Navigate
X

How To Publish Your Book On The iPad

OLD POST ALERT! This is an older post and although you might find some useful tips, any technical or publishing information is likely to be out of date. Please click on Start Here on the menu bar above to find links to my most useful articles, videos and podcast. Thanks and happy writing! – Joanna Penn

If you own the digital rights to your book, then you can publish your book/s on the iPad. You don't have to be published through big name publishers to make it into the iBookstore. Exciting!

Here are your options so far (no doubt more are coming!):

Smashwords. Definitely the most egalitarian distributor out there, Smashwords now has distribution deals with Apple for the iPad as well as Amazon for the Kindle, Sony for the eReader and Barnes & Noble.com. You can load your book for free onto the site but it does need to conform to specific guidelines in order to make the Premium catalogue which includes the iPad, for example, it needs an ISBN. Check this article for how to ensure you get distributed.

Price: FREE (but you will need to spend some time formatting)

Amazon DTP for Kindle. The Kindle app is available on the iPad so if you publish on the Kindle you can still get onto the iPad. Go to dtp.amazon.com. There are lots of help documents!

Price: FREE (but you will need to spend some time formatting – check out this podcast with Joshua Tallent from EBookArchitects for help.

Lulu.com. Lulu is one of the top print on demand distributors and they are offering a way to get onto the iPad as well as offering a free iPad with some of their packages. Lulu is aimed at helping authors self publish and has various packages offering services, for example, if you don't want to DIY formatting you will need some help.

Price: $2399 upwards (not for the faint-hearted!). I am mentioning this because I want to include the many ways you can get on the iPad but as I have posted before, self publishing should cost you nothing.

Create your own iPad app. Most iPhone apps will function on the iPad so if you have one in progress, then it's still a good option. Check out this podcast on how to create your own iPhone app for more info. The developer's kit for the iPad is now available and there will be a truckload of new apps coming out for the iPad soon.

Price: $$$$ (depends on what kind of app you want, but certainly not free!)

Disclaimer: ok, so I need to modify my own ebooks on Smashwords before they get on the iPad. I usually only post on what I have done myself, but this is so exciting, I thought you would like to know!

Update 1 June 2010: You can now self publish direct to the iPad iBookstore but only if you have a US tax number.

I now offer a multi-media online short course on how to publish your book on the Kindle, iPad, Nook and other e-readers as well as answers to all your ebook publishing questions. Featuring video, audio and PDF information for only $39.99.

Click here for all the details.

Images: Flickr CC iBooks Myuibe, iPad and iPhone Roger Bits.

Joanna Penn:

View Comments (56)

  • Good news for those of us with e-Books for Kindle! By the way, we did the Kindle conversion ourselves for our three books. It wasn't as straightforward as we had hoped, but we learned a lot. Kindle's instructions and guides are nearly useless.

  • What accounts for the cost of the IPad App? Is it simply the cost of paying a developer or are there other costs associated with it? FYI, I believe one of my fellow podiobooks authors, Brian Rathbone, has worked with authors on getting their books turned into IPhone apps either for a percentage or for very low up front cost.

    • It is just the cost of the iPad app. If you just want an ebook that has pages turning, that's not expensive - but you can get the same effect through publishing through Smashwords/Kindle for free. I am more interested in the apps that include video and audio/podcasts through the app. Those are more expensive, but worthwhile doing for marketing purposes - or if they add a different set of information, so people are happy to pay. e.g. I just paid $16 for Philip Pullman's 'The Good man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ" because it had the extra videos.

  • I have used both lulu.com and createspace. Due to living in Australia, the postage costs from USA really are a consideration. Lulu was quickest to "publish' but the shippings costs are almost double that of createspace and take twice as long; still haven't seen a proof yet. The quality of the createspace proof was fine.

  • I also had a question on Twitter
    "How do you know for sure if you have digital rights for a book?" from @lizb1987
    I replied "have you signed a contract for your book that includes digital rights with a publisher? If not, and it's your material, it's ok"

  • Also from Michael Pastore on Facebook:
    "O'Reilly Media has a digital distribution program that will get you on the iPad, and elsewhere. Check their website for the costs: nothing up front, they take a percentage of ebooks sold. ...

    Apple will be soon taking ebooks directly from individual publishers: watch the news for that important announcement."

  • Interested in a self-published book to be available for all e books, preferably with connection to an in-demand publisher who will print and mail books. Preferably not Amazon who takes such a big commission. Any other company offering this service?

    • Hi Claire, on demand publishers include Lulu.com as above, or try LightningSource.com or Createspace.com
      Thanks.

  • Joanna, another timely and informative post. You are at the top of my list of bloggers for writers.

    As it happens, just last night I discovered a new online service that's been flying well under the radar. It's been in development in UK for 2 years and is now in public beta. It will convert PDF files into page-turning e-books and can also insert audio and video -- all for free. I'm not sure the e-commerce element is yet functional, but one will be able to sale through its store, which looks a lot like the Amazon store. Commision to the website that publishes the book is only 10 percent.

    I expect to scan a book written by my mother years ago and to upload it later today, just to see with my own eyes how this service works. I'll probably do a blog post about my experience over the weekend.

    So what's the service? http://www.myebook.com. I think this will appeal to many, many writers. Not sure yet whether it will work on the iPad. Probably not, as Steve Jobs refuses to allow Flash applications to work in his Apple world.

    • Hi Tom, yes, I had a look at myebook.com a while back. They are excellent but I think they were only doing free books when I last looked. If they now allow authors to sell, that's brilliant.

      Thanks also for your lovely comment! I appreciate your thoughts and I also subscribe to your blog, which is great.

  • Hi All,

    Firstly, I'd like to thank Joanna for the advice she gave me last year in relation to getting my book completed.

    Please allow me to introduce myself; my name is N.M.Raj and I'm a Management Consultant for the construction industry. I'm also a relatively new author (Construction related Books); I published my first book last month. Interestingly enough, I decided to publish it first on iTunes for the iPhone and iPad.

    I published my book DIRECTLY on iTunes as an “iTunes Application” (“iTunes App”) for the iPhone/iPad as opposed to dealing with the red tape, significant revenue loss and also getting it “Lost in Publication” within third party iTunes Apps like Stanza, eReader, smashwords Kindle etc. In a nutshell, I decided to cut out the “Middle-Men” who are flourishing on iTunes.

    Publishing the book directly on iTunes was a tedious, painful but extremely enriching experience. If anybody is interested in learning more, please send an email to me at raj@primeconsulting.pl.

    Also, feel free to have a look at my book on iTunes by clicking on the following hyperlink:

    http://itunes.apple.com/pl/app/quick-guide-to-construction/id361237060?mt=8

    All the best!

    Kind Regards,
    N.M.Raj

  • Dear Joanna,

    There is one thing I don´t understand: for your book to be sold at itunes you have to use one of these sites from above or can we put it for sale ourselfs? Like you can do at amazon?

    Thank you and congratulations for your blog.. it´s great!

  • When I converted my self-pubbed books for Kindle, I used Smashwords excellent formatting manual. Works like a charm for all platforms.

1 2 3 4
Leave a Comment
Related Post
  1. The Marketing Mind Shift And The Power Of Ad Stacking With Ricci Wolman

    How can you shift your mindset in order to reach more readers with your books?…

  2. Novel Marketing And Christian Publishing With Thomas Umstattd Jr.

    What are some of the most effective ways to market your book? What strategies have…

  3. Generative AI And The Indie Author Community With Michael Anderle And Dan Wood

    What are the implications of generative AI for the indie author community? How can we…

Looking for something? Search this site with Google below

Inspiration and Information every Monday in The Creative Penn podcast