How to edit book details
Some book details, or metadata, can be updated in iTunes Connect. Other fields are fixed, so you must contact us to make changes.
Update book details in iTunes Connect
Find your book in My Books and select the title to see the book detail page. Admin or Technical users can click Edit in the Metadata section and update one or more of the following fields:
- Title
- Subtitle
- Description
- Category Scheme
- Category
- If the book contains explicit content
- If the Pre-Order Preview (also known as the sample file) should be available during the pre-order period
- ISBN
After you click Submit, an inbound metadata ticket is generated and the updates are reviewed by the Book Review team. You should see updated metadata on Apple Books within 24 hours of approval.
If we need you to make changes, or if the edits you’ve requested don’t adhere to the Apple Books Formatting Guidelines, we will return the ticket in the Your Action Needed state for you to fix or in the Denied state.
Using HTML tags
To include formatting in your Description update, you need to include basic HTML tags:
<b>= bold font
<i>= italicized font
<br>= line break
For example, if you want the description to look like this on Apple Books:
The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths) and his journey home after the fall of Troy.
It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres (Greek: Μνηστῆρες) or Croci, who compete for Penelope’s hand in marriage.
Enter the description like this:
<b>The poem mainly centers on the Greek hero Odysseus (known as Ulysses in Roman myths) and his journey home after the fall of Troy.</b><br>
<br>
It takes Odysseus ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus must deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres (<i>Greek: Μνηστῆρες</i>) or Croci, who compete for Penelope’s hand in marriage.Don’t use the following HTML tags when updating the description, since these can cause issues on Apple Books:
<font>
<table>
<div>
<ol>
Also, make sure you don’t use escape HTML tags. For example, the string <B> appears as <B> in a description instead of making the text bold.
Update your sample in iTunes Connect
To update your sample file with a new custom sample file you’ll need to edit your book files. You cannot submit new files within iTunes Connect, but you can hide or change a sample.
Hide the sample during the pre-order period
Every book on Apple Books must have a sample when it is available for purchase. However, you’re not required to offer a sample during the pre-order period.
To hide your sample during pre-order:
- On your book detail page, click Edit next to Metadata.
- Deselect Offer Pre-Order Preview.
- Click Submit. The update should be visible on Apple Books within 24 hours.
Change a custom sample to an Apple-generated sample
If the full book file has been delivered, you can replace an existing sample with an auto-generated book sample.
To change your custom sample:
- On your book detail page, scroll to the Assets section.
- Under Preview, click View Details.
- Click Remove Publisher Preview to confirm your request.
The update should be visible on Apple Books within 24 hours.