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When you consider that this took two people 10 months to write and that lifetime app sales are usually heavily front loaded this starts to look like a pretty po

When you consider that this took two people 10 months to write and that lifetime app sales are usually heavily front loaded this starts to look like a pretty poor value proposition, particularly when you consider how much money people with the skills it takes to write these apps could have made consulting in the same time. No matter what kind of movie you are watching and how expensive the movie was to produce, either it is a blockbuster or an art house film, the ticket price is the same. Indeed. And this means you're way better off consulting for somebody else unless you think you can get an app into the top twenty. I've had apps in "New & Noteworthy" and "What's Hot" and I can still make as much in a day consulting as I do in a month selling my own apps.

nedwin 14y ago
This assumes that you're only ever going to build one app and that you learnt nothing from the process. It also assumes that you want to consult for other people rather than building your own projects. Feels like they learnt a lot from the project, did reasonably well from it financially and hopefully the next app they build (or the one after that) runs bigger numbers.
guynamedloren 14y ago
> When you consider that this took two people 10 months to write I noticed the 10 month development period as well, but I have a hard time believing this app took 10 months with 2 people working on it full time - and that's just to get to v1. Don't get me wrong, it looks great, but 3200+ hrs? No way, even if it was their very first app. I think this was a side project. It's a relatively simple (albiet polished) app. > I can still make as much in a day consulting as I do in a month selling my own apps. Would love to hear more about your consulting experience. Care to share? Specifically I'm interested in what types of apps you work on, how you find clients, etc.
- cageface 14y ago
  I've been working exclusively on my own apps for most of the last year but I've recently acquired a few clients that have looked me up on their own based on their experience with my apps. You can see the apps I've made so far here: http://www.plastaq.com http://www.plastaq.com So I can't really offer you specific advice on finding clients except for maybe to think of your own apps as pieces of a portfolio as much as sources of revenue on their own. I'm currently living and working in Vietnam so at the moment I'm charging my clients a lot less than the $150+/hr a good iOS dev can get in S.F. or New York but my living expenses are a lot lower here and I hope to gradually increase my rates for new work as I build a roster of clients. Working on my own apps is more fun, of course, but actually making money is a good thing too.
  - guynamedloren 14y ago
    Awesome, thanks for sharing. So you haven't tried using freelance websites or attempted to put yourself out there at all? I looked at your site and it doesn't even say you're available for client work :)
    - cageface 14y ago
      Nope. In fact I wasn't actually even looking for contract work, although I'm happy to have it. I've looked a little at some of the sites like ODesk or Elance but all the job listings I saw there and the bids offered were a joke.
      - k-mcgrady 14y ago
        I think it's easy to dismiss freelance websites like elance but they are a good place to get started. I started using them in 2010 and continue to use them occasionally. Every now I got a client from them that has become a regular client now that provides a lot of revenue to my business.
        tocomment 14y ago
        Can you tell us more about using sites like Elance? Once you got a regular client did you have to tripe (or more) your rate? If so was the client ok with that? It seems like the rates on Elance wouldn't be sustainable.
        k-mcgrady 14y ago
        Once you get a client for repeat work they are usually happy to pay a higher rate because they know from working with you once they are pretty much guaranteed good work. I've had several clients who had bad experiences on elance and other sites (undelivered work, bad developers etc). They decided to give it one more try and hired me. They don't want to risk the bad experience again and are willing to pay more to continue working with me (and we work outside the freelance sites from that stage on). It's an expensive and timely process to find a good developer so once clients find one they like to stick with them. If I never used these sites I think it would be pretty difficult to ever find clients. Most of my other clients come through recommendations by clients I originally found on elance etc.
deleted 14y ago
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amouat 14y ago
> I can still make as much in a day consulting as I do in a month selling my own apps. I suppose it's worth bearing in mind that the app will presumably continue to generate money for a long time to come for little to no work, whereas you will always have to do a day's work to get a day's consulting pay.
- cageface 14y ago
  In my experience and in most of the reports I've read the "long tail" is pretty thin. Unless you're continuously updating and marketing your apps sales will trickle off. I'm sure some apps are an exception to this.
Dn_Ab 14y ago
I think the experience is strongly dependent on the market type, customer base and amenability to marketing of your app. Tha apple stores and steam store seems to have made a world of difference for indie RPG maker, Jeff Vogel. http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2012/05/quick-thoughts-on-android.html http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2012/05/quick-thoughts-on-and... But then, although he joined the app store model late, he serves a niche market with a healthy balance of competitors and had an existing base of loyal fans.
- cageface 14y ago
  Of course there are some success stories, and in this guy's case it didn't hurt that this guy already had a large fan base, Humble Bundle exposure etc. But I still maintain that it's far, far easier for the average competent solo developer to make money consulting than developing new apps.

nedwin 14y ago

This assumes that you're only ever going to build one app and that you learnt nothing from the process. It also assumes that you want to consult for other people rather than building your own projects. Feels like they learnt a lot from the project, did reasonably well from it financially and hopefully the next app they build (or the one after that) runs bigger numbers.

guynamedloren 14y ago

> When you consider that this took two people 10 months to write I noticed the 10 month development period as well, but I have a hard time believing this app took 10 months with 2 people working on it full time - and that's just to get to v1. Don't get me wrong, it looks great, but 3200+ hrs? No way, even if it was their very first app. I think this was a side project. It's a relatively simple (albiet polished) app. > I can still make as much in a day consulting as I do in a month selling my own apps. Would love to hear more about your consulting experience. Care to share? Specifically I'm interested in what types of apps you work on, how you find clients, etc.

cageface 14y ago
I've been working exclusively on my own apps for most of the last year but I've recently acquired a few clients that have looked me up on their own based on their experience with my apps. You can see the apps I've made so far here: http://www.plastaq.com http://www.plastaq.com So I can't really offer you specific advice on finding clients except for maybe to think of your own apps as pieces of a portfolio as much as sources of revenue on their own. I'm currently living and working in Vietnam so at the moment I'm charging my clients a lot less than the $150+/hr a good iOS dev can get in S.F. or New York but my living expenses are a lot lower here and I hope to gradually increase my rates for new work as I build a roster of clients. Working on my own apps is more fun, of course, but actually making money is a good thing too.
- guynamedloren 14y ago
  Awesome, thanks for sharing. So you haven't tried using freelance websites or attempted to put yourself out there at all? I looked at your site and it doesn't even say you're available for client work :)
  - cageface 14y ago
    Nope. In fact I wasn't actually even looking for contract work, although I'm happy to have it. I've looked a little at some of the sites like ODesk or Elance but all the job listings I saw there and the bids offered were a joke.
    - k-mcgrady 14y ago
      I think it's easy to dismiss freelance websites like elance but they are a good place to get started. I started using them in 2010 and continue to use them occasionally. Every now I got a client from them that has become a regular client now that provides a lot of revenue to my business.
      - tocomment 14y ago
        Can you tell us more about using sites like Elance? Once you got a regular client did you have to tripe (or more) your rate? If so was the client ok with that? It seems like the rates on Elance wouldn't be sustainable.
        k-mcgrady 14y ago
        Once you get a client for repeat work they are usually happy to pay a higher rate because they know from working with you once they are pretty much guaranteed good work. I've had several clients who had bad experiences on elance and other sites (undelivered work, bad developers etc). They decided to give it one more try and hired me. They don't want to risk the bad experience again and are willing to pay more to continue working with me (and we work outside the freelance sites from that stage on). It's an expensive and timely process to find a good developer so once clients find one they like to stick with them. If I never used these sites I think it would be pretty difficult to ever find clients. Most of my other clients come through recommendations by clients I originally found on elance etc.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

amouat 14y ago

> I can still make as much in a day consulting as I do in a month selling my own apps. I suppose it's worth bearing in mind that the app will presumably continue to generate money for a long time to come for little to no work, whereas you will always have to do a day's work to get a day's consulting pay.

cageface 14y ago
In my experience and in most of the reports I've read the "long tail" is pretty thin. Unless you're continuously updating and marketing your apps sales will trickle off. I'm sure some apps are an exception to this.

Dn_Ab 14y ago

I think the experience is strongly dependent on the market type, customer base and amenability to marketing of your app. Tha apple stores and steam store seems to have made a world of difference for indie RPG maker, Jeff Vogel. http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2012/05/quick-thoughts-on-android.html http://jeff-vogel.blogspot.com/2012/05/quick-thoughts-on-and... But then, although he joined the app store model late, he serves a niche market with a healthy balance of competitors and had an existing base of loyal fans.

cageface 14y ago
Of course there are some success stories, and in this guy's case it didn't hurt that this guy already had a large fan base, Humble Bundle exposure etc. But I still maintain that it's far, far easier for the average competent solo developer to make money consulting than developing new apps.