“In my mind, the most important element of any software application is the ability to make users feel empowered, as if they can act on information, make changes, or best yet, create,” Chris Maxcer reports for MacNewsWorld. “Apple’s new iBooks Author application for Mac OS X lets you create — so much so that I actually believe that I could write an awesome iBook textbook myself.”

“The application provides a solid foundation, giving you six templates to choose from, then turns you loose to drag and drop your own words, photos or movies into place,” Maxcer reports. “In just a few minutes, you’ll go from feeling inquisitive and curious about the tools and how they work to, ‘Holy macaroni, I could actually create a book!’”

Maxcer reports, “On the flip side, if you want to sell your book elsewhere, you’ll have recreate or build it using some other company’s application tool sets. It’s not Apple’s responsibility to make doing that easy, though you can actually create epub documents using Apple’s own Pages. The whole point, though, of iBooks Author is to give anyone a powerful free app and let them create awesome iBooks. If you have a Mac, you can create them. If you have an iPad, you can enjoy them. It’s that simple.”

Read much more in the full review here.