It’s been a while since I’ve actually made a post that was ‘on topic’ for this blog. Mostly, that is due to the fact that I’d been getting pretty… lazy….? No, perhaps discouraged is the better word about trying to pursue the apps I’d developed. In fact, I still have two or three apps that are 90%+ finished, that I need to get into the app store.
Regardless, last night I finally put the finishing touches on the Chemistry iBook. I got it all prepped, the artwork installed, layout worked out, internal and external links set up and ready to go out the door. This was my first time submitting an iBook, but I have to say that it’s probably easier than submitting an app. The only real hurdle was that all books (digital or otherwise) require ISBN numbers. I knew that, but I didn’t know you had to buy them. I thought it was just something that the library of congress assigned or something.
But the answer is, NO. You do buy them, and they’re not cheap. If you are getting ready to submit a book, go over to Bowker identifier service to buy your ISBNs. The nice thing was that you buy them online and immediately have them assigned to you with no waiting
Enough about that. What else do you need? Apple provides an application called the iTunes Producer that automates the submission process. This was a relief. All you need to do is upload all the content and fill out a couple pages of metadata and you’re done. The pages look like this: 
There are a lot of tabs (along the bottom), with information to fill in at each step, but none of it is difficult. Just make sure that the metadata matches the other files you submit. Otherwise you’ll get error tickets like these. One is for a mismatch between my metadata and my cover title, the other is for illegally using the term ‘iBook’ in my preface. apparently, you aren’t allowed to even say that work. ‘book’ is acceptable, so is ‘eBook’ but that’s it. iBook is a registered trademark of Apple.
One thing I didn’t know was that in addition to the book itself, you also have to submit a preview book with limited content. It was easy enough to make one – I just clipped out everything but the first chapter of my text and repackaged it.
So, like I said… Making the book was fairly easy. I spent a little on my illustrator, but otherwise it was just my own time writing and no need for any professional help in organizing the book or anything. I submitted Wednesday night, but had it rejected until I fixed the errors outlined in the tickets (5 minutes) and then resubmitted again tonight (Thursday). The only pain was that I had to recreate the whole submission package from scratch. I couldn’t find any way to simply re-submit the books directly on iTunes Connect.
One last thing: Today is the 4th. I think it said that I could expect it to be in the iTunes store on the 10th if all goes well. Cross your fingers for me.
DownHouseSoftware 