
Show HN: Create, publish and make money on your own iOS publication - holgersindbaek
http://uninkd.com
======
adrianhon
Looks neat. A few questions:

1) I'm not clear about how the web functionality works. The demo suggests that
all articles will be available online. Are those freely available, or are they
only free if people share the links?

2) Can I charge a subscription that effectively lasts forever (i.e. more like
a one-time fee for readers)?

3) Do subscribers have access to all previous content?

4) Is this only for US citizens? I'm in the UK.

(edit: added q4)

~~~
holgersindbaek
Hi Adrian

Thanks for the questions :-).

1\. Seems like there's a bit of confusion on the web-functionality. There will
be no "main directory" for your magazine, so people won't be able to browse
all the content of your magazine, that they'd otherwise have to pay for
through the app.

In the app, you can share an article on Facebook or Twitter. More
specifically, you'll be sharing a link to an online version of the article. So
people can read THAT specific article, but there is no easy way for them to
read the other articles in that issue.

2\. All newsstand magazines must have a subscription. This can be a free
subscription though, that does not necessarily provide access to any content.
You can sell single issues as well, if that would be interesting.

3\. That is the plan, yes. Let me know if that's a deal-breaker and how you
would like to have it instead.

4\. We need to transfer the revenues to a bank and we are using Stripe for
that. As far as I know, Stripe requires you to have a US bank.

Do you have an online magazine already?

~~~
adrianhon
1\. OK - but couldn't I get someone to share all the articles, post the links
up on the web, and then view them all for free? A bit clunky but you know
someone would do it.

2\. Right, but could I have a non-renewing annual subscription? I'll explain
why below.

3\. Not a problem for me but probably would be for others.

4\. Definitely a problem. If you can, you should think about doing manual
Paypal payments for at least some non-US users. There wouldn't be that many to
start with anyway.

I have a book ("A History of the Future in 100 Objects") that's being
published later this year; I'm planning to serialise it as a Newsstand
publication as well and have been working with a rival of yours ;) But I'm
keen to see what you guys do.

(Demo bug report: I'm pretty sure I'm signed in but I'm still seeing the 'Sign
up and save' form at the top. Also, your "Remember to upvote" box appears to
be sitting on top of the place where your walkthrough claims I should be able
to preview my magazine. Finally, clicking 'Publish' results in a
NoMethodError)

(Edit: Yep, pretty sure the registration/login/demo stuff isn't working. My
'demo' app has been saved but when I log in I can't edit it any more. Would
advise fixing/removing quickly lest you anger other users. Good job I only
spent 5 minutes on mine!)

~~~
holgersindbaek
1\. Theoretically yes. This is probably something we should look into in the
future by making links that "time out".

2\. You can't have non-renewing subscription in a newsstand magazine. Apple
doesn't allow that.

4\. Can you hit me with an email - Holger@Uninkd.com - telling me a bit more
about what you plan to do. Would love to see if we'd be a good fit.

Which browser are you using? We still have a bit of issues with Firefox (we
suggest chrome).

What did you do with the login/demo? Clicked "Try Demo" and and signed up in
the upper right corner?

------
kettlr
Very similar to what I am currently working on, so I would say: superb idea ;)
I would obviously love to ear updates along the way about how you guys are
doing...

The thing that is mainly taking me aback is your pricing. I had settled on a
much higher one (kind of)... That would be one-time 300$ for publication and
5% revenue but without the cap. Although the cap is amazing for big publishers
I would avoid it for the complexity added to the pricing model.

There is great value there why is you guys's pricing so low? Is it because all
the features are not yet developed, and are you then planning on increasing
the pricing in the future? What are you thoughts about the pricing suggested
above?

(we used to sell copies of famous editing software thrice the price to
individuals. Things are sure evolving!)

~~~
holgersindbaek
Because we can would be the simple answer.

The reason we have the cap on the percentages, is that we don't want to scare
guys who already have a semi-established magazine away. I think even 5% (no
cap) would scare a lot of more established magazines away. But that's just my
guess.

------
callmeed
Hey this is really cool. At APhotoFolio
([http://aphotofolio.com](http://aphotofolio.com)) we've been tossing around
similar ideas (we have a lot of magazine connections). I really like your
approach.

I would highly suggest adding either PDF support or a way to import from a
blog's RSS feed. That will let you target smaller publishers.

Also, have you seen kits like this? [http://www.binpress.com/app/ipad-
newsstand-pdf-starter-kit/1...](http://www.binpress.com/app/ipad-newsstand-
pdf-starter-kit/1271)

~~~
holgersindbaek
We've been thinking about that. Think the whole technical side will become
very clumsy and cumbersome, very fast, if we add RSS support. Can see where
you are coming from with that idea though.

We're not going to support PDF's either. We're not planning to at least. Seems
like the result looks and feels clumsy. There are also solutions for that out
there now (as you linked to).

The problem with those kits, is that you still have to deal with all the
technical stuff yourself. Setting up a server of some sort, opening a
developer account, handling Apple certificates and so on. In other words, you
will most likely still need an iOS dev, even though you bought the kit.

------
barrynolan
Really nice site and execution.

One of the real challenges with Newsstand apps is the conversion of users
(downloaded the app) to paying subscribers (monthly, annually). I've seen
conversion rates as low as 1% (not including churn) for some very established
publications.

So the challenge isn't just getting the eyeballs, its keeping and charging
them to make a business. There are some techniques you can use that make an
impact.

------
joeblau
Pretty cool concept. I never really used Newsstand and I also didn't like that
you couldn't remove it (although that's gonna change.) I think this could be
an awesome tool to compete with publications like Flipboard especially if
there is revenue tied to the model. The only challenge is getting those first
users because I've never met one person with an iPhone that uses Newsstand.

~~~
holgersindbaek
Hi Joe

CTO and co-founder of Uninkd here...

What did you mean by "You couldn't remove it"?

We know the whole situation with newsstand, but magazines like - [http://the-
magazine.org](http://the-magazine.org) \- have really managed to create a good
deal of subscribers.

I don't like most newsstand magazines either. Many of them seem like they have
been converted from a pdf. I think we have managed to find a nice format to
release your magazine on.

~~~
joeblau
Sorry, I meant you couldn't put Newstand in a group folder. I definitely think
your publishing platform has great promise.

~~~
holgersindbaek
Haha ok. Would be surprised if I had made an un-removeable app :-). Thanks.

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tylermac1
Will Uninkd offer any sort of marketing capabilities?

I can see problems arising since Uninkd essentially owns the app but is
licensing use of the publishing platform. This leaves the author out of the
various sales details and metadata that iTunes Connect offers.

edit: I would also update your revenue calculator to factor in the various
fees.

~~~
holgersindbaek
Good question. We haven't looked so much into that yet, but we'd love to hear
ideas.

All your issues articles, are available online via uninkd as well. So when
people share an article on Facebook or Twitter, they'll share a link to the
online article.

When it comes to analytics, we haven't implemented anything yet. It is
something we want to do in the near future though and for now, we could give
you access to and App Annie account where you can see all the analytics on the
app you could wish for.

~~~
mmoriarty
Ah, yeah, that's the dealkiller for us -- we don't want our content duplicated
online. Too bad, we were looking at it.

~~~
holgersindbaek
Code is not written in stone. Let us know what you're needs are and we'll see
what we can do.

We are still developing the product and we have been thinking about making it
optional.

Hit me with an email if you want to tell me more about what you need and how
we could accommodate what you do - Holger@Uninkd.com

~~~
peter_l_downs
Sounds like adding a 'publish articles online?' control might be worth it!

~~~
mmoriarty
Yup!

------
EGreg
I have a question ... are you allowed to make an app where people make in-app
purchases of content, and you rev-share with the authors? Does Apple have
anything in the guidelines that prevents you sharing the revenues and other
people "selling" content through you?

~~~
holgersindbaek
As long as Apple gets their 30%, they don't care where the money goes
afterwards.

------
pgrote
I am unfamiliar with Newsstand requirements. Are there quality review
guidelines like the app store?

As for payment processing, is everything published under the uninkd banner and
then payments sent from there? If not, how does uninkd collect the fees?

~~~
holgersindbaek
A newsstand app is very much like any other app. Expect for when it comes to
quality, Apple also looks at the content of the app (the magazine itself).

You will get your very own app, but it will be published under the Uninkd
banner. The publishers name is writting in very small letters though :-).

We collect all the fees and send them on to you. We'll never take more than
$149.50 though.

Publishing through us might not seem like a perfect solution for some, but it
ensures that we can update and add new features very easily.

------
weiran
Are you publishing all these apps under one dev account? Because Apple have
known to ban this practice in the past as they want the account owner to be
the person responsible for the content.

~~~
holgersindbaek
Good question. We have looked into that and as long as you provide unique
content in the different apps and there is a reason they can't be one app,
then it should be ok.

Look at what ChowNow is doing for example:
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/chownow/id553996348](https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/chownow/id553996348)

------
iwasakabukiman
The pricing model is a bit confusing. Does the $99 fee cover just one issue or
does it cover the cost to publish the app itself?

What about issues after the first one? Do they cost an additional $99 per
issue?

~~~
holgersindbaek
Thanks for the feedback.

The $99 release fee is a ONE TIME FEE. You pay it once you have a magazine
online and want to release it to the app store. You can release as many issues
as you wish after that.

~~~
iwasakabukiman
That's actually a really good deal then. Adobe charges something like
$250-$500 per issue for their magazine apps.

~~~
holgersindbaek
It definitely is. You should give it a go ;-).

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aqme28
Sounds awesome, but it looks like we broke your site.

~~~
hex-
Yep, site is down for me too.

~~~
holgersindbaek
Back again. Sorry for the downtime.

