This article is part of my Beginner's Guide to Self-publishing direct with ebook Retailers series.

So you want to self-publish your ebook directly on Apple Books—but is it worth the effort? Most authors choose to publish their book on the Apple retailer site via a distributor like Draft2Digital, Smashwords, or PublishDrive because it’s a convoluted process to go direct with Apple. But if you want to create a direct relationship with them…here’s information about this digital giant and how to publish your ebook direct.

About Apple Books

Apple Books (formerly iBooks) is an ebook application run by Apple Inc. for iOS and macOS operating systems and devices. It was released for the iPhone and iPod Touch in mid-2010 and at that time had to be downloaded free of charge onto iOS devices, but now it’s become an integrated app. Apple Books is now available in over 160 countries.

• For more information about Apple Books: bit.ly/H2-Apple

What you need to publish on Apple Books

In order to publish direct with Apple you will need to own a Mac to create your file using their Apple iBooks Author software and publish via their iTunes Producer application. It’s not as intuitive as setting up your book directly with some of the other retailers, but the Apple software allows you to add multimedia content like video and audio, animations, interactive photo galleries, keynote presentations, interactive images with call-outs, and 3D objects. You can also just create a standard formatted ebook.

For fiction, all of the features that Apple-designed ebooks provide would be feature overload, but for a travel guide they could elevate your book to a higher level, providing your reader with a fully interactive experience, and it may be worth your while setting up a multimedia version directly via iBooks author. But the fact that enhanced ebooks don’t account for a high volume of sales in the marketplace might indicate that reader demand for this type of content is still very niche.

Apple Books Author Interface

Publishing via Apple Books is done through the Apple iTunes Connect website, but it involves a multi-step process, which is why many authors opt to publish via an aggregator. 

1. Set up your account at iTunes Connect.
2. Download iBooks Author from the App Store onto your Mac (to create your book)
3. Download iTunes Producer software onto your Mac (to provide your metadata and publish your book).

Before you can log in to iTunes Producer you have to log in to your main Apple account and set up a one-time-use, app-specific password (and each time you log in to Producer, you have to log in to your Apple account to generate your new one-time-use password).

Compared to all of the other retailer portals, Apple has a fragmented process for publishing direct with them, and it can be challenging if you’re short on patience. It’s also quite a journey to untangle the process just to get access to your publishing account. There are plenty of online help forums and articles, but locating the answers to questions can be time consuming.

• About iTunes Connect: bit.ly/H2-AppleITC
• Sign up for iTunes Connect: bit.ly/H2-AppleITCsu
• Download iTunes Producer and iTunes Author software: bit.ly/H2-AppleITPub
• iTunes connect Publisher User Guide: bit.ly/H2-ApplePDF

The reason the Apple Books process is so different is because you’re publishing to an app rather than a website.

Apple Books Author Pages

The Apple Books platform doesn’t feature author pages.

Apple Books Publication Timeline

When you hit the publish button, it takes 24-48 hours to list your ebook in the Books store.

Apple Books File Requirements

You can create your file in Apple Books Author in EPUB or iBooks format, which is a proprietary Apple-only version of the EPUB standard that can only be created using the Apple Books app, and can only be read using the Apple app. But the software also supports EPUB and PDF formats.

Apple Books Author is a drag and drop software that helps you build your book with reflowable format and fixed-layout template layouts. 

Creating your book directly with Apple is like setting up an entirely new file version, so unless your content warrants this ebook on steroids, I’d consider your distribution strategy and initially distribute a standard ebook to Apple via an aggregator, and look into creating a bells and whistles version down the line. 

Apple’s file sizes can be dramatically larger than standard ebooks, but they don’t charge a file delivery fee unless your book is over 2GB. 

Apple Books ISBN Requirements

Apple use their own internal Apple ID Numbers. If you distribute directly with them, their setup form and publishing guidelines recommend an ISBN. But if you access Apple through an aggregator the ISBN is a requirement.

Apple Books Upfront Costs

Apple Books doesn’t charge an upfront fee for distributing your ebooks. 

Apple Books Author Royalties

No matter what your list price, you will earn maximum royalties of 70%.

Here’s how this would be calculated for a $2.99 book, based on Apple taking 30%:

• Going direct you would receive a 70% royalty rate ($2.093)

Apple Books Going Direct Alternative

Using $2.99 as an example list price, if you don’t want to go direct with Apple, you could distribute to them via:

• PublishDrive and Smashwords (Royalty Rate: 90% of list price): They keep 10% of your list price (-$0.29), and that would be deducted off the 70% royalty rate received from Kobo ($2.09), leaving you with a royalty payment of around ($1.79)
• Draft2Digital (Royalty Rate: 85% of Net): Based on the 70% royalty rate paid by Kobo ($2.09), Draft2Digital would take 15% of this ($0.31), leaving you with a royalty balance of around ($1.77)

Apple Books Additional Distribution Benefits

You can request a redeem code from Apple Books, which has to be used within 4 weeks, in order to send free review copies to bloggers and reviewers.

I attended the LA Travel Show a couple of years ago, and met a travel writer who only creates his ebooks on Apple and they look amazing, but if you’re going to go to the effort of creating your ebook via the Apple software, you should create a robust marketing plan to make the most of the effort it takes to create this Apple-centric version.

So now that you’ve had an introduction what it takes to publish your ebook on Apple Books—are you going to publish directly with them or via a distributor?

Read more articles in my How to Write a Travel Guide Series

I’m putting the finishing touches on my How to Write and Self-Publish a Travel Guide Series, which details a step by step approach for writing and producing your own travel guide. It’s part of a four-part series aimed at helping travel bloggers achieve passive income based on their passions and existing content.

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