iPhone Apps Developer "Shell Shocked" by Outsized Payday
Seth Weintraub over at 9to5Mac reports on the outsized success of at least one iPhone Apps developer, Eliza Block, who’s now earning an unexpected $2,000 a day from her crossword puzzle app, 2Across. Noteworthy certainly, but also instructive about the platform Apple has created for what can certainly be called "self publishing":
But, she deserves it…her app is the best of the breed, filling a need that many people want. The amazing thing is that Apple has taken care of everything from the development environment to the transaction services to the distribution to the marketing. You can be a great software developer on your own without having a huge company to back you up. This is truly a game changing play for Apple and the development community. (Continue reading)
Author Paulo Coelho Illustrates the Upside of Openness
Budding authors may not be able to duplicate the success of Paulo Coelho, but Coelho’s willingness to experiment across mediums is certainly worth studying. From Jeff Jarvis’ Guardian column:
Coelho is the thoroughly modern author. But he still believes in print. For him, this isn’t a matter of print v digital. It’s a question of what comes when you add digital to print. What does it bring him? “It gives me a lot of joy,” he said, “because writing is something you do alone.” He recalled the night in 2006 when he read that he had become the second best-selling author in the world. He was bursting. “My God, my wife is sleeping. How can I share this news with anybody?” Now he can shout it from the mountaintop of his blog. (Continue reading)
Comcast Pays $125 Million for Lifestyle Web Publisher DailyCandy
Comcast is buying shopping/lifestyle Web publisher DailyCandy for $125 million. From the New York Times:
… the company, driven by a small army of contributors providing breezy tips, has grown to encompass 13 daily and 8 weekly newsletters, reaching 2.5 million subscribers in 11 American cities and London. (Continue reading)