Apple announced a great new e-book creation tool this morning – iBooks Author (free, Mac App Store). The new Mac app allows you to easily create interactive books to be distributed on the iBookstore, and is made to compliment and work alongside Apple’s iWork productivity suite.
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 features a number of pre-made templates for you to create new content, as well as allowing you to import existing content. It also allows you to embed interactive elements such as 3D models, and can embed Keynote presentations into books as interactive widgets. You can even preview books on your iPad before submitting them to the iBookstore.
iBooks Author is available now as a free download on the Mac App Store (link).