Okay, so a few blog posts ago, I was trying to sort out where I was going to publish my books. I had settled on Amazon and Kobo because they were both apps I was really comfortable using as a reader. And in the case of Kobo, because I have a device of my own that I love.
My plan was to use Draft2Digital to distribute to Nook and iTunes, however, two weeks ago I changed my mind. There were a couple of reasons for this. At first, I found the prospect of getting an EIN intimidating. The forms, the calling the IRS, etc. You still have to go through this process with Draft2Digital but I think I tricked myself into believing it would be easier than loading my books onto iTunes directly. But once I launched my books, I realized it made so much sense to have them available on iTunes—especially since virtually everyone in my family has an iPhone and there are millions of iPhones and they come with iBooks preinstalled as an app. So I decided to make having my books available on iTunes a priority.
As with so many things related to independent publishing, there are a lot of great resources out there. The one that helped me the most was this post on Catherine Ryan Howard’s website—in particular, the step-by-step process outlined by David Gaughran. This was the process I followed to get my EIN and it was as quick and painless as it was laid out to be.
I had already started the process of signing up for my iTunes Connect account a few weeks ago and since I’m a Mac user, downloading iTunes Producer (the next step in the process after setting up all your contact, tax and banking information) was also very straightforward. I submitted my books (they had already been formatted as EPUBS by the wonderful Streetlight Graphics) and less than 24 hours later—they were available on the iBooks Store.
So now I am very happy to share that The Vampire Skeleton and Spirit & Intent are both available as ebooks on iTunes! Very cool, that. Especially because it was something I really struggled with.
Another factor that helped motivate me was this fantastic interview with Liliana Hart by Joanna Penn. After I listened to it, it added additional fuel to my fire to have my books available on iTunes. Honestly, a lot of the interviews Joanna does with various guests add fuel to my fire. I’ve been listening to this podcast obsessively because every time I do, I get more and more excited about the possibilities of being an indie published author and creating things that make me happy. If you haven’t listened to her podcast, I highly recommend it!
Anyways, that is my exciting news for the week. Over the next few days I will be learning how to build banners and widgets (like the kind featured above). Very fun! Til next time!
Happy Writing!
S.