Andertoons’ Mark Anderson takes a look at the newly released iBooks Author software from Apple as a way of creating an cartoon collection eBook.
As I’m sure you’ve heard, Apple recently entered the textbook market in a big way. They’ve partnered with Pearson, McGraw Hill, and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, revamped the iBooks app/store, and created the iBooks Author application to make publishing and selling books quick and easy. This is a big deal, and I’ve got a front row seat being married to an educator and having two children in school.
But as exciting as it is educationally, as a cartoonist I’m thrilled not only by the self-publishing opportunities for myself and other artists, but by what could conceivably be a whole new market for cartoons.
There’s been a bit of a kerfuffle over the iBook Author license agreement. In essence it states that the software is free to use if you are giving away your creation, but if you plan on selling it, it can only be sold through the iTunes Book Store and Apple gets its 30% cut of the sale.
That last bit is slightly misleading. You must sell your ebook from the iBooks store IF and ONLY IF you export to the iBooks format. That format, at this point, only works on iPads, so you may as well just export to a different format if you want to sell it somewhere else anyway.
As a graphic designer and cartoonist I’m geeking out! One thing to note the software only works in Lion. So the software is free, but if you are running an older version of OSX you will have to shell out the $29.99 for the Lion upgrade.
I’m very excited to do this myself. I will be creating the ibook versions of all my comics very soon.