Delivering our iBook from outside U.S. - our story

Question

Hello Everyone,
Last year when starting our iBook project I was hungry for as much reliable information as possible. This community was very helpful and I hope to be able to help anyone interested in creating and delivering their iBook. So I hope to provide recommendations for people to help them.
My wife wrote a huge book on caring for Eclectus Parrots and I desinged the book using iBooks Author. We live outside the U.S. (Australia) and so we looked at several of the publishing houses to deliver our book for us. The 'process' of setting up tax ID's and handling all of that seemed daunting at the time - but it is not. I highly recommend that if you speak english well and can devote a day of phone calls, and about $100 you will do just fine and you will be 30% richer in the long run.
Setting up an iTunes Connect account is easy. Getting an EIN from the U.S. is also reletivly easy. For some reason we had trouble last year contacting the tax office, but once we got through they were very helpful and within about 30 minutes we had our EIN. Next, you need your ISBN which are easy to get and once you pay the fee with Thorpe-Bowker you get your ISBN immediately. As long as your local tax info is correct, finishing the iTunes Connect tax and banking account is simple.
When designing your iBook in IBA, make sure to follow the guidlines Apple provides. Be sure to have your copyright page in order (the page where you have your ISBN and your "all rights reserved" disclaimer).
Once you are ready to deliver, uploading your book with iTunes Producer was sketchy. I had to upload it a couple of times (800+mb). I have not yet used the new version of iTunes Producer so that may be better. We are selling our book, so it took about 3 days to show up in the iBookstore, but it did and it is incredibly exciting to see your hard work in the store.
If you are in the process of designing your book I highly recoomend you start planning your promotion process. Once it hits the iBookstore you will want people to know about it. It helps to have a small website setup. Start spreading the word through any relatable means possible.
Overall, the process seemed daunting to start with, but it really isn't as hard as it seems. It is so rewarding to see your efforts come to fruition and even more - to see such a positive response from people. I hope this helps in any way.

Answer 1

The 'process' of setting up tax ID's and handling all of that seemed daunting at the time - but it is not. I highly recommend that if you speak english well and can devote a day of phone calls, and about $100 you will do just fine and you will be 30% richer in the long run.
If readers see this... its not typical!   There  are many threds in the iBooks Author discussion group. Follow the information and use the phone number given......
1-267-941-1099   USA IRS Telephone
http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fss4.pdf
Calculat your time zone to call the  tax office around their 6.30pm.  The finish work at 7pm and most US people are home for dinner and not talking to tax officers.   It took me 10 minuutes and I am in Australia and purchased a $10 phone card and the  call cost be about $3.
UK applicants will also need an IBAN number from their  bank.
Next, you need your ISBN which are easy to get and once you pay the fee with Thorpe-Bowker you get your ISBN immediately.
It is now not an Apple iBooks store requirement  - IF you  intend use  publishers other than Apples iBooks store, then you will need to comply with whatever that publisher/online book store requires.
Once you are ready to deliver, uploading your book with iTunes Producer was sketchy.
Sorry,  the  deliver process is easy and strait forward. prepare your  cover and  screen shots as they are requires in advance and  follow the   steps when iTunesProducer is opened by the "Publish" option in iBA.
If you have problems... its OK to stop the process.. clarify your issue and then   go back to start again.
We are selling our book, so it took about 3 days to show up in the iBookstore, but it did and it is incredibly exciting to see your hard work in the store.
Clearence and  arrival in the iBooks store  depends on how busy the review team are and can  take 1- 14 days  or longerdepending on how busy they are.
Overall, the process seemed daunting to start with, but it really isn't as hard as it seems.
This is true,  most people  do not take time to  gather the information and follow the correct  procedure.
Download teh assett guides   available from your iTunesConnect > Deliver your Content.
And also read the Help files in iBA.
As the poster and myself  illustrate...  everybody may have different results, the  best start is gathering all teh information  in the  various threads in the rerlated discussion groups and only post requests  for  advice if you get stuck...
Hope your books are a huge success....