Fixing a manual Table of Contents

[Hitch]

TangoMike:

Apple's intake process is, as everyone here knows, FAR from perfect. If you got it past them, then good on you. I've had at least 3 kicked back, from books that were made and uploaded over a year ago, recently, so I am naturally feeling a bit vexed about it. Apple's Q&A is not, FYI, necessarily limited to the Transport process; they will go through live titles and yank them down, which is what happened with the 3 books we got back recently, that had been live for months.

Two of them weren't even mine (but did belong to a client of mine from whom I had done "proper" ePUBs); but he'd wanted to save money, and didn't go through an Aggregator, and went through Smashwords instead, using the Word file with an inline TOC. Those are the books that got kicked back to ME (which I didn't much appreciate, as Apple keeps track of those things).

So, seriously: if I were you, leave it. Get a copy ready that doesn't have an inline TOC for if/when you get caught, and then Transport the correct one. Given that you got it Transported w/o issues, I'd not mess with it.

Good luck! My post wasn't meant as a "scolding;" I was merely adding my thoughts on the ncx versus inline-TOC thing. In my experience, the inline TOC tends to be popular with writer-pubs who don't have actual devices, and therefore don't have the experience of using the far-easier method of getting around the book--I mean, it's easier to tap "TOC" on a NookColor, or a KindleFire, or K-2, or even iPad iBooks, than it is to page forward or back to the Chapter Head to click the link-back, if you think of it that way. ;-)

HTH,
Hitch

[Tango Mike]

Hitch:

Thank you for taking the time to embellish the intent of your previous email, and I totally understand and appreciate where you're coming from.

I had a few small edits I wanted to make in addition to fixing the TOC problem, so I elected to accept the combined advice from the forum and eliminate the manual TOC altogether. After solving a persistent (it's been going on for about five months) issue with iTunes' failure to authenticate my absolutely, positively, no-question-about-it valid ID and password (I did it by tricking them, heh, heh) I successfully delivered the new ePub yesterday.

From what you report, unfortunately, that doesn't mean much. I've never heard of Apple kicking back a book after it's been delivered and gone live, but nothing should surprise me when dealing with them. I guess the good news is that when it lands back in my lap after being regurgitated, I'll at the very least know it wasn't due to the inline TOC.

Thank you again for your expertise.

TangoMike

[st_albert]

Originally Posted by Tango Mike

From what you report, unfortunately, that doesn't mean much. I've never heard of Apple kicking back a book after it's been delivered and gone live, but nothing should surprise me when dealing with them. I guess the good news is that when it lands back in my lap after being regurgitated, I'll at the very least know it wasn't due to the inline TOC.

TangoMike

I can assure you they do yank live books. We've had it happen as well. They seem to constantly "adjust" their criteria of what constitutes an acceptable submission, and they don't grandfather in previously-acceptable books.

And I'll also agree with Hitch that Apple requires a lot of very high maintenance for a very small share of the e-book market.

[Tango Mike]

I originally decided to deal with Smashwords for trying to distribute to the iBookstore and then changed my mind. It was almost like accepting a challenge, since Apple makes it very clear they don't want to work with individuals.

In retrospect, I'm not quite sure why I did it, except for the philosophy that if anyone shows the slightest interest in buying my book, I'd like for them to have that opportunity, and that includes owners of the ever-present iWhatevers out there.

But especially with your experience in mind, it may be an example of an effort/reward ratio that simply isn't worth it.

Thanks for the feedback.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by st_albert

I can assure you they do yank live books. We've had it happen as well. They seem to constantly "adjust" their criteria of what constitutes an acceptable submission, and they don't grandfather in previously-acceptable books.

And I'll also agree with Hitch that Apple requires a lot of very high maintenance for a very small share of the e-book market.

Yes, @st_albert,

they do constantly move the goalposts. It's infuriating. I had a client book come back, that had been live for a year, because Apple decided his "graphs" weren't good enough. {shrug}. Not a damn thing I could do; his quality was his quality. Nothing I did would make those charts any better. They also rejected one of his books because the wording on his COVER was slightly different than the wording on his Title page, and he refused to change either.

I find Apple's attitude toward customer service abominable. I actually have an "iBooks charge" that I add to any customer who tells me that they are publishing to iBooks, OR, are planning on viewing their "Kindle" books on an iPad, because there is just so much outside of my control, which means I'll inevitably end up spending an extra hour or so on that particular book. OR the clients who can only use Pages...SSDD.

Hitch