Your Market Just Got Bigger
Authors, teachers, students – and anyone who reads, for that matter – get ready: iBooks has come to the Mac.
Finally, you’ll be able to read any of Apple’s 1.8 million iBookstore titles right from the comfort of your desktop or laptop computer.
For the last 3 years, the iBooks application was limited to iOS devices, meaning you could only read iBooks on your iPad or iPhone. As of the new OSX Maverick update (due out early this fall), Apple is bringing its reading app to the Mac as well – and it supports all the interactive features of books created with iBooks Author.
Everything users have come to expect from the mobile version of the app is included in the desktop version as well. Highlighting, browsing, pinching, swiping, notes and more are preserved features.
However, there are also a couple other cool features we haven’t seen before such as automatic citations. If you’re a student (or anyone who uses quotes in their work), this handy little feature is about to make your academic paper writing life a breeze. When you quote an excerpt while writing a paper, iBooks will automatically add a citation for you.
Another awesome feature – when you take notes, highlight passages, or add a bookmark on your Mac, iCloud pushes them to all your devices automatically. That way, it doesn’t matter which device you used. iCloud even remembers which page you’re on. So if you start reading on your iPad, iPhone, or iPod touch, you can pick up right where you left off on your Mac.
Amazon has Kindle reading apps for PC and Mac, though you can’t purchase ebooks through the apps. Nook has a Windows 8 app that allows purchasing and reading, but doesn’t have a Mac app.
What does this mean for authors?
Your market just grew – a lot.
Today at the WWDC event, Apple announced that its Mac install base has grown to 72 million machines, a figure that has risen 100% in the last five years.
If you’re planning to sell or are already selling your book in the iBookstore, your market just quadrupled with the release of the new iBooks application for Mac. Now anyone who owns a Mac (not just an iPhone or iPad) can purchase and download your book on their desktop or laptop computer.
Although not explicitly mentioned, it appears as if all new machines will ship with iBooks already installed – making it that much easier for users to start reading on the desktop.
This is big news for authors and audiences alike.
Add Polish to Your Design: How to Use Shadows
Shadows add that little bit of extra polish that can make your design really stand out from the crowd. They help to draw attention to an element by raising it off the page and giving it a more ‘real-life’ appeal.
Shadows can be used for both fonts and objects (like an image or graphic) to add depth and visual interest to your layout. Unfortunately, they have a high propensity for misuse.
The most common mistake is to make a shadow too large and too strong. This will cause text or elements to look blurred, or out of focus. The second most common mistake is to use the wrong color. This post will discuss the best practices for using shadows and how to avoid common errors that make your design look amateurish.
Step 1: Choose a Light Source
The first step when working with shadows is to choose a light source. This means you’ll want to imagine that a light is coming from one direction onto your page, which will dictate the direction of all element shadows on that page. It doesn’t matter if you choose to place it at the top of your page, or to the left or right, just as long as your consistent.
An easy place to start is to choose a light source coming directly from the top of your page at 90 degrees. It gives things a nice uniform look. This means all shadows are along the bottom of your text or images. The figure below shows you the difference between a light source that is 90 degrees and a light source that is 120 degrees.
It’s really entirely up to you where you place your light source. Just remember, be consistent!
Step 2: Color
As we mentioned earlier, one of the most common mistakes is to choose a color that is too dark for a realistic looking shadow. Try choosing a color that is either a light grey or even possible in the same family of the object itself. Below you can see how black can make an object look blurry or even dirty.
Step 3: Size
Once you’ve chosen a color, the next goal is to choose the size of your shadow. The most common error is making the shadow too big. Again, this can make the object appear blurry.
Step 4: Opacity
One way to soften a color is to make it more opaque. This also softens the shadow and gives it a more realistic look.
Notice again, how the first image looks almost dirty or blurry in some way. The black color is too dark and the opacity, or weight, is too strong. When we move to a softer grey color and take down the opacity in the second image, we have a much more realistic looking object on the page.
So these are the basics when using shadows! Let us know if you have questions in the comments below!
$150,000 in Less Than a Year – Nathan Barry Tells You How
In less than a year, Nathan Barry has sold over $150,000 in self-published books. Did we mention, he’s also a first-time author who started with absolutely no audience to speak of?
Pretty amazing, right!? So how did he do it?
He’ll tell you in his new book, Authority, which was published today.
We also had the privilege to sit down with him and ask him a few questions of our own. Like what it was like to leave his 9 to 5 job in favor of starting his own career in self-publishing and how he’s doing today. Keep reading for all the juicy details!
Q: How did you get started writing?
Nathan: I started working on The App Design Handbook because my developer friends kept asking for design help with their iOS apps. I couldn’t find good resources to refer them to, so I decided to write my own. I’ve wanted to write a book for a long time, so I started a few but never made it past the first few pages. For this book I made a commitment to write every day and that is what helped me actually finish.
Q: When you were publishing the first book what were your expectations for sales ? Did your ever think you could do 100k in your first year?
Nathan: I hoped to sell $10,000 worth of my book total. I ended up selling $12,000 in the first day. I thought you needed a huge audience to hit numbers like $100k. Turns out you can do that just with the right tactics.
Q: What sort of opportunities has publishing opened up for you? How has it changed your life ?
Nathan: I have more freedom now. Since my expenses are low I have put most of my book profits in the bank. I haven’t worried about money since the day I launched my first book.
Conferences are completely different now. Not only do I get asked to speak (which is awesome), but people approach me. Since I’ve always been quiet and shy I had a hard time meeting new people. Now I don’t have to since other attendees walk up and say “I bought your book and loved it!” It’s so much fun!
Q: What’s the most rewarding thing about publishing? How has it affected your readers? Any stories you could share?
Nathan: Finding one thing is hard, but I love seeing redesigned apps after reading my books. I am most excited about hearing stories from Authority since it will have a big life impact for other people. One friend already reported an extra $15,000 in revenue from implementing my pricing and packaging strategies!
Q: You opted to self publish and sell direct vs. going thru Amazon or the iBookstore. Was that a conscious decision and if so, what did the decision making process look like?
Nathan: Yep, that decision has been very important for actually making money. In order to make money from a small audience you need to own the customer list (have their email addresses) and set a higher price (at least $20-40). Amazon and iBooks prevent you from doing either one.
Q: All of your books have been created with iBooks Author. Why did you choose that as your content publishing platform, and what sorts of things would you like to see Apple add to the application?
Nathan: I love iBooks Author and use it to create my PDFs even though I don’t publish on the iBooks Store. I don’t have any specific requests, it’s a great program and it makes me want to write more books.
Q: Looking back, what sort of advice would you give to someone thinking about publishing an eBook?
Nathan: Focus on teaching a skill that other people use to make money. By doing that you can target an audience that is willing to pay for what you teach—since it will make them more money in the future. Examples include design, programming, business, marketing, etc. How to play video games better is not a skill that makes money, so it will be much harder to get an audience who is willing to pay to learn it.
Judy Blume has said ”The best books come from someplace inside. You don’t write because you want to, but because you have to.” would you say that quote resonates with you ? If so, how did you arrive at that place and what kept you going thru the hard times ?
My first two design books I wrote because I wanted to. It was a message I wanted to get out to a larger audience. But Authority I wrote because I had to. A year ago I didn’t know all this was possible. After doing it myself I am so eager to share with other people. Tactics like my packaging method make such a difference in revenue that I can’t help but share them!
Q: You’ve been hailed as one of the new up and comers in the microprenuer crowd. How did you get to where you are today, and what kept you going before you experienced your first real success?
Nathan: Slow steady progress is the key to achieving any big goal. For me that meant writing 1,000 words every day. Without that I never would have finished my first book, let alone written three in a single year.
Q: What was it like transitioning away from a 9 to 5 job and into the world of entrepreneurship? Did you have a migration plan? How did the switch effect your family/life, and what were you looking for when you set out on your own?
Nathan: I left my job about a year before I started working on books. I had built an iPhone app that was making a few thousand dollars a month, so I used that to add stability to my freelance income. I also saved up about $30,000 before quitting.
Q: Now that you’ve been on your own for some time, do you think that it was worth it? Do you ever look back? Do you think you’ve found what you were looking for when you gave up working a traditional 9 to 5 job?
Nathan: It was totally worth it. Sometimes I miss working in an office with a team, but I’ve met so many great people through everything I’ve done on my own I wouldn’t go back.
Q: You’re also known as someone who gets an incredible amount done, while juggling a happy marriage and kids. How are you able to produce as much as you do and keep a sustainable balance with your other commitments?
Nathan: I say ‘no’ to a lot of things. I don’t take freelance projects anymore since they distract too much from my family and the projects I care about. Otherwise I just set clear goals (book launches, etc) and work towards them each day.
Q: What do you do for inspiration? What do you do when you hit the inevitable writers blocks that plague us all?
Nathan: My new ideas always come from creating. Bringing one idea to life always results in half a dozen new ideas.
As for writers block, you just need to lower your standards and keep writing. Usually writers block is from trying to get a sentence or an idea perfect. Instead lower your standards, get something on the page, then edit and improve it later.
Note: we also have a great blog post about beating procrastination here.
Q: Anything else you would like to share for writers and publishers who are just getting started? Do you have any questions you would like to ask your readers or others who are in a similar position to you?
Nathan:Make sure to surround yourself with friends working on similar things. Writing can be quite lonely, so have people to discuss and celebrate with. Your regular friends won’t be able to relate to pulling in $20k in a single day from a book launch.
Q: You’ve obviously learned a tremendous amount about self publishing in the past few years, and your upcoming book, Authority, looks to be an experienced based summary of all the lessons you’ve learned. If you had to boil it down to three key lessons what would they be?
Nathan: Learn constantly, teach everything you know, and write every day.
Nathan Barry is a software designer and self-published author living the entrepreneurial dream. You can find him writing some amazing articles over at his blog or follow him @nathanbarry on Twitter.
Learn How To Write, Publish, & Market Your eBook (Free Guide)
In our new guide you’ll learn how to:
- Avoid the #1 eBook killer
- Research & choose a topic in under 30 minutes
- Powerful tips to help you write more efficiently
- A comprehensive detailed strategy to design, publish, and market your eBook.
- Oh, and it’s absolutely FREE!
Download Your Free PDF Guide
Excerpt from Choosing a Topic:
Choosing a topic is just a starting point, but it’s also the point where many people start to give up.
The real problem isn’t choosing a topic. The problem is the way in which we go about asking the questions that will lead us to the topic of choice. When we ask the generic questions like “what am I passionate about?”, we end up drawing a blank. Why? Because these types of questions are extremely broad and that makes them difficult to answer. Hard to believe, right? Try this little experiment:
a. Come up with five things that are white in color and list below:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
b. Now, try to come up with five things you keep in a refrigerator that are white in color:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Was one question harder for you to answer than the other? If you’re like most people, coming up with 5 things that you keep in your refrigerator was much easier than answering the broader question beforehand. The reason is that you gave your mind context (i.e. five white things in the refrigerator). When we add context to questions, they become easier to answer.
The same logic applies to choosing a topic for your eBook. On the next page, you’ll find some practical tips to help you narrow your thinking!
1. Do you find your family, friends, or neighbors constantly asking for your advice about a particular topic?
Example: James works as a business consultant during the day, but has a knack for fixing things that break around the house.
Whenever someone mentions that they are having a problem around the house, James offers to explain an easy and cost effective way to handle the problem without calling expensive repair services.
As he gained some notoriety as the “fix-it guru,” it occurred to James that there are some common problems which happen to almost all home owners. Instead of answering the same questions over and over again, James decided to start a DIY Home Repair Blog where he posted detailed instructions to fix common household problems. When neighbors and
friends ask for advice, James mentions they can find detailed instructions on his blog.
After a few months, James had a following. He decided to write his first eBook, How to Remodel and Update Your Kitchen for Under $1,000.
The eBook was a huge success because it addressed issues his readers were having within a market he understood.
2. What would you do if you didn’t have to think about money? What do you do now for free that other people charge money for?
It’s the age old question guidance counselors have been asking high school and undergraduate students for decades. Often referred to as the Million Dollarquestion, it asks: what would you do right now if you had a million dollars and you could do anything you want? Fortunately, we are
going to narrow the scope down to a more practical question that doesn’t elicit visions of a Ferrari or cocktails on an exotic beach somewhere.
You probably don’t realize this right now, but you almost certainly do something everyday for free that other people charge money to do.
Don’t believe us? An easy, but less obvious example is a stay-at-home mother. Yep, that’s right. Fostering a learning environment, dealing with temper tantrums, curing a fever, or the ‘oh my gosh, what is that in your diaper?’ routine that any stay-at-home mother handles day-to-day. And guess what? There are thousands of people in the business of operating daycare centers who charge a lot of money to handle all those questions for other mothers.
Could you be a resource for Mom’s dealing with those problems on the weekends when the baby isn’t at day care? Absolutely.
3. Have you ever conquered a fear of some kind?
It’s more than likely that there are others who have the same fear and are looking to overcome it like you did. Tell your story! You’ll provide valuable information because you can honestly speak from experience.
4. Are you curious about some particular topic and intrigued enough to learn a new skill or body of knowledge?
Most people don’t give up learning after school is over. Life would be too boring. Plenty of individuals are looking to learn about a new topic or become proficient in a new skill, but don’t know where to start. Document the steps you took (or are taking) as a resource for those who are just starting out. This is an incredibly useful tool for people who are looking to begin something new.
5. What makes you different from everyone else?
Have you tried something completely out of the ordinary? Do you view the world from a different angle than most? Controversy isn’t a bad thing. Use your unique viewpoint to shed a different light on an old topic. People are always intrigued by different opinions. As Mark Twain always said “whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.”
Caution: don’t go against the grain simply to stir up controversy. You end up looking inauthentic and people don’t respond well to those who seem less than genuine. It’s better to be yourself than to try to be something else.
Once you have a list of potential topics, it’s a good idea to do a little bit of research.
Up Next: Research Your Topic in 30 Minutes or Less
Want more? Go download our FREE guide to learn how to research your topic in 30 minutes or less, how to avoid the #1 eBook killer, and marketing strategies to help you succeed with your eBook!
Procrastination Hack
Derek Sivers is a programmer who lost his stage fright by doing more than 1,000 gigs as a circus ring leader. Needless to say, he has some unique approaches to doing things. That’s probably also the reason he sold his extremely successful business in a most unusual fashion:
Sivers sold CD Baby to Disc Makers in 2008 for what Sivers has reported to be $22 million, bequeathing, upon Sivers’ death, the principal to a charitable trust for music education.; while alive, according to Sivers, it “pays out 5% of its value per year to me.”
Wikipedia
Hardly the typical behavior we see from some business founders these days. Business aside, Derek runs a wonderful blog over at http://sivers.org/blog that is worth a read. In one of his latest blog posts, he describes another one of his unusual tactics: how he hacks procrastination.
We all do it. And when we do it, we often feel guilty about it which often times simply causes more procrastination. It’s a vicious cycle. So how do we stop it? Derek suggests “change and to or.” What does that mean? He explains in his blog post:
“When do you go running?”
“When the time is right.”
“When is the time right?”
“When it’s a nice day, and I’ve finished my work, and I haven’t just eaten, and I’m feeling energetic.”
“Repeat that last sentence, changing ‘and’ to ‘or’.”
“When it’s a nice day, OR I’ve finished my work, OR I haven’t just eaten, OR I’m feeling energetic.”
“That sounds like a better plan.”
Got a list of conditions you need satisfied before you do something?
Try changing and to or.
We think that’s pretty great advice. So how do you beat procrastination? Share your stories in the comments!
Happy Writing,
The iBooks Author Templates Team
Design Basics: Visual Hierarchy
No design can fix terrible content. Period. But with great content, you can use beautiful design to engage your readers.
Design strengthens communication. Design exists to support content and deliver your ideas with greater clarity, insight, and engagement. If potential readers don’t understand why they should buy your content instead of the next guy’s, you won’t get the sale. So not only do you need to write great content, you need to learn to present it clearly as well. Design can help you do just that.
Research has shown that visual beauty supports sales. Great design builds trust, effects purchasing decisions, and even the perceived value of a particular product. But where should you start? A blank page is intimidating. That’s why we created templates that are completely customizable to your unique needs. In this post, we want to share some design “best practices” so that you can use our templates to the fullest!
Part One: Visual Hierarchy
In the examples below, we will show you how to create interest through a design principal called “visual hierarchy.” We’ll be using color, space, and typography, to illustrate the importance of this principal.
Visual Hierarchy: Typography
Above we see how the use of a display font can be more interesting than a text font. This draws the eye to a particular place on the page and can also add a particular ‘feeling’ to a sentence. Display fonts should never be used for long sentences or in the body of your work as they are more fatiguing to the eye. Use sparingly (but definitely use)!
Visual Hierarchy: Spacing and Color
vs. 
The first example (left image) is the correct way to use both space and color to add interest and hierarchy to your work. Color is a fantastic way to grab attention. Spacing is a fantastic way to associate content correctly. Huh? Here’s an analogy: spacing is to design what punctuation is to a sentence. Without proper punctuation, a sentence can read very differently or even look like a run on sentence. The same is true with design. If everything is evenly spaced, our eyes are less interested in the design.
For more on book design, check out the Basic Book Design Wikibook for answers to your broad questions. If you have any specific questions for us, don’t hesitate to leave a comment or ask @ibooktemplates!
Surprise! First Impressions Matter
I’m sure you’ve experienced this at some point:
a) You click on a link to a website
b) After a quick glance you already know you’re not interested,
c) So you click ‘back’ and head elsewhere.
How did you make that snap judgment? Did you really read enough information to know that this website wasn’t what you were looking for? Or was it something more immediate?
According to studies conducted by Google, it takes less than 50 milliseconds for you to form that initial “gut feeling” leading you to stay on the website or hit that back button. Wow! Less than a second! This should tell you that the first impression a website’s design creates is crucial in capturing users’ interest. And guess what? It’s true of books too.
So how do we create a great first impression? The answer depends on many factors: structure, colors, spacing, images, symmetry, amount of text, fonts, and more. In other words, it boils down to design.
First impressions are 94% design related.
We say that again: 94% of our judgement is based on appearances! Hard to believe? Actually, there’s a lot of evidence out there to support it. Let’s take a look at a couple scientific studies, shall we?
Mobile Phone’s Circa 2007
Which one do you prefer based on your “gut feeling?” Well, if you’re anything like the market majority, the iPhone is the clear winner.
In just 74 days after the iPhone was launched in 2007, Apple had sold 1 million phones. After 200 days, that number had grown to 4 million. That’s a lot of phones.
The key differentiator was design. While we may not understand exactly why it looks better, we can intuitively recognize great design. And Apple nailed it with the iPhone.
What was the first MP3 Player in the U.S. Market?
The Diamond Rio PMP300 was introduced to the market in September, 1998. So why do most of us have an Apple iPod which was introduced almost four years later in 2001? We think you know the answer.
Even though the Diamond Rio PMP300 had better battery life, more storage space, and was first to market, Apple’s intuitive design and sleek look took the market by storm.
Why ebook design matters
It all comes down to choices. People have so many choices these days that you have to have more than just great content in order to get the attention your work deserves.
The easiest way to stand out (in either a good or bad way) is design. People will judge your content by the way your book looks, whether that’s fair or not. They will form a prejudice against you (including positive ones) in a matter of milliseconds. If it looks bad, you’re in big trouble.
Good design gets better results. Period.
Good design elicits trust. People either see something that interests them and looks like trustworthy content or they move on to the next thing. If you’re book is poorly designed, it seems untrustworthy and therefore the value of it’s contents are also called into question. If people don’t look at your work because it’s so badly designed then you’re missing out on lot’s of readers, customers, sales, and profits.
Good design = trust = more conversions = more money in your pocket. It’s as easy as that.
Design matters, it matters a lot. And with self-publishing on the rise, the bar for book design keeps getting higher and higher. Don’t get left behind.
iBooks Author Resources (You’ll Want to Bookmark These)
Happy New Year to you, authors!
As 2013 kicks off, we want to make sure you have everything you need to make this year the year you publish. Some incredible things are going to happen this year in the world of digital publishing and we’ve got some goodies in store for you that are going to knock your socks off. While we can’t spill the beans just yet, we’ll keep you updated on the blog and newsletter (go sign up here if you haven’t yet)!
In the meantime, we’ve got a list of helpful iBooks Author resources just for you from around the web. Check them out below:
Beginner and User Guides
O’Reilly Media has a fantastic 110 page free guide to help you get up and writing with iBooks Author.
John Seely writes about the pro’s and con’s of iBooks Author and why he eventually decided to publish using it.
Peter Papas has a great iBooks Author Scoop.it feed here.
Arstechnica reviews iBooks Author and the whole iBook publishing experience.
Avoid the #1 eBook Killer (and learn how to write, publish, and market your eBook) with this free guide.
How-To Tutorials and Videos
iBookCreatives wrote a great tutorial on how to use a powerpoint presentation in iBooks Author and another one on useful keyboard shortcuts for authors.
Great back to basics video on importing a word document into iBooks Author.
Here’s a blog post detailing how you can add a full screen image to your book.
How do you include a Prezi into your iBooks Author eBook? Check it out here.
Worried about the 2GB file size limit? Maybe you should check out this tutorial on compressing your images.
The Department of Journalism over at Emerson College has about 40 free video tutorials to cover everything from beginner to advanced iBooks Author tactics.
This tutorial shows you how to add audio in iBooks Author
Cool 3rd Party Applications
Using Tumult Hype, you can create beautiful custom HTML5 widgets for your book (no coding required).
Looking for more iBooks Author widgets? Check out Class Widgets.
Want a better design? Check out premium templates by iBooks Author Templates.
Publishing in the iBookstore (or elsewhere)
Dave Ursillo writes an interesting blog post on everything he learned his first time self publishing. The Guardian continues the cheer with a blog post about why it pays to self-publsih.
Have you heard there might be some controversy about Apple’s Terms and Conditions. The L.A. Times clears it up in this article.
Want to quickly compare Kindle, iPad, and the Nook? Check out this platform comparison sheet.
$30,000 in eBook sales after two months and the author reveals it all here.
Marketing Your Book
Ever wonder what the most popular hashtags for authors are on Twitter? Or what the best time to post to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc?
A great post about How Nathan Barry and I Sold $39k Worth of eBooks
Are you a professional photographer or hobbyist trying to get your work noticed? Here’s some interesting ideas on how you can use iBooks for your photography business.
Design is marketing according to Neil Patel of QuickSprout. And he’s got the traffic to prove it. We think so too.
Need to market but don’t have the budget? Here are some budget friendly tactics that actually work.
Want great reviews for your book? Here are some tips on how to ask nicely.
How to build links through guest blogging.
Industry Experts
Alex Lindsay writes a brilliant post on why he thinks iBooks Author changes everything. TechCrunch weighs in with their article on why every entrepreneur should self-publish.
Tim Ferriss writes a detailed piece on How Authors Really Make Money(and Death of Traditional Publishing). He’s also got another great article: How Does a Bestseller Happen? A Case Study in Hitting #1 on the New York Times. Oh, and one about the most common mistakes first-time novelists make.
Which Authors Benefit the Most from Self-Publishing? PRWeb interviews Pete Nikolai to shed some light here.
Here’s another great on on the 11 Keys to Self-Publishing Success.
‘I can make 3-times as much money selling my own work’: Children’s author GP Taylor on why he’s decided to self-publish.
Author Penelope Trunk leaves her publisher to Self-Publish. Here’s why.
Inspiration
“Writing doesn’t just communicate ideas; it generates them.” via@paulg http://bit.ly/1539X
“Social reading is reading that recognizes that you’re not just a consumer, you’re a user.” http://bit.ly/I0LX62
“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.” -Benjamin Franklin
“Ready or not, the world of books is going digital.” Gordon Kessler
“Image is everything: People are visual creatures, & tend to accept what they see at first glance: From book covers to websites” via@huffpost
“Self-published books are the new business card.” -@penelopetrunk
Everything You Need to Know About iBooks Author 2.0
Apple just released the newest version of its book publishing application iBooks Author, and it’s chock full of new features. We’ve got the scoop on everything you need to know about iBooks Author 2.0 and examples of how you can take advantage of all the new features in your next book!
(Update: you can download it here)
So, what’s new in iBooks Author 2.0?
Pop-over Widget:
The pop-over widget allows you to tap an object, for example an image, and have a pop-up window appear with text, images, or shapes inside of it. The advantage of a popover is that you can provide additional information or instructions about how to use an object on the screen. Pop-overs are also easily dismissed simply by tapping outside of the popover view.
Scrolling Sidebar Widget:
This is another very cool new widget in iBooks Author. With the scrolling sidebar, you can insert large portions of text that the reader can scroll through without changing the page. This is great for getting a lot of information in one area while avoiding screen changes.
Tap to View Full Screen
Now you have the ability to let users expand objects, such as an image, to full screen by tapping them. This behavior is controlled in the widget tab of the inspector under the interaction sub-tab.
Equations
Another time saver for anyone creating a book involving equations. iBooks Author 2.0 supports three new options for equations; MathType, Latex, or MathML. You can adjust the font size or color of an equation just as you would ordinary text.
Landscape and Portrait Templates
Just like other iWork programs, iBooks Author comes with a variety of different templates you can use as a starting point for your book design. While all templates “worked” in both Landscape and Portrait orientations, they were designed primarily with the Landscape position in mind. In iBooks Author 2.0, you’ve got templates that were designed specifically for Portrait orientation. It looks as though there still might be some issues switching back and forth, but at least you’ve got more options now. Still not satisfied? Check out these templates and let us know what you think!
More Supported Fonts
It was a little surprising when iBooks Author first came out, it only supported a limited number of fonts. Now, iBooks Author 2.o supports all fonts in TrueType (.ttf) or OpenType (.otf) format. Note: this is brand new so just make sure you preview your work on the iPad before publishing.
Customized Audio Control
This allows you to link audio to objects within your book. For example, let’s say you’re creating a children’s book of farm animals. You want the user to be able to touch the screen on an image of a duck and it results in a “quacking” sound. Now you can, with the new customized audio control.
Copy Graphic Style
This is a time saver for sure. Now you can copy any graphic styles you’ve added to an object and add it to another object with two clicks. For example, let’s say you modified the opacity, border, and color of an image. Now you can copy all of those graphic style changes and add it (again, with just two clicks) to any other image in the book. Your workflow just got a bit easier.
Language Support
iBooks Author 2.0 now allows you to set the document language to something other than English. If you go to the Document tab in the inspector, you’ll see which languages are supported.
Want even more?
iBooks Author is such a powerful application, but it’s still a relatively new tool. That means it can be a little intimidating to use at first. It also means there aren’t a lot of resources out there to answer your questions. Luckily, we’ve put together an incredibly valuable iBooks Author 2.0 Resource Kit. This kit will help you create a successful, profitable ebook as soon as possible, without spending forever trying to learn “the ropes?” Instead of wasting valuable time googling your questions, we’ve got everything you need in one place. Oh, and it’s FREE. If you’re serious about writing an ebook, you’ll need this. In it you’ll learn:
- How to NOT get rejected from the iBookstore
- An easy strategy to write, publish, and market your ebook
- How to avoid the #1 eBook Killer
- Two months & $30,000 in eBook sales (an author tells all)
- A comprehensive list of the best iBooks Author how-to articles and video tutorials
- BONUS: Get a FREE Template with Golden Ratio Design Guides (a must when designing your ebook from scratch)
Get your FREE iBooks Author 2.0 Resource Kit here.
P.S. You should definitely go check out our brand new templates! Every template is compatible with the new iBooks Author 2.0. Create a beautiful iBook in minutes here.
The New iBooks Author
Apple just released the newest version of its book publishing application iBooks Author, and it’s chock full of new features. Here’s what’s new:
New in iBooks Author
Landscape and Portrait Templates
Just like other iWork programs, iBooks Author comes with a variety of different templates you can use as a starting point for your book design. While all templates “worked” in both Landscape and Portrait orientations, they were designed primarily with the Landscape position in mind. In the new iBooks Author, you’ve got templates that were designed specifically for Portrait orientation. It looks as though there still might be some issues switching back and forth, but at least you’ve got more options now. Still not satisfied? Check out these templates and let us know what you think!
More Supported Fonts
It was a little surprising when iBooks Author first came out, it only supported a limited number of fonts. Now, iBooks Author supports custom font embedding.
More Interactive Widgets
There are several new widgets available for textbook creators (although Apple didn’t go into much detail about them). We’ll be sure to give you the update as soon as it is available in the Mac App store.
Equations
Another time saver for anyone creating a book involving equations. The new iBooks Author supports equations so you don’t have to render them outside in a different program.
Want even more?
iBooks Author is such a powerful application, but it’s still a relatively new tool. That means it can be a little intimidating to use at first. It also means there aren’t a lot of resources out there to answer your questions.
Luckily, we’ve put together an incredibly valuable iBooks Author Resource Kit. This kit will help you create a successful, profitable ebook as soon as possible, without spending forever trying to learn “the ropes?” Instead of wasting valuable time googling your questions, we’ve got everything you need in one place. Oh, and it’s FREE. If you’re serious about writing an ebook, you’ll need this. In it you’ll learn:
- How to NOT get rejected from the iBookstore
- An easy strategy to write, publish, and market your ebook
- How to avoid the #1 eBook Killer
- Two months & $30,000 in eBook sales (an author tells all)
- A comprehensive list of the best iBooks Author how-to articles and video tutorials
- BONUS: Get a FREE Template with Golden Ratio Design Guides (a must when designing your ebook from scratch)
Get your FREE iBooks Author Resource Kit here.
P.S. You should definitely go check out our brand new templates! Every template is compatible with the new iBooks Author 2.0. Create a beautiful iBook in minutes here.
Free Resource Kit
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