Hi, this is Grace. Each month (or so š ), I talk about what I've tried and stumbled upon as a creator. I share exciting findings and honest learning along the way.
To celebrate Gumroad Day (April 4) š, I'm offering a 40% discount on all my products on Gumroad, by using the code GUMROADDAY.
Now, letās dig into things in February and March.
Apps and IAP
I have been experimenting with apps for a few months. Below summarizes how my journey has transformed my thinking:
Misconception about the App Store: When I first started developing apps, I did not consider how to monetize them. I was also skeptical about making money from the App Store because I often heard people say it was incredibly hard.
Building for Myself: Initially, I simply wanted to build apps for myself and my kids. However, when one of the apps began to gain traction, with increasing downloads, I started to realize its potential.
Paid Apps Don't Sell: I initially offered paid iOS apps, but downloads plummeted, almost to zero. It seemed that iOS users were not used to paying for apps. So I changed them to free apps.
Hate Ads, but Giving Them a Try: Despite my personal bias against ads, I decided to experiment with adding banner ads. To my surprise, some users were okay with them, and over time, I became okay with ads, too.š
Users Want Options to Remove Ads: While some users disliked the ads, they understood that app developers need to earn a living. As they suggested, I added an in-app purchase option to remove ads, which made them happy.
Banner Ads Donāt Pay Much: Banner ads pay peanuts. After some research, I found that full-screen ads pay significantly more (10x). I also watched YouTube videos to learn about best practices and pitfalls of ads' user experience.
Full-Screen Ads Work: I first launched the full-screen ads in an app with fewer downloads, and made sure it was okay. Then the full-screen ads on the one with more downloads. Both apps offer in-app purchases to remove ads, and I closely monitor their ratings.
Meanwhile, I found my macOS apps are selling in the App Store, but at a much lower volume compared to iOS apps. Additionally, I noticed that macOS app users are more accustomed to paying for apps outright.
Overall takeaways?
Random hearsay may not always be reliable, but be open to changes, and flexible to experiments. (That means, you should not trust what Iāve said here 100%, either. š What works for me does not mean it will work for you.)
Research about how to monetize before you start something new. There's no harm in doing so. I wasted many months by not displaying ads or not offering IAP.
Earnings
Here you go: the chart āwith redacted content all over the place, which is purely useless!ā š¤£
To compare YoY performance, I put all my 2023 and 2004 earnings together:
As I add more income streams, I start to see the earnings growing year over year. Not sure whether this trend will be sustained.
Anything that I can take from this chart personally? Creator earnings are very unpredictable for me. When they grow, I'm happy. When they stall, I'm content, too. This is the state of mind I aim for.
Articles I Wrote
In the past 2 months, I wrote the following articles:
The Opportunities Bill Ackman Sees - my favorite
The Good Parts of Xcode - I still update my knowledge about Xcode as soon as I find new things about it.
The best way to learn things is to write them down. When I'm so excited to learn something new, the first thing is to see whether I can write an essay about it. When I was cooking and listening to an interview with Bill Ackman, I wanted to throw away my spatula š©š»āš³ and sit and write!
I frequently read my old essays. When I read them again, I'm so grateful that my old self wrote them down. I would have forgotten all these things and how I felt at that moment.
Here is the one 2-year-old essay I read recently:
I remember after I wrote this piece, I felt like an idiot because many were bearish. Many things happened between now and then. Now my faith in optimism back then is time-tested. I'm so happy I had that faith and wrote it down.
Other Interesting Things
Books I Read
Writing for Busy Readers, by Todd Rogers, Jessica Lasky-Fink
This book teaches how your readers read books (they have short attention spans and donāt have much time), and how to get to the point without saying much.
The writing style is a great example of what it preaches: simple words, simple sentences, and clear structures, yet conveying big ideas.
Even the thickness of the physical book speaks for itself. If I want to write another book, I aim for the book to be that thick or thinner. Any thicker, it becomes mental stress for readers.
Several great quotes from the book:
āBrevity is the soul of wit.ā Polonius in Shakespeareās Hamlet
āI would have written a shorter letter if Iād had more time.ā Blaise Pascal
āMurder your darlings.ā William Faulkner on willingness to delete or revise your favorite parts of a work
āEvery word has to earn its place in a sentence, every sentence has to earn its place in a paragraph, and every idea has to earn its place in a text.ā Nancy Gibbs
This book is a rare gem to authors nowadays. This is on the list of my favorite books.
Judgment at Tokyo, by Gary J. Bass
This book documents many events during WWII and after, including Japan's surrender and subsequent trials.
The book is quite thick, so I didn't finish it all (remember what I just said about the mental stress of readers). However, I did learn some interesting facts about Japan, and its culture, and understand why they refused to surrender before the atomic bombs.
One interesting fact I learned is that FDR suddenly passed away before WWII ended, and Harry Truman became the president, although he harbored a dislike for the presidency.
My husband's book was published in Korean!
If you are a long-time reader of my newsletter, you may already know the story about my husbandās book.
Iām so happy for him. Through this experience, I've learned about the process with a (foreign) publisher and pricing terms.
You can still order the English version of Inside the Machine Learning Interview: 151 Real Questions from FAANG and How to Answer Them on Amazon.
About Legacy
I recently asked my husband, "Do you care about your reputation after you die?" When you are young, you don't think about this, or you may think it is futile to think about it because you will have no consciousness after you die.
But perspectives may change after you get older. What do you want to leave the world with after you die? Money? Your wisdom? Your creations? Memories of your kindness? Or nothing?
Thatās all! Thanks for reading. I hope it is helpful!
Questions? Just reply to this newsletter. š
God willing, talk to you next time at the Issue #15. āļø