iBooks Coming to Japan, Smashwords Direct Supports EPUB Uploads

Apple is finally bringing its iBookstore to Japan very soon. At least that’s what Nikkei is reporting. Customers in that country will soon be able to purchase books directly on their iPads. iBooks will have over 80k titles from Japanese publishers from the get go. Kobo, Amazon, and Google have already gotten involved in this market. But considering that Apple has around 60% market share in Japan, this should be a good move for the company.

Many folks use services such as Smashwords to sell their e-books online. Those of you who are a fan of this service should know that Smashwords Direct now allows authors to publish their work online using formatted EPUB files. The services gives you two ways to upload EPUB: you could either replace Smashwords-generated EPUB with your own or upload new EPUB files instead of a Word document. Make sure your study the Smashwords Style Guide before getting started though.