downloads and income, December 2011

Hi there,

Just posted my latest report of December. As you’ll notice it’s going slow, but still going up. Having a productivity app is apparently by far not so lucrative as a game. But I’m not a gamer. And for what I’ve learned in the past years: don’t make something just for the money, make something cause you like it.

Anyway, here it is: http://b-noted.blogspot.com/2012/01/b-noted-downloads-update-jan-2nd-2012.html

Greetingz,
Koen<

Your app really look good and polished (I wish I had this talent, gotta work on learning to create good UI). But a low level on ads income, compared to the number of downloads? Maybe you should try a new adwork or something.

You have a good product, thats for sure :slight_smile:

Thanks for the nice words, I need them at the moment :slight_smile: Developing Android apps is really hard, not in a technical way (ok, it’s not easy, but as a developer it’s fun to do). The hard part is to stick around and keep going, even though the income is way below expectations.

I know and realize I’m building something good (I use it myself several times a day and prefer it above so many other similar apps I tried and tested), but still, the amount of time and effort I put into it … and then the pay-off I get … I regularly have periods where I ask myself “is it worth it?”. Am I going the right way?

There is progress, in all ways there should be (features, downloads, pay-outs, feedback, etc), but financially it’s still ridiculously low. Will it ever be possible to make a living out of this?

I don’t know, but I do hope so (and somewhere deep in my heart I am 200% sure it will).

About the ads … In my next release I’ll probably switch to LeadBolt. They claim to have much higher eCPM’s. Anyone who has experience with them?

Greetingz,
Koen<

You’ve got a great app, keep up the good work on that one. In terms of financial viability, perhaps you might be better expanding your business and creating a few new apps designed for wider appeal? I’ve found personally that my most functional, useful apps have very few downloads. It’s the simple & fun apps - or games - which have the biggest appeal and get the most downloads. It’s a sad situation that useful apps don’t get noticed, but that seems to be par for the course with many independent developers.

If you wrote a few small apps that became fairly popular, you could leverage that success to promote your main app. Just an idea.

Anyway, keep hanging in there. You might not achieve success right away, but it’s commitment that matters. Whenever I try something and it doesn’t work, I regard that as a learning opportunity, not a failure. I’m not trying to be over-optimistic or explain away my failures. I genuinely believe that every mistake is a great opportunity to learn how to do things better. Eventually, if you keep learning, you’ll be a better developer - even for your mistakes!