A Few Words About Indie App Business
The first few apps I released had almost no downloads, no users and there was no income from them. They are long forgotten by the world and even by me. Be prepared to have some setbacks, don’t let them discourage you. Start small and build up. Have an idea for an app? Don’t spend a year developing something that might be a flop in the end. Develop the main idea and let it grow based on feedback and some roadmap.
However, don’t “underdevelop” either. The app must not crash, it mustn’t be buggy, it mustn’t feel like half-done and unfinished. It needs to be working, though some features may be missing. It’s always nice for the customer to get updates that improve things, add new things and the app gradually gets better and better. When users see this, they talk, they recommend the app and you start growing.
[…]
I work 365 days a year. Last year, I worked 366 days (2024 was leap year). I’m not saying that I work 8 hours each day, but even during weekends, holidays, vacation, I need to tend to support emails in the morning for an hour or so and then once more in the afternoon or evening. I cannot just take off and leave for a few days without seeing the consequences and going insane when I get back.
[…]
The unfortunate thing about this is that going through the support emails in my case is something that takes about 2-3 hours a day – which is not enough to hire someone and train them. Not to mention that most of the reports actually need some technical knowledge. So unless I would hire another developer, in the end, the really administrative stuff that someone could do instead of me is a 30-minute-a-day job.
Previously:
- Downie’s Anti-Piracy Scare Tactic
- Download the Things You Love
- Going Independent
- Indie Anniversaries
- Permute Rejected From the App Store
- Apple Remote-Kills Long-time Developer’s Apps
- Non-Payment for Bundle Sales
1 Comment RSS · Twitter · Mastodon
I work every day, too. But getting 100 support emails each DAY is a way too high number. What helped my workload very much is to have a knowledge base where I can point users to.
