iStoryTime on the iPhone
As a self described snowboarder, technology enthusiast, table tennis player, author and music connoisseur, Woody Sears is an iPhone app developer with a passion for children's books. Not only that, but his company
FrogDog Media invented the technology to let children as young as two years old experience a digital story. It comes as no surprise the name of that platform is iStoryTime, and has had a myriad of excellent publishers come on board. We were curious about the back story of iStoryTime, and he graciously fielded an interview below.
How did you first get involved with FrogDog Media.
Being an early iPhone adopter, my partner Graham saw how his three-year-old gravitated towards the device and how intuitive the touch screen interface was. We decided to bring something to market other than games.
What inspired you to bring children's books to the iPhone and the iPad?
Our kids were the inspiration. Our toddlers have an incredible appetite for books and after lugging around heavy board books while on trips or running errands, the iPhone seemed like the ideal device to make books more mobile.
What part did you play in the creation of the iStoryTime App platform and software?
My background is in marketing and sales enterprise mobility software so the consumer market was new to me. The user interface of our applications was a place where I spent a lot of time in developing the platform because it was important to keep our applications simple.
So how long have you been an author?
I never thought about writing a children’s story until I had kids of my own so it has only been two years. I there are so many great stories out there that are yet to be told by parents of small children, they can be very inspiring.
Could you give me some background on what it took to create the Shoe-per Duper Shoes story?
This book is dedicated to my son who is now four-years-old but was two at the time I wrote this. He had a fascination with shoes, he was always testing out all of our different kinds of shoes. My son would insist that our guests let him try on their shoes as well, it was really entertaining. Even with all that material, I have to say that writing a children’s book isn’t as easy as one would think.
iStoryTime on the iPadDo you plan on expanding your library to include other languages?
We have four books that are available in multiple languages. All three of our TOON-BOOKS have Chinese, French, Spanish, Russian and English.
Are there any future plans to include more books that offer sign language to communicate the story?
If we continue to get a good response from the deaf community and can generate enough sales we certainly look forward to doing more books with ASL support.
Did you encounter any difficulties dealing with licensing and copyright, because your stories are all digital?
No issues with copyright.
If an author has an unpublished children’s book, could they just bring their story to you to be published on your platform?
Yes, we’re always looking for great content if an author has an illustrated work we’d love for them to submit that to us.
What do you look for when considering new literature to add to your iStoryTime library?
We really like variety and books that are adored by parents and kids alike. This is really broad but allows us to deliver an eclectic library that is both fun and educational.
iStoryTime SettingsWhen did you first realize that your product was a success?
I knew we were on to something when we had the #1 Children’s Book on the iPhone with an unknown children’s author and artist in Binky the Pink Elephant last year.
Do you have any advice for aspiring iPhone app developers?
Content is KING, even if there are 300k+ apps out there, you can rise above the rest with a quality product.
Checkout Woody's company website at
iStoryTimeApp.com, Twitter
@iStoryTime,
Facebook, and of course on the Apple
App Store.
