Apple iBooks issues and solutions
Here is a list of the most common Apple iBooks issues (once fixed them, you do not have to publish your book again. You can upload a new ePub file or correct its metadata by simply heading to the book’s page and following these instructions).
Issues related to the ebook cover
Image Quality (Cover Art):
- The cover cannot be blurry, pixelated, mismatched, misaligned, rotated, incorrect or with other similar quality problems.
- You must upload ONLY the first cover and not the fourth and spine (which are used only for paper copies).
- The cover must necessarily contain title and author name.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (12)
Inappropriate (cover or content)
Apple does not distribute ebooks with explicit content or covers (naked, etc.).
Here you will find references to the guidelines
Unnecessary Borders (cover)
Eliminate unnecessary borders or cut lines from the cover, unless they are part of the cover design.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (12.8)
Misleading (cover)
The book cover cannot be misleading. For example, it should not include references to attachments such as "CD", "Disk" or "Audiobook". If present, they must be eliminated.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (12.5)
Competing website (cover)
The cover may NOT have references to competing sites.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (12.7)
Pricing (cover)
Remove price references from the cover, such as "discounted price", "on promotion", etc.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (12.10)
Problems with the ePub file or metadata
Incorrect Authors
- Make sure that the author names on the cover exactly match the author names entered in the metadata.
- Make sure the metadata and cover reflect the content of the book.
Here the dedicated guidelines (2)
Incorrect Title
- Make sure the title shown in the metadata exactly matches the title on the cover.
- Make sure you have entered the title and subtitle correctly and in the respective fields of the article card on Hub, also make sure that they correspond exactly to what is reported on the cover.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (4.1)
Unnecessary Information (Title)
Remove all information extraneous to the content from the title and subtitle of your book. Titles and subtitles may not include additional information, such as keywords or advertisements.
Incorrect Language or Script (Title)
- Make sure the book title is written in the same language as the book.
- Make sure that the language indicated in the metadata matches that of the book content.
- The main script (character set) and the language in which a book is written must match the script and the metadata language.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (1.3)
Incomplete / Inaccurate iBooks Table of Contents
- The book must have an accurate index with all sections, parts and chapters of the book.
- The book must have a consistent and complete TOC (Table of Content, internal index to the ebook file).
Here the dedicated guidelines (14)
Image Quality (Publication)
- Make sure all the images in the book are of good resolution, otherwise update them in the ePub file.
- Replace images that are blurry, pixelated, misaligned, rotated, or with other quality problems,
except in the case of artistic, historical or otherwise intentional purposes.
- The size of the internal images (inner cover included) cannot exceed 4 megapixels. To calculate the pixel size, multiply the height of the image by its width.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (13.12)
Incorrect Language or Script (Description)
- Make sure the synopsis is written in the same language and script as the ebook.
- The language indicated in the Metadata must match the main language of the book text.
- The main script (character set) and the language in which a book is written must match the script and the metadata language.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (1.3)
Incomplete (Description)
- The synopsis must be sufficiently complete and descriptive of the content of the ebook. The synopsis must NOT repeat the information already provided in the metadata (author, categories, keywords). In fact, we suggest avoiding forms such as "book written by ..." (the author) or "adventure book"
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (5.2)
Incorrect Formatting (Description)
- The synopsis must be formatted correctly.
- In the synopsis the use of capital letters / small letters must be appropriate and according to punctuation. There must be line breaks for new paragraphs. The synopsis must NOT be all bold or italicized.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (5.3)
Competing website (ebook)
Remove any references to competing iBooks websites (other libraries such as Amazon, etc.) from your ebook.
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (13.8)
Placeholders (ebook)
The book may NOT contain so-called placeholder text (such as "lorem ipsum" text) or placeholder images. Eliminate iBooks Art Templates
Here you will find the references to the guidelines (13.20)
Unique description (metadata)
Several different books, even if belonging to a series / series, CANNOT have the same description. So diversify the descriptions of the books in your catalog.