Iām wondering, is A Book About Hype helping people? Iām still seeing book sales, but the reviews have stopped. Did the information in the book lead to an awesome project? Did it save you time? Did you get better at JavaScript? Did you just play with the bouncing ball?
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Hi Michael,
yes, itās helping 
- As a developer, I wasnāt looking for an introduction to Javascript and Iām pretty sure I couldāve discovered most features on my own - but it wouldāve taken me a lot of time.
- If there is good material available, Iāll always buy it, and Iāll scan over it quickly. That allows me to get an idea of the features available.
- I like having a reference book - I can search for specific terms when I have a question, and move along quickly. As a reference, a book just works so much better than video tutorials.
- The hype documentation is good - but the book takes a different angle and has a lot more detailed explanations.
- It shows that you invested a lot of time into creating the book. There are so many useful details, and you donāt stop at Hype itself but include useful hints about other tools or background information (mp3 licensing etc.)
As mentioned in my introduction, Iām considering (and have actually started) making a course about interactive elements for eLearning with Hype. Itās a relief to not have to explain all the basics in detail. Instead, I can always just say āif you need more information, youāll find it in A Book About Hypeā. This leaves me time to focus on my specific application.
So - thanks for the book!
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I am also curious about otherās experience with the book. Iām not as well versed with coding as a number of you are around here, so it seems like it might be helpful there, as I really appreciate what a piece of code can add.
Also, @Photics , re your Hype-to-App chapter ā is this with Swift or Objective C? (Long thread that Iāve been skimming through, and I think I saw something about Swift.)
Heh, and thereās never pleasing everyone. Iāve always been impressed with the Hype team and if the book revealed something new, thatās great. We all get into our grooves with regards to our workflows, and itās easy to overlook things, no mater how experienced we are.
I'm glad that you liked it! 
It's with Swift.
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Thanks!
C
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So far, the book has decent longevity. With the latest Hype update, version 3.5.1, there were no significant changes. The update only says, āBug Changesā. So āA Book About Hypeā is still up-to-date.
Thereās only one review for Hype and not enough votes to show the rating. So, itās a bit of a sleepy time for Hype. 
They appear to be distributing Hype, actually, with an affiliate discount now. Very cool.
Itās Pi Day, so Iām feeling a little silly. I thought Iād celebrate with a sale for āA Book About Hypeā. Today, if ordered through FastSpring, you can save $3.14 on āA Book About Hypeā. Just use the following coupon codeā¦
PI-3-14159265
Remember, this sale is an exclusive through FastSpring ā not iTunes!
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Just bought the book. Iām very excited to get started! Thanks for the hard work.
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I probably should have started the promotion earlier for a better result. It was just a spontaneous thing. It was fun.
If people have been following this thread, wondering if they should publish their own book on iTunes / iBook Store, I have some interesting data. For the last 30 days, iTunes sales have outpaced FastSpring sales almost 2:1. In other words, almost double the sales are from iTunes.
That was surprising to me, as Iāve had trouble with iTunes before. Furthering the surprise, Iāve stopped pointing traffic towards iTunes. Instead, I favor FastSpring sales.
This shows that Appleās iBooks Store does have merit. I went back and looked. It seems that learning from my past mistakesā¦ https://photics.com/ibooks-author-try-again/ ā¦helped to make āA Book About Hypeā a success.
So while the iBooks Store does have some glaring issues, simply disregarding it would have been a mistake. I think the issues of iTunes are offset by FastSpring, so itās a nice combo. Tumult is doing the exact same thing with Hype, so great minds think alike.
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Itās a very different model, isnāt it, @Photics? FastSpring sell on commission for you, rather than acting as publisher, like Apple, and paying you a royalty which means, I think, that if one is based in or sells into the European Union, one has to be registered for VAT. Thereās no such hassle with iBooks.
What sort of trouble have you had with the iBookstore?
FastSpring collects VAT too... What is VAT Tax? Information on Payments & Collection - FastSpring
- Apple supports many more countries for Apps than iBooks ā even though they're both digital downloads. (There's even a book section in the iTunes App Store.)
- With the Japanese Consumption Tax issue, I felt like Apple just dumped it in my lap. Why don't they just step up like FastSpring did?
- iTunes Connect is a mess, while FastSpring sends me an email with every sale.
- FastSpring is better with promotions, as FastSpring has support for coupons.
- FastSpring doesn't have a lengthy review process. I can publish / update files instantly ā even during holiday weeks.
- FastSpring pays faster
Ultimately, it's a digital download. I feel like Apple could make the process less frustrating. Apple's iBooks Store does have advantages.
- Better sales
- Digital Rights Management
- Better known, so probably greater trust with potential customers
- iTunes Gift Cards
- Apple does marketing, FastSpring is focused on e-commerce.
So if Apple takes 30%, while FastSpring is around 9%, that's a 21 point difference. It depends on the cost of the product, as FastSpring has minimum transaction fees. But for "A Book About Hype", Apple takes more than triple of what FastSpring takes. That's more money for Apple, while enduring more frustration. That's the point of this article...
Even though I've been frustrated with Apple, iTunes and the iBook Store, the extra effort seems to be justified.
This is just a helpful message. If you order āA Book About Hypeā through FastSpring, you should receive the download link (via email) soon after your order. If you do not see the message right away, the problem might be related to spam filtering. So, youāll want to allow email from fastspring.com or check your spam folder in your email account.
If youāre still having trouble, you can use the contact form on Photics.comā¦ https://photics.com/about/contact/ ā¦ I usually respond within 24 hours. You can also try contacting FastSpring support.
Update: 4/3/2016 ā If you visit Photics.com today, and see an issue about an expired SSL certificate, thatās because the replacement SSL certificate is still being processed. It was ordered, but itās not yet in place. If this make you nervous, thatās good! The Internet is becoming a scary place. It probably should be back to normal within 24 hours, when the new 2-year certificate should be in place.
I use HTTPS on Photics.com to protect visitors. It also has other benefits, such as a boost in SEO. Hereās an article about itā¦ https://scotthelme.co.uk/still-think-you-dont-need-https/ ā¦but unfortunately, it does add more overhead to site management.
Meanwhile, here are the direct links to where A Book About Hype is availableā¦
FastSpring ā https://sites.fastspring.com/photics/product/a-book-about-hype
iTunes ā https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-book-about-hype/id1060339894?mt=11
Well, that took longer than expected, but Photics.com is now back to normalā¦
The page for āA Book About Hypeā is now secure.
I got two requests, in the last 24 hours, to put the example templates online. Iām not sure if it was the same person. But more importantly, Iām not sure how I feel about that. If youāve read this thread, you can see that I prefer that people figure it out for themselves. However, I know that if I was a customer, Iād probably like to have the templates.
So, maybe Iāll let the community decide.
If this specific post gets 25 likes or more, by the end of this month, Iāll probably put some, most or all of the example templates online ā free for everybody to download. (The slide puzzle seems to be the one that is in the biggest demand.)
If not, then Iāll just go back into Hype hibernation mode, waiting for a proper Physics API.
The good news is that the recent feedback of the book has been great. People seem to like it. If you didnāt read this whole thread, hereās a link to the official book pageā¦
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Hi Michael, I made the request.
I hope even if you donāt get 25 likes, youād consider providing the purchaser of your book some example code Itās one thing to have parts and concepts explained and another to be able to tinker around and see how changes really affect things.
I do hope you decide to do another book on Hype but focused more on Mobile devices and integration with mobile frameworks and platforms like Phonegap/Cordorva/Ionic. Thatās where I feel Hype is weakest (with no mult touch gesture support) but could fill a big hole that exists now.
On a somewhat related note, I do think I found a bug, but not sure if itās a Hype issue or your project. I was looking at The Pythagorean from your site, because itās similar to the color slider in your book.
Everything works fine on a browser and my iphone (through Hype Reflect). But as soon as I add an iphone layout and then try to view it on Hype Reflect, it doesnāt work. In fact none of the layouts for the scene workā¦ until I remove the iphone layout.
Perhaps this is a Javascript issue or maybe someone from Tumult can chime in?
Thanks for your quick response!
Hi. Not sure if youāve covered the issue of it only appearing in the US iBooks/iTunes store as I havenāt read the entire thread.
Any chance of it being added to the Sri Lankan iTunes store?
A.