“Once we saw the possibilities in iBooks we immediately queried Apple for information on how an individual could participate and over a month ago they had no answer, but today they do,” Martin reports. “Apple sent us an e-mail today with details on how someone could sign up to sell their own books in the iBookstore. “
Martin reports, “Once you are established, Apple’s online agreement allows you to sell your book in the iBookstore in several countries. If you don’t feel like your selling your book in every country available, you can set which countries it’ll be available in and the price for each of the titles.”
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Publishing houses, please move along. There’s nothing to see here. Music cartels, please ignore, too – Hey, look, over there, money!
Many book publishers are cutting back on “genre” publications in order to concentrate on the stuff that “makes money” — a friend of mine had a contract for a crochet book cancelled by her publisher because they were getting out of the “craft book business”. The ability of authors/designers to self-publish gives another option, and with strategic self-marketing (for example, genre-related forums, personal websites, and the like) should have no trouble reaching their audience.
@MadMac
To my utmost surprise i did a search for your album on my iPhone SPOTIFY app (not expecting to find it) and it was there!!
Listening to it and really liking it. Will continue to listen to it and recommend to my friends. Is your album on any other music subscription services and do you find you receive much money from them?
Good work though my friend! Might buy it from iTunes to help out an indie musician. To all the people who say that indie developers / writers / musicians have a hard time promoting their goods: even one post in MDN can make a difference!
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“Now, how the hell do I get an ISBN? Does Library of Congress or whomever have an office out here in Alpha Centauri? I’d rather not have to travel to sort this out!”
Man am I surprised that anybody, especially a writer/researcher would have to ask how.
This is wonderful news. The greater the depth and breadth of content, the more valuable the iBookstore will become. The challenge for any publisher, any developer of apps or any musician is being found on so large a store. And that takes good promotion, often by you. That’s not Apple’s fault; it’s simply the reality of such a store.
My wife has a wonderful store of Hawaiian/surf-themed designs and products that she has designed on her Zazzle stores (shameless plug: http://www.zazzle.com/driveindustries/ and for edgy, skateboard-oriented stuff, visit: http://www.zazzle.com/channelthree – trust me, these are worth your time, and all designed on a Mac). Zazzle (similar to Cafe Press, if you haven’t visited their site) is an incredible idea. You can design your own products, create a store and sell them online. The problem is that there are over 2 Billion products for sale on Zazzle. Needless to say, being found is a challenge. The same might be true for the iBookstore.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this. Of course, the big publishing houses will continue to hold the prime real estate, as best selling books will compel Apple to feature these on the home page. But for academic texts of specific interest or other unique publications, this is fantastic, and will give greater credibility to the iBookstore.
Getting your next great American novel noticed amid the countless numbers of books for sale will be the challenge. It won’t be enough to merely get the book approved and posted to the store. You will still have to promote the book yourself. And that means having good PR, social media and direct marketing skills. And a lot of persistence.
This is why publishers have traditionally ruled the day. For a hefty chunk of the profits, the publisher has handled the printing, inventory, distribution, marketing and promotion, sales and accounting for the author.
Freed of the shackles of the publisher, you’re on your own. There are pluses and minuses to both approaches. It will still come down to you.
Best of luck! And thanks, Apple, for creating this opportunity for small, special interest and academic authors to have a marketplace for their content! I think the future will be fascinating.
This could be bigger that music. But without the resources like those that the record industry put behind the music that appear on iTunes, the efforts that the publishing industry resorts to supporting their clients, or an Oprah stumbling upon your masterpiece, it won’t be the goldmine that some think.
As the adage goes, the more choices one has, the longer it takes to make a decision, [if ever].
And the only sure way to lessen the choices is to make sure one doesn’t think that he has any.
Like it or not, the music producers, the book publishers and the personal publicists play an important role in creative successes.
@ Capitalist
You are too kind my friend. When I “published” through CD Baby they send it to all sorts of digital sites and I know Spotify was one of them.
The only thing I miss by being an independent “artist” is the marketing power of an established label. I have a day job and marketing music part time is really hard.
Thanks for the nod!
@MadMac
Yeah, that’s the only problem being independent: the marketing. I’ve seen a lot of small artists in the past build up a following through sites such as MySpace for example.
Maybe you should set up a Facebook fan page (assuming you don’t already have one) and start by adding your friends and get them to recommend your music to their friends and so on. Twitter obviously helps as well!
Good luck!
This will be awesome if true!
This is perfect! Now everyone can share information, the way the world wide web was intended. And everyone can monetize on their expertise!
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” jax44
Ballmers new novel: Developers, developers, developers. The end.”
And the sequel, “Bing! Bing! Bing!”
> So, can budding musicians publish their songs on iTunes?
Yes, they do it already. Often, they gain some “YouTube fame” first. Then, you notice their songs are available on iTunes, and they actually start making some money from their talent. For example
This way to self-publish books is going to be a revolution.
Yea, as long as Apple approves of your content. Oh, how I love the Apple censors.