Transcript for the 5/19/13 #storyappchat: iTunes Descriptions

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Quiet little chat last night, but still filled with good information, thought-provoking questions, and valuable opinions from the #storyappchat community. Peruse the chat in its entirety via the transcript above, and be sure to join us every Sunday evening at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT for high-quality discussion every week about storybook apps and ebooks for kids!

Transcript for the 5/5/13 #storyappchat: Eli Noyes

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What a treat it was to have Eli Noyes with us for this chat! He shared his experiences creating content for kids in a variety of different formats, as well as a look behind the scenes on his latest projects, Ruff’s Bone and the Raymond & Sheila books.

We also gave copies of both the Mac and the iOS versions of Ruff’s Bone to several fortunate winners during the chat! Grab the details in the transcript above, and remember we chat (nearly) every Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific.

NOTE: we are taking next week off to celebrate Mother’s Day. Join us on May 19 when we will discuss ways to make your iTunes description more effective. See you then!

Topic for the 4/14/13 #storyappchat: App Review and Curation Sites

We’re all familiar with app review sites. These are the places, usually run by parents as a labor of love, where you can (hopefully) get the owners to post a short review of your storybook app, helping to spread the word. Getting a favorable mention on one or more of these is essential to any app’s marketing and PR plan. Two of our favorites are (of course) Digital Storytime and The iMums, although there are many others.

But what about sites designed to curate apps? These are similar, but different in that instead of an actual review, usually your app is mentioned in a larger list of related apps, or placed in a category alongside similar, recommended apps. One example of this is the Appolicious site, where you can find reader-curated lists of all types, such as “Best iPad Apps for Teachers” and many more. In addition, sites like Pinterest aren’t exclusively focused on apps, but can serve as curation sites just the same.

Let’s talk about app review sites and app curation sites during the next #storyappchat this Sunday, April 14 at 9:00 p.m. ET/6:00 p.m. PT. It’s easy to take part in the chat: just start tweeting and include the #storyappchat hashtag! We’ll keep the lights on for you.

Transcript for the 4/7/13 #storyappchat: Karen Robertson

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The energy just crackled during this fantastic chat–Karen graciously shared her war stories and wisdom with the many attendees. Several people also included links to free and reduced-price books and apps too, so make sure you go over the transcript (above) with a fine-toothed comb. Special thanks to Karen Robertson for agreeing to guest host for us–I feel certain we will invite her back soon!

Join us next week (April 14) as we discuss the similarities and differences between app review sites and curation sites. We’ll kick things off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific, so put us on your schedule in pen!

Guest Host for the 4/7/13 #storyappchat: Karen Robertson

Like recent guest hosts Roxie Munro and Ron Martinez, Karen Robertson is a regular for our Sunday night chat sessions. She has two award-winning kid’s book apps in the Apple App Store: Treasure Kai and the Lost Gold of Shark Island and Treasure Kai and the Seven Cities of Gold, and keeps up an informative blog at her Digital Kids Author site.

Karen has also written several guides, books and seminars for folks interested in beginning the journey of kid’s app publishing. Her Author’s Guide to Book Apps is now on sale for half price, and she’s also put together several others focusing on marketing, promotion and how to choose an app developer for your project.

We are thrilled that Karen will join us this Sunday (April 7) as guest host for #storyappchat. Bring your questions about creating for the app space, marketing, promotion and more, and help us welcome Karen! It’ll all kick off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific. Don’t miss it!

Transcript for the 3/17/13 #storyappchat: Website as Marketing Tool

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We covered a lot of ground last night: from website basics to WordPress to blog tours! Big thanks to Annie Fox who popped in to tell us about her recent blog tour, and for all the others who came to share their expertise and war stories.

If you weren’t able to make it (or if you were and you just need a record of all the linky goodness), please enjoy the transcript above with our compliments. And be sure to join us next (and every) Sunday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific!

Topic for the 3/17/13 #storyappchat: Website as Marketing Tool

A website is a website is a website, right? I mean: everybody knows that as content creators, we need to have a website, with a few of the basic pages (About, Contact Us, Buy My App!), so when people want more information, it’ll be out there for the world (and all the search engines) to pick up?

Not so fast. Like any other good (dare I say essential?) marketing tool, the list of best practices for creating and maintaining a website evolves. What may have served admirably in 2006 could be outdated now. If you’ve recently revamped your site (or need to), or are just getting yours off the ground, this is the chat for you!

Let’s compile our own list of Marketing Website Best Practices during the next #storyappchat, THIS Sunday (St. Patrick’s Day! March 17) at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific. Just start using the #storyappchat hashtag on Twitter to join us, OK?

Transcript for the 3/3/13 #storyappchat: Beyond Facebook & Twitter

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We went way, way beyond the well-known social media tools this week. Take a gander at the transcript above to get the scoop.

In addition to the wisdom shared in real-time via the transcript, Roxie Munro was kind enough to take a couple of screen shots of the LinkedIn groups she finds most useful:

Thanks, Roxie!

Don’t miss the next #storyappchat: we’re doing a joint discussion with @KarenNemethEdM and the folks at #ecetechchat! More details tomorrow, but make plans now to join us, kay?

Topic for the 3/3/13 #storyappchat: Beyond Facebook and Twitter

We’ve had a couple of people pipe up in our chats lately about ways in which they’re using some of the social media tools besides Facebook and Twitter to promote their recent projects. Some of the sites mentioned were LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and others. So we thought it was high time we took a closer look at some of these other offerings, and how they can best be used to promote/market/build community around the electronic stories we’re creating.

Let’s go Beyond Facebook and Twitter this Sunday evening (March 3) at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific. Simply include the #storyappchat hashtag in your tweets to join us!

Transcript for the 2/10/13 #storyappchat: Discoverability

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The general consensus from last night seems to be that we’re in a bubble of sorts, with lots of people crowding the app and ebook marketplace. Adam Winsor said it best when he summarized the chat in this tweet:

Thanks all! Conclusion: Wait out the gold rush, make high-quality apps, seek international and niche markets. #storyappchat

— Adam Winsor (@drawbeard) February 11, 2013

For those who might like a little more detail, feel free to peruse the transcript of last night’s chatter above.

And don’t miss next week’s chat about… Music! It’ll kick off at 9:00 p.m. Eastern/6:00 p.m. Pacific time next Sunday, February 17. See you then!