Making a book in iBook Author is very easy, but...

Question

When Apple launched iBooks Author I was very happy with the simple way in which you can make your own book. In my book there are about 500 photos, 44 movies and it contents 150 pages. Now, several months later, I am very disappointed because it is impossible to place my book in the store. For that you need a U.S. tax form and that is almost impossible for a Dutchman to fill in. I have posted this problem on the main Dutch fora like 'Macfreak' and 'One More Thing', while I discovered that there are more writers who have experienced the same problem.
Of course you can publish your book for free, but if you want a small fee, you can not go past the IRS.
Apple advises also some companies who can intermediate to publish, but that companies don't know the iba format at all !
In short, it is a beautiful program and extremely easy to use, but to be paid for publishing from the Netherlands was absolutely impossible. It would be nice if a solution was found to publish in a Dutch way.
Meanwhile, my book is ready now for two months and there are several Dutch publicists who must seek a solution in the difficult way such as InDesign.
Who knows a way to fill in the IRS-form?
Ckafe

Answer 1

I found it quite easy to get an EIN from the IRS. It took all of about 10 or 15 minutes.
The requirements for publishing a paid-for book are quite clearly laid out in the relevant FAQs. The decision to write a book of such large scope was yours. If you made the decision without reading the legal requirements, that really isn't Apple's problem.
For what it's worth, I found the EIN application quite easy to fill in. It's the usual stuff that you would expect, name, address, company registration details (if publishing as a company), etc. The person on the phone at the IRS was very helpful and provided the EIN to me on the spot. Completing the application for publishing a paid book with Apple thereafter was a smooth process too. It mainly consisted of confirming with Apple that my company actually exists. (All I had to provide were scans of two documents to prove that the company is real, and that it is properly registered for sales tax with the Australian Taxation Office.)
The only glitch I encountered was a delay of a few days because my EIN took some time to appear in the IRS database (which isn't Apple's fault). Overall, the application process was completed 10-14 days after I started it, and the total amount of time I spend was at most one hour (not counting the time it took me to read the documentation for the application process).
Netherlands has a tax treaty with the US, so I would expect the process for you to be no more difficult than it was for me.
Michi.