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Why Mark Coker’s wrong about the iBooks Store

Skilled Workman Posted on by

iBookStoreMark wrote another strong article calling iOS8 a game-changer because iBooks will now be installed as part of the basic operating system. I doubt it—for a very simple reason.

The iBooks Store is a lousy interface

Let me just give you one example. My preferred genre is Christian epic fantasy. It’s not listed in iBooks genre so I try to search for books tagged like this. I get a list of heathen authors whose name is Christian [like Hans Christian Anderson] or actually any author named Chris.

If I search for an author I like, say Guy Stanton III, I get a list of all his books but no link or listing for anything similar.

Bottom line: I cannot locate Christian epic fantasy in the iBooks Store

Unless I know the name of a specific author, or a specific title, I can find nothing in the genre I read. Now there are dozens of books in this genre released over the past few years. Most of them are listed and for sale in iBooks, BUT I have to know about them to buy one.

The iBooks Store has no discovery mechanism

As a result, I have to use Amazon for my discovery tool, or CBD [Christian Book Distributors]. Then I have to go to iBooks to buy it [because iBooks is the best ereader]. I do that because I’m a book designer working on a Mac. Most people are not. So, it’s impressive that iBooks is second worldwide in sales. It shows how much better its interface is. But it’s no competition to Amazon until their discovery abilities expand greatly.

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Comments

Why Mark Coker’s wrong about the iBooks Store — 2 Comments

  1. I suspect including iBooks with iOS 8, while it will certainly help, will be a game changer only if Apple includes, with each new iOS device they sell, a $10-20 coupon to get people started with the iBookstore. Otherwise, the app will just be lost in the newness of the device (for first-time buyers) or obscured by dozens of existing apps (for those who already have iOS devices.

    I doubt that genre you find missing will do any harm. Unfortunately, dozens of titles does not a genre make. Even thousands probably doesn’t given how much fiction is published today. You or someone you know who likes Christian epic fantasy might want to start of website that reviews and links to them.

    If you know someone at the iBookstore, you might suggest something to them. Allow authors to specify that certain of their titles are free to those with new Apple devices. Apple would introduce them to the iBookstore and authors could promote the first in their book series.

  2. I basically agree with you.

    As for Christian epic fiction: it’s in its infancy yet. I have a site which provides these reviews. http://radiqx.com And I have a friend in western Australia who does it also. It’s basically a brand-new genre.

    I don’t know anyone at Apple. Your idea sounds good though. Apple hasn’t seemed much interested in promoting the indies and self-publishers.

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