Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes. The most expensive part of the app by far.
So the $73k is net revenue after Apple but before costs, correct?
That is correct.
My First Year in the App Store
51–60 of 104 posts
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#52Earlier quoted context omitted.
> And I knew that because there were crappy Spanish Bible apps already making money in the App Store. How did you know that? Just judging by the reviews or did you actually buy some to try them out?
All of the above. I bought quite a few of them. It doesn't take too long to get a feel for how good an app is.
But how did you know they were making money?
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#53Congrats on the success! Can you share a link to your app?
Also, do you think the only way to get discovered (for indie devs) is to pick app ideas that will match nicely to keywords that users search for? If you don't have a marketing budget, is there any other way to get discovered?
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#54Whenever anyone complains to me that its hard to make money on software, and/or the App Store is rigged, I always tell them I think anyone can make a living by making a bible app. You don't even have to be the best one, just pretty good, and iterate - it's the canonical product that you know has a big audience, willing buyers, and poor competition on the low end of the market. Case proven by this guy! The next time y…
Yes, but what about those "lucky" developers who live in countries where selling apps is not available in both - apple appstore and google play markets?
Are there any other channels for selling apps?
I "Ask HN"-ed this but didn't get much attention...
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#55Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of the above. I bought quite a few of them. It doesn't take too long to get a feel for how good an app is.
But how did you know they were making money?
Doesn't Apple only let those who have purchased write a review? If so, the gross number of reviews may give some idea of how many have purchased the app (ignoring price fluctuations, etc)
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#56Congrats on the success! Can you share a link to your app? Also, do you think the only way to get discovered (for indie devs) is to pick app ideas that will match nicely to keywords that users search for? If you don't have a marketing budget, is there any other way to get discovered?
I'm going to be doing a similar writeup as my app launches in 2 weeks. I've got a small budget. All the design+dev was me, but I'm spending about $300-$400 on marketing. We'll see how that goes.
If anything I believe you should be spending more on marketing nowadays. There's no real way, at least to my knowledge, to search for a niche hole with keywords. I do, however, like to think of an app idea and then spend an hour search various keywords and seeing the results/competition. https://appstorerankings.net/ is a good website to find the keywords of an app. I combined common keywords in the app that I'm releasing with common keywords that are missing among competitors that yield few results.
Again, I haven't launched this app (my 7th) yet, but I'll be doing some analysis of its success using the marketing budget and keyword research.
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
I was under the impression that this was a paid app. How does it generate so much revenue while still being free? I signed up for future posts ( extremely well-placed sign-up form by the way!), but I didn't see a description of in-app purchases or other revenue model as a topic for a future post, which is why I ask. I am also using Android. Thank you for this post by the way. This is amazing and I'm excited to read y…
Great questions. Revenue is where it's at! Initially it was just a paid download for the text of the Bible. With more research in the App Store though I realized audio Bibles were selling much more than I was. So I outsourced the audio (mentioned in the post I think) and now the model is that users download the original app (with the text) for free, and then can buy the audio as an IAP. This works great on multiple f…
Wow, you are incredibly ingenious! Thank you for responding!
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#58Whenever anyone complains to me that its hard to make money on software, and/or the App Store is rigged, I always tell them I think anyone can make a living by making a bible app. You don't even have to be the best one, just pretty good, and iterate - it's the canonical product that you know has a big audience, willing buyers, and poor competition on the low end of the market. Case proven by this guy! The next time y…
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Re: My First Year in the App Store
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
All of the above. I bought quite a few of them. It doesn't take too long to get a feel for how good an app is.
But how did you know they were making money?
AppAnnie (http://www.appannie.com/) gives some good insight in how well apps are doing.
Re: My First Year in the App Store
#60Whenever anyone complains to me that its hard to make money on software, and/or the App Store is rigged, I always tell them I think anyone can make a living by making a bible app. You don't even have to be the best one, just pretty good, and iterate - it's the canonical product that you know has a big audience, willing buyers, and poor competition on the low end of the market. Case proven by this guy! The next time y…
Yes, but what about those "lucky" developers who live in countries where selling apps is not available in both - apple appstore and google play markets? Are there any other channels for selling apps? I "Ask HN"-ed this but didn't get much attention...
Why not make a web app? and make it responsive for mobile users?
Or have a friend in say the UK submit it for you