iBookstore adds a Million Customers a Week

[InklingBooks]

Here are some stories those in digital self-publishing might find interesting:

macnn.com/articles/15/01/16/ … s.company/

At the Digital Book World conference in New York City on Thursday, Apple’s iBooks chief Keith Moerer revealed that since the release of iOS 8 and Yosemite – both of which came with the iBooks app pre-installed – the user base is growing by about one million customers to the iBookstore per week. Moerer added that the introduction of larger-screen iPhones may also have played a role in the growth, and he spoke about the way Apple runs its iBooks business.

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Moerer stressed that Apple is not also a publisher – unlike other online retailer competitors – which allows for close collaboration with publishers, and that “we’re very proud our business terms are the same for self-publishers as they are for authors published by the biggest houses.”

gigaom.com/2015/01/15/apple-1-m … -8-launch/

Whether an author chooses to self-publish or work with a small or large publisher, I’m very proud that our business terms are the same. The same 30-70 split applies to a self-published author as well as an author published by the very biggest house. Because we’re not a publisher ourselves, we work very closely with publishers and we view them as partners. We view what we do as an expansion of our support of print professionals on the hardware and software side and the way we run our other media businesses.

I find that encouraging. Bothered by Amazon’s bullying and refusal to pay a flat 70% royalties at all price levels, I’ve been moving toward a policy of publishing at Apple “first and best.” This news certainly encourages that attitude. Amazon’s attitude toward independent authors seems to be “where else can you go. We’re the biggest.” Apple seems to be genuinely competing for an author’s attention.

I also suspect that Amazon sees ebooks at a high-profit margin business and intends to keep it that way at the expense of authors. Apple, on the other hand, sees the iBookstore as a way to improve their lucrative hardware sales and, as long as a profit is made, isn’t concerned about a high profit.That’s good for authors.

–Michael W. Perry, Inkling Books