My first iPad Photo Book Application - is this the right way to go?

[shotworldwide]

Hi there, this is my first post.
Apple just approved my first iPad/iPhone/iPod application: http://t.co/KMccM9L I believe that I am among the first five photographers/companies (like National Geographic of course) publishing their photographs this way. Do you think this is the right way to go in the future?

[Graham Mitchell]

It looks like a nice idea and I wish you luck with it. Does the app store take a cut of the sales?

[shotworldwide]

Yes, of course. They take 30%. But I do not complain as they have created this new market.

[Graham Mitchell]

Did you use ePub to create the book?

[shotworldwide]

This is not ePub format. You need to create this application by yourself or hire someone to do it for you. This is something like a software. Apple provides a lot of "how to" videos.

[Graham Mitchell]

Ok, so it's an app rather than a book

[shotworldwide]

Is ePub a book? You can't create ilegal copies from my Photo Book Application. I see the future of digital publishing here. Big publishing houses do not publish their magazines or books in ePub format but they started to create their own iPad Applications ...

[Graham Mitchell]

One comment about your book app - I didn't see how many pages/images I would get. It's quite normal to specify that and reassuring for the purchaser.

[shotworldwide]

Yes, I was thinking about this. But I will offer several applications for same price. Obviously I am not going to keep exact amount of pictures in each one so people will start to ask me "why this application has 100 images and this one only 99?" I am looking for people who are enjoying photography ...

[Graham Mitchell]

Yes, I was thinking about this. But I will offer several applications for same price. Obviously I am not going to keep exact amount of pictures in each one so people will start to ask me "why this application has 100 images and this one only 99?" I am looking for people who are enjoying photography ...

I doubt people will bother about that sort of thing. At the moment, it's impossible to tell whether it's a book of 5 or 500 images. That matters.

[shotworldwide]

I am receiving a lot of positive feedback and no one mentioned the amount of images except you. I am aware that I am not able to make happy everyone. There is 89 images in my book.

[shotworldwide]

Well, I am proud to announce that Apple just approved my second Photo Book Application. This time dedicated to Antarctica:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/antarctica-photo-book/id494604106?ls=1&mt=8

Application improves device orientation support and overall user experience. You can print your favorite images on your home printer (for personal use only). Updated Santorini Photo Book version of my previous application is waiting to be approved by Apple.

I am sure that this is going to be a future way of publishing our work. You don't need a publisher. You can take things to your own hands ...

 

[jjj]

Congrats on getting this done. This is an approach I have been considering for quite some time. But trying to find out clear costs to make an app and get approved by Apple seem hard to find it seems.
As well as a content creation, that I feel will do what I want.

[shotworldwide]

Thanks, jjj. I have a great solution now. If you like I can help you publish your own app. You can find my e-mail on my website http://shotworldwide.com or just add "info" in the front of my domain name

[Gordon Buck]

Blurb now offers an ebook for Apple's iBook.  I've converted some of my Blurb printed books to Blurb ebook and the ebook is ok although I'll concede not great (obviously a Blurb problem and not a problem with the author!).  To me, the Blurb ebook feels more like a pdf than an "app" book.  Even so, I'm glad Blurb offers this new format.

[sbay]

How does having a photo app differ from the new functionality provided by ibook author?

[shotworldwide]

If I understood correctly, Apple is going to create a new environment for iBook author. You need a new Apple's account (Apple's ID) which should be free. The format for iBook author is going to be similar to ePub, but it should be Apple's own format. EPub format doesn't display images in a "nice" way - it was created mainly for written books, not for image books.

You have three options, how to publish with Apple for their iOS devices now:

- ordinary apps (like I have) - published in App Store
- newsstand apps (mainly subscriptions based magazines - periodical content) - published in Newsstand
- iBooks - ePub format - mainly for text books - published in iBooks

This is how I understand Apple's strategy and I don't have to be necessary right ...

[sbay]

it was created mainly for written books, not for image books.

To be a little more clear, what I am wondering about is what functionality you used in an app photo book that couldn't be replicated in ibooks2. For example, in ibooks 2 it looks like you can now embed videos and animations which to my knowledge wasn't possible before. The summary on your link suggests that you can order prints directly from your app. Is this something that cannot be done in an ibook2? are there other functions that make using an true app desirable over ibooks if one wanted to publish a photo book?

[shotworldwide]

The "Print" button is for printing on your home printer.

Well, Apple came up with their new system couple of days ago ... In the case, that your images will look OK in this kind of ePub format, you can create your books with this tool.

But I read, that iBooks can be huge as 2GB per book - my app has 36,5 MB and contains 78 pages.

People complained about the usual size of iPad magazines - which is approximately 500 MB (with videos). Who is going to download 2 GB?

I am not saying that my solution is the best ... please consider, that you need to prepare your book and it will take a time. And they came up with this new technology three days ago ... I would say in the same time  when I released may application  

[Gary Brown]

Well, Apple came up with their new system couple of days ago ... In the case, that your images will look OK in this kind of ePub format, you can create your books with this tool.

I'm not sure if this is referring to the software under discussion here, but just in case it is, you might want to read: If you publish with iBooks Author, does Apple ‘own’ you?

“This week Apple announced a new textbook App called iBooks 2, as well as iBooks Author, a new book publishing app that allows normal people with little to no coding know-how to create impressive ebooks complete with photo galleries, video, 3-D images and other super cool graphic elements.

“Nothing too controversial there, right? Wrong. By Thursday afternoon, tech bloggers began to complain  about a clause in iBook Author's End User Licence Agreement that restricts how resulting ebooks can be sold, and by Friday the torrent of anger reached a fever pitch.”