A Book About Hype (3.5+Pro) 📘

[Photics]

@peterdanckwerts

Hope you sold some extra copies.

I probably should have started the promotion earlier for a better result. It was just a spontaneous thing. It was fun.

[Photics]

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 I’ve had trouble with iTunes before. Furthering the surprise, I’ve stopped pointing traffic towards iTunes. Instead, I favor FastSpring sales.

This shows that Apple’s iBooks Store does have merit. I went back and looked. It seems that learning from my past mistakes… https://photics.com/ibooks-author-try-again/ …helped to make “A Book About Hype” 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 it’s a nice combo. Tumult is doing the exact same thing with Hype, so great minds think alike.

[peterdanckwerts]

It’s a very different model, isn’t 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. There’s no such hassle with iBooks.

What sort of trouble have you had with the iBookstore?

[Photics]

@peterdanckwerts

I think, that if one is based in or sells into the European Union, one has to be registered for VAT. There's no such hassle with iBooks.

FastSpring collects VAT too... What is VAT Tax? Information on Payments & Collection - FastSpring

@peterdanckwerts

What sort of trouble have you had with the iBookstore?

• Apple supports many more countries for Apps than iBooks – 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 – even during holiday weeks.
• FastSpring pays faster

@peterdanckwerts

It's a very different model, isn't it

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...

• Apple’s iBooks Store – Worth The Effort – Photics.com

Even though I've been frustrated with Apple, iTunes and the iBook Store, the extra effort seems to be justified.

[Photics]

This is just a helpful message. If you order “A Book About Hype” 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, you’ll want to allow email from fastspring.com or check your spam folder in your email account.

If you’re still having trouble, you can use the contact form on Photics.com… https://photics.com/about/contact/ … I usually respond within 24 hours. You can also try contacting FastSpring support.

---

Update: 4/3/2016 – If you visit Photics.com today, and see an issue about an expired SSL certificate, that’s because the replacement SSL certificate is still being processed. It was ordered, but it’s not yet in place. If this make you nervous, that’s 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. Here’s an article about it… https://scotthelme.co.uk/still-think-you-dont-need-https/ …but unfortunately, it does add more overhead to site management.

Meanwhile, here are the direct links to where A Book About Hype is available…

FastSpring – https://sites.fastspring.com/photics/product/a-book-about-hype
iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/a-book-about-hype/id1060339894?mt=11

[Photics]

Well, that took longer than expected, but Photics.com is now back to normal…

The page for “A Book About Hype” is now secure.

[Photics]

I got two requests, in the last 24 hours, to put the example templates online. I’m not sure if it was the same person. But more importantly, I’m not sure how I feel about that. If you’ve 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, I’d probably like to have the templates.

So, maybe I’ll let the community decide.

If this specific post gets 25 likes or more, by the end of this month, I’ll probably put some, most or all of the example templates online — free for everybody to download. (The slide puzzle seems to be the one that is in the biggest demand.)

If not, then I’ll 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 didn’t read this whole thread, here’s a link to the official book page…

• https://photics.com/hype-book

[jake2600 (JJ)]

Hi Michael, I made the request.

I hope even if you don’t get 25 likes, you’d consider providing the purchaser of your book some example code It’s 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. That’s 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 it’s a Hype issue or your project. I was looking at The Pythagorean from your site, because it’s 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 doesn’t work. In fact none of the layouts for the scene work… 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!

[Wilsonator]

Hi. Not sure if you’ve covered the issue of it only appearing in the US iBooks/iTunes store as I haven’t read the entire thread.

Any chance of it being added to the Sri Lankan iTunes store?

A.

[MarkHunte]

@Photics

I'm not sure how I feel about Autodesk. That upgrade notification is going to sit there until I figure that out. At least it wasn't (in order of descending contempt) Adobe, Google or Microsoft.

Hey Michael,

What was you feeling on this in the end. Is Autodesk Graphic worth it ..

[Photics]

@jake2600

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. That's where I feel Hype is weakest (with no mult touch gesture support) but could fill a big hole that exists now.

I think this is better fixed by Tumult. Hype should be able to export a project to an app.

@Wilsonator

Any chance of it being added to the Sri Lankan iTunes store?

Unfortunately, Apple's iBook Store doesn't support a lot of countries. However, the book is also available at FastSpring.

A Book About Hype

@MarkHunte

Is Autodesk Graphic worth it

I still use the old version.

[peter_bright]

That would be great

[Photics]

@peter_bright

That would be great

I'm confused. Is this in reply to @Daniel – should there be an official Hype template store?

If it's a reply to me, there are free templates already on Photics.com...

• Free Hype Templates 🏗
• Template – Photics.com

The templates were released for free as a way to promote A Book About Hype. I'm feeling a bit more rested, so I've thinking about creating some new templates. It's fun and I think it's a good way to promote the book – while helping the community!

[peter_bright]

Sorry Michael, I was responding to Daniel.
But I’ll have a look at your templates too.
I bought your book, just needing some time to have a good read

[celtiknot]

I would really appreciate the book to cover integrating HYPE into learning management systems for e-learning. Export to Lectora (the hype forum on this doesn’t work!), and also manifest files for SCORM wrappers. Anything else related…thank you!!!

[Photics]

@celtiknot

I would really appreciate the book to cover integrating HYPE into learning management systems for e-learning. Export to Lectora (the hype forum on this doesn't work!), and also manifest files for SCORM wrappers. Anything else related...thank you!!!!

The book is already available... A Book About Hype ...and it's also available on iTunes

The book doesn't cover e-learning software. (Heh, there are too many.) But from what I've seen about Lectora, it's just a matter of using an iFrame. Here's a link to a video...

• http://elearningbrothers.com/how-to-insert-custom-html-into-lectora/

I think the video mentions the "HTML extension". So, you might need that to be installed on the Lectora setup for this to work.

As for SCORM, a search of this forum might help...

• Search results for 'Scorm' - Tumult Forums

[Photics]

One of the nice things with A Book About Hype is that I can use it too.

I was looking up how I did "localStorage", which is from the "Saving" section. So, I just cut-and-paste the code. After copying, I got the following error...

invalid character u8203

It looks like some invisible characters / extra characters went along for the ride...

If you see the line counter skipping rows, then there's probably something wrong. (In the image, there's a lot of space between lines 63 and 64.) Since I couldn't find the hidden characters, even after using "Zap Gremlins" in TextWrangler, I just retyped the section.

This bothered me. I found it to be so annoying that I'm thinking of making the templates available for download at Photics.com. I'm busy with "B.R.O.O.M." right now, but Im seriously thinking of installing https://easydigitaldownloads.com at my site and adding the templates.

[Photics]

A Book About Hype is no longer available at the iTunes Book store. It’s still available at FastSpring though.

[jonathan (Jonathan Deutsch)]

How come?

[Photics]

I prefer FastSpring.

It seems like Apple is going in the wrong direction. I don’t feel appreciated as a content creator / developer. The iTunes Connect website is not very good and the app is worse. It makes it difficult to quickly see sales figures. Also, now that the book is a year old, there aren’t that many sales. Meanwhile, FastSpring doesn’t annoy me about sales tax changes in Japan or New Zealand. They just do their job.

Surely you must have noticed the difference between FastSpring and iTunes.

Hype is awesome software. I probably could make lots of great games and apps with it, but then I think about distribution. I think about the App Store. I just don’t like jumping through those hoops anymore. It’s a horrible environment.

A good example is Nintendo’s Super Mario Run. I recently received a survey about the game. Apparently, they were trying to figure out what went wrong. There were a lot of downloads, but less than expected in-app purchases. Part of the problem is that a lot of people are used to cheap games. I didn’t get it because it felt too big-brother to me. Why do I need an always-on Internet connection?

So, if Nintendo couldn’t get it right – even with direct help from Apple – it shows the toxicity of the walled garden.