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Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

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Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#71

Post by hermitcrab »

LVB wrote: post #56
manx wrote: post #17

Can anyone recommend good learning material for the non-tech part? I'm good at building stuff, but not on the other parts.

I'll say, this has been the worst part of my little indie dev adventure. I knew I'd be uncomfortable with a lot of it, but I also didn't realize how flat out bad I am at it. I've spent so much time fiddling with keywords, refreshing splash pages for app stores, making a good landing page, buying ads, adjusting paywalls, etc. But the uptake has been depressingly low. A few people downloaded the app, but not only have…

IIRC quite a large percentage of apps in the Mac apps store have 0 downloads. You definitely can't rely on the app store to do your marketing for you.

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#72

Post by hermitcrab »

LVB wrote: post #56
manx wrote: post #17

Can anyone recommend good learning material for the non-tech part? I'm good at building stuff, but not on the other parts.

I'll say, this has been the worst part of my little indie dev adventure. I knew I'd be uncomfortable with a lot of it, but I also didn't realize how flat out bad I am at it. I've spent so much time fiddling with keywords, refreshing splash pages for app stores, making a good landing page, buying ads, adjusting paywalls, etc. But the uptake has been depressingly low. A few people downloaded the app, but not only have…

The economics of the app store were horrible even in 2010: https://successfulsoftware.net/2010/07/11/iphone-app-store-e...

There are now more than 2 million apps in the store: https://42matters.com/ios-apple-app-store-statistics-and-tre...

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#73

Post by mfld »

Wonderful writing, thanks for sharing! I particularly like how it's staying away from over-generalizing "do this" advice while giving hints how OP overcomes some challenges of being a solo dev (e.g. therapeutic writing). May the luck be on your side :)

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#74

Post by LVB »

hermitcrab wrote: post #71
LVB wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll say, this has been the worst part of my little indie dev adventure. I knew I'd be uncomfortable with a lot of it, but I also didn't realize how flat out bad I am at it. I've spent so much time fiddling with keywords, refreshing splash pages for app stores, making a good landing page, buying ads, adjusting paywalls, etc. But the uptake has been depressingly low. A few people downloaded the app, but not only have…

IIRC quite a large percentage of apps in the Mac apps store have 0 downloads. You definitely can't rely on the app store to do your marketing for you.

I fell victim to the line offered by certain indie devs along the line of, "Sure, it's hard to get a big piece of the pie, but with a BILLION users even a small piece is significant."

I'm seriously considering a simple web app for my next project. Yeah the UX will be worse, but I'll completely bypass trying to appease Apple, and it will get into the world much quicker, mostly likely. If it's a dud, I might as well fail fast.

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#75

Post by hermitcrab »

LVB wrote: post #74
hermitcrab wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC quite a large percentage of apps in the Mac apps store have 0 downloads. You definitely can't rely on the app store to do your marketing for you.

I fell victim to the line offered by certain indie devs along the line of, "Sure, it's hard to get a big piece of the pie, but with a BILLION users even a small piece is significant." I'm seriously considering a simple web app for my next project. Yeah the UX will be worse, but I'll completely bypass trying to appease Apple, and it will get into the world much quicker, mostly likely. If it's a dud, I might as well fa…

If you rely on the Apple app store, you have a single point of failure and have to jump through whatever hoops Apple decides. Which rather calls into question just how "indie" you really are.

BTW it is possible to sell Mac apps and not use the Mac app store (I do). But I sell for Windows as well.

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#77

Post by indieofone »

auspex wrote: post #43
indieofone wrote: post #11

I would add this advice: 1) start by working on your apps on the side while working another job, 2) while working said job, save and invest. Over time this can provide the cushion necessary to jump to full time indie.

Just be careful of inventions assignments. If you live in the US you probably signed paperwork that says anything you invent or create is property of the company you work for. If you signed one of these and hack on the side… successful business could be owned by your previous company. You can always ask that they release the IP which requires the lawyers to officially sign it over to you. Before you quit your job mak…

I think it would only matter for something that is quite significant. And in that case, you would probably quit long before it mattered.

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#78

Post by crooked-v »

animal_spirits wrote: post #63
crooked-v wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> both groups base their understanding on the same facts Chiropractors base their knowledge on secret messages from a ghost [1]. [1]: https://nationalpost.com/health/the-first-chiropractor-was-a...

Don’t generalize all practitioners based on the strangeness of the first one.

The strangeness of the first one is the basis of the field. Literally all of chiropractic practice stems, objectively, from the one guy and his ghost revelations circa 1896 or so.

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#79

Post by Henchman21 »

animal_spirits wrote: post #63
crooked-v wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> both groups base their understanding on the same facts Chiropractors base their knowledge on secret messages from a ghost [1]. [1]: https://nationalpost.com/health/the-first-chiropractor-was-a...

Don’t generalize all practitioners based on the strangeness of the first one.

Chiropractic medicine is quackery. I am happy to acknowledge that some people find it helpful!

But let’s be honest: it isn’t scientific in the least, no matter what modern practitioners have gussied it up with.

Re: Lessons from 15 Years of Indie App Development

#80

Post by cageface »

hermitcrab wrote: post #75
LVB wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fell victim to the line offered by certain indie devs along the line of, "Sure, it's hard to get a big piece of the pie, but with a BILLION users even a small piece is significant." I'm seriously considering a simple web app for my next project. Yeah the UX will be worse, but I'll completely bypass trying to appease Apple, and it will get into the world much quicker, mostly likely. If it's a dud, I might as well fa…

If you rely on the Apple app store, you have a single point of failure and have to jump through whatever hoops Apple decides. Which rather calls into question just how "indie" you really are. BTW it is possible to sell Mac apps and not use the Mac app store (I do). But I sell for Windows as well.

Have you found the extra work to also sell on windows to have been justified by the sales on that platform?
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