Inside Apple’s iBooks Library: Five Publishers On Board With The iPad

January 27, 2010 By Nick Mokey

We look at the five publishers that will populate Apple's iBooks library with books, and some of the specific titles they might bring with them.

If the three secrets to success in real estate are location, location, location, then the three secrets to success in the e-readers are books, books, books. Apple seems to have figured that out from Amazon, but until James Patterson starts coming directly to Steve Jobs with manuscripts, collecting books that people actually want to read means greasing the wheels with publishers. For the device’s launch, Apple managed to put together agreements with five of the world’s largest book pushers. Recognize the names, but not sure what they’ll bring to the iPad? Here’s a quick dossier on Apple’s new best friends.

Penguin

Owner: Pearson PLC

Notable Brands: Puffin Books, Viking Press, Allen Lane, The Complete Idiot’s Guide, E.P. Dutton

Popular Titles: The Scarpetta Factor by Patricia Cornwell, Tom Clancy’s HAWX by David Michaels, Food Rules by Michael Pollan, Getting Things Done by David Allen, The Godfather by Mario Puzo

Harper Collins

Owner: News Corp

Notable Brands: Ecco, Avon Books, Regan Books, William Morrow & Company

Popular Titles: Going Rogue by Sarah Palin, Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man by Steve Harvey, Pirate Latitudes by Michael Crichton, SuperFreakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, Game Change by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin

Simon & Schuster

Owner: CBS Corporation

Notable Brands: Aladdin Paperbacks, Free Press, Scriber, Howard Books, Atria

Popular Titles: Last Words by George Carlin, Under the Dome by Stephen King, Thirst No. 2 by Christopher Pike, Days of Gold by Jude Deveraux, Eating the Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman

Macmillan

Owner: Verlagsgruppe Georg von Holtzbrinck

Notable Brands: Bedford, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Pan Books, St. Martins Press, Tor Books

Popular Titles: Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay, Wolf Hall by Hilary Mante, Night by Elie Wiesel, Plum Spooky by Janet Evanovich, Impact by Douglas Preston

Hachette

Owner: Lagardère SCA

Notable Brands: Twelve, Orbit Books, Yen Press, Grand Central Publishing, Vision

Popular Titles: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Dear John by Nicholas Sparks, Alex Cross by James Patterson,The Shack by William P. Young, The Swan Thieves by Elizabeth Kostova

Showing 3 comments

Beatrice Campbell at 10:00am 13th December 2010 I have a new IPad my son bought me. "The Mill on the Floss" has many typos, uneven margins, and misspellings, it is hard to read. Since I said I was going to order from our library "Wild Justice" by Wilbur Smith, he bought it from IBook app...There were a few typos but most of 'the' word was resplaced with 'die' up to seven or more times a page. I don't think I want to use IBook on my IPad, It is easier to order online books from my local library and take die time to browse die shelves.
Armand at 2:52am 18th November 2010 Antes de comprar el iPad, necesito resolver una duda. ¿No solo leo en castellano desde España voy a poder acceder a la biblioteca de títulos en Inglés?
Ian Bell at 7:22pm 27th January 2010 Silly that Hearst didn't jump onboard. It seems like a lot of the magazine companies are still unsure how to make money from it.