any ipad publishers out there? advice on formats

[thecount]

well, getting my new ipad2 soon and we want to look at ipad magazine publishing and don't really know where to start? There seems so many options out there for getting either static print magazines online and producing more interactive versions as well.

Any got any sound advice so we can fast track this so we don't go down certain routes?

Thanks

 

[Tarkio]

well, getting my new ipad2 soon and we want to look at ipad magazine publishing and don't really know where to start? There seems so many options out there for getting either static print magazines online and producing more interactive versions as well.

Any got any sound advice so we can fast track this so we don't go down certain routes?

Thanks

There is no fast track on this. Be prepared to do a lot or research.

Some publishers build their own proprietary document viewer app (New York Times, The Daily, etc.), but most magazine publishers have gone with the Adobe digital publishing solution. It used to be proprietary for just the big commercial publishers, but Adobe will be launching the software for smaller users.

They had a free beta version but I believe the beta program has ended. We used the beta software to build a prototype magazine, and now we're waiting to here what final prices will be.

Here's a quick summary to get you started:

The Adobe digital content software only works with Adobe InDesign, you need to buy that.
You can only lease the bundler software from Adobe, about $700 per month.
If your magazine is published on iTunes, you pay for each copy of the magazine that is downloaded by a customer, about 22 cents per download with a minimum prepay of about $5,000 per publication.
You can use the leased bundler software and InDesign to create the magazine which ends up as a .folio file and avoid the download fee by self-distribution and not using iTunes. The customer will need to download the .folio file and the free adobe content viewer app that's available in the iPad app store (not a particularly user-friendly solution.)

The final product rocks. We had several videos, web links, slide shows, audio tracks and text on each page. Download an issue of Wired Magazine to see how the viewer software works. You will be able to do everything you see in that publication.

Best of luck. Google is your friend on this!

 

[WebProMag]

Still no solution for the small guy

Tarkio,
This is exactly where I'm stuck in my digital publishing effort, distribution.

I jumped right into learning InDesign and managed to create a demo version of my own mag or at least begin to after I got a grip on ID. I was able to create the .folio file and view it with the free adobe viewer app however that is where my journey ends.

it's taken me quite a bit of esearch just to determine how exactly you even get a dig mag file created. Im using the free tools from adobe in the digital publishing suite however in order to get the magazine bundled into a package that I can distribute I have to fork over tons of cash. So this still isn't a medium that is available to the indie-publisher unfortunatLey at least not from what I have been able to determine thus far.

I've looked into other ways to get the file like Woodwing and Mag+ but they are also very expensive. Again no options for the small guy.

I was hoping to be able to create the folio file, host it on my own server and have people download it and view it with the free viewer app. This would be a very clunky way to do it and difficult for the end user but at least I could publish a fully functional digital magazine on a tight budget. But now I've figured out that even that isn't possible because the folio file only exists on the adobe server. Ugh.

Somat this point I see no options for someone who wants to publish their own magazine on par with the functionality of the Martha Stewart or Wired mags. We can create them with ID (if you can even afford that) but then even if you can, you can't publish. Iwas hoping this would be more like my profession of podcasting where we have true media democratization but unless you know of another way to publish, then I guess not.

I have seen one startup called PadCMS which is an open source project that I think wants to tackle this problem but I also have no idea if that is dead or still coming. It's hard to tell from their site and I've emailed one of the programmers but haven't heard back so I don't have much hope.

Have you found out any more that would help us small guys distribute the same quality content?

Thanks