If you have a mobile device, chances are, you have said, "I wish there was an app for that." Perhaps you're thinking, "How hard can it be?" and have started to create said app. Making an app is one thing, but how to you get it on the App Store? Author Grant Spink walks you through the whole process of publishing your iOS app in his first book, entitled How to Publish Your App. The subtitle says it all: "No code! Just a step-by-step guide, helping you through the tricky parts of publishing an app."
A quick search on Amazon reveals that this is the only book of its kind currently in the marketplace. So young author, Grant Spink (he's 14) saw an opportunity to share the lessons he learned in publishing his own app.
The first thing to take note of is that Spink says outright that this guide is to help you publish your app, not create it. You will have to look elsewhere for help in that area.
When Grant gave me a copy of How to Publish Your App, I was attracted to the layout. Flipping through the book, I could see that the design is very clean, with just the right amount of text and plenty of screen shots. Both copy and images are spaced out to give an uncluttered feel.
The guide is laid out into 13 chapters which outlines the publishing process in clear and concise steps. The first five chapters show you how to get set up as an Apple Developer: the obligatory introduction, Becoming a Developer, iOS Provisional Portal Outline, Requesting Your Certificates and Uploading Your Certificates.
Spink explains what is happening at each step and why it is important that you complete it. He provides links to the URLs to all the forms you need to complete. No hunting, no digging required.
The next two chapters prepare you to test and subsequently distribute your app: App IDs and Provisioning Profiles. He explains why these steps are important and walks the reader through the steps of creating profile.
Chapters 9 and 10 are critical for any new App Developer to go through. These chapters alone make the book worth its weight in gold: Getting Access to Contracts and Filling out Your Information. They walk you through all the legal, payment and tax forms that Apple makes all developers and sellers complete.
The final three chapters take you through the last stages of publishing your app: Adding a New App, Preparing an App for Archiving and Submit to the App Store. True to form, these final steps are described step by step with the requisite screen caps.
In an interview, Spink told me that he wanted to make the step-by-step guide simple enough that people without coding experience and complete newbies to developing apps can understand. I say that he succeeded in doing so. I have absolutely no experience in this area and after reading his book, I feel that I can publish my own app.
This young author has my brain going, trying to think of a couple of apps that I could create. However, I should probably just get to know my new iPod Touch first.
How to Publish Your App is available on Amazon in softcover ($21.08 CAD) and eBook format in the iBooks Store. At 122 pages, it's a very easy read.
Grant Spink is an actor, writer and student in Calgary, Alberta. He is the owner of Grantworks Media. I look forward to seeing what he does next.