Book Apps
Book Apps (Applications) are the next evolution of children's books.
This kind of rich multimedia experience
may eventually spread to all genres of books, but it has already
transformed the children's book marketplace. A 21st century child (and parent) expects more from a book than just words and pictures. If this sounds intimidating, fear not. All you need is your imagination, and Dragonpencil will take care of the rest. Our skilled team of designers, illustrators, and programmers will turn your story into an interactive masterpiece!
Custom Book App Development Cost
Each book app is unique and is priced accordingly. The overall cost varies widely, however, there are some features which are so common that we can give them standard prices. A list of common features can be found below.
Interactive Elements
What is an Interactive Element?
Interactive Elements are words or images on the screen that briefly reacts in some way when a child touches it. The video shows examples of interactive elements.
How much do interactive elements cost?
Less than $30 each. Something truly elaborate might cost more but if it animates or makes a sound, it is probably between $14 and $29. It's important to note that a group of things might be considered multiple elements. For instance, a pigeon would be one element. A group of pigeons might be one or multiple elements depending on whether they all do the same thing or if they each do different things.
How many interactive elements can I have per page?
We have found that 5 is a good minimum number to shoot for. The maximum is about 40 which is a bit silly. For your whole book app, there is no maximum number we can include.
Are games or quizzes considered intereactive elements?
No. Interactive elements are words or images that react in some way when children touch them. A game, quiz, maze, coloring page, or other such feature would be a "Feature Element" and those are usually priced at $200.
Children love to explore book apps to discover all the interactive elements on a page. These can be visual, audible, or both. This video shows some examples:
| Base Cost: $25 per page (Minimum $200) |
| Interactive and Multimedia Options |
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Narration: 49 cents per word ($200 minimum) |
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Highlight words during narration. Add 49 cents per word. |
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Touch words to speak: Add 99 cents per word (limit to special words) |
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We charge $9 to place each sound file from an outside source. If using an outside source for narration each page must be it's own file and in mp3 format. |
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Pan/Zoom/Fade into page: $30 per page. |
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Music: $60 per unique song. |
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Reuse song: $9 |
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Interactive Elements: $29 each (Audio and Visual) |
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Audio component only: $14 each |
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Visual component only: $20 each |
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Feature Elements |
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Mini Games: $300 each (action, maze, shooting, etc.) |
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Coloring Book Pages: $200 each |
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Word Scramble or Word Find: $19 per word |
| Lite Version: $100 per device platform. A lite version is a free sample of your book. It is intended to give potential customers an enticing look into your product. |
| We are happy to quote prices for other custom interactive or multimedia elements. |
Royalties / Profits for Book Apps
You will receive 100% of what each device platform pays for a download. For example, a $2.99 book app usually pays around $2.05. You are credited for that full amount with no percentage going to Dragonpencil. You will receive a monthly statement by email. Payments are made to you by check whenever you have a balance of $10 or more.
You set the price your app sells for. You can even make it available for free if you like to promote other products. Be aware that you can't link to physical book sales through the iPad or Kindle but you can on android tablets.
Here is an example of our Book App contract.
How to Price Your App?
Ultimately the price of your Book App is up to your own discretion but our recommendations are below. These figures are based upon how many features people expect for each price point. How people rate your app will be largely impacted by their sense of getting their money's worth. We derived these figures based on our market research of how many features other book apps have compared to our pricing to make a similar product.
What you spend........What simliar products sell for.
Less than $1000....... Free or $0.99
$1000 - $2000 ......... $0.99 or $1.99
$2000 - $3000
......... $1.99 or $2.99
$3000 - $4000 ......... $2.99 or $3.99
$4000 - $5000 ......... $3.99 or $4.99
$5000 and up ........... $4.99 or $5.99
Promoting Your Book App
There are lots of ways to promote your book app. Social media is big driver of ebook sales. But we are also employing cross-promotion in all our book apps. Each book app, including yours, will contain promotional links to purchase any and all other books apps published by Dragonpencil. We will also be launching free book apps to help propel our cross-promotion efforts. One popular app can greatly increase the popularity of all other apps in the same family. We will continue to push out new ideas for promoting book apps but don't rely on us to do it all. You'll need to get the word out through social media, email, and perhaps even a blog.
For more information about marketing a book app, read Author's Guide To Book Apps by Karen Robertson. You might also consider joining Digital Kid's Author, which is the most highly-respected source of information about children's book apps.
Custom Music
We always build music into our apps. It's hard to imagine an app would be the same without music. Imagine a movie without a soundtrack... weird. We generally use royalty-free music from a vast library but some apps call for something more special. That's when we turn to Mark Henderson.
Mark Henderson is an award winning composer, whose clients have included DreamWorks, Motorola, The Smithsonion, and many others.
From Mark: I have always found that custom music gives life to a project by evoking feelings, enhancing communication and supporting messages. The sounds and textures are carefully chosen to consciously and subconsciously strengthen the project.
Music plays to the subconscious. For instance, most people watching a movie or commercial or even a book app are not consciously aware of the music, but they are subconsciously affected. A custom score and or songs for book apps or film, etc… will contain individualized themes identifying characters, places, and emotions. These customized themes continue to thread through the course of a visual piece. Many brands use stock music and most of the time it is unmemorable and does not help the sales of the product. Custom music is like a tailored suit from Brooks Bros. vs. stock music, which is like buying a suit off the rack at a J.C Penny store. Having original music for your Book App will make it stand out in the crowd and, more often then not, get more attention and sales.
If you decide to hire Mark for your app, please let your project manager know so we can coordinate our collaboration.
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