Show HN: Create, publish and make money on your own iOS publication
uninkd.com
uninkd.com
1) I'm not clear about how the web functionality works. The demo suggests that all articles will be available online. Are those freely available, or are they only free if people share the links?
2) Can I charge a subscription that effectively lasts forever (i.e. more like a one-time fee for readers)?
3) Do subscribers have access to all previous content?
4) Is this only for US citizens? I'm in the UK.
(edit: added q4)
Thanks for the questions :-).
1. Seems like there's a bit of confusion on the web-functionality. There will be no "main directory" for your magazine, so people won't be able to browse all the content of your magazine, that they'd otherwise have to pay for through the app.
In the app, you can share an article on Facebook or Twitter. More specifically, you'll be sharing a link to an online version of the article. So people can read THAT specific article, but there is no easy way for them to read the other articles in that issue.
2. All newsstand magazines must have a subscription. This can be a free subscription though, that does not necessarily provide access to any content. You can sell single issues as well, if that would be interesting.
3. That is the plan, yes. Let me know if that's a deal-breaker and how you would like to have it instead.
4. We need to transfer the revenues to a bank and we are using Stripe for that. As far as I know, Stripe requires you to have a US bank.
Do you have an online magazine already?
2. Right, but could I have a non-renewing annual subscription? I'll explain why below.
3. Not a problem for me but probably would be for others.
4. Definitely a problem. If you can, you should think about doing manual Paypal payments for at least some non-US users. There wouldn't be that many to start with anyway.
I have a book ("A History of the Future in 100 Objects") that's being published later this year; I'm planning to serialise it as a Newsstand publication as well and have been working with a rival of yours ;) But I'm keen to see what you guys do.
(Demo bug report: I'm pretty sure I'm signed in but I'm still seeing the 'Sign up and save' form at the top. Also, your "Remember to upvote" box appears to be sitting on top of the place where your walkthrough claims I should be able to preview my magazine. Finally, clicking 'Publish' results in a NoMethodError)
(Edit: Yep, pretty sure the registration/login/demo stuff isn't working. My 'demo' app has been saved but when I log in I can't edit it any more. Would advise fixing/removing quickly lest you anger other users. Good job I only spent 5 minutes on mine!)
2. You can't have non-renewing subscription in a newsstand magazine. Apple doesn't allow that.
4. Can you hit me with an email - Holger@Uninkd.com - telling me a bit more about what you plan to do. Would love to see if we'd be a good fit.
Which browser are you using? We still have a bit of issues with Firefox (we suggest chrome).
What did you do with the login/demo? Clicked "Try Demo" and and signed up in the upper right corner?
Granted, this might be an edge case but is still cause for concern.
Hit me with an email - Holger@Uninkd.com - if you are planning to release a magazine, but this is a deal breaker.
The thing that is mainly taking me aback is your pricing. I had settled on a much higher one (kind of)... That would be one-time 300$ for publication and 5% revenue but without the cap. Although the cap is amazing for big publishers I would avoid it for the complexity added to the pricing model.
There is great value there why is you guys's pricing so low? Is it because all the features are not yet developed, and are you then planning on increasing the pricing in the future? What are you thoughts about the pricing suggested above?
(we used to sell copies of famous editing software thrice the price to individuals. Things are sure evolving!)
The reason we have the cap on the percentages, is that we don't want to scare guys who already have a semi-established magazine away. I think even 5% (no cap) would scare a lot of more established magazines away. But that's just my guess.
I would highly suggest adding either PDF support or a way to import from a blog's RSS feed. That will let you target smaller publishers.
Also, have you seen kits like this? http://www.binpress.com/app/ipad-newsstand-pdf-starter-kit/1...
We're not going to support PDF's either. We're not planning to at least. Seems like the result looks and feels clumsy. There are also solutions for that out there now (as you linked to).
The problem with those kits, is that you still have to deal with all the technical stuff yourself. Setting up a server of some sort, opening a developer account, handling Apple certificates and so on. In other words, you will most likely still need an iOS dev, even though you bought the kit.
One of the real challenges with Newsstand apps is the conversion of users (downloaded the app) to paying subscribers (monthly, annually). I've seen conversion rates as low as 1% (not including churn) for some very established publications.
So the challenge isn't just getting the eyeballs, its keeping and charging them to make a business. There are some techniques you can use that make an impact.
CTO and co-founder of Uninkd here...
What did you mean by "You couldn't remove it"?
We know the whole situation with newsstand, but magazines like - http://the-magazine.org - have really managed to create a good deal of subscribers.
I don't like most newsstand magazines either. Many of them seem like they have been converted from a pdf. I think we have managed to find a nice format to release your magazine on.
I assume he means that Newsstand cannot be deleted or moved into another folder.
Not really. In iOS 7 Newsstand can be moved into a folder, it still can't be deleted or turned off.
I can see problems arising since Uninkd essentially owns the app but is licensing use of the publishing platform. This leaves the author out of the various sales details and metadata that iTunes Connect offers.
edit: I would also update your revenue calculator to factor in the various fees.
All your issues articles, are available online via uninkd as well. So when people share an article on Facebook or Twitter, they'll share a link to the online article.
When it comes to analytics, we haven't implemented anything yet. It is something we want to do in the near future though and for now, we could give you access to and App Annie account where you can see all the analytics on the app you could wish for.
We are still developing the product and we have been thinking about making it optional.
Hit me with an email if you want to tell me more about what you need and how we could accommodate what you do - Holger@Uninkd.com
The reason we are not implementing a signup when reading articles, is that it would make it impossible for your magazine to be shared. People want to share what they read and they often have friends who are interested in the same things. Those friends are all potential subscribers and it would be a big barrier for them if they had to subscribe in the app before they could read a single article.
If the subscription also allowed a user to view the articles online, I'd be fine with that.
We think it's too much of a barrier if people have to sign in to read a single article.
There won't be a single place where people can find all of your articles though. They will only be visible through people who share them.
Enabling people to easily share and let their friends read a single article gives your magazine a chance to spread.
As for payment processing, is everything published under the uninkd banner and then payments sent from there? If not, how does uninkd collect the fees?
You will get your very own app, but it will be published under the Uninkd banner. The publishers name is writting in very small letters though :-).
We collect all the fees and send them on to you. We'll never take more than $149.50 though.
Publishing through us might not seem like a perfect solution for some, but it ensures that we can update and add new features very easily.
Look at what ChowNow is doing for example: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/chownow/id553996348
What about issues after the first one? Do they cost an additional $99 per issue?
The $99 release fee is a ONE TIME FEE. You pay it once you have a magazine online and want to release it to the app store. You can release as many issues as you wish after that.