How to Publish Your Book as a Book App

How to Publish Your Book as a Book App The 3 Most Common FAQs Karen Robertson www.treasurekai.com Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 1 Welcom...
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How to Publish Your Book as a Book App The 3 Most Common FAQs

Karen Robertson www.treasurekai.com

Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 1

Welcome! My name is Karen Robertson and I’m the author of two award-winning children’s book apps, numerous eBooks about how to create and market a book app, and an international speaker and lecturer on the topic. Turning my book into a book app has changed my career, giving my work a new level of creativity, access to a global audience and freedom from the challenges of distribution and managing inventory. When I asked my subscribers what their most burning questions were about publishing their books as book apps, I had hundreds of responses. But there were three types of questions that were by far the most common. This report features four blog posts I wrote answering the most important question first, and then the three most common questions: 1. What if I'm not "technical"? Is creating a book app really an option for me? 2. It all seems so complicated. How do I do this and where can I get help? What if I have questions about my own specific project? 3. How much does it cost to create a book app and how much money can I make? Before tackling these, I’ll address the most important question posed by Scott Lorenz which seems like a great starting point, "Why does an author need a book app?" So starting from “What and Why?” here is a brief response to “What and Why?”

Why Does an Author Need a Book App? What is a Book App? An eBook? Both are digital forms of books. From a reader’s perspective, an eBook is a book that simply presents the content in a digital form. Enhanced eBooks are eBooks that include additional content like video and audio files. A book app is “an eBook on steroids” and the key differentiating factor is that it brings interactivity into the reading experience. So the reader might touch something to trigger an animation, sound, or even to progress or change the story. Book apps can also include text highlighting, narration and music to deliver a multi-sensory reading experience.

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What Types of Books Can be Made into Apps? Books with visuals like illustrated picture books are ideal. As are books with a lot of additional content to share. A novel would not be published as a book app. Who Can Create an App? Anyone who owns their digital rights. Unpublished, self-published and out-of-print books can be published as book apps. Five Reasons to Create a Book App 1. It’s a way to publish your book! If you want your story in a form so others can read it, this is a legitimate publishing option. 2. Distribution is guaranteed. Once your book app is approved, it will be available in the App Store for download. There are no guarantees securing distribution for printed books! 3. Global reach – you can easily market and sell to a global market. 4. Immediate and unlimited sales potential – when someone buys your app, they get it immediately. And the number of book apps you can sell is unlimited! 5. Creative freedom Two Reasons NOT to Create a Book App 1. If you’re not committed to quality, don’t create a book app. In fact, don’t publish at all! 2. If you’re not prepared to market your book app, then don’t create it. Apps aren’t a license to print money. Marketing is essential!

Now let’s tackle the Top 3 FAQs! FAQ 1. What if I'm not "technical"? Is creating a book app really an option for me? If you're one of those writers who's not in to technology, gadgets, programming and other techy stuff, you might look at digital publishing and wonder how you could possibly make it happen for your book. When I asked my readers what their most burning questions were about publishing their stories as book apps, the most common question by far was about how someone who doesn't "get" Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 3

technology could do this. I loved the way T.E. Watson put it, "Can this be done by mere mortals?" :-D Believe me, no one is more surprised than I am that I've published three books as book apps (two of my own and one for another author). I'm one of those people who uses about 5% of my iPhone's functionality for goodness sake. But if I can do it, you can too. In fact, all of my eBooks and workshops are designed for the non-techie writer. When someone contacts me to ask about what software they should be using to program their app (Kwik, Corona, iOS, Phonegap, etc.), I tell them that's not my area of expertise, because it's not! So in this post, I'm going to address the two most common "techie" issues regarding creating book apps: 1. Help! I'm stopped by "The How" 2. How do I get the programming/development done? 1. Don't get stopped by "The How" The first thing that usually stops writers who want to create apps is they are stuck at "the how." They aren't programmers and they have no idea where to start on this type of project. Here's the great news. Others have already figured out "The How" so you don't have to reinvent the wheel. Publishing a book app is a step-by-step process and the first step is to understand what's involved so it doesn't seem so daunting. I've defined a step-by step system that walks you through the process and I call it "The D-R-E-AM System." D = Define your objectives and get educated (so the first thing to do is to understand why you want to create a book app and understand what is involved). R = Review your story and create your brief (you have to know what you want to create before you can talk to a developer about creating it for you. This is a simple, step-by-step process as well). E = Evaluate Developers (often the scariest step for writers until they realize that if they understand what questions they need to ask themselves and what their options are, it's easy to choose the right resource (see more below). A = Assemble you assets -story, illustrations, narration, sound effects, music (again, daunting until you find out how and where to get these things done) Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 4

M = Manage your project to completion (super important to save sanity, money, time and relationships) 2. How do I get the programming/development done? For many writers, this is the scariest part. First, you do NOT have to know how to program to publish your book as a book app. Second, there's never been a better time to create a book app because there are now so many development options. You can:    

Use a Do-It-Yourself tool that doesn't require programming Hire a book app developer specialist Work with a more general developer Work with a personal contact or individual

The best way to see proof that there are numerous ways to get a book app developed is to read the eBook, "What is a Book App and Could YOU Create One? How 27 Writers Did!" It includes the personal stories of how nearly 50 writers, most of them "non techie," turned their books into book apps. Some used DIY tools. Some hired book app specialists. Others worked with personal contacts or other types of developers.

Deciding which approach for you is a step-by-step process. You can simply answer questions from my checklist (in the eBook) and the right approach for you will clearly emerge.

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If you are at the pointy end of choosing a developer, you might find my “Choosing a Developer System” resources helpful because it explains how to decide which type of developer is right for you and includes a list of developers and DIY tools.

FAQ2. 2. It all seems so complicated. How do I do this and where can I get help? What if I have questions about my own specific project? "I would want to know the steps." Yvette "Is it possible to create this on my own, or is the only option to work with a publisher, or programmer?" Brenda "Am I going to receive help as I go along? In what form/ how can I access help?" Janina I’ve already covered the step-by-step process for how you create a book app. In this blog post, I'm going to talk about why you don't have to be alone in this journey and three ways you can get help. A Bit of Background When my friend and I started working to publish my book, "Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island," as a book app in 2010, we had NO IDEA how to go about such a project. We made things up as we went. There were no guides, no resource lists, no book app specialist companies or DIY software for creating book apps and no community that we could find. But we were determined and made the project happen. We also made a very big mistake! "Treasure Kai" launched in February 2011. Just three weeks later, the iPad 2 was released and we found that occasionally, a bug would occur in our app. We asked our developer to fix it, but when he couldn't find a quick fix, he wouldn't commit to a time frame for fixing it. Why? Because he'd moved on to another job and we hadn't negotiated how bug fixes would be managed when we contracted with him. We were out of market for 10 weeks (and my husband is the one who finally fixed the app). That 10-week period was one of the most stressful in my professional life, and not knowing what I didn't know about creating book apps, cost us a lot of time and money! At the same time, I started being asked to write and speak about how we'd published "Treasure Kai" as an app (I was one of the first authors in Australia to do so). I found that articles and speeches barely scratched the surface of what people needed to know. We'd done some things really right with our book app and made a few mistakes. That's when I sat down to write the first edition of "Author's Guide to Book Apps."

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I was shocked when just six months later; I started receiving emails from people saying they'd used "Author's Guide" to create their own book apps. They were so grateful and excited to have had the information, and they started sharing with me what other information they wished they would have had. This feedback is what inspired me to go on to write five updates of "Author's Guide," write additional eBooks, do workshops, start coaching and create the Digital Kid's Author site. 3 Ways YOU Can Get Help When it comes to publishing your book as an app, you have three choices to get help if you want it: 1. Content 2. Community 3. Coaching 1. Content There is a lot of content about writing children's books, publishing eBooks, creating book apps, choosing developers, etc. There are articles, eBooks, workshops and courses. Save yourself time and money by getting educated about what you are trying to do! You can do a Google search on what you are trying to learn about, search on Amazon and post conversations on LinkedIn groups. There is no reason for you to reinvent the wheel!! Here are some resources I like: Book App Alliance – industry organization for book app authors and book app fans Children's Book Insider - the super site for children's writing Digital Storytime - review site for story book apps (this site no longer reviews apps but is a treasure trove of terrific book apps) Moms with Apps - industry leader in best practice for creating apps for kids The iMums- review site for family friendly apps Independent Book Publishers Association - super site for independent and self-publishers Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) - industry organization for children's publishing, writing and illustrating Digital Book World - all about Digital Publishing

2. Community Another great way to get help on your project, get your questions answered, find reliable suppliers and avoid pitfalls is to connect with other people who have done what you want to do, or are doing what you want to do. Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 7

3. Coaching Finally, the quickest way to get individual help (but also usually the most expensive) is coaching. Being able to get help for your specific issues on your specific project can save you hours of work and lots of money.

FAQ3: How much does it cost to create a book app? Let's tackle the first one first: How Much Does it Cost to Make a Book App? This really is a how-long-is-a-piece-of-string question and depends on so many things. It depends on: - What type of book app you create. How many pages will the book app be? How interactive it is? What functionality does it have, etc. - What work you do yourself and what work you outsource - The commercial arrangement you have with your suppliers (fee for service, revenue share on sales or a combination of the two). I know writers who have created book apps for less than $500 because they've negotiated revenue-share deals with suppliers, created assets themselves and used a do-it-yourself program to develop the app. But they've spent hundreds of man hours. And I know writers who have spent several thousand dollars because they've paid fee for service for assets like illustrations, narration and sound, and outsourced their development. To help you really get a feel for this, I suggest you have a look at my eBook, "What is a Book App and Could YOU Create One? How 27 Writers Did!" Most of the 27 writers who were interviewed for the book talked about their costs and the type of developer they used. You will learn so much from their stories and that will save you a lot of time and money. Because I wrote this eBook to be a low-risk introduction to book apps and wanted to showcase the work of dozens of people I've worked with, it's very inexpensive. Here is a list of line items you need to budget for and a few comments about each. Editing Having a well-edited story is essential. This is a line item you might need to budget for. NOTE: this is something you need to budget for regardless of what format you self-publish for (print, print-on-demand, eBook for book app!). Of course, if you work with a traditional publisher, you don't pay for editing. Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 8

How much does an editor cost? It depends on the length of your story and what type of editing you need. Do you need a structural edit (so an editor to review the story for flow, continuity, etc.) or just a copy edit/proofreading. Editing can cost a couple of hundred dollars to a thousand or more. But without a well-written and terrific story, your app has very little chance of success! Illustrations Quality illustrations are also essential and like editing, are an asset you will need regardless of the format you publish in. Here are some things to consider though:  

If your book is already published a print book or eBook, you can use that art If the art is "flat" (so is in a format where the art doesn't have layers that will allow for animations to be created), then you might need to budget to have layers created for the art. This is easy to do and doesn't have to be expensive! You can show your existing art to your developer and talk with him/her about the best approach for your art. He/she might be able to work with it as it is  If you don't have illustrations, you will most likely need them (or visuals of some type), so you will need to budget for them. There are a number of ways to find an illustration and I talk about those in depth elsewhere How much are illustrations? It depends (you're going to get tired of seeing those words!). I know writers who have paid nothing up front because they have a revenue share deal. Authors who have paid thousands of dollars for a professional illustrator. And ranges in between. Narration One of the most underestimated components of a book app is narration. Bad narration will kill an app. Kids simply won't enjoy listening to it. Many writers think that they or their spouse could narrate because they have a "great" voice. Believe me, not many really do! And you can tell when a book app creator has skipped a professional narrator. It can be charming to have an author's voice as an option in an app. However, I highly recommend hiring a professional voice artist and including a professional narration as well. How much to budget for depends on how long your book is, how many character voices you have (if any) and whom you work with. You can find terrific, cost-effective voice artists on sites like voices123.com and voices.com.

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Sound Effects Sound effects don't have to cost much at all, if anything. I know writers who have created their own, leveraged friends' sound libraries or bought royalty-free sounds for very little money. I've bought royalty free sounds for just a few dollars from different sites that specialize in this area. Music You don't have to have music in your app, however it can really add to mood and create a cinematic feel if that's your goal.  

Use no music Create your own music (I know several writers who created their own or worked with a family member to do so)  Buy royalty free music (this isn't very expensive but can take a lot of time searching through sound/music libraries to find the right track)  Have an original score written for your app Music costs can vary from nothing, to hundreds of dollars, depending on with whom you work. Development This is the area that is most impacted by the type of app you create and the type of developer you work with. There are do-it-yourself book app specialist programs (DIY) that are free to use and charge a small fee when you publish. These cost you very little but time. There are developers that will do a revenue share arrangement or a part-revenue share arrangement with you. And there are developers that will only accept fee for service. The factors that will influence cost are:    

The number and types of animations you have The number of pages your book is What functionality you require If you require custom programming to add interactivity, games, bonus content, etc.

Again, I encourage you to read the author interviews in "What is a Book App and Could YOU Create One? How 27 Writers Did!" Copyright 2016 * Karen Robertson * Page 10

Marketing I've included marketing as a budget line item because marketing is absolutely essential and this is the perfect segue to the next section on how much money you can make. There are a lot of free ways you can market your app (free from cost but not free from time). That's a whole different blog post though!

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