Slides from a talk given on Jan. 30, 2013, at the New England Chapter of ASIS&T, MIT, Cambridge, MA.

1. iBooks Author
creating Multi-Touch books for iPad
New England Chapter of ASIS&T
MIT, Cambridge, MA
January 30, 2013
http://nicolehennig.com
Wednesday, January 30, 13

2. Outline
• What is iBooks Author?
• Examples
• iBookstore
• Why choose this platform?
• Other authoring platforms
• Software overview
• My book projects
• Learn more
• Discussion
Wednesday, January 30, 13

3. Slides available
http://tinyurl.com/ayd8fhb
Sign up to be notified!
http://eepurl.com/uHAif
Wednesday, January 30, 13

4. What is iBooks Author?
free Mac app
Wednesday, January 30, 13

5. What is iBooks Author?
• creates multi-touch ebooks that can be
sold (or offered for free) in Apple’s
iBookstore
• or create non-interactive books that can
be sold elsewhere (PDF)
Wednesday, January 30, 13

6. Textbook creator
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7. Other interactive books
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8. Interactive widgets
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9. Math equations
•Equation editor
•MathML or LaTeX
•works with MathType application
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10. iBooks Shelf
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11. Examples
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12. Examples
[ live demo on iPad ]
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13. iBookstore
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14. Why choose this platform?
• easiest way (at present) to make
interactive books without being a
developer
• Apple’s audience
• you get 70%
• design and distribute free books
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15. Why choose this platform?
• designed to work with volume discount
plan for schools purchasing textbooks
• easy to distribute in iTunes U
• Apple accessibility guidelines
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16. Accessibility
guidelines
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5073
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17. Legal
What you can’t do:
- You can’t sell your multi-touch book on
other platforms, or your own website.
What you can do:
- If you are making your title free, you can
distribute it both on the iBookstore and
your own website.
Wednesday, January 30, 13

18. Legal
More things you CAN do:
- take the written content from your book
(without interactive elements), and
publish it on other platforms (such as
Kindle or print).
- export your book to a PDF file that you
can sell on any platform.
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19. Example
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20. Other authoring platforms
$4.99
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21. iBooks and file types
iBooks app on iPad can read:
• epub
• epub (with DRM)
• PDF
• .ibooks used by iBooks Author
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22. Ebook file types
https://www.writelydone.com/blogs/darnzen/understanding-e-book-file-formats-00818
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23. Ebook file types made simple
• epub = iBooks and many others
• mobi = Kindle
• PDF
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24. Book types in iTunes
•Book = a book you downloaded from the Internet
•Purchased book = DRM-free book from iBookstore
•Protected book = copy-protected book from iBookstore
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25. Best practices
(in my opinion)
DRM-free
multiple
formats
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26. Best practices DRM-free
(in my opinion)
multiple formats
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27. Why I don’t mind that .ibooks files
are proprietary
• On the proprietary nature of the
iBooks Author file format - John Gruber
http://daringfireball.net/2012/01/ibooks_author_file_format
• Why the Emotional Criticism of iBooks
Author is Wrong - Mike Elgin
http://www.cultofmac.com/141832/why-the-emotional-criticism-of-ibooks-author-is-wrong/
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28. Software overview
Mac app store, free
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29. Templates
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30. Templates
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31. Software overview
[ live demo on MacBook Air ]
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32. My multi-touch book
projects
Elder Stories
Apps4Academics using the iPad
to bring your
family history to life
Sign up to be notified!
http://eepurl.com/uHAif
Wednesday, January 30, 13

33. My online courses
http://www.udemy.com/bookapps
course preview:
https://vimeo.com/52980759
http://apps4librarians.com/
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34. Learn more - books
free
$15 free
- free
- multi-touch
- sample of full book
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35. Learn more - video training
Mac app $5.99 iOS app
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36. Discussion
Are you planning to make a multi-touch
book?
Wednesday, January 30, 13

37. Slides available
http://tinyurl.com/ayd8fhb
Sign up to be notified!
http://eepurl.com/uHAif
Wednesday, January 30, 13