'iBooks Author' eBook Authoring App for Mac Now Available - MacRumorsOpen MenuShow RoundupsShow Forums menuVisit ForumsOpen Sidebar
Skip to Content

'iBooks Author' eBook Authoring App for Mac Now Available

ibooksauthor
Today, during their education press event, Apple announced the availability of the iBooks Author App that allows users to create interactive iBooks on their Mac.

Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac. Start with one of the Apple-designed templates that feature a wide variety of page layouts. Add your own text and images with drag-and-drop ease. Use Multi-Touch widgets to include interactive photo galleries, movies, Keynote presentations, 3D objects, and more. Preview your book on your iPad at any time. Then submit your finished work to the iBookstore with a few simple steps. And before you know it, you’re a published author.

The App allows you to start with a number of templates and then customize your book with images, videos, multi-touch widgets and even Keynote presentations. You can then preview your book on your iPad and then submit it to the iBookstore for sale or free download.

iBooks Author is available for free in the Mac App Store. [App Store]

Popular Stories

iCloud iPhone 17 Pro

iPhone Users Who Pay for iCloud Storage Get Two New Perks on iOS 27

Thursday July 2, 2026 6:10 am PDT by
If you pay for certain iCloud+ storage plans beyond the 5GB that Apple offers for free, you will receive two more perks on iOS 27 at no additional cost. A summary of the two new iCloud+ perks on iOS 27:Increased daily usage limits for some new Apple Intelligence features, including image generation in the revamped Image Playground app. HomeKit Secure Video cameras receive generated video...
Apple Event Logo

Apple Just Released a New Product

Thursday July 2, 2026 8:04 am PDT by
Apple's first product release of summer 2026 occurred this week, but do not get too excited, as it is merely the Beats Solo Buds in a new color. Beats Solo Buds are now offered in orange through Best Buy in the U.S., with availability set to expand to 7-Eleven stores in Japan on July 4. Apple already offered orange Solo Buds in India for free with the purchase of an iPhone 15 or iPhone 15 ...
iPhone 4 on Black Feature

Apple Facing One of Its Worst Leaks Since the iPhone 4

Thursday July 2, 2026 9:53 am PDT by
Apple supplier Tata Electronics recently suffered a cyberattack that resulted in thousands of confidential files being published on the dark web, and this reportedly included some photos and documents related to the upcoming iPhone 18 Pro. We have elected not to share any of the leaked photos in this story due to the illegal nature in which they were obtained, but they can easily be found...

Top Rated Comments

ksgant Avatar
189 months ago
Tell that to PPC users.
I know! I have a Mac Plus and I'm outraged...OUTRAGED that Apple doesn't support that at all. I bought that in 1986 and it's still working fine. How DARE Apple not support this anymore with software updates and programs. They're just trying to get me to spend more money with them. No. Thank. You. I spent enough back then and it's still working so why upgrade?

So I feel for the PPC users out there. It's only been 6 years since they switched to Intel and those PPC Macs have at least another 20 to 25 years left on them.

But seriously, I don't know how people work on those old machines. I have a 2008 MacBook Pro and that's getting to be slow as molasses in working with Photoshop and Lightroom. And don't even get me started on Aperture...that takes forever. I will do an adjustment then the CPU pegs to red and you wait and wait and wait for the adjustment to actually show up. It's not like I'm running out of RAM either as I have 8 gigs in this thing.

I guess if I was just surfing the web and doing emails or something, a PPC would still be okay. I just can't fathom doing Photoshop on them, but I guess some people do it all the time. But come on...time marches onward. Do you really expect Apple to keep developers around that code for the PPC with new products?
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Saladinos Avatar
189 months ago
Nice, but still no iBooks reader for OSX :(
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Gasu E. Avatar
189 months ago
It's the "Apple way" to force you to upgrade.

Why would you expect new functions to be back-ported to old OS versions? As a software vendor myself, I don't know why anyone would do this-- the development and support costs are non-trivial. Users do need to pay for this, and maintenance fees or upgrades are alternative ways. A $30 upgrade fee seems pretty reasonable to me.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AriX Avatar
189 months ago
It's 29 bucks. Poor baby.

I'm not complaining about the price - in fact, I already own Lion. But for a variety of reasons that I won't go into right now, upgrading will take a lot of effort, and I'm not willing to do it quite yet. It's alright though; I'm not exactly an author. But I look forward to playing around with this.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
189 months ago
"Now anyone can create stunning iBooks textbooks, cookbooks, history books, picture books, and more for iPad. All you need is an idea and a Mac."

Oh great. Now anyone can write a textbook! You don't need to be a scholar or even an authority. All you need is an opinion, time, and a Mac. I can't wait for the "textbooks" on how the world was created in seven days.

Yeah, that whole freedom of speech and freedom of the press thing really sucks.

----------

Holly crap! You have 3 other options: Windows, Linux and Google Chrome. No one is forcing you to buy Lion.

If you've been following along for the past 12 years, every new version of OS X has been worse than the last, according to the peanut gallery. These people should just stick with 10.0 and be happy with that.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
189 months ago
Huh?

This is just trolling or plain stupidity. I'm sorry, but a $29 upgrade to Lion shouldn't break the bank for anybody who had enough money to purchase a Mac in the first place .... much less complaining about it as a requirement to use some FREE publishing software they're offering people.

I don't get all the anti-10.7 sentiment out there anyway? Sure, there are situations where you won't want to upgrade a given machine past Snow Leopard. I've got one Mac like that myself. (You may still rely on older apps that require Rosetta to run because they're still coded for the old PPC architecture.) But the same was said about "Classic" MacOS, and eventually, 99.9% of us managed to move forward and let go of some outdated software that wasn't ever upgraded to run OS X native.

There's actually quite a bit "wrong" with 10.6. For example, it has a lot of security weaknesses they overcame in 10.7. There's also a lot of "little stuff" improved in 10.7 that's simply nice to have -- such as the elimination of auto key repeat when you hold down a keyboard key for several seconds. (Who ever really used that, ever since the days of trying to draw artwork on line printers, made of lines and lines of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA and what-not?) Instead, 10.7 does something sensible -- cycles a letter through various accent-marked versions for you.


Apple, one of the most cash rich corps in the world and this s/ware is for the latest version of Lion only? Talk about trying to screw everyone in a time of global recession. WTF is wrong with 10.6?
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)