europe news: How to get iMore to cover your apps and games

Sunday, June 23, 2013

How to get iMore to cover your apps and games

Today's Talk Mobile was all about helping developers better market their apps. Media outlets like iMore are an important part of that marketing, yet like any resource, we have our limits. We get dozens of app submissions a day and sometimes hundreds a week, but we only have time to cover a handful. And as much as we love developers and apps, we love our readers even more, and take our responsibility to them incredibly seriously. We're only ever going to offer them the very best apps and games we can find. To put it bluntly, if something looks or works like crap, we're not going anywhere near it.

So, if you're a developer and you've made an amazing app or game, what's the best way to ensure it gets featured on iMore? There's no absolute answer to that question -- it's a classic chaos equation -- but there's a lot of things that can help, and a few that can hinder:

Things that make our lives -- and covering your apps -- easier

Do direct your app submission to the appropriate email address. If you flood our inboxes with multiple emails to multiple people, it'll be harder for us to find it, and figure out who's looking at what. Here are your go-tos: iosapps@imore.com and macapps@imore.com.
Do send personal notes. If it's not written by a human, it's not reasonable to expect it to be read by a human. Over time we come to know and trust you, and that can't happen with robots.
Do keep it short. 1 to 2 paragraphs about why your app is awesome will always be read. Multiple paragraphs or pages of text are almost impenetrable. What kind of app is it, what does it do, and why's that super compelling for our readers -- that's all you ever have to tell us.
Do include pre-release options, when available. If it's a major app release, or a complicated app, we appreciate TestFlight or Hockey builds so we can do a good job, rather than a rushed one.
Do include an App Store link, post-release. If we can't find your app, we can't cover it.
Do include a link to a YouTube video, if you have one. Yes, we know the cool kids prefer Vimeo, but YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world. (Would you refuse to list your website on Google and keep it exclusive to Bing?)
Do follow our writers on Twitter and App.net, and don't hesitate to message us there. The character limit means it's easy to get into quick back and forth discussions, and you can more easily find out which of us is into what kinds of apps, and target us more specifically. Again, be human.

Things that make our lives -- and covering your apps -- harder

Don't send us pages of text, .PDF or .DOC attachments, or canned press releases. We have to filter somehow, and that's a great sign there's no one who cares about the app or game behind it.
Don't contact us the day of release and expect coverage that day. It didn't take you an hour to make your app, it won't take us an hour to cover it. We actually try out the stuff we cover, and we appreciate the time to do it right.
Don't send us to Facebook pages, web sites, or anything other than your App Store page. Those are great for reaching potential customers and fans. We need a direct way to find your app so we can help you reach more potential customers.
Don't offer to write your review for us, or pay for us to do a review. We'll cut off any and all communications at that point. Integrity matters a great deal to us.
Don't be a dick. We'll cover your apps regardless because we're professionals, but we appreciate dealing with professionals as well.

Our ultimate goal here at iMore is to delight and serve our readers. That means finding them the best apps and games possible. If that app or game is yours, we want to know all about it so we can tell our readers all about it. Help us help you help them.

(And if any of this comes off as obnoxious, that's absolutely not the intent. It's simply the best way we've come up with to date to deal with the incredible amounts of app submissions we get on a daily basis, and balance it with the best interests of our readers. Wow them, and you'll have our attention, support, and gratitude.)