EPub vs iBA

I have published 2 books so far. Both free, one a traditional ePub, the other written in iBA
The ePub book was very popular.
I would love to know if people are downloading this to their iPad or iPhone. Publishing a iBA book will miss the iPhone market...... But how big is this? Do most people read on their iPad anyway?
I have found that having the book on my iPhone, I can quickly show people, and show hem the pictures and video in the book.
Getting ready to publish the next one, this time we hope to sell it for a small fee. Trying to decide which format to do it in...... A the moment I'm thinking ePub.
Julian

I think the actual answer may depend on your demographic, etc.
If you don't need the specific interactivity that an .ibook/iBA file can in some cases offer, and you're already comfortable w/epub delivery, you might as well continue to enjoy dual-platform distribution.

Similar Messages

Changing ebook format for use on iPad

I have epub books I bought for my ereader which died. I opted to get an ipad instead of replacing the ereader. How can I get these books from ePub into iba format so they can be added & read from iPad? Thanks

If they have any sort of digital rights manegement on them then you can't. Does the store where you bought them from have their own iPad app that you can copy/download them into ?

Dumb newbie - printing?

I know it sounds like I don't get the concept, but is there any way to get the iBA output printed nicely?
Presently, I make Blurb books, print a couple and then have them convert them to iBooks and publish in the iBookstore.
Is there some great way to reverse that process with iBA ?
Thx
Tom

Apple created the free software- iBooks Author to enable anybody to create either a flowing text book - which can inlcude images etc,. as other ePub applications. iBA comes into its own by allowing the creation of an interactive book. I create only photo books using some flowing text and add to content widgets provided by Apple. video files are also accepted.
Printing within iBA will allow whole pages to be printed and the book can be exported as a PDF.
You could gain a working knowledge by installing the application - assuming you have an Apple computer and simply playing with the free batch of book templates.
The software was created by Apple to allow only thise with Apple machines to use it and the supporting widgets and other facilities.Apple did nothing that allows "competitors" to gain by directly.
The book can be exported as an iBook file - which can be uploaded to the store or sent/downloaded by those who have iPads that you wish to have it free. Also exports a PDF and a Text only file.
IBooks normal process is decide if its a free book or a paid book and open a suitable apple account, complete the required bank and contracts information, obtain an EIN from teh US tax offices and that done satisfactoriy,
1. Create your eBook to comply with all Apple requirememts.
2.Publish - first having downloaded and installed iTunesProducer. The book will be with the Review team who verify its OK or advise, via iTunes Connect if it needs further work to comply.
The posts on this discussion group suggest the those like me with minor ambitions to world fame use iBA to great effect and success, the budding Stephen Kings tend to use other applications for their novels.
There is another group in the Apple Communities lists which has those who are/were involved with ePubs in Pages and other applications, it may be worth you checking there.
iBooks are only viewable on iPads - until the Mac OS is updated in a few weeks.
Good luck.....

Can I change from iba to epub?

I was gung ho and created my book in iBooks author only to find out after it was in iTunes that it was iPad only. Needless to say I was a bit frustrated that I found out about that after the fact.
Anyway, I transferred my content into Pages and created an ePub file that I'd like to replace my original package with. Can I do this without having to buy another ISBN number? I tried uploading the ePub via Producer and I got a couple error 4096's about package expecting tactile something or other.
I understand that ISBN can only be related to one version of book, but if I kill my iba version and replace it with my epub version, is that doable?
I'm afraid I made a $125 mistake by wasting that ISBN number on my iBooks/iPad only version.

ISBNs are no longer required, so in effect you can submit without one now for that standard epub if you like.
As for the errors, try contacting Apple directly:
[email protected]
[email protected]
…support phone number call +1 (877) 206-2092.
Global Phone Support
We have expanded English-language publisher phone support. To make contacting the iBookstore support even easier, new local phone numbers are now available for Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, and the U.K. Support is available Monday to Friday, from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. (PT).
Country
Phone Number
Australia
1300 307 504
Note that this is a low tariff number.
France
0805 540 117
Germany
0800 664 5307
Italy
800 915 902
Netherlands
0800 0201 578
Spain
900 812 687
U.K.
0800 975 0615
U.S.
+1 (877) 206-2092
Toll-free from U.S. and Canada.

How can I code to play audio continuously from page to page in iBooks for reflow ePub

Hi,
I have tried and successfully completed the iBooks ambient soundtrack option in Fixed Layout ePub. It works fine.
But while trying the same in Reflow ePub, it is not working in iPad iBooks. I have latest iBooks version and latest iOS version in my iPad.
Please let me know how can I code to play audio continuously from page to page in iBooks for reflow ePub?
Thanks,
Sundaram

As soon as the user turns to the next page, the audio stops.
That's how it works in all cases.
the book is a read aloud book.
See the 'How-To Read Aloud' section in iBA Tips and Tricks 01

Best App to create hand written Annotations with Epub Files

Hello,
I have been doing alot of experimenting with various apps. I have yet to find one that i like. While i would say that Apple ibooks handles the Epubs the best i have seen so far, there are a couple of issues i can't get around.
What i want to do is study my reading material just like i do with a book. So while i can obviously highlight very easily in the ibooks, i can not circle a part of a page and draw and arrow back to something else that i am making a connection with in my mind. I also would rather have handwritten Notes verse the yellow sticky note format ibooks does it now.
Do you know of any way to do this in ibooks, or know of any other app that lets you draw directly on the epub so that i can later reference the connections i had while studying? It seems like a basic feature to me. I do want this to be as pen and paper like as possible.
I did find that GoodReader does a great job with PDF at doing just htis thing but it does not support epub.
thanks.

Hello RoberRM,
I am sorry that I can not give you a convenient solution for our problem. I finally went the same path like with my first book: I mainly target at students with iPads, so I decided to get the best out of iBooks Author to get the full palette of features. I simply did not want to stumble into experiments with uncertain results.
Maybe later on I will go the hard way to copy and paste text and latex part of the books into pages. I will see if it will be worth the efforts...
Besides this the workflow in iBA is simply more effective and time saving. So, at the moment for me everything points into the iBooks Author direction.
Maybe in later versions we will have ways to export into other formats.
Bye and good luck with your work!!
rockie

Using pdfs in iba files

Ok I have a client that has a book in pdf's Obviously these will be treated like images so I took 5 pdfs and sis a test .ibooks file and I notice a few things.
I will not need a table of contents or sections, since I did this as a test I used one of the sections templates.
Should I just use a blank page?
next is I notice that if I add a pdf page to any chosen page template looking at the view in landscape it looks fine but I see that there is another view in portrait, with that mentioned, if I want the book to have two views I assume I have to do add the same pdfs to the portrait view am I correct? If so I'm using the same pdf pages twice for each page which will make the book heacy ( is this a problem as there are 80 pages in the book?)
last question, I'm not an epub guru but I can see that iba is more for text heavy books then using pdf files. Would you suggest I use pages, where I did a test fiel there and it outputs to epub which is fine but I do not have any templates with TOC's or sections.
any help?
thx
rd

OK, doing some tests and I see the following
In iba the pages which are pdfs are too small to read the text in either portrait or landscape
In pages even though the epub looks a bit more like a book the text is too small to read.
now with that mentioned, should I have the client send me the files which were originally done in microsoft publisher?
( problem there already as they have to convert the file to word as publisher cannot be opened, only by the app that created.
But, if this is the case I would assume that I should use iba as I believe since I have to reformat all the text should be a bit easier than doing the reformatting in pages?
Here is a screenshot of one page so I would have the header, fotter then body text styles to do. If I have to do this we are looking at a load of extra time to do this, correct?

Convedrt existing epub for iBooks Author

I have an existing book in both .epub and .prc formats, successfuly being used in other channels (including Kindle) by lots of readers and purchasers. No need for me to recreate this from scratch, or import bits and pieces to re-assemble it. (I also have a PDF version.)
I'd like to create an iBooks version. iBooks Author won't let me import the .epub or .prc file.
Do I need to convert the .epub file I have, or is it iBooks ready as-is? If I need to convert/change/alter it, where can I find detailed steps for how to do this?
Note: lots of advice on getting things INTO the .epub format, which isn't what I need.
Thanks, -R

Can you open in Pages? iBooks Author, as you've found, won't open a standard epub. If you can get it open in Pages or Indesign, then perhaps you can insert Pages chapters or copy/paste from it or ID.
The file must be .ibooks, which is a hybrid epub format from Apple, when distributing/publishing via iBA.
You might just want to not bother with iBooks Author and go straight to signing up for the store, then use iTunes Producer to upload a standard epub. You'll have to work thru the process to see how close you are for that process.
As well, check this link for info on aggregators that may be willing to do the work for you:
iBooks Author: Publishing and distribution FAQ - Support

Some epub formatting and specified fonts are lost after uploading epub to iTunes U and then opening it in iBooks

I have been using DropBox to test my epub in ibooks and just recently uploaded the epub to iTunes U because the file size was getting so big because of the videos for the course that DropBox could no longer open it. My "com.apple.ibooks.display-options.xml" file (specifying to use Helvetica) inside of the "META-INF" has been working all along while I have been using DropBox to open it in iBooks. But ever since I uploaded the same epub file to iTunes U and opened the book in iBooks, the font doesn't show up as Helvetica anymore and my paragraph styles are also being ignored. I checked my css files and made sure they all said Helvetica, because my formatting for my tables is the only thing now showing Helvetica. After I unzip and make my edits to the css etc. and rezip and upload to iTunes U, does iTunes U ignore or overwrite files you have changed inside of your epub?
This worries me that iTunes U seems to be having problems with this, and it makes me wonder if I am going about this wrong?
My file size is 129.2 MB and I still have some videos to add to the course. FYI I am creating this epub for the iPhone because we already have a version with iBooks Author for the iPad, but iBA doesn't allow it to open on the iPhone.
Any help or advice would be much appreciated!

What is the name of your private site?
-Thanks

I have children's books in Japanese, Chinese and Arabic that I am trying to convert into epub formats that ibookstore will accept. My source docs are in ms word or pdf format. I want to use ibooks author for this purpose. Can anyone suggest a solution?

Is there an easy way of importing the children's books into ibooks author? There is an image on every other page. The books has to be in fixed layout format.
Any help will be sincerely appreciated. I understand that ibookstore will accept only epub 3.0 formats for Japanese titles. As I stated earlier, my objective is to make those language books available in ibookstore.

The books has to be in fixed layout format
If you mean keep the same as original, I wouldn't expect to retain that, sorry.
You'd be obligated to either copy/paste in sections/blocks of text, images, etc. or insert from Pages/Word, but either way you can expect to have to rework towards whatever 'fixed' layout you need in an iBA book....that can mean significant work in some examples.
You may want to work with a sample to find out the best workflow in any case.
As for Arabic support, see this thread: Does iBook Author support Arabic...: Apple Support Communities
Good luck.

Epub creator

I am looking for an epub book creator for professional books.
I like iBooks Author but i want to make clear chapter breaks, be able to change the font types and sizes.
Please tell about your best epub creator experience.

You can use iBooks Author, there are "Chapter breaks" and each chapter can hold a number of "Sections" or " sub chapters" also... you can change/add different styles to each chapter.
There or Portrait and Landscape free templates to choose from.
I can agree with Dan about Redjumper 0 its actually a neat little app for use on iPads - not iMac of any type ( pity really its good!) Check out the app store for "Book Creator" there is a triial version but.. the app is way underpriced. Like iBA it creates an hybrid type ePub.
I use it a lot - and thats my only connections with it!

How can I add an ePub into iBook author?

I am trying to insert an ePub file created on the App "My Story" into iBook author, any suggestions?

Copy/paste
Open in Pages - use iBA's 'Insert Chapters from Pages' menu.
Either of those should work, basically. You'll need to check font substitution, etc.

Convert epub to ibook, convert epub to ibook

I have epub books created in Calibre, Ibooks auther wants to load them up to the apple store before opening them. I want to edit them in iBooks Author.

iBooks Author will not open a standard epub.
I think the best you can do is to copy/paste into whatever iBA template fits your needs.

Is IBA a serious creation tool or just a necessary evil/iBooks gatekeeper?

Over the last few decades, I've taught myself QuarkXpress, Photoshop, InDesign, and many other programs, so I understand learning curves. But I'm not sure I've ever been quite as frustrated as with IBA. Perhaps this is a result of its being "Apple-intuitive" (in other words, it will make no sense until you think the way we want you to think). Perhaps it results from having no competition. Or perhaps my experience in creating print and epub with professional tools is getting in the way.
Or perhaps I should simply start from scratch, despite having many hours into my first IBA project.
I'm curious how others approach this thing with an existing book that you want to put in IBA form:
Are you able to use IBA on its own (in other words, if I master IBA's Apple-intuitiveness, does IBA promise a productive workflow, or just more quirkiness?)*
Do you import IDML files (I didn't get very far with this; guaranteed to crash InDesign)?
Do you create an epub, import it, and tweak in IBA? (my best result so far)
Or do you just send the project to someone in India and let them figure it out?
I don't mean this to come off completely as a rant, but at this point I'm really questioning whether I'll ever be able to develop a productive workflow with IBA. It really seems like a necessary evil/last step to the iBooks store with a fixed layout epub.
* I really appreciate answers to my questions elsewhere, but basically none of my issues have been solved. I can't replicate the "fixes" people give me.

dr_box wrote:
I see now that InDesign launched fixed-layout epub export last summer, so that for me is probably the route to go for what I'm trying to do, and skip IBA altogether.
Yes, I think InDesign is a good choice unless you really need the interactive widgets that iBA provides. Plus your book will be readable on any platform.

Help creating rasterized images for all level 1 toc for epub ebook

I am creating an ebook (epub) for a course that I had previously made in iBooks Author, but iBA files do not open on iPhones. So I have decided to recreate it as an epub 2.0.1 in InDesign. There are 2 levels to my Table of Contents, each week and then multiple pages underneath each of the 9 different weeks. I am creating essentially an intro cover image for each week, so when you click on "week 1" in the toc it directs you to a "rasterized image" discussing what each student will be learning in that specific week. I've tried so many different ways but I still haven't gotten it to work the way I want. The rasterized intro cover image shows up in the book, but usually adds another blank page after it, and sometimes I can get it to show up in the toc in level 1 and sometimes it disappears. I get confused on whether it should be a paragraph style with the export tagging "split document (epub only)", or changing the objects export options. Ultimately, I feel like I've tried a combination of everything and confused myself even more. I haven't found any information on anyone executing this before, so even if anyone knows any links to help me or if anyone has done this before, your help would be appreciated!
I hope this makes sense, because honestly I don't even know what to call these rasterized intro cover pages for each week (let alone what to search for), Colin Fleming from Adobe InDesign calls the cover pages "title images" so maybe that is a more appropriate name, however I don't want these images at the beggining of the book, I want them spread out before each week.

I would check out the website of Elizabeth Castro. She has created several eBooks on creating EPUBs:
http://www.elizabethcastro.com/epub/
Also check out her blog:
http://www.pigsgourdsandwikis.com
Quite likely, this cannot be exported directly from InDesign but will have to be done by editing the CSS after you've exported the EPUB so I hope you're good at HTML/CSS.

EPub vs iBA

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