

Show HN: I wrote an eBook on building iOS apps. First chapter is free. - AshFurrow
http://yourfirstiosapp.com

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draker
Congradulations on publishing the book! As a business consultant learning
web/iOS development I thought I would share my feedback from both
perspectives.

Thoughts as a potential customer:

-I didn't have the time to read through the tutorial and wanted to know more than was provided by the TOC on the Leanpub page.

-I had no idea who you were until I looked at your signature.

-After going back and looking at the first chapter I didn't find the chapter very compelling ("Okay, so we changed the background color?").

-I wanted to see what I could expect to accomplish.

\-----

Recommendations as a consultant:

Change the index to a landing page and move the first chapter content to a
second page.

Make the top half of the body similar to the LeanPub page (name, tagline,
image) with a call to action to the LeanPub purchase url.

Establish your knowledge/credibility: ex: "Learn everything you need to know
to develop your first app with _Your First iOS App_ , written by 500px's lead
iOS developer Ash Furrow"

In the bottom half of the body add a few text blocks summarizing the main
topics covered (possibly a screen shot of what a reader can expect to build
after reading the book) and a secondary call to action to preview the first
chapter.

At the end of the first chapter page condense the final paragraph to more of a
tagline, "It may not seem like much, but you're well on your way to developing
full featured apps. Get the full eBook for $14.99 on LeanPub." Then move the
GitHub link below the sales widget, so I visually consider the _Buy Now_ link
before looking at the source.

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czbond
I have the NerdRanch book, but never made it through it. I like your direct,
informal approach. I'm not to the point I need it just yet - but one thing I
would like would be an overview of the process. (I do best starting at 10,000
foot view and zooming in). Just a thought

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monsterix
Like it! Starts with a sample iPhone app, but does it cover iPad specific
development too?

~~~
AshFurrow
Not in this edition – I've covered what you need for a foundational knowledge
of iPad development, but a future version of the book will include a chapter
on iPad development.

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vscarpenter
Great job Ash. Congratulations. I got to see a little bit of the book
development happen via GitHub and it was great to see how crowd-sourcing
technical review/editor function could potentially work in the future.

Congratulations again.

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arb99
you should show the kind of app that will be possible after reading the whole
book.

as it is 'your first ios app' i'd expect the final (i.e. most complicated
topics discussed) to be somewhat basic... but maybe they aren't. maybe a list
of things covered (like tables, core data etc)

it kind of looks like you do a timer from <https://github.com/AshFurrow/Your-
First-iOS-App>

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kposehn
Dammit leanpub, make an affiliate program so I can sell all those eBooks >_<

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Ecio78
Congrats and interesting read!

p.s. little typo: "strait forward" -> "straightforward"

------
davebobak
Great job. Congrats!

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rogerchucker
I will definitely give this book a try. I'm in the middle of learning from the
NerdRanch book (never had the time to keep up with the Stanford course).

Any general thoughts from the community about the best way to balance between
_any_ book and the Apple documentation (especially the guides)?

~~~
czbond
I second the "not keeping up with the Stanford Course".

