The advantages of selling ebook(s) on your own website include:

1. You keep a larger percentage of your gross sale price.
2. You can receive payments in a few days instead of 2+ months.
3. You can obtain and keep contact information for purchasers.
4. You can readily offer discount and/or free download codes to special groups or buyers qualifying for bulk pricing.
5. You can sell people DRM-free versions of your eBook.

The disadvantages of selling ebook(s) on your own website include:

1. You will need to provide thorough instructions for customers about how to transfer eBooks to their eReader device.
2. You will need to respond to customer questions when they encounter ebook download or transfer problems.
3. You will need to configure your website(s) to include shopping cart links.
4. Some locations (like schools) may block your e-commerce website.
5. You will be responsible for your own marketing as a self-publisher.

Check out the screencast, in which I elaborate in greater detail on all ten of these reasons.

One thing I neglected to mention in the screencast is that I use Amazon S3 Cloud Storage to provide download bandwidth for the iPad version of my eBook, which is about 175 MB in size. See the section on “Remotely Hosted Downloads” on e-Junkie’s Help page on File Downloads for more about this. The option to use secure/authenticated downloads from your own website or file host (like Amazon S3) currently requires a premium e-Junkie account of $18 or more per month.

As I state in the screencast, selling an eBook on your own website isn’t for everyone. The advantages of taking this approach are significant, however, so I encourage you to consider them. Hat tip to Liz Castro for modeling the self-publishing eBooks and the option to sell them on your own site. Hat tip to Jason Neiffer who first alerted me (albeit indirectly) to e-Junkie via his debate website, Big Sky Debate.

Are you selling an eBook on your own website? If so, what have you used and what would you recommend to others considering that digital sales option?

Before I explain some of the features and reasons I’m loving Pinnacle Studio for iPad-based video editing, I need to mention that the app was previously called “Avid Studio for iPad” prior to September 2012. If you see references for Avid Studio or find tutorials for it, understand it’s the same app but is now Pinnacle Studio. It’s also important to know the same company (Pinnacle Systems) makes a “family” of Windows-only video editing software by the same name. If you’re a Windows user you can export projects you start with Pinnacle Studio for iPad and edit them further with the desktop version. This isn’t an option for Mac laptop or desktop computer users, but in my view that shouldn’t deter Mac users from giving Pinnacle Studio for iPad a try. Many thanks to Bill Rogers who enthusiastically recommended Pinnacle Studio for iPad to me last week when we met in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, thanks to Bob Sprankle.

The screenshot below shows the main editing layout in Pinnacle Studio. If you remember “the good ‘ole days” of editing video on a Mac with iMovie ’06 and older versions, you’ll feel right at home with Pinnacle Studio. It’s similar to iMovie for iPad, but unlike iMovie you can import and use MULTIPLE audio tracks. You can also add images as “B-roll” video over video clips, which is something that’s not possible in the current version of iMovie for iPad. I found the razor blade tool for “cutting” video clips in Pinnacle Studio to be VERY intuitive. I also like the “storyboard” menu which is sandwiched between the media source menu (upper left corner) and the preview window (upper right corner), and the “timeline” at the bottom of the screen.

When you click the HELP button on the initial Pinnacle Studio home screen, a 52 page tutorial help guide is displayed which is VERY thorough. After scanning through that document, I had all the knowledge I needed to create some iPad edited videos which included still images, video clips, montage image intros, text titles, and video transitions.

As you work in Pinnacle Studio for iPad, some of the video effects you build will require rendering. You can postpone this process if desired, but I found it worked great to “render as I went.” The process was quick on my iPad2, and I just tapped the ‘gears’ icon to start the rendering process when the app indicated it was required. If you don’t render, preview playback is a bit jerky but still viewable/workable.

After I finished editing my videos, I opted to export them in high definition (1080p) instead of uploading directly to YouTube. A direct upload was an option, but since I was “out and about” on Saturday with access to lower speed Internet connections, I opted to transfer the videos (using Image Capture on my Mac) to my laptop and upload them on my home cable modem later.

While I usually upload “quick edit” videos with iMovie for iPad using standard resolution, for these videos I decided I’d try sharing the high def versions. I shot these videos originally on my iPhone5, and transferred them using PhotoSync to my iPad. (This requires a wifi hotspot with open ports, most home wifi networks should be fine, but many hotel/organizational hotspots may be locked down and prevent media transfers with PhotoSync.) I edited and saved two videos on our flight from Boston back to DFW on Saturday, “Ferry to Peaks Island, Maine” and “Cooking Lobster in Maine.” The second video (about “Lobstah”) has the most effects from Pinnacle Studio which are not possible with the current version of iMovie for iPad.

In the next couple months, I’ll be updating the media product pages on my “Mapping Media to the Common Core / Curriculum” website for both “Quick Edit Videos” and “Digital Storytelling.” Lessons from my December Storychasers workshop on iPad Digital Storytelling will make there way into those links and tutorials, I’m sure.

Have you tried using Pinnacle Studio for iPad lately? If so, what were your impressions and experiences?

UPDATE 22 OCTOBER 2012: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO LOW ENROLLMENT.

Learn how to maximize the use of your iPad for personal and business productivity by taking an “iPad with Wes: Productivity Apps” full-day workshop in Oklahoma City on Friday, November 2, 2012, from 8:30 am to 3:30 pm. In this hands-on, BYOI (bring your own iPad) workshop you’ll learn how to more effectively:

1. Work with, edit and share different document types including spreadsheets, word processing documents and presentations on the iPad
2. Save, organize, and share a variety of different files to and from your iPad
3. Use applications to take accessible notes you can readily find and use later
4. Create and share concept maps for brainstorming
5. Create “information traps” to quickly save and share links and other web-based information
6. Much more! Visit the workshop “Apps” page for links to apps we’ll use!

Your instructor, Dr. Wesley Fryer, is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher, author, and digital learning consultant. Learn more about Wesley by reading his bio and visiting links on his Google Profile page.

Standard registration for $99 per person is available online via Eventbrite. Please inquire if you are interested in group discounts.

1. Work with, edit and share different document types including spreadsheets, word processing documents and presentations on the iPad
2. Save, organize, and share a variety of different files to and from your iPad
3. Use applications to take accessible notes you can readily find and use later
4. Create and share concept maps for brainstorming
5. Create “information traps” to quickly save and share links and other web-based information
6. Much more! Visit the workshop “Handouts” page for links to apps we’ll use!

Your instructor, Dr. Wesley Fryer, is an Apple Distinguished Educator, Google Certified Teacher, author, and digital learning consultant. Learn more about Wesley by reading his bio and visiting links on his Google Profile page.

Standard registration for $99 per person is available online via Eventbrite. Please inquire if you are interested in group discounts. This workshop will also be offered on Friday, November 2, 2012.

On a technical note, I created this screencast using the free/trial version of Air Server software. Like Reflection App, Air Server is software (for Apple as well as Windows computers) which turns any laptop or desktop computer into an Apple TV capable of “Air Play” mirroring using an iPad 2, ‘iPad New’ or iPhone 4S device. I recorded the screencast using Screenflow Software for Mac. I ended up starting this recording about ten times and fully recording it twice before I got it right. I could have created this more quickly using the iPad app “Explain Everything,” but I wanted to be able to show ‘live scrolling’ in the iPad browser. This is the first iPad tutorial screencast I’ve made using Air Server, and also my first one using the Chrome web browser for iPad.

I’ve added this video to a new playlist I created on my YouTube channel for “iPad Tutorials.” If you’re interested, a link to my main Amazon Wish List / Reading list is also available.

Video streaming by Ustream

Here are all the apps shared by attendees / participants during our introduction time.

FREE
Pintrest (social photo sharing and curation)
Netflix (watch movies)
Pulse (news reader)
PBS (watch movies)
Songify (turn speech into a song)
La De Da (concert info)
Sock Puppets (fun voice transformations)
TuneInRadio (listen to music – pro version also supports recording)
PocketSword (Bible study with good commentaries)
Flipboard (news reader)
Nowbox (TV guide for programming)
FaceTime (videoconferencing – built-in default app / desktop app is $5)
Skype (videoconferencing)
Bejeweled Blitz (game)
JetPack Joyride (game)
iBooks (eBook reading)
We Map (for travel)
Slideshark (open PowerPoint documents)
iTranslate (language translation)
Adobe Reader (read PDF documents)

COMMERCIAL
PhotoSync (transfer and upload photos $2)
Omar Sharif Bridge (game – $5)
Bridge Baron (game – $20)
iBird Yard Plus HD (birding – $3)

FREEMIUM (free app, but full features require paid subscription)
Onlive Desktop (limited free account, more fully featured pro accounts)
HBO Go (watch movies)

Our next meeting will be Tuesday, April 3, 2012. We’ll return to our ‘normal’ 6:30 – 7:30 pm time slot, and will again meet at The Div. Hope to see you there!

After installing the Reflection App on your Mac computer, run the application. With your iPad2 or iPhone4S connected to the same wifi network as your computer, double click your home key and swipe your app task bar at the bottom to the right to show your iPod controls and mirroring options. Click the mirroring button and select your laptop from the available selections. (If you have Apple TVs or Apple wireless base stations supporting AirPlay (like an Airport Express) on your network those will show up in the list too.)

Now when you view any application on your iPad2 or iPhone4S, that entire application will be “mirrored” on your Mac computer. Here is the iBooks application showing the enhanced eBook I created Tuesday afternoon with teachers in Yukon Public Schools at a professional development workshop.

Here’s a screenshot of my laptop screen, in “full-screen” mode using the Reflection App. You can use the keyboard shortcut “Command-F” to toggle in and out of fullscreen mode.

I love it! I’ll use this app tomorrow in Kansas City at the “Enhancing Teaching & Learning Conference,” presented by the Kansas City Professional Development Council. In addition to my keynote on “Improving Reading, Writing and Critical Thinking Skills with Media” I’m sharing a breakout session on “Creating MultiMedia eBooks.” That eBooks session will be repeated next week on Tuesday afternoon at the Heartland eLearning Conference in Edmond, Oklahoma. I am SO THRILLED to have a way to mirror my iPad directly on my laptop and therefore to available room LCD projectors.

Hat tip to the amazing early childhood technology and learning guru, Gail Lovely, for sharing the Reflection App via Twitter yesterday!

This video was created on an iPad using the $3 app “Explain Everything.” While the ShowMe App is great and its accompanying website showme.com permits users to publish an unlimited number of videos for free, Explain Everything does have some comparative advantages. Unlike the ShowMe app, Explain Everything:

• Permits users to pre-load all the slides which will be used in a narrated slideshow, instead of having to load them sequentially during the recording process as ShowMe requires.
• Supports photos imported from a Dropbox account.
• Permits project publishing directly to YouTube.

That said, ShowMe is still a great application and it’s free. A variety of other “whiteboard” or “narrated slideshow” iPad apps are available in addition to these, including DoodleCast ($2), ReplayNote ($5) and ScreenChomp (free).

Check out this 6.5 minute video tutorial for instructions about using iAnnotate PDF to sign PDF documents.