How to Publish Your App A Must for New App Creators

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.

Calgary Japanese Festival 2013 Blooper Reel

Some of you on Facebook liked the idea of seeing a blooper reel of my Calgary Omatsuri footage. Well, here you go. Technical issues and sliding guitars make for an interesting time:

The 2013 Calgary Japanese Festival was a grand success. There were more displays, more tents, more food and more cultural programming. It was too bad that some of the indoor programming was cancelled, and that some sessions happened out of sequence. I was really disappointed that the sword making session was cancelled.

If I have one suggestion, it's that the indoor programming repeats. Then attendees wouldn't have to choose between indoor and outdoor events.

Organizers are looking at larger venues for next year. Sugoi, desu ne?

Making a Practice Schedule

Hi gang! Sorry for the lack of updates. My Wordpress upgrade went wonky and everything was down for a while, but we're back with new practice tips and tricks. The key to making progress with any activity is frequency. That's why dance, sports and martial arts groups train three or more times a week.

As a musician, a lot of that training has to be done at home, mostly on your own. You need to manage your practice routine - an not just because you don't want your parents or your music teacher nagging you about it. You have to want to get better, which means that you need a practice plan and a practice schedule.

Here are some websites I've tracked down with some tips on setting up a practice routine, as well as some sites that have practice logs:

Establishing Good Practice Habits (FYI: He's right - practice your arpeggios!)

Kids' Music Practice Charts

Making the Best Use of Limited Practice Time

Music Practice Schedule Template

The Power of a Practice Schedule

The Musician's Way - Downloads (I think I'm going to try out the Practice/Creativity Log)

Now if you're an aural learner, that is you learn by listening, then record your practices regularly and review them. If you're a visual learner, record a video of yourself. It's as easy as grabbing your smartphone, tablet, camera or iPod Touch.

A Rainbow of Handouts and Studio Incentives

Now that my website issues have been resolved (knock on wood), I can get back to the business of writing and teaching. You can read all about it here. I've wanted to share some of the tweaks I've made to my studio incentive program:

What's New:

First off, I changed the name from "Maestro's Musical Quest" to "Maestro's Top Dogs". It makes sense, since the Top Dogs in each category will party it up with Maestro at the Top Dog Party.

I also reformatted the Piano Progress Card. The booklet format was nice, but students misplaced it. Now, all the elements that were in the Progress Card are printed on 8-1/2 X 11" coloured sheets (lilac, pink, green and blue) and placed in their binders.

In the top LH corner in the photo above, you'll see two cards with shapes in a grid. That's the new technique challenge. Inspired by Qwirkle, a game created by MindWare, my students will work their way through the card, building Qwirkle-like rows ("Twirkles", perhaps?). Whenever they master six technical elements in a row, they collect $15 Maestro Bucks to spend at Maestro's Market. Students who complete the card (major minor keys) will be inducted into Maestro's Technique All-stars.

Upgraded Studio Incentives - Sticking to a Theme

One thing I noticed with last year's "Gig Card" is that some students either performed a lot or hardly at all. I suspect that some lost their steam for performing 20 times before seeing $100 Maestro Bucks. This year, they will earn $25 Maestro Bucks for each five performances.

That transferred over to the Music Moxie (formerly the "Music Maestro") and the Music Mastery cards. I decided to keep it simple and have $25 Maestro Bucks for five on all of them. The goals setting incentive remains the same as last year.

Handouts and a Bag of Tricks

This year, my students and I are going to explore practice strategies based upon their "practice personality". This is inspired by a book I bought at the CFMTA Convention, entitled Practice Personalities: What's Your Type?: Identifying and Understanding the Practice Personality Type in the Music Studentby Thornton Cline.

Instead of the Practicing 101 handouts of years past, I decide to repackage the info for my predominantly Visual and Visual-Kinesthetic learners. Once again, I drew inspiration from some of the tabletop games and video games I've played.

All students, young and young-at-heart, received a Bag of Tricks:

The original set contains 24 practice drills. One side of the card shows you how to do the drill. The reverse side tells you when to use the practice strategy and what it can be used to fix.

Some of my students were very excited when they read what the cards contained. Others looked skeptical, to which I'd say, "They're good for when you're stuck and you need to change up how you're working on something."

One of my fellow gamers enthusiastically read the cards out loud to his mother. When he got to the part where it said, "Repeat until you can play this spot cleanly five to seven times in a row," his mother said something like, "Well, duh!"

Then, one of my Grade 12 students looked at them and said, "Dude, that's a lot of work." Well, if more of my students improve because of them, then I'd say that it's worth it. At any rate, I hope that they have as much fun with their materials, practice aids and practice incentives as I had making them.

June 13, 2014 update:The musical bag of tricks has undergone significant testing and revisions, as well as a new name. I am pleased to announce that the Canadian product release of Maestro's Music Tricks (MMT) is June 30. There are 34 practice drills. MMT is currently available on pre-order. Stay tuned for details on the international product release.

MMT website: http://mmt.musespeak.com

MMT FB page: https://www.facebook.com/maestrosmusictricks

Site Spotlight on the BlogPaws Community

Maestro has been following the BlogPaws Community on Twitter for a while. There have been some interesting tweets and articles regarding pet care, pet health and dog food. It's a gathering place for pet bloggers, like us. Visitors can read blog posts from community members, check out community events and check out photos and videos. Members can participate in the online chats and forums.

Recently, there was an invitation to join the BlogPaws Community. We've applied. Fingers crossed!