I think you are stating that you want to retain control of your art without relying on a digital publisher?
I'm not sure if that's what I'm suggesting. God, only at times like this do I wish I were 12 years old again. I'm of the wrong era to speak this new language.
I see 3 possible scenarios:
1) You publish through an existing Tarot App, with a large established based of users, which has an in-App deck store (this is what my "Tarot & Numerology" on iOS offers)
I haven't ruled this out, but there are just some things I'm not willing to do so far.
2) You pay someone to develop a Tarot App with your Art work and market and sell it yourself. Getting in line behind the 1000+ Tarot Apps already out there.
Again, a world I'm completely unfamiliar with - remember I just got my first smart phone this week. I had never downloaded an app till then. To me this sounds basically like what you would be doing for me - isn't it? You make the app, my artwork, & the marketing & selling I have no clue how that's done, I was just going to put it on my website & Etsy like everything else, or perhaps Solandia might consider making an app download page in here - that would be AWESOME.
Also, my ex was a programmer, he just mentioned to me yesterday that there are a ton of unemployed programmers who can be found online doing freelance programming. I'm not actively pursuing this route (actually I'm just too busy right now).
3) You market and sell the Art Work in an open digital format (.zip file with 78 card images, backs, cover etc) and encourage customers to load it into an open Tarot App like "Tarot & Numerology" for iOS, "UniTarot" for Android etc.
That's a possibility, however, MY main thoughts on doing an app at all weren't so much to get my decks out there as to bring more into the fold - to have something on an app that would get people to my website.
Apple forbids selling of content from 3rd parties through Apps in iTunes.
All in-app content must be paid for using iTunes.
Your suggestion of an in-app "account" where you self publish is technically feasible but prohibited by Apple's strictly enforced purchasing rules.
And so it shall come to pass that Apple will fall to the same fate as the major record labels and major card publishers. Indies rule. We don't care if we don't sell by the truckload.
(1) You don't like because you lose control, relying on a digital publisher to market and sell for you and send you the royalties once a month.
We're rebels, hon. Renegades. Very difficult to work with.
(2) It's expensive. Not just to develop, but to update, bug fix and cover maintenance costs. I just re-newed my annual publisher subscription to iTunes, $100 per year before you earn anything! The mobile "public" seems to think every App makes a millionaire. It doesn't. 1 in 10,000, maybe... The other 9,999 end up out of pocket or break even.
ya I just don't do expensive, & I don't expect millions of dollars either. $100 per year isn't expensive, though, I'd do that. My Wix website may not be the most ideal situation - I've heard Go-Daddy is the way to go, but Wix is super user friendly & very flexible & I like it and THAT is over $200 a year with the shopping cart & domain name.
(3) This is just asking for rampant piracy. You know this because you said "have the artist put the graphics in the app themselves & lock it or something". You can't "lock" anything. If someone is determined enough they'll get a digital copy of your art work. Either by cracking open the App, taking App screen, scanning in a printed deck or finding a digital copy of a printed deck on a file sharing website.
This may not be something ANY app creator could prevent, by the sounds of it.
This was the same issue that the Music industry faced a decade ago.
They wanted to continue to retain control but the music consumers had other ideas.
Musicians had other ideas - not consumers. Musicians went indie. Tarot makers are going indie.
Downloading was much easier than going to the CD shop.
Musicians are a creative lot.
In the end the Music industry had to go with the times and hand over distribution to Apple and others who had the digital channels to customers.
But now Apple is behaving like a major music label. They should know better.
Those who are willing to pay for your art work will, just as with music.
That's the hope. So far so good.
Anyone can download illegal copies of any songs but people prefer to pay, stay legal and receive quality digital products.
From what I can tell, people prefer to do what's cheap & easy. That's why people started downloading instead of going to the record shop, just as you said. There's a huge difference, though, in music & tarot cards. When you hear a song, it doesn't matter if you hear it on your phone or on a CD. Tarot cards are a tactile thing, though. There's something about owning the actual deck of cards and laying them out, shuffling them, etc. I doubt Tarot cards will go the way of 8 track tapes, & that isn't even the point with apps, it's hopefully to expose people to your work, & attract people to your site. For me, that's all I'd be interested in doing. Meaning, APPS or downloads are not the "next generation" of Tarot.
