On the flip side, I've had a Dyson for the last 5 years and it's still kicking ass despite contending with the monster amount of Siberian Husky hair that fails to stay on my husky. Extremely happy with this thing. I'd be all over them if things went south within a year.
Rule of thumb is to surround yourself with positive people who challenge you respectively. Learn how to ally with these people and ignore the useless noise.
I don't hate it, but I have leaned away from hourly for a few reasons.
1. I prefer easing clients mind by letting them know how much they will be paying
2. I'm confident in estimating
3. I draw the line in the sand by making it clear that working outside of the contract is non-negotiable unless we mutually agree to revise/update it and the cost
Two exceptions. 1. They do not have a clear spec (or no spec). It will be hourly until that is defined. 2. Maintenance mode
"Apple may determine for any reason and in its sole discretion not to select your Work for distribution"
You wouldn't find this in Amazon's EULA? They would publish anything? There's no way Apple would leave that door open.
"And there really isn't anything special or expensive about that software either, there are plenty of free ebook creation software options."
You're selling a different experience here. If you're writing a static book then there is no reason to go this route right now. If you're creating something interactive then this might be something to look into.
Not all games work well in the free model. You could kill your product by releasing a free version if you have wrong type of game. This, generally, is an advantage for puzzle games with interesting mechanics. It's also better to react with a lite version if you see initial success with your product. If you have something good you'll see a positive reaction, but if you're bouncing around 0-5 sales/day, early in the release, a lite version is probably not going to do much.
The iPod and iPhone are two completely different worlds so it makes sense that you would see two groups of websites rise.
The iPhone and iPad are almost identical. There are plenty in the community who have made the divide between the products. Even if you can manage to get coverage on a site that blends iPhone/iPad coverage that is just fine (I've had this happen, sales went from around 40 to 180). I also consider it a huge benefit to get my brand in front of iPhone only users. It's likely that they'll know friends with an iPad and/or they may become a fan (fb, twitter, newsletter) in anticipation for an iPhone version.
iPhone and iPad coverage is hard in general. Getting my latest product out there has been a huge pain. Originally released on iPad, I had little coverage. I have yet to get coverage on the iPhone, though, it's still early. It's incredibly important that you spend time building relationships with editors, but that's far easier said than done.
