How to Upload My Book to Apple Books

When it comes to selling ebooks, many view Apple tree Books as Amazon's principal competitor. And that hunch is backed up by the numbers. A 2015 analysis by the (now defunct) Writer Earnings website showed that Apple Books' marketplace share in the US was bigger than that of Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and Google Play combined.

It's still under 10% of the full US ebook market, which feels small when compared to Amazon'due south +80%. But with the rise of Kindle Unlimited, which has lured many authors into Amazon exclusivity, it may be easier for authors to get a big chunk of Apple tree's 10% than a small chunk of Amazon's 83%.

That is, if you play your cards right. And that'southward exactly what nosotros'll prove you how to do in this mail.

How to publish your book on Apple Books

The first affair to know nigh Apple Books is that they are "aggregator agnostic." What that means is that they really don't intendance whether you publish your book direct to Apple Books using their tools (and the steps below), or whether you send your volume to them through an aggregator like Draft2Digital.

They too don't give authors any "direct" marketing privileges or options. So all in all, nosotros recommend distributing to Apple Books through Draft2Digital to start with. This will brand the whole process easier, and permit you to become your book on a bunch of other retailers and library distributors at the same time.

That said, going through Draft2Digital will cost you a small percentage of royalties (15%). So if yous're confident your volume volition sell a lot on Apple and want to avoid that aggregator fee, use these steps to publish your book to Apple Books directly!

Step 1: Create your iTunes Connect Account

To create your iTunes Connect account, head hither: https://authors.apple.com/epub-upload and select "Create account."

Note: if y'all already take an iTunes Connect account, head directly to step 3.

At present, Apple will ask yous for an Apple ID. If you're an existing Apple customer, that's basically the email address and password you set upward on your first purchase/registration.

If you're not an existing Apple client, y'all'll have to create your Apple tree ID. To do so, just caput here and fill in the form. Once registered, make sure to fill up in the "Payment & Shipping" section, otherwise you lot won't exist able to use that Apple tree ID to create your iTunes Connect account.

Once you've connected your Apple ID, you'll be prompted to take iTunes Connect's terms and conditions. Apple lets you lot choose between "private" and "organization" for the account. You lot should only select "individual" if you aren't registered as a company, or if you lot are a sole proprietor.

iTunes Connect volition ship you an email to verify your accost, and you'll finally be able to log in to your iTunes Connect business relationship.

Step 2: Enter your cyberbanking and revenue enhancement information

Now, iTunes Connect is not what you'll use to publish your books. Instead, information technology'south where you'll provide all your business organization and tax information. To do and then, click on "View & Agree to terms" and follow the steps.

Next, fix up your revenue enhancement and cyberbanking information. Apple'southward interface for the banking data is a bit clunky, so brand sure yous enter your IBAN and other account numbers without spacing, otherwise you'll get an fault.

More importantly, make sure yous enter all your personal details as they appear on your taxation records, equally Apple tree will be checking that information with the IRS.

The process can take a couple of days, and you lot'll receive an email if yous've been approved, or if Apple requires whatever additional data. You don't need to wait for that to continue the publishing procedure, though.

Step 3: Upload your book

For this, you lot'll need to quit iTunes Connect and instead go back to that initial URL: https://authors.apple.com/epub-upload, and this fourth dimension, select the option to "Sign in to iTunes Connect."

If you're setting upwardly a pre-order, select that choice and then upload:

Your cover file (JPEG or PNG). You can learn more about recommended cover dimensions here;
A sample file (EPUB). This is a sample of your volume that will be made available to readers on the store (like to the "expect-within" feature on Amazon).

If you're looking to publish the book right away (no pre-order), then you'll as well need to upload the EPUB file for your total book.

If you don't have that EPUB file notwithstanding, you can create it easily (and for gratis!) using our Reedsy Book Editor. We've worked with Apple Books to brand sure that all Reedsy-produced EPUB files are fully compatible with their publishing portal (and look great on Apple devices).

Step 4: Enter your metadata

This bit volition be pretty piece of cake if you're already published a book elsewhere. Y'all'll accept to enter:

The volume's title, subtitle, and series title (where applicable);
The author's (and whatsoever other contributor's) name;
The blurb (or book clarification).

If you oasis't written your blurb yet, you'll notice some helpful tips in this article on Amazon book descriptions. The communication applies merely as well to Apple tree Books, especially considering you can besides utilise html formatting in that location.

Step 5: Choose your categories

While Amazon KDP only lets you cull two categories, yous can select upward to three when submitting your book on Apple Books. Apple volition use these categories to know where to "place" your book on the store, so you'll desire to make sure that:

Y'all choose three distinct categories (to maximize your visibility);
Y'all only choice categories that are fully relevant to your book. To double check, y'all can go to the Apple tree Books store (if you have an Apple device) and check each category you lot're because, to see what kind of books are in there;
If relevant, endeavour to take at least two dissimilar "Principal field of study categories." If your book is in a subcategory, it'll automatically prove up in the parent one. So by listing your book in two subcategories that accept a different parent category, y'all'll be in 4 dissimilar categories (two sub and two parent).

Subsequently that, you'll simply have to enter the publisher name, enter the ISBN (optional), and the publication date, and you'll be able to upload your volume to Apple Books.

Once that'southward washed, you lot can get out the "publishing portal," but the total process is not quite finished however.

Footstep 6: Set up your territorial pricing

To finish publishing your book on Apple tree Books, yous'll accept to get back to iTunes Connect. You should at present see your book in the "My books" department there. If you don't, look 24 hours and come back, as it can take up to a day for the volume to exist uploaded there.

Click on the volume encompass, so on "Rights & Pricing" and "Add together New Countries or Regions." In that location, y'all'll be able to ready your book's price and customize it for each country. To practise and so:

1. Tick the DRM free box (DRM is useless);
2. Set your release date;
3. Choose your base of operations currency;
4. Ignore the "list price";
5. Enter your price in the "suggested Apple Books cost" field;
6. Select all the countries you lot want to publish your book in (y'all can utilize "select all").

Apple volition use your suggested price and base currency to auto-generate "bonny" prices for all countries and regions, based on their information. For example, if you select 4.99 USD, Apple will price your book at $4.99 in the US and most of South America, 6.99 CAD in Canada, £4.99 in the UK, and €5.99 in about of Europe.

That said, you can also customize the toll for each country if you prefer.

Once that's done, your book volition automatically go live in each land store yous selected, at the price you selected, on your release date.

Of course, publishing the book on Apple Books is only the first, easy step. The hard role is getting it to sell. For that purpose, here are some essential marketing tips for selling more than on Apple.

Marketing tips to sell more on Apple Books

Apple Books is probably the main not-Amazon retailer where you can make a lot of money if yous manage to build a solid audition. We personally know several authors at Reedsy who earn a full-time living writing, and make most of their income from Apple Books.

Just similar all other "broad" retailers, though, it generally takes a lot more fourth dimension to become established on Apple Books. So our first tip for marketing your ebook is to be patient! Don't leap into Amazon exclusivity later a few months considering yous're frustrated past your results on Apple. About writers who build their careers on Apple Books practise so over several years.

That said, the Apple Books store has several specificities that make for neat opportunities down the line.

Try college prices

While there'south no official statistic to ostend this, it'southward common knowledge that Apple Books readers are less sensitive to cost elasticity. After all, well-nigh Apple Books readers own Apple devices, and those aren't exactly inexpensive. Essentially, this means that you tin can get traction for a $5 or $6 book more easily on Apple than on Amazon.

Fifty-fifty better, Apple is 1 of the merely retailers who don't price-friction match. And so while it'southward not super fair to their readers, you can endeavour pricing your book a bit higher on Apple Books than you exercise on Amazon, Google Play, Kobo, or Barnes & Noble.

Leverage "gratuitous first-in-series"

Another tidbit of mutual knowledge: while permafree first-in-series don't work as well as they previously did on Amazon (due to Amazon splitting upward their free and paid bestseller lists), they still work extremely well on Apple. If you have a series and y'all're using Apple tree Books, make certain to try making Volume 1 free.

Note: this is a strategy that also works very well on Google Play .

Publish exclusive mega box sets

You probably know that Amazon only pays you 35% royalties on books priced above $9.99. Well, Apple doesn't have that upper limit: y'all still earn 70% royalties on sales at $10.99, $19.99, or even $24.99. This makes Apple Books a perfect place to sell exclusive box sets.

You might not sell a lot of them, only each sale will be worth a good dinner. More importantly, the Apple tree Books team tends to reward exclusivity a lot: if they see that your box set is only bachelor on Apple, and is doing well, they'll be all the more tempted to requite it more visibility on the store.

Leverage pre orders

Perhaps the best advantage of Apple Books when compared to Amazon is this secret weapon: pre-orders. If you get a pre-order auction on Amazon, it counts (towards bestseller rankings and popularity lists) every bit i sale at the time of the preorder. Now, on Apple Books, it counts every bit one sale at the time of the pre-society — and and so as another sale on launch solar day.

This means that if you manage to become 500 pre-orders on Apple Books, your volume volition shoot to the top of the ranks on launch twenty-four hour period (and attract the attention of the merchandising team).

Sign up to the Apple Books affiliate program

The beginning matter you should practice if y'all're serious about driving sales to Apple tree Books is to sign up to the iTunes affiliate program. Apple Books allows authors to place affiliate codes anywhere, including on websites and within advertising spheres (while Amazon Affiliates doesn't allow y'all to utilise their links on ads).

Using chapter links in your communications and ads will allow you to:

Track your sales and conversion rates more effectively, and
Earn seven% more on your sales (that'due south the affiliate percent).

Ship traffic through ads

The great thing about the iTunes affiliate plan is that they're fine with you using affiliate links in online ads. And then yous should definitely take reward of that, especially considering it's pretty easy to target Apple Books readers on Facebook and BookBub:

On Facebook, you can select "iBooks" as an "interest" — or "iPhone 6, 7 … X owners" equally "behaviours." This fashion, you can narrow downwardly your usual audience and reach readers who are more than likely to purchase on Apple Books.
On BookBub, you can just enter your Apple Books affiliate link, and BookBub volition automatically only target readers who they've identified every bit Apple Books buyers.

If you use these tips, y'all should exist able to gradually build a fanbase on Apple Books — a fanbase ready to pay for college-priced books, and which won't exist lured abroad by free books or subscription programs. And if you want more marketing tips similar these to grow your sales on all retailers, you tin can sign up to our weekly marketing newsletter here. The tips you'll notice there are fully exclusive to its subscribers, so you lot won't notice them anywhere else!

kellerlessed.blogspot.com

Source: https://blog.reedsy.com/how-to-publish-on-apple-books/