iBooks Textbook Sales: Authors Set Pricing Up to $14.99, Apple Takes 30%, iBooks-Exclusive

[backinblack875]

love how the all knowing forum members know better than apple and think its DOA, apple, the king of doing the impossible.

Do i need to link the thread for when the first iPod came out??

 

[johnvr]

Ready for an anti-trust suit?

Apple trying to corner the text book market in cooperation with the largest publishers, that sounds like the basis for an anti-trust case to me.

That's the problem with Apple, they do great stuff but they're so greedy and secretive that ultimately not everyone who should benefit will benefit. It's one thing to do that with music and movies, but quite another to do it with education.

 

[-LikesMac-]

There's only one real problem...

The only real problem I see here is the upper limit set for pricing. Right now, I can't imagine myself going through something like an AP US History textbook or AP Physics textbook on an iPad because of the upper limit.

I wonder exactly what Apple's reason is for having an upper limit? It doesn't seem profit related because the more a book costs, the more the "30% cut" will give. The only reason I can think of for putting an upper limit on prices is to prevent unreasonable/overpriced situations—whether that is something Apple should control is another discussion.

 

[AaronEdwards]

Prime examples:
- Science department may decide to allocate $25,000 for 50 iPads (to be used in labs) instead of a series of books (with useless CDs) that they routinely buy for 200-400 students.
- Business department may apply for grants that can make it possible to buy 25 iPads for an after school program.

So instead of books that can be used by 200-400 students there would be 50 iPads? So every student would spend only 1/4 to 1/8 with the iPad that they could spend with a book?

Also, if you buy two different books then two students can use them at one time. If you buy two different iBooks and put them on one iPad, then only one student can use them at one time.

The average district spends $100s/year per pupil on textbooks. Sure, going out and buying iPads for every student will require some forward-thinking people who can see that if you can cut a few $100 on textbooks costs, it may be cost effective buying iPads, but it will require studies, time, and discussion.

When iPad 2 is sold for $399, it will make things a little easier as well.

Don't forget that the warranty for the iPad is only one year, so the school would have to buy extra warranties. And what's the lifespan of the battery?

A tablet would have to get a lot cheaper for this to be a good idea.

 

[gnasher729]

I think the exclusivity part of this sucks but I do have to wonder- it can only really apply to having used iBooks Author to create the file, right? And that file is likely ONLY going to be usable on iBooks anyway... so if you wrote a book, you could import it easily into iBooks Author and release it on iBooks, and then use another program convert it over so it could be released on the Kindle, correct? There's nothing keeping anyone from distributing their books elsewhere- they just can't have used iBooks Author to have created that particular digital version (which may not work anywhere but iBooks anyway...).

As the author, you create the text, images, movies, 3d graphics etc. and they are all yours. You then use iBooks Author to create an eBook for the iPad. Apple will sell it for you for a price up to $14.99. You can distribute the same eBook _for free_ by any means. I don't think converting the iBook to Kindle format and selling it would be allowed (giving the converted book away for free _is_ allowed), but taking the text, images, movies, 3d graphics and use them to create a Kindle book would be absolutely fine.

If Apple has exclusivity - it won't matter. Right now they will not allow authors to be on their platform AND sell on others. That does not look like you scenario where tablets become less than $100. Oh sure - there will be (and are) other tablets. But without the content - what difference will it make if you can't get the books on there you need. This is probably my biggest issue at this point.

That is not correct, as explained above. The thing that is produced with iBooks Author, that cannot be sold elsewhere. However, all the text, pictures etc. belong to the author and the author can do with them whatever they like. So if Amazon created an app just like iBooks Author for the Kindle, with exactly the same license, then you could write your book, use iBooks Author to create an eBook for the iPad, and use the Amazon software to produce an eBook for Kindle.

Apple trying to corner the text book market in cooperation with the largest publishers, that sounds like the basis for an anti-trust case to me.

Please explain what Apple is doing that would be anti-competitive. And remember (most people don't) making your competitors suffer by having a better or cheaper product or both is competitive, not anti-competitive. Anti-competitive means you prevent others from competing. Beating them is fine.

funny thing, Apple supports SOPA and PIPA

I'd love to see if you have any evidence for that, but I doubt it.

In Richmond, VA my sons kindergarten class (16 kids) has 5 iPads. All middle/high-schoolers are given laptops. Soon enough they'll be an iPad in every backpack. Sweet!

This post had two down votes. There seem to be quite a few people on this forum who dislike the idea that someone might buy an Apple product.

 

[benpatient]

Seems to me that your issue isn't the quality of the books but the fact that texts by places like McGraw Hill that used to be unavailable to homeschool students due to the higher prices aren't anymore so there's perhaps not as much need for your special service for such kids.

The company I have done freelance curriculum design for didn't even exist 4 years ago. You have no idea at all what you're talking about. the homeschool, non-standard curriculum services out there are growing rapidly every year since around 2000-2002, and show no signs of slowing down. McGraw Hill just prints what the states tell them to (witness the TX legislature dictating what can be in history books a couple years ago).

Mega publishers are on the way out. This service is the harbinger of things to come, but the restrictions speak of Apple's ignorance about this market. They think the universities involved in itunes U are indicative of all schools. What works for a college system won't really work for a K-12, much less home-school co-op system.

 

[AaronEdwards]

By the time tablets are cheap enough to give one to every student, Android tables will have matured enough. And those tables will be a lot cheaper than the competing iPad.

Now, the more exclusive schools will probably buy Apple hardware, but the huge majority of schools will go for the cheaper hardware. If Apple in any way restricts textbook companies, they will chose volume over Apple.

 

[johnvr]

Please explain what Apple is doing that would be anti-competitive. And remember (most people don't) making your competitors suffer by having a better or cheaper product or both is competitive, not anti-competitive. Anti-competitive means you prevent others from competing. Beating them is.

Not allowing a book to be sold on other platforms is anti-competitive and I don't think it will stand the test of time.

 

[Amazing Iceman]

It is all about upfront costs. Folks will see that for a school district of say 200000 high school students they all of a sudden have to spend ~100 million on iPads then ~3 million per textbook.

Replacing a lost or destroyed textbook is far cheaper than replacing a lost or destroyed iPad...

In case you didn't know, $69/year could buy you Accidental Damage and theft insurance for an iPad.

It's hilarious that every time Apple does something different, out of the ordinary, tons of people will show up in the forum spreading all their negativity, as if they are getting paid by Google and Samsung to do it. Then, the best part is when they all have to eat their words when what they considered dumb and and DOA actually succeeds. Then the story will repeat with again with a new launch.

What will be the next Apple product to be subject to all these flaming negativity? The Apple TV, perhaps?

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Apple trying to corner the text book market in cooperation with the largest publishers, that sounds like the basis for an anti-trust case to me.

That's the problem with Apple, they do great stuff but they're so greedy and secretive that ultimately not everyone who should benefit will benefit. It's one thing to do that with music and movies, but quite another to do it with education.

Why Antitrust? Apple is doing something completely different than what everyone else is doing. In the end, people will still have a choice: to carry a ton of paper books, or use iPads.

I don't recall people complaining this much when books transitioned from the scroll to the codice. Several people in this forum seem like they want to go back to the scroll.

Apple, just as any other smart company should, wants to protect their products against the copycats.

Don't worry, the copy cats will release something soon to 'compete'; you can buy from them if it makes you happy.

 

[fertilized-egg]

Not allowing a book to be sold on other platforms

Couldn't you simply recreate the book using the same material with another tool, say some Adobe software, and sell the book on the other platforms freely?

 

[MattInOz]

funny thing, Apple supports SOPA and PIPA and wants to do away with internet freedoms and herd ppl into using their service which in some cases are more expensive. Apple now "The MAN" and it wants to hold everyone down. As an writer this "apple exclusive" on books kinda bugs me. iPad is not an ebook platform when compared to Amazon's Kindle.

Care to back that statement with a Link or two?

I haven't seen any mention of many tech companies directly supporting SOPA.
The business software alliance of which Apple, Microsoft and many others are part of did support the bill in principle earlier but withdrew support 2 months ago.

 

[deconstruct60]

I wonder exactly what Apple's reason is for having an upper limit? It doesn't seem profit related because the more a book costs, the more the "30% cut" will give.

Reduction of the cost of complements. If the books and software that run on an iPad is cheaper then Apple can charge more for the iPad. Look at what kind of storage pigs these books are. 2.7GB for a biology book. Buy 10 textbooks like that ( 20.7GB) and you can't use the lowest 16GB iPad ( or you have to archive books off onto your computer or into Apple's cloud. )

The "race to the bottom" of iOS Apps ... that is an advantage for Apple. Same with with these "mega" footprint books.

 

[dethmaShine]

Here's the difference: If the books are DRM'd via the iTunes/iBooks store, students will not be reselling their $50 book (or signing it out of the library) while filling the needs of several students which results in the publisher only selling it once. Now the publisher will sell a copy for every copy needed, no manufacturing (no misprints or corrections) no distribution needed, Apple takes care of that for you. Plus, they can now claim more copies sold (since they are!).

But that's just my opinion, I still don't understand how textbooks didn't sell better on the Kindle (other than many did not reformat for the smaller size).

I taught college classes and students loved when I picked $25 books which were cheap already but when they could get it for their Kindle for $10, they loved it even more.

Gary

Thanks for the reply. I just hope it works out. This is definitely going to help children and even k-12 students but if this also supports higher education material then this is the biggest win ever for apple in my opinion.

 

[-LikesMac-]

I see...

Reduction of the cost of complements. If the books and software that run on an iPad is cheaper then Apple can charge more for the iPad. Look at what kind of storage pigs these books are. 2.7GB for a biology book. Buy 10 textbooks like that ( 20.7GB) and you can't use the lowest 16GB iPad ( or you have to archive books off onto your computer or into Apple's cloud. )

The "race to the bottom" of iOS Apps ... that is an advantage for Apple. Same with with these "mega" footprint books.

Oh…so it's like how new versions of Mac OS X (and Apple software) are (kind of?) cheap so that the high priced hardware can be sold…

I wonder how textbooks will look on a iPad 3 (with Retina display!) That will be amazing, seeing text looking close to real life text...

 

[damir00]

Has anybody in Canada been able to buy one of the textbooks? They're coming up as "not found" for me...

 

[malman89]

Couldn't you simply recreate the book using the same material with another tool, say some Adobe software, and sell the book on the other platforms freely?

Probably to the re-creating part, no to the re-selling part (at least not for long and holding onto those profits).

I really don't see the fuss about this announcement - yet. I don't care about a few titles or solo authors getting publishing ability. I care about industry leaders utilizing this format as their primary source of distribution. Until then, it won't matter.

 

[jameskatt]

Capping the price is a no-go.

I like that Apple have capped the price.

However, not allowing publishers to publish their books on other platforms seems insane.

A colleague wrote a book on hormone therapy.

It took him working nearly 24-hours a day for 5 straight years to write the book - which has become the bible in his field.

It is a highly specialized textbook that only a few thousand doctors would buy.

He sells it for $400 a copy. It is worth far more to the doctors that bought it.

Why would he sell the textbook for $15 a copy on the iBook Store? He wouldn't.

The only solution for him to get around the $15 cap is to sell one chapter at a time at $15. This way, the aggregate for the textbook is $400.

It would be far easier to create an eBook App that does the same thing and sell it for $400 a copy - like other high-end eBook apps.

It takes a huge amount of work to create textbooks. The low price for the iBook store may result in not much of a return when you cannot get volume sales.

Also, the need for graphics and animation further increases the complexity and cost and work needed to create the textbook. You can't just write. You have to produce like a movie studio.

The big boy publishers can afford to sell their textbooks at that price because they usually sell 2 million copies or more for each textbook. They can get a gang of writers and video producers and musicians and other artists to create a single book.

But the smaller sales authors are screwed with this solution.

 

[miles01110]

The only solution for him to get around the $15 cap is to sell one chapter at a time at $15. This way, the aggregate for the textbook is $400.

This is assuming your colleague feels the need to sell it in the iBook Store in the first place. For specialized, low-demand titles such as the one you refer to, creating an iBook probably doesn't make any sense.

The big boy publishers can afford to sell their textbooks at that price because they usually sell 2 million copies or more for each textbook.

Actually the average sales quantity for a major textbook title usually runs around 300,000 copies. Not every professor uses the same book, not every class has the same number of people, and not every university offers the same class. It is a highly diversified market, which contributes to (some of) the high costs of paper textbooks.

 

[linuxcooldude]

However, not allowing publishers to publish their books on other platforms seems insane.

Nothing is preventing these publishers from publishing the same books using different software other then Apples "iBooks Author" Software. The licence states if you plan on selling books using its iBooks Author software must only be sold in the iTunes store. Thats the price of using its free software. Where using software such as Photoshop its high price allows you to make money from it.

30% is high since Apple already has all the infrastructure in place for this.

The company that takes the high risks, get to benefit from its rewards.

What about all those years it took, money spent, hiring the right people with specific skills, buying the right companies whose products and services that put all that infrastructure in place?

$14.99 cap, i.e. expect any major textbooks that you will need for classes to come to iPad.

Will probably make it back by high volume of sales. Just think of all the schools and colleges out there buying iBooks once everything gets set in place.

No freaking way that I would publish on iBook exclusive. Of course the book must be listed on Amazon Kindle as well as that is a better option in my opinion anyway.

Yeah that is my view as well. I have some friends who would want to publish some work of theirs but this exclusivity thing kills them doing it. It is complete and utter crap and makes it doa.

If you read the article it says: "To clarify, Apple is not claiming exclusive sales rights to the content of published textbooks but to the specific output format (iBooks) generated by their iBooks Author tool."

Buying iPads, even at a discounted price, for every student is a non-starter.
Very few public schools have the funds for these types of purchases.

The money saved by lowering the cost of books to $15.00 or less, no shipping costs which can be quite expensive & educational discounts. It might be possible. Probably not right now, but in the near future once everything is set.

 

[BigQid]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Mobile/9A405)

This is stupid. Real textbooks are worth more than $15 and who is apple to ask for exclusives on ebooks?

 

[Oletros]

Please explain what Apple is doing that would be anti-competitive. And remember (most people don't) making your competitors suffer by having a better or cheaper product or both is competitive, not anti-competitive. Anti-competitive means you prevent others from competing. Beating them is fine.

Forbidding that you can sell the iBook for iPad on you website?

funny thing, Apple supports SOPA and PIPA

Apple doesn't support SOPA or PIPA

 

[linuxcooldude]

Forbidding that you can sell the iBook for iPad on you website?

You can in fact sell the same book on your website, but you can't use the iBooks Author software to do it with.

 

[Oletros]

You can in fact sell the same book on your website, but you can't use the iBooks Author software to do it with.

So no, you CAN'T sell your iBook for iPad outside the iBook Store.

 

[linuxcooldude]

So no, you CAN'T sell your iBook for iPad outside the iBook Store.

As some would say your grasping at straws. Thats the cost of ownership and use of their free software. They can't take ownership of your written work or prevent you from selling it elsewhere. But they have a say in HOW you use their software. That is not anti-competitive in any way.

 

[Oletros]

As some would say your grasping at straws. Thats the cost of ownership and use of their free software.

Yes, is free software, and? Xcode is free software, do you agree that OS X must be sold on the MAS?

And no, I'm not grasping at straws, I can't understand why people agree blindly anything Apple do.