Written: 5/28/10
You can now work directly with Apple by meeting
specific criteria, which will allow you to sell
your book on the iBookstore without the middleman or
content aggregator - much the same way as independent music
artists sell on iTunes.
This development is a two-sided coin, as Apple won’t help you to
promote your book at all. In fact, they clearly recommend going
with a
3rd party content aggregator if you would like help boosting
your book sales.
According to Apple, payment to iBookstore partners does not occur
until payment requirements and earning thresholds have been met in
each territory. This means that the best way to receive a check
from Apple is to be a big seller across regions, and the easiest
way to do this is to have a book with near-universal appeal.
If you are expecting only strong sales in one region, then it may
be a much better decision to go with a
3rd party content aggregator, which has a lower payment
threshold then Apple.
In other words, if you are realistically expecting a steady,
trickle of book sales instead of a giant torrent, then going direct
with Apple will result in a longer period of time between
checks.
iBookstore Criteria
• Have an
ISBN
• Be in EPUB format and validate epubcheck 1.0.5
• Contains no unmanifested files
•
US Tax ID from the IRS (Also know as an
EIN)
• Valid iTunes Store account, with a credit card on file
• An Intel-based Mac running OS X 10.5 or later
The Intel-based Mac is probably the only surprise on that list. At
this point we can only assume it exists because Apple has
proprietary software for uploading the ebooks and that software has
not yet been successfully been ported over to Windows. (The
assumption that they will eventually open the process up to Windows
users is reinforced by the fact that iTunes is available for
Windows)
If you think that you have enough sales to justify Apple's payment
requirements, then to get started with direct ebook distribution
into the iBookstore visit:
http://itunes.com/sellyourbooks
If not, check out our article on
3rd party content aggregators, here.
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