Why Publish on Apple Books? Pros and Cons for Ebook Authors
Why publish on Apple Books?
These days, ebook authors have many options when it comes to self-publishing (indie publishing). While Amazon KDP is the major player in the US, it is not the only option, and, as you’ll soon learn, Amazon is not the biggest name everywhere in the world. Far from it.
For some authors looking to “go wide”—that is, to reach a wider audience by publishing and selling books on more than just Amazon, self-publishing an ebook to Apple Books—either directly through Apple Books, or through a distributor / aggregator, may be worth considering.
On “going wide,” there’s a great book, Wide for the Win that I highly recommend.
(Here’s a direct link to Apple Books for Authors.)
What this post is about and who it’s for
In this post we look at the pros and cons of Apple Books and the pros and cons of self-publishing an ebook on Apple Books directly vs. self-publishing that same ebook using an aggregator / distributor that will then “push” the ebook to, or list it on, Apple Books for you.
My hope is this will help indie ebook authors and others interested in Apple Books wondering “is apple books worth it?” and that it will help people weigh how to publish and sell books on apple books—whether directly or through, say, Smashwords or Draft2Digital, for example.
A note: I use “aggregator” and “distributor” interchangeably to refer to a company that is the author’s intermediary by making an ebook available for download from an online retailer on behalf of the author, in exchange for a cut of the author’s sales or a monthly fee.
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Self-Publishing to Apple Books: Pros and Cons
Pros of Apple Books
You’ll reach readers in more countries. As I’m writing this, Amazon operates in 13 countries worldwide. But Apple Books are sold in more than 50 countries. And while Amazon may be the dominant player in the US and UK, it is far from that in other countries.
In the US, Apple Books has overtaken Barnes & Noble for second-place to Amazon in ebook sales.
Apple Books accounts for roughly 10 percent of the global ebook market. Apple Books has about a 10 percent share of the US ebook market. Apple Books has about a 30 percent market share in Australia.
You’ll reach a slightly younger crowd. On the Indy Author Podcast #87 (every episode is amazing), Draft2Digital executive Dan Wood said that “Apple seems to have captured a much younger crowd. Primarily I’d say female and somewhere in mid-twenties to early forties.” So if you’re looking to reach younger women, it may make sense to publish to Apple Books.
Apple Books readers are said to be willing to pay higher prices than Amazon readers.
Apple Books will give you high royalties (70 percent) and high visibility for ebook box sets sold exclusively on Apple Books. (Kobo Writing Life will do the same.)
Apple Books has affiliate codes which you can use without restrictions
Authors like how Apple Books does its preorders—differently from Amazon. In short, pre-orders are factored into sales rank as they happen and are counted cumulatively on launch day in your sales rank. The latter isn’t true on Amazon. In other words, Apple Books incentivizes you to get a lot of pre-orders.
Cons of publishing an ebook with Apple Books
Apple Books has only a 10 percent market share in the US and worldwide. It might feel like its a waste of time and energy to try to chase this down and to have to learn a new platform, and it probably won’t be worth it to put all your “apples” in the Apple Books basket.
Some people say that Apple Books isn’t really a bookstore. It’s a tech company. I worry that someone might have gift card money they’re using, or might be just looking around there on a whim. Do avid readers do most of their ebook purchasing on Apple Books? Not many, it seems. Apple Books might not be the place to find potential superfans.
Also in the Indy Author Podcast #87, the host Matty Dalrymple said—and this was in Summer 2021; things may have changed when you’re reading this, but the reputation may linger—“I cringe going on to Apple because . . . they make all books look like a hard copy textbook on their site.” In other words, cover images look[ed] crummy on Apple Books.
If you’re not an Apple user you’ll need an Apple ID. Not difficult to get, but still. And you’ll need Apple products to preview your books.
How to publish on Apple Books and pros and cons
You can publish directly to Apple Books through a relatively simple process. That link takes you directly to the “Publish Your Book” page on authors.apple.com.
Publishing directly to Apple Books gives you more control of your metadata (you can view and choose the exact categories used by Apple Books for your listing), access to more detailed reporting, and more flexibility to set discounted pricing (should you be interested in doing so).
Using an aggregator / distributor to publish to Apple Books and the pros and cons of it
You can also use an ebook aggregator or distributor to publish to Apple Books. Apple doesn’t give preferential treatment or increased visibility to books published directly through them vs. with an aggregator.
As of the time of writing, here are the aggregators and distributors that publish to Apple Books: Draft2Digital, Smashwords, PublishDrive, StreetLib, XinXii, the assisted publishing services company Blurb, and IngramSpark.
Pros of using aggregators / distributors to publish on Apple Books
With an aggregator, you can publish to multiple ebook retailers and wholesalers and have all the information in one centralized account and a more simplified accounting and payout process.
Let’s say you have already published with one of the above. Chances are you’ve probably checked a box (or unchecked a box) to say, in effect, “Yeah, put my book up on Apple.”
Note: If you publish a book directly to Apple Books first, and then you go to publish an ebook on IngramSpark, you’ll have to de-list your Apple Books listing for that book and you’ll lose all your reviews on Apple Books for that particular book. Ingram will then re-list that ebook for you on Apple. Ugh! For that reason, I probably would follow the Alliance of Independent Authors (ALLI) Recommendations for Publishing Wide and I would probably not distribute my ebook through IngramSpark.
If you use an aggregator, you may also be nominated (by the aggregator staff) for special promotions.
And you may find that an aggregator could help you more quickly with an Apple Books-related question or concern, than Apple Books could (anecdotally, I’ve never heard anything negative about Apple Books, just that they’re slower and a little more anonymous).
Cons of using aggregators / distributors to publish on Apple Books
While it may save you time and make it more convenient, you’ll have to surrender 10 percent or more of your royalties to an aggregator.
And you won’t have the degree of control that you would have if publishing directly through apple. For example, if you wanted to change keywords only for your book’s listing only for Apple, you wouldn’t necessarily be able to do that through an aggregator.
Let’s look at some of the other best self-publishing platforms for authors:
Why Publish on Google Play Books? Click here to see my article on the pros and cons of Google Play Books for authors.
Should You Self Publish on Kobo Writing Life? Click here to see my article on the pros and cons of Kobo Writing Life for authors.
I’d love to hear from readers and nonfiction authors on your experiences with Apple Books!
You can contact me through this link.
Here’s to your successful self-publishing,