Hi, this is Grace. Each month, I talk about what I've tried and stumbled upon as a creator. I share exciting findings and honest learning along the way.
This is the first issue of 2024, following a two-month hiatus since the last one. My intention is for my newsletter not to clutter your mailbox. I hope that's your impression as well. I only send it when I have something worth documenting.
The past 2 months have been eventful.
Books
The Reboot
My first-ever, as well as best-selling, book 'Building macOS Apps with SwiftUI' now has a second edition: “macOS App Development: The SwiftUI Way”!
After updating all my content to Xcode 15 and adding more helpful content, as well as restructuring the layout to make it easier to read, I didn't expect the second edition to go viral in the UK. However, it did, and overall, it pushed the book to #1 New Release.
The Internet does unexpected things. Always remember this.
Learnings
Since writing my first book, I've learned a lot and confirmed that many things I once thought were important are actually not. For example:
Your preference and final choice for book covers
Your funny or insightful dedication page
What text editor you are using, etc.
What truly matters is the content. It's what drives your ratings and reviews, which in turn creates a feedback loop to build your social proof. So, focus on writing very useful books!
Other important things:
Distribution (Have you reached all the possible audience yet?)
Price (Is your price at the sweet spot that readers are willing to pay for? Does this price level fit the platform or marketplace?)
Book structure (Your content may be helpful, but how you lay out your book makes them frustrated!)
SEO (Do your book title and description have enough relevant keywords?)
My Favorite Book I Wrote
Out of all the books I've written, my all-time favorite is “Optimizing The 4% Rule”. I still reread it or look up things from time to time. I wrote this book last year because it needed to exist. I did not mention publicly why I wrote this book and how I knew what I wrote. However, I believe in this book's value; readers will understand it, and it will have legs.
Recently, I started seeing unsolicited ratings and reviews coming in. I'm very happy and relieved:
Earnings
You may wonder why I have earnings in the future. Each source has different payout schedules. Some do not tell me how much I make for the current month, but rather how much I will be paid in future months. So I don’t want to overcomplicate this.
Other Things I Created
Articles I Wrote
Raising Our Kids in San Francisco (Our untold story of living in SF)
FaceCam, an alternative to Loom but with a nicer price
I enjoyed using Loom, the macOS app that allows simultaneous recording of your face and desktop, which was perfect for creating tutorials and courses. However, I don’t like the monthly subscription model.
That's why I developed FaceCam, a Loom-like macOS app where you pay once and use it forever.
I made this app within 2 days. It was also a testimony of the principles I teach in my book “macOS App Development: The SwiftUI Way”.
You can find this app at https://gracehuang.gumroad.com/l/facecam.
In-App Purchase
My unexpected product offering. 😅
Backstory: I built ReadingClock for my kids, but initially hesitated about releasing it, because I saw other options. Someone encouraged me to release it. So I did.
I did not know what I did right 🤣, but downloads just kept coming in every day. I added ads to monetize it. Someone asked about a no-ads version, so I introduced in-app purchases (IAP).
Then I had a new stream of revenue. Not recurring, but nice. The interesting part is that, I hid the IAP button somewhere not obvious, yet still some people found it. I guess people were so fed up with the ads 😭 (even though I tried not to be aggressive with ads).
Users don’t always love what you love, hate what you hate. Listen and adapt.
QQQ Historical Data
I needed to find historical data for companies in $QQQ for a portfolio backtest. You would think it should be very easy to find (because it is all public data) right? But it was nowhere to be found!
After digging into many data sources, I finally have the data and have cleaned it: [Historical Data] Companies in QQQ, Tracking the Nasdaq-100 Index (2004 - 2023).
Before my backtest report, here are some observations:
$AAPL dominated the Nasdaq index for decades! The valuation of the runner-up was not even close (until recently).
$AAPL went from #14 to a whopping #3 from 2004 to 2005. It has since dominated the top 2 spots.
$NVDA was #90 in 2004. In 2023, it was #4.
$QCOM was #2 two decades ago and has been falling in the ranks.
Guess who was #3 after $QCOM? It was $EBAY!
That’s all! Thanks for reading. I hope it is helpful!
Questions? Just reply to this newsletter. 🙂
God willing, talk to you next time at the Issue #14. ✌️