Book Winners & Beta Launch
Posted November 9th, 2009 by Howard TaylerCongratulations to Redeemed Althalus and CPAD! They each won a copy of John Brown’s debut novel Servant of a Dark God. You two need to email schlockmercenary@gmail.com with a current mailing address (not a P.O. box, please!) and Tor will get your books into the mail right quick.
Speaking of email, if any of you iPhone owners would like to participate in the Schlock Mercenary iPhone beta, we’ll need the following:
- Device type and generation (e.g. “iPhone 3GS” or ” iPod Touch 1st Gen” etc).
- Device UDID (which you can find by following the instructions here )
- A short explanation of why you would be a good beta-tester. If we get inundated with requests, this is where the winnowing of applicants will take place.
(UPDATE: Belay that request, friends. The beta is full now.)
While there’s no charge to participate in the beta, the production app is going to require a paid subscription of $0.99 per month or $4.99 for six months. In support of that we’re doing everything we can to make the iPhone Schlock experience hugely superior to using your iPhone to read the comic free on the web, and better even than reading from your computer at home, school, or work.
We started by letting you read three days ahead of what appears on the web. Then we boosted the strip resolution by 28%, and provided panel-by-panel navigation (we’re about 1/3 of the way done on that.) Panning and zooming manually is supported too. We’re also providing a bookmarking feature, and the application will pre-load the strip that follows the one you’re currently reading.
But enough with the sales pitch. Have a look at the iphone.schlockmercenary.com page, and email us if you want to participate in the beta.
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November 9th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
[...] Did somebody say webcomics iPhone app? I know, I know, you can’t spit these days without coming across some RSS scraper or other, but there are two you might be interested in. Howard Tayler (my evil twin — or am I his?) has a call out for those interested in beta testing the Schlock Mercenary iPhone app. [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
Is that a sneak peak of an upcoming comic I see in the advert on the other site? I don’t seem to recall that dialogue between Ebby and the Rev.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:28 pm
@rspringuel
Yes, I only just realised I used an image from tomorrows strip. I don’t think it gives anything away. :-)
November 9th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
Note we’re looking for about 30 beta testers, and I’m keen to get the app out as soon as possible.
So if you’re interested, send in your details as soon as you can.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I hope, perhaps, maybe, that an Android version is being considered?
November 9th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
I agree with thefile, an Android version would be awesome! – I get mine when my contract is up in January!
November 9th, 2009 at 9:13 pm
But when will you release the one and only, genuine authorized Schlock Mercenary “ominous hummmm” ringtone? (Since I don’t have an iPhone, this is a rhetorical question for me, but there may be others who will be most interested in the availability. Coming soon, for a limited time only…)
November 9th, 2009 at 9:15 pm
Count me in for an Android version too.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Not even to read Schlock Mercenary will I break down and buy an iPhone.
*holds up a plain cel phone*. It takes calls, it makes calls, I don’t need to take pictures and surf the web with one!
Yes, in some things I am a happy troglodyte.
November 9th, 2009 at 9:25 pm
Although the “ominious hummmm” ringtone is tempting.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
As a non-iPhone owner (and not planning on buying one any time soon, if I was in the market I’d lean towards Android, but who knows what’ll be around when I’m shopping), I sure wouldn’t mind a ringtone or two. An MP3 as a donation incentive (or a purchase incentive, like the wallpapers you get when you buy the books) would work for that (because my Motorola KRZR is nice enough to use any MP3 as a ringtone)
November 9th, 2009 at 11:01 pm
I’ve voluntarily put my neck in the noose and mailed in an applicaiton for the beta program.
Now where did I put my morning commute’s productivity… It was there right next to my iphone…
November 9th, 2009 at 11:51 pm
Long time reader (both of Schlock and the blog posts) first time poster.
You did it, you finally convinced me to sign up with wordpress just so I could comment and and ask a question about this.
I’m trying to break into the comic book scriptwriting business myself and had considered using a business model whereby subscribers gain access to materials before non-subscribers do – as seems to be the case with your iPhone app. This leads me to the question; how popular do you think this feature will be?
So far I’ve been basing my potential business model the 1000 Dedicated Readers ideal that you’ve mentioned in a previous post. It’s an interesting theory and I can see its merits. Are you partaking in this because of that, and if so do you think this will raise the income you get, or are you trying it more as a ‘what the hell, it looks interesting’ venture?
Eagerly, and excitedly awaiting your response.
Jaque
November 10th, 2009 at 12:14 am
Y’know, you might get subscribers to that same plan with a conventional web interface too – no Apple gadget required :)
November 10th, 2009 at 12:41 am
Well, I sometimes discuss “hey, great schlock this morning” with my non-inphone-using brother. When I’m 3 days ahead of him that’s going to take some planning :-)
Perhaps there ought to be a “don’t use the next three days” setting, but with such requests you’re deep into goldplating land as a software developer. Everyone wants an extra setting or button. “How hard can that be”? So sticking to sane defaults is fine with me :-)
November 10th, 2009 at 12:51 am
As a foreigner, I keep wondering about this ‘No P.O. boxes’ thing. What’s wrong with P. O. boxes in the US? Do they tend to spontaneously teleport to the Moon?
November 10th, 2009 at 1:07 am
how is the #3 days ahead” an advantage other then for ….well, basicly people who like to be smug that they’re 3 days ahead?
it doesnt increase the pace obviously (or the buffer would be chewed to bits), so unless everybody gets it, the users just get pushed out of the community or into a sub-community.
November 10th, 2009 at 1:15 am
skjaeve:
Obviously the books are being shipped via non-Postal carrier, and only postal carriers deliver to PO boxes.
Howard:
How much begging do I need to do to get you to consider a Microsoft Phone App version of the Schlock App?
November 10th, 2009 at 2:11 am
worldminder: They get to:
1. See errata before they’re corrected.
2. Give spoilers.
3. Wait if the buffer ever drops below 3, and argue over whether that counts as missing an update.
Howard, does the EULA require users to report 1 to you privately, not do 2, and not argue about 3? And if not, why not? :)
November 10th, 2009 at 4:08 am
Sam: They also get to:
4. Suffer withdrawal symptoms for 3 days after their iphone is inevitably lost/stolen/dropped in a toilet and they have to adapt back to the normal schedule.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:34 am
y’know, I’m with Sky on this one. I’d love the chance to give you more money, but I really don’t want to be locked into the iPhone in order to do so. I like reading on the web. Higher-res images, and access to a newer set of comics would be nice on the web, as well as on a device that can’t really take as much advangage of the higher-res images as a standard computer monitor (much less the television I hooked my comuter up to).
Will the higher-res images be retroactive to earlier comics? There are a few back in the teraport wars I’d like to see bigger versions of.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:34 am
OK . . . Droid app or not, I want an “ominious hummmm” for a ringtone!!!!
November 10th, 2009 at 9:49 am
If there was ever a deep, dark temptation for me to abandon my Windows phone for some corrupt fruity device, this was it… I feel like I should go to confession for being so tempted. And I’m not even Catholic.
November 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
Most things start as iPhone apps because it has the most “visibility”. I would love to see something like this in the android store, but as I was reading something occurred to me. This type of application essentially creates freemium content without alienating you usual viewers. I think the panel-by-panel navigation is the clincher for the mobile applications, but there’s a danger if you give this type of access to more traditional web browsers… what if someone downloads and shares them?
November 10th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I did some research, and learned that the vast majority of the mobile apps being paid for are iPhone apps. It’s not about “visibility.” It’s about documented user behavior. Based on that, we decided that we would launch on the iPhone first, and then see how it goes from there.
If the app sells poorly on the iPhone there’s little hope of it selling well on other platforms. If it sells really well on the iPhone then it might do well on crackberries or androids, or even Microsoft phones. We’re not ruling anything out at this stage.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Oh I didn’t mean “alternate phone platform” – I figured you might upsell customers on a private portion of the website or the like.
It sounds like Erfworld has done reasonably well with their “Tool” supporter program. But I recognize you probably know the economics of this far better than I!
November 10th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I’m disinclined to mess around with the website any more than I am already. See, we’re putting in a new server, upgrading the architecture, and installing new “chrome” pretty much all at the same time. I’d just as soon not push my luck.
November 10th, 2009 at 6:40 pm
@Howard Taylor re: crackberry, android and windows mobile:
You are an evil, evil man. I’m dodging the crackberries too.
November 11th, 2009 at 12:15 am
Chairman Kaga, Mr. Tayler has mentioned the “Ominous Hum”
sounds like the proton packs in _Ghostbusters_ being switched on.
This leads me to the image of someone with an O.H. ringtone
standing in an elevator somewhere when a call comes in — and the
other people in the elevator reacting *exactly* like Peter and Egon….
>;)
November 11th, 2009 at 8:57 am
[...] Howard Tayler announces the Schlock Mercenary iPhone App (Beta) — Too bad, so sad, you didn’t get in on the already-filled Beta program. But then, neither did I. This is one of another areas where I really like what Howard has done to grow his burgeoning online empire–sensible, leveraging technology, and doing so to enhance his revenue stream. Now I just need an Apple touch device with a reliable network connection, unlike my much-abused iPod. [...]
November 11th, 2009 at 7:39 pm
You know… that image you have there on the ‘iPhone App load screen’ looks… somewhat familiar.
Of course, I got a whole LOTA thanks just as he got a whole LOTA blown up.
Hrmph!
November 12th, 2009 at 12:42 am
Skjaeve: Most government based Post Offices will not accept packages from other services like UPS DHL or FedEx. This would severely impact shipping when Howard can’t use the lowest cost option.
If it’s a Personal Mail Box at a Private Postal Service business in a storefront, and they will sign for packages and accept from other shippers and hold the item for you, then list it as (Street Address) ‘PMB XXX’, City, State, Country… and it should work fine.
Or list your work address, and warn the Mailroom that it’s coming.