How to Publish on Apple Books in 2020

When it comes to online book sales, Amazon.com is the number one store. Now there are a lot of choices for publishing companies and ebooks.

Apple is the next best ebook store with over 1.4bn devices. All their devices come with the Apple Books app and store. They are the second biggest store in ebook and audiobook sales after Amazon Kindle and Audible.

In this article, we’ll go over what you need to know about Apple Books. We talk about how to publish when you have a direct publisher account under Apple Books. We also share when to use PublishDrive, one of Apple’s trusted partners.

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What is Apple Books?

Apple Books used to be called iTunes Books or iBooks. With the iBooks app, Apple Inc. came up with its popular ebook reading and store applications. Right now they do not have print-on-demand options.

The Books app is made better for epub (standard ebook) format, but they also use pdf files. Apple came out with the interactive iBooks Author app for the iBooks store.

Apple put a lot of money into their reader experience in 2019. They also do audiobooks so people can listen to their favorite fiction writers through iTunes.

Why publish on Apple Books Store?

Maybe you just finished your book. Or maybe you have your own business. Whatever the case, use PublishDrive to publish on Apple Books.

PublishDrive is an Apple Approved Aggregator which means you get a lot of perks. PublishDrive lets you do more with Apple Books.  

1.Reach over 1.4bn Apple device user

The Apple Books store is on all iOS and Apple devices. It is a huge market for books. That is why you shouldn’t miss out on the chance to meet 1.4bn potential readers!

PublishDrive makes the publishing process super easy and clear. Plus, you get over 400 stores and thousands of libraries online.


2. Promotional options

The Apple Books store makes sample chapters for you. They help people get a feel and look for your book. This is just one of the options you can get for promotions.

PublishDrive has many promotion options you can find on the dashboard. They help your books shine in Apple Books.

Promotions are very important to your book’s success. Do you want your book to stand out? With PublishDrive, you can get in the top charts or selected top categories that gets shown in the app store.

You can find opportunities to get featured with the Apple Store in all countries too.

When you write your book and are ready to publish, don't forget about reviews. Reviews help people learn more about your book and then buy it. They are also good because it works with algorithms that lets your book be found better in the search results.

On Amazon you need to have at least 30 reviews. This is because it’s the way Amazon does it to get noticed in the algorithms. With Apple Books you only need some of them.

This is where PublishDrive comes in. PublishDrive sends book review copies for you. You save a lot of money and time this way.

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It is easy and safe to send a review copy through PublishDrive. You can do it by getting a code for your book on Apple Books with your PublishDrive dashboard. The redeem code can be used within four weeks (28 days) from the day it has been issued.

The copy is DRM protected, so you can make sure your copy is safe. Read more about how to request a review copy here.

Promotional pricing is a sales move that works very well. All you need are the right promotion tools. Your self-published titles should get a boost. With PublishDrive, easily schedule price promotions for Apple Books.

3. Simple interface, no Apple device needed, world-class support.

People love that PublishDrive is easy to use. They love the wide reach and best analytics. When you publish on Apple with PublishDrive, there is no need to worry about having an Apple device. PublishDrive works beautifully from any web browser.

We solve problems quickly and come out with new features regularly. We do it to support your publishing journey!

How to publish on Apple Books

Are you an author or are a publishing company? Do you have more than 20 books? You will like PublishDrive’s Publisher Tools for your business. Here are steps to take when you want to sell on Apple Books with PublishDrive:

  1. First, you need to create a PublishDrive account.
  2. You can upload your first title (mobi or epub files) by yourself or use PublishDrive’s bulk import features.
  1. Choose Apple Books from your channels.
  2. Get your store link and use it to promote on social media.
  3. Use PublishDrive’s special Promotions Module to ask for review copies and features.
  4. Look at real-time sales numbers from your PublishDrive Sales Dashboard.

If you already published your books with others, switching over is simple. This includes your catalog, stores, and special deals. Read more about how to switch to from other aggregators and direct accounts.


Top 5 tips when publishing on Apple Books with PublishDrive

  1. Ebook formats: Apple Books lets you upload pdf files. We say use epub which is the best standard format. It also has a great reader experience. Readers can change to font sizes smoothly with this format.
  2. Book cover: Your book cover file size should not be bigger than 4 megapixels.
  3. Pre-orders: Use this to set up your title for pre-ordering. You can do this for up to 1 year ahead.
  4. International pricing: Set a pretty price! A pretty price is setting all your prices in all countries with a nice rounded price. You can price internationally for Apple Books with PublishDrive.

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  1. Promotions: You can get free review copies, options for getting featured, or price promotions for your books published on Apple.

Remember, all of this on one PublishDrive dashboard!

 

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Publish with a direct publisher account to Apple Books through PublishDrive

Do you have an iTunes Connect account? This is connected to Apple to sell books or other media. PublishDrive helps with this integration, so you do not need to give up your account. We let you keep your Apple Books account but still enjoy all the benefits you get with PublishDrive.

By the way, this method is called working as an approved Apple Encoding House. These take care of all metadata and admin work for you. (Note: PublishDrive provides this only for publishing companies or bestseller authors with more than 20 books.)

Now, you can use your direct Apple publisher account through PublishDrive. That means publishers can get on the subscription plan with PublishDrive, and manage books and also, see all of their sales data from their direct Apple account as well. In this way, publishers can manage Apple Books and everything else from their PublishDrive dashboard. The best part is that you also unlock promotional opportunities for Apple Books with PublishDrive. There is no need to spend more time on managing books and consolidating sales data!

Benefits of PublishDrive with Apple Books:

  • Publishers take care of Apple Books from their PublishDrive dashboard. This lets them save at least 60 hours of time for making or marketing a book.
  • With PublishDrive’s subscription plans, it’s the same royalty rates as selling directly to Apple.
  • Publishers keep all their reviews on Apple.
  • Publishers can see real-time sales for all stores with their dashboard.
  • Publishers can take part in Apple promotions with PublishDrive to be seen better in the store.
  • There are Publisher Tools like Bulk Upload features to help with everything. There are automated solutions for Excel sheets, sftp, or an API.
  • Publishers will keep their direct accounts, contacts, or any special deals with Apple.
  • Payments will arrive directly from Apple.

Are you ready to start? It takes just a few minutes to submit your book for global publishing.

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