2017

• Do you want to publish content for sale on an infrequent or irregular basis? For
example, are you a publisher who wants to make book titles available to your
customers? If this is the case, you may want to consider using the Kindle or ePub
format. If you have no need of layout view, you might consider a large existing
distribution network such as Amazon or Apple iBooks, or one of many smaller
distribution networks.
• Do you want to sell published content on a recurring basis? For example, are you
creating a digital magazine? You can accomplish this by creating a custom app
for each issue, but this can be work-intensive, and some customers may not want
to download a new app every time. You can also consider creating an App Studio
reader app, and then selling individual issues from a Web server. If you choose
this approach, you can customize the app to display your branding, or use a
generic viewer app. (Note, however, that this approach limits you to the platforms
supported by App Studio.)
If you choose to distribute App Studio issues that are viewable in a reader app, you
should consider whether you want to make a sample issue available so that the user
can experience the value of your publications. You can bundle a sample issue with
the app, but if you do so be wary of file size, both for reasons of download size
restrictions and to avoid making your customers wait too long. You can also provide
free access to a sample issue from within the reader application.
Of course, you need a plan for generating revenue. The options here include selling
apps on an individual basis, selling issues that can be viewed in a reader app, selling
books (for example, for the Kindle Reader or iBooks), and selling advertising. If you
choose to sell advertising, you can work out individual deals with advertisers, or use
an existing ad network such as Apple's iAd (for iOS only) or Google AdMob (for iOS
and Android).
When you're thinking about advertising, you might also want to think about analytics.
Do you want your app to provide you with information about how it's being used,
and how your content is being consumed? Both iAd and AdMob include options for
gathering such information and using it to tailor advertising.
Finally, how many different platforms do you want to deliver on? Here, custom apps
are the least appealing option, because they must be written separately for each
platform. For maximum coverage, consider an industry standard format such as ePub
or HTML5 Publications.
For more information about the formats discussed here, see "Hardware, operating systems,
and formats."
Assessing your infrastructure needs
Creating content for digital distribution is only one part of the digital publishing
process. If you plan to deliver content for digital devices, you need to make sure that
you have all of the infrastructure necessary to do so.
For example, if you plan to host content on a Web site, you need to consider how
much space you're planning to need and how many downloads you anticipate having,
because both of these typically affect the amount you are charged for hosting. In any
DIGITAL PUBLISHING WITH QUARKXPRESS 2017 | 11
DEFINING YOUR GOALS AND LIMITATIONS