Award-winning children’s science writer Seymour Simon is monetizing his first mobile application called “Science Fun To Go” using in-application book purchasing via eBay’s PayPal.

Mr. Seymour tapped SachManya, creators of YAPPER, which stands for “Your APP makER,” an online self-service mobile application-publishing platform. This free application is available on Apple’s iPhone and iPad and Google’s Android and will serve as a one-stop resource for the work of Mr. Simon.

“SachManya with its YAPPER mobile publishing platform was my first choice as a place to build Science Fun To Go,” Mr. Simon said. “It represents a new milestone in making it easier for my content to reach even more teachers, parents and science education professionals.

“And I know my primary audience—elementary school kids—will love reading my books in a digital format,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier with the results of this new platform for my work.”

Mr. Simon is known for photo essay books as well as illustrated books for younger readers.

YAPPER lets anyone build a mobile application for iPhone, iPad, Android and BlackBerry without writing a single line of code. Prices range from $99 to $999.

The company offers an online service for media organizations, publishers and brands to create their own mobile-optimized, rich and branded apps for mobile devices and tablets.

Dropping science
The Science Fun To Go application features a direct feed of Mr. Simon’s blog, content from SeymourSimon.com, audience interactivity, new read-to-me functionality, lots of humor intended to make it fun to learn and additional content from the author whom the New York Times dubbed “the Dean of the [children’s science book] field.”

The application, which targets parents, teachers and librarians, features a way to buy Seymour Simon mobile books using YAPPER’s in-application purchase capability via PayPal.

Science Fun To Go uses PayPal’s Adaptive Payments APIs to enable payment transactions.

Whether a student, parent or educator is looking to learn, explore or better understand the natural sciences, space, animals or the human body, Science Fun To Go can serve as a go-to mobile destination for up-to-date science news, in-depth coverage of all types of topics, video content and online quizzes.

Users can preview and purchase mobile books from Mr. Simon.

The application also includes the option to buy an exclusive, original ebook by Mr. Simon and illustrator Dennis Kendrick entitled “Silly Dinosaur Riddles” with new read-to-me or let-me-read options.

The newly published book was available only through the Science Fun To Go application for the first 30 days.

Mr. Simon has been touring schools and demonstrating his Science Fun To Go application to students and educators, with recent destinations including Dilworth Elementary School in San Jose, CA, and schools throughout the metropolitan Dallas area. He also demonstrated this new digital literacy medium as a featured speaker at both the National Science Teachers Association and International Reading Association conventions.

“We’re pleased to offer a robust, mobile-publishing platform for a wonderful man with amazing content like Seymour Simon,” said Chintu Parikh, CEO of SachManya, Santa Clara, CA. “We’re providing a fast and affordable way for publishers, authors and brands to mobilize their content, engage with their communities and monetize via in-app purchases.

“By working with Seymour Simon and leveraging the PayPal X platform, we are able to innovate and evolve in the mobile app market,” he said.

Final Take
Dan Butcher, associate editor, Mobile Commerce Daily