I am marching forward with my plans to make my picture book, The Prisoner of Carrot Castle, into an iPad app. I researched how to put this all together and thought readers of this blog would find following the project helpful. We are working for a fall release in the Apple App store.

The team consists of developer, Nur Monson, and illustrator, Kate Jeong, writer and project coordinator, moi. Kate lives in Vancouver, Canada and Nur lives in the Bay Area 100 miles west so we use technology (Skype, email and the web) to coordinate the project. In this era of changing modes of publishing, an author has many options for being published.

Step One: Assemble the Team
Identify a developer for the iPad programming. You can do a Google search for iPad developers. There are many to choose from. I chose my uber-talented programmer son, Nur.

Next, I needed an illustrator. At the last regional SCBWI conference I attended, I picked up a couple of business cards for illustrators I liked. After perusing each of their websites, I contacted Kate and asked if she would like to be a part of our team. Happily she agreed. We discussed the options for payment, which we nailed down once we have the storyboard finalized and knew what illustrations were needed.

Last, I completed the manuscript for The Prisoner of Carrot Castle and began the storyboard process. I would also be organizing and managing the project which would include providing a contract for payment to the team members and other functions needed as we progressed (such as finding sound, developing a marketing plan, etc.).

Come along with me as I outline the steps to develop a picture book into an iPad app. Stay tuned to see the first page come to life! We have a great team for the project.

Is there an iPad app you thought would be interesting to develop?