App-onomics: Demystifying The iTunes Store for Publishers and Writers

I would like to speak briefly at the conference about my experiences in taking my self published book, Question Of The Day from just under 1,000 print sales in one year to over 50,000 iPhone downloads in half a year.

Question Of The Day has always been in the Top 50 of the App Store Books category, which is about to go over 10,000. (Today, we are at number 22.) It is my observation that everyone is interested in the App Store, and very few actually know how to “work it.”

For the most part, no one knows who I am. I have no budget, to speak of. I have no publishing muscle. How did I do it?

Topics covered:

• My Apple Store Events
• In what ways might a successful iPhone Book App need to be a little more than just a straight read
• Additional useful category placements within the App Store
• Combined Social Media strategy for focusing attention on the App
• What tweaks I use to keep my App in the Top 50
• What I refer to as Reverse Juxtaposition: putting things where one previously hadn’t thought they belonged. This is my general philosophy that has taken me from nowhere to somewhere (Book Events in the Apple Store would be only one example of many.)