quality books.
 
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