Brett Kelly:
Let me restate that I’m not just generally crapping on iBooks, the iBooks Author application or anything else. I’m an eBook author that’s sold a few copies and is pretty happy with how things have gone. If Apple’s wares seem like just the thing for your next eBook project, then I’d suggest you seriously consider employing them.
Just make sure you think through all of the possible ramifications of such a decision. That’s all I’m saying.
Brett certainly has some good points. While I’ve been asked many times to write a book, I never have, so I’m not an eBook author. For me, the interactivity that iBooks Author offers would be enough to use it and sell my books through the iBookstore. As Brett said, it’s important to know everything before you jump in.
I just used iBookAuthor few days ago to publish a free ebook about photography. I think it’s a great app that gives to almost everybody powerful tools to create content. i know you’re limited to the iPad as audience, but let’s face it: the iPad community is very big now! Very satisfied!
His big complaint seems to center around the incorrect assumption that Apple somehow owns the content. They don’t. As an author he is absolutely able to distribute the content he creates through any method he chooses. He can make an ePub without using iBooks Author and sell it elsewhere. He can make a Kindle version without using iBooks Author and sell it elsewhere.
However, if he wants to make an interactive iBook, he must use Apple’s tool and sell that particular version of his content through the iBooks store. He can’t sell that .ibook on his website or somewhere else.
I think his criticism is based entirely on his incorrect understanding of the EULA and I’ve seen this article making the rounds without even a modest bit of research or critique by the sites linking.
He’s simple wrong.
Perhaps I wasn’t clear (author of linked post here – howdy); my point is that if I use iBooks Author to create an ebook and wish to sell it, I *must* sell it through the iBookstore, according to the EULA. Since that is an understood ramification of using iBooks Author, I chose to cover why that part won’t work for me, either.
I’m well aware that I can create content with other tools beside iBooks Author and sell that content where I choose (since that’s precisely what I’ve been doing for the last 18+ months), but that’s not what the post was about.
[EDIT]
And, as I said in the post itself, I’m more than willing to be wrong about any of this. If I’m misunderstanding any of this, do tell me and I’ll fix it.
http://512pixels.net/apple-updates-ibooks-eula/
You own the content and can republish that content anywhere else using some other tool. Just the ibook format and output is limited to Apple’s bookstore.
Or as posted right here on the Loop today:
http://www.loopinsight.com/2012/02/03/apple-updates-ibooks-author-eula/
“Clarifying what intelligent people already knew.”