This is the second book I published, but it's the first book I published as the sole author. It's also the first book I did exclusively on iBooks or in the ebook format. It's very nice and liberating to control every aspect of the publishing process from start to finish. My first book I paid $900 for an editor to do very little, but tell me what to do. Beware of those self publishing book companies and I'm not talking the major players like Lulu or anything, but the smaller mom & pop places. Total rip off IMO. This time, I discovered the joy of iBooks Author, its powerful editor and capabilities. Its seamless widgets that work together and provide great creative freedom. I combined all my tool set with Pages, Keynote, Hype 3, Bookwidgets, iAds Producer, Logic Pro X, Creative Cloud Stock images, my iPad Pro with Adobe Sketches, the Apple Pencil, Photoshop, Indesign, and Illustrator. It was an incredibly creative experience that I really enjoyed immensely.
Once I was finished I thought about exporting it to PUB3 format and putting it on a Kindle and all the other places, but why ruin the integrity of the experience? While PUB3 can have some interesting features, I didn't want to program my book, I wanted to illustrate it and savor the words that flowed from it. I wanted to worry more about content and context then HTML and SMIL. iBooks Author allowed me to do just that. With children's books it's much different than with normal novels.
Children have a short attention span and are guided by visualization and auditory stimuli. Why a kindle can have certain feature it doesn't have the chops that an iPad has nor does it run as smoothly and as powerful as an iPad. With the entry level of iPads falling below the $300 range its a matter of time before many parents discover the wonders of Apples iPad for their kids. Also, I can publish a book for iBooks and it's pretty much going to run on all iPads. It also runs on iPhones, and Macs. Haters will hate, but i wouldn't let my kid use an Android device or Samsung phone just for the sheer amount of bad apps, privacy issues, and problems with the multitude of things encompassing that device type. It's not a real good device for kids. Yes it's as configurable as Windows, but kids need structure. Kindle is a pretty great device because it too is structured. But the Kindle Kids' Book Creator is pretty stripped down as are Kindle Books. I wanted vivid colors and rich media or at least the choice to offer it. I wanted games the kids could play and drawing pads for tracing or getting creative. My book is a book for kids and is something a parent would want their child to have. I also thought about the parents. I wanted a book that not only would be educational, but fun for hours. Yes you can sit with your child and read it which I encourage. Kids need to be read to. They blossom and build that memory that they will take to their children. It's essential to a well versed, well spoken child. Read to your kids folks.
Anyways I'm ranting as always. I hope you like my blog, but if you have something to say spit it out. Don't be shy. Don't spam me either because you won't make it past my moderator so deal with it.
Later.
K.
