Apple Discontinuing iBooks Author on July 1, Encourages Writers to Transition to Pages

Apple today sent out an email to iBooks Author users, letting them know that the Mac app is being discontinued on July 1 and removed from the App Store.

In the email, Apple says that following the inclusion of book creation tools in Pages, the company's new focus will be on developing features for the Pages app.

Thank you for being a member of the iBooks Author community. We have some news to share with you about the future of book creation.

Two years ago we brought book creation into Pages. With key features such as the ability to work on iPad, collaborate with others on a shared book, draw with Apple Pencil, and more, Pages is a great platform for making books.

As we focus our efforts on Pages, iBooks Author will no longer be updated and will soon be removed from the Mac App Store. You can continue to use iBooks Author on macOS 10.15 and earlier, and books previously published to Apple Books will remain available. If you have iBooks Author books you'd like to import into Pages for further editing, we have a book import feature coming to Pages soon.

Apple says that iBooks Author will continue to be available on macOS 10.15 and earlier for those who have already installed the apps, and books that were published to Apple Books will remain available.

In the future, Apple plans to add an import feature to Pages to allow books to be imported into the app, and a support document covers details on how users can transition from the ‌iBooks‌ Author app to the Pages app.

Apple first debuted iBooks Author for to allow Mac users to create ebooks in 2012, providing tools for creating textbooks, cookbooks, picture books, and more for the iPad. Apple offered templates and page layout options, along with drag and drop editing tools, but most of those features are now available in Pages.