iPad iBookstore Welcomes Self-Publishers, Turns Kindle Into No-Trick Pony
Amazon Kindle lost round one against the Apple iPad. According to VentureBeat, electronic self-publishing distributor Smashwords has reached a deal to have its books available through the Apple iPad iBookstore. Worse, it promises higher royalties and availability as soon as Saturday, iPad's launch day. Kindle just lost its biggest advantage.
The scoop from VentureBeat:
Smashwords, a site that lets writers self-publish their eBooks, said today it has signed a distribution deal with Apple to put its books into the iPad iBookstore. Mark Coker, chief executive of Smashwords, said in an email to authors that his company was working on signing the deal ever since the iPad was announced. And, yes, this means that unpublished authors can sell their work on the Apple iPad for virtually no cost.
To get books on the Apple store by launch day, Smashwords authors have to have their works submitted to Smashwords' premium catalog by March 31. The book has to be in the EPUB format and have a big cover image.
The deal hasn't been announced yet, but I got the notice from Smashwords' Coker because I published my own eBook, The XBox 360 Uncloaked, on Smashwords back in December. It was a very easy process, where I took a Microsoft Word file and uploaded it to the Smashwords site, set the price, and decided where I wanted the book published. Smashwords published my eBook in nine formats and began distributing the book over a number of weeks to sites such as Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Stanza (on the iPhone), Aldiko and others.
Smashwords also said it is adding ISBN support (the codes that go on published paper or eBooks) as required by Apple, and it is preparing a large shipment of books to Sony's Ebook store. Apple's requirement is that all eBook prices end in .99, so you can sell at 99 cents, $1.99 etc. The price must also be less than the print counterpart. The distribution cost to get the book on the iPad is free. Smashwords and Apple divide the remaining 40 percent of the eBook price.
This is a major blow to Amazon's Kindle battle against the iPad. Here's why:
- Higher royalties than the Kindle: According to VentureBeat, "The distribution cost to get the book on the iPad is free. Smashwords and Apple divide the remaining 40 percent of the eBook price." It implies that the author gets 60 percent of the cover price. As mentioned in previous posts, Kindle self-publishers currently get 35 percent -- and, to get more, they need to sign the new, grabby Kindle rights deal.
- Kindle versus everyone else: Kindle became such a strong platform partially because of its open, relatively easy self-publishing program. The other major option, Smashwords, already delivered to all the Kindle competitors -- and now the iPad. The choice becomes doing something for the Kindle and making it readable on other devices through Amazon's tablet app, which Apple still hasn't accepted, or make something for Smashwords and making it readable through every platform's native app (sans, of course, the Kindle).
- Major media launch day opportunity: It's a serious opportunity -- Have your small, indie book available for sale through the iBookstore on launch day. What author in his or her right mind would pass that up?
- Keep Kindle Apps Simple
- Help Apple Sell Kindle Books
- Upgrade The Kindle Interface
- Capture The Publishers Apple Won't Or Can't Reach
- Talk To Google. Now.
At this point, the only move I can see Amazon doing is making a better royalty deal with the indie publishers -- obviously minus the grabby rights. Otherwise, it will just have to ride out the iPad wave and regroup with a new Kindle later.