The Alliance of Independent Authors published an excellent article on February 5 by Giacomo Giammatteo which conclusively shows that Apple treats authors much better than Amazon. Their services, like coupons, promotions, and pricing, are much better. But the main advantage is that Apple always pays 70% and Amazon rarely does.

But Amazon sells so much more

This is still true for many, but Apple is solidly in control of the second spot according to Giacomo (and in my experience). In my stats, I have to remember that even though Apple’s sales look pathetic when compared with Kindle, over half the income from Draft2Digital, almost all of Lulu, and much of the Smashwords income come from the iBookstore.

But Apple does so much better overseas

In addition, much of my sales through Apple come from overseas. Apple sells in 51 territories outside the US, whereas Amazon only sells in 12. Plus, Apple gives me 70% everywhere and Amazon rarely does.

More importantly, Apple allows me individual control over pricing to each country with no percentage losses. This is a big deal in countries like Mexico, India, Brazil, and others where American pricing is simply over the top for their economies.

But Apple does not charge for downloads

For books like mine, which commonly run 20 megabytes, this is a huge difference. On a practical level, it means that Amazon only pays me 35% most of the time. With Apple, anything up to 2 gigabytes is free—and they support ePUB3. So, I can seriously consider embedding small videos and the like when necessary.

Plus Apple supports ePUB3 with embedded fonts, so I have much greater control over the look and readability of my books. Kindle’s books always look like cheap, junk design—because that’s all they will accept. Even Kindle’s new fixed layout textbooks are only PDFs which require very careful design.

But Apple requires a Mac for uploading

This is a relatively small issue. Finding a book designer who uses a Mac is not difficult. Plus, Draft2Digital, Lulu, and Smashwords do not require Macs for uploads. So, this is really a non-issue.

You need to seriously consider adding Apple to your mix

All of these factors mean that in the long-run Apple is likely to match surpass Amazon in ebook sales, especially around the world. Bottomline? Apple treats us much better now. This will probably continue for the foreseeable future.

Marvelous! I’ve been pointing out Apple’s advantages for some time. Now I no longer feel like that biblical “voice crying in the wilderness.”

Here’s my own advice to authors about applying the Amazon/Apple differences, particularly for authors fortunate enough to have an eager fan base. It’s to adopt an Apple-first, Amazon-later policy. That gives added income and flexibility of Apple, while still taking advantage of Amazon’s larger market share. The steps would go like this.

1. Release the iBooks version in epub. Apple now claims that its week-long delay has been reduced to a single day in most cases.

2. Begin publicizing the book.

3. Perhaps release a similar epub version through Smashwords for B&N, Kobo etc.

4. More publicity.

5.. Then and only then begin to work on a version for Kindles. Amazon will accept an epub for conversion, so you might go that route. Otherwise, do what it takes to create the mobi and KF8 versions for Amazon. Don’t worry if that means a week or two delay. Remember, you want sales to go to Apple. Only bring out the Kindle version quickly enough to avoid upsetting Kindle diehards.

6. One final burst of publicity.

That puts some heat on Amazon. As the linked article notes, Amazon had been paying a mere 35% royalty across the board. It only shifted to a partial 70% policy when it became afraid of what Apple’s iPad/iBooks would do to their sales. Amazon will only move more fully to Apple’s more generous policies if its sales, marketshare an income are threatened by authors and publishers shifting as many of their sales as possible to Apple and the other vendors.

Keep in mind what that means. It means that for some authors their Amazon income will almost double.

Those shifting sales are also perhaps the only thing that will get Amazon to abandon its proprietary formats and go with epub, a move that would make the lives of authors and publishers easier.

Two further remarks:

1. Apple needs to do with iBooks what it did with iTunes, which is port the app to Windows. Then people who for work or other reasons must use Windows machines will now have reason to buy iPhones and get their ebooks from the iBookstore.

2. Apple should create a web-based system for authors to upload ebooks much like that used by Amazon and Smashwords. That’d end the ‘but you have to own a Mac” problem with authors. That’s especially important for attracting foreign authors, where Mac ownership is less common.

Comments

Apple treats authors much better than Amazon — 3 Comments

Michael W. Perry on March 30, 2015 at 10:31 am said:

Marvelous! I’ve been pointing out Apple’s advantages for some time. Now I no longer feel like that biblical “voice crying in the wilderness.”

Here’s my own advice to authors about applying the Amazon/Apple differences, particularly for authors fortunate enough to have an eager fan base. It’s to adopt an Apple-first, Amazon-later policy. That gives added income and flexibility of Apple, while still taking advantage of Amazon’s larger market share. The steps would go like this.

1. Release the iBooks version in epub. Apple now claims that its week-long delay has been reduced to a single day in most cases.

2. Begin publicizing the book.

3. Perhaps release a similar epub version through Smashwords for B&N, Kobo etc.

4. More publicity.

5.. Then and only then begin to work on a version for Kindles. Amazon will accept an epub for conversion, so you might go that route. Otherwise, do what it takes to create the mobi and KF8 versions for Amazon. Don’t worry if that means a week or two delay. Remember, you want sales to go to Apple. Only bring out the Kindle version quickly enough to avoid upsetting Kindle diehards.

6. One final burst of publicity.

That puts some heat on Amazon. As the linked article notes, Amazon had been paying a mere 35% royalty across the board. It only shifted to a partial 70% policy when it became afraid of what Apple’s iPad/iBooks would do to their sales. Amazon will only move more fully to Apple’s more generous policies if its sales, marketshare an income are threatened by authors and publishers shifting as many of their sales as possible to Apple and the other vendors.

Keep in mind what that means. It means that for some authors their Amazon income will almost double.

Those shifting sales are also perhaps the only thing that will get Amazon to abandon its proprietary formats and go with epub, a move that would make the lives of authors and publishers easier.

Two further remarks:

1. Apple needs to do with iBooks what it did with iTunes, which is port the app to Windows. Then people who for work or other reasons must use Windows machines will now have reason to buy iPhones and get their ebooks from the iBookstore.

2. Apple should create a web-based system for authors to upload ebooks much like that used by Amazon and Smashwords. That’d end the ‘but you have to own a Mac” problem with authors. That’s especially important for attracting foreign authors, where Mac ownership is less common.

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David Bergsland on March 30, 2015 at 11:41 am said:

Great points, Michael!

The only change I wold make is to dump Smashwords and use Draft2Digital. D2D takes ePUB3s with fonts, SW does not. Also D2D will take up to 50 MB (I think), and SW is still stuck with 10 MB AFAIK. D2D still gives about 65% which is far better than Amazon.

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Michael W. Perry on March 30, 2015 at 11:51 am said:

Thanks, I’ll definitely look into Draft2Digital.

Smashwords does seem to love their Word-for-Windows meatgrinder enough that their support of epub seems to come up a bit lacking. My latest ebook, after it had been accepted by Apple as an epub, was rejected by Smashwords as “too complex.” I pointed out to support that it’s a book that needed complex formatting and that Apple and epub certification find it OK. They did then pass it through, which is great, but I rather not have that hassle and the embedded font issue you mentioned.

For many and perhaps even most authors Smashwords love affair with Word for Windows is probably a plus. But with my Scrivener-Draft and InDesign-for-publication workflow, it’s a negative.

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Apple treats authors much better than Amazon

But Amazon sells so much more

But Apple does so much better overseas

But Apple does not charge for downloads

But Apple requires a Mac for uploading

You need to seriously consider adding Apple to your mix

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Comments

Apple treats authors much better than Amazon — 3 Comments

Whatcha thinkin'?Cancel reply

But Amazon sells so much more

But Apple does so much better overseas

But Apple does not charge for downloads

But Apple requires a Mac for uploading

You need to seriously consider adding Apple to your mix

Like this:

Related

Whatcha thinkin'?Cancel reply

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