Having trouble with iTunes Connect? Well, up to this point, you’ve been pretty much out of luck. Documentation is lacking, support over web form is awful, and it’s thousands of dollars to meet with Apple engineers in person at WWDC. Fear not, Apple has officially implemented a phone support line for iBook publishers. According to Macworld, an incredibly slow webform was really the only way to get support previously. Now, publishers can get in contact with Apple support from 7 AM to 5 PM PT from Monday to Friday. This move alone has taken the iBookstore’s support from eye-rollingly bad to quite acceptable.
It won’t solve every problem, but at least you know that you’re dealing with an actual human. That’s not something that Amazon’s Kindle service can say. While this isn’t a panacea, it will lead to problems being dealt with much faster, and that is important if you plan on making a living with digital publishing. The number is toll-free for American and Canadian publishers, but your mileage may vary if you’re calling from someplace else.
This is, without a doubt, fantastic news. A responsive support department is vital to convincing more writers and companies to start using iBooks to publish their books. Yes, flow of cash is priority number one, but reliability, ease of use, and trust are important. Frankly, Apple is running circles around Amazon in those departments now. Let’s hope Amazon responds appropriately.
Source: Macworld
Image Credit: Katy Warner