Local news site The Lincolnite publishes its first iBook

The Lincolnite, an independent daily news and events site, has today announced the launch of its first iBook in the Apple iBookstore.

The iPad book 'Mayoral Medal Heroes 2012' is dedicated to "recognising the six inspirational people who were awarded a Mayoral Medal by the Right Worshipful Mayor of Lincoln".

The free, multimedia iBook features interviews and photos with all the winners of the awards, as well as a photo gallery and video from the event.

The iBook was created by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, a digital-only news outlet launched two years ago.

Daniel Ionescu, managing editor at The Lincolnite, which has apps for iPhone and iPad, told Journalism.co.uk that he hopes this will be the "first of several" iBooks for the title.

He said he believes it is the first iBook to be published by a local news outlet serving Lincolnshire.

Ionescu and a colleague used the free iBook Author application available in the Mac App Store to create the book. He said it was a relatively easy process, using a template and dragging and dropping content, including videos. The Lincolnite had already created the content and the curation of the book took around seven days.

Publishers can also submit paid-for books to the iBookstore, with Apple taking a 30 per cent cut.

In an email to Journalism.co.uk Ionescu said: "This iBook marks our first venture in the iBookstore, and we commissioned special content for it, including interviews, photographs and videos.

"As a digital native publication, we are seeing a constant increase in readers for our iPad and iPhone applications in the App Store, and the Mayoral Medal Heroes iBook is an extension of our presence on mobile devices."

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