So, you want Apple to supply you with free software to enable you to create eBooks, then allow you to distribute that in whatever channel you want? Sorry, but that just ain't going to happen, Apple are in this to make money - like pretty much all distributors!


I'm not saying this is right, but that's the way it is - why should they develop free software to do themselves out of money?
No likey, no lighty!

I suspect that this software is where iWeb went.

But, yes, Steve is correct. Apple are supplying the software for free, and it’s nothing out of the ordinary. Free software with channels to a revenue source for Apple. Of course, you don’t have to use it. You can still build ePub books using other software. I understand that the ePub3 format being used in this particular software iOS generating HTML5, so any web developing app that supports that version of HTML could be turned to this task.

As far as I can see, any app that uses webkit can display the content of one of these ebooks. They may not get all the fancy interactive stuff, but it would certainly be readable.

The agreement is typically legalese but can be summarised like this, as far as I can tell :-

"You can have this software for free. You can make ebooks with it. If you want to give those ebooks away, knock yourself out, do what you like. if you want to sell those ebooks, you agree to do so through the Apple iBooks store and we take our 30%'.

It's an arrangement not dis-similar to the way some people distribute coding development environments. For example, there is a version of Visual Studio you can download for free which will let you write windows apps. If you code for your own purposes or give the apps you write to your friends, that's fine. But (legally anyway) you can't sell the apps you write with that version of VS. If you want to write apps to sell, you have to pay. an amount which, last time I looked, is quite a lot but not 'the price of a new car' money.

So the net effect is kind of the same, but the approach is different. And I suspect the vast majority of people who actually write ebooks with ebook author will sell few enough that Apple's cut isn't out the proportion as a cost to the price of the licensed version of VS. As long s the author retains copyright over the work, it's less of an issue than it immediately appears.

Personally, I'd have preferred a more nuanced approach - maybe take a smaller %age if the books sell for slower price or if they're educational rather than simply commercial but Apple has always been about keeping these kinds of deals simple, so that wasn't likely to change at this point. And it's fair to point out that, compared to 'print' books, keeping 70% of gross is a frankly phenomenal deal. if JK Rowling had get 70% of the gross of the Harry Potter books, she'd be richer than the Queen.

Jon

I assume you missed this bit. Why display this restriction afterwards and not as part of the installation process.

If you think about it though. How likely are you to be able to publish and sell a book on your own? I.e. have it displayed in a store with potentially millions of customers.

Pretty slim.

Ok, so you go through a publisher to get it done that way. How much does the publisher take as a percentage of all your sales? I reckon a lot more than 30%.

Ok it's a bit cheeky to only display it as part of the publishing process but it's better than not displaying it at all.

I don't see the problem.


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I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.831528,-1.538564

It]s right there on the App Store description. There is also a link to the EULA. If you are planning on selling books, and want to sue this software then why aren’t you reading this to ensure that it fits with your business plan? Apple are not, as some of the hand-wringers complain, hiding this information from you. I suspect that the people who have “discovered” this spot of so-called badness just clicked the “download” button willy-nilly. They are idiots if this is how they are operating.

FreudianSlipLOL.

This puts it into perspective...
http://namelesshorror.com/post/16168153 ... uthor-rage

^ This.

Which means that it is quite legal, in Germany, to publish books with the tool and sell them through any channel you want.

(In German law, any terms and conditions not told / displayed to the customer at the point of sale (packaged software) or point of installation (free software) are not enforceable under the law. This is why it is, technically, legal in Germany to install OS X on any computer - the restriction of use on only "Apple Branded" computers is inside the shrink-wrapped packaging and cannot be read by the consumer at the point of sale, therefore the term cannot be enforced.)

As Paul said, there is a link to the EULA on the App Store page, and the very last line of the not very long app description says


So there is no 'get out clause' for Germany...

Just installed it, it didn't show me any EULA before I "purchased" it.

So the link in the store isn't good enough?