As you may know there are no many success stories written by the Android developers. Regular readers of my blog already know my success story (see my monthly Android Developer Income Reports for details). But what is main reason of not hearing much about developers making money on Android? That most of them do not write their own blogs and do not have places to share!
So today I want to share with you two short stories that I got from my loyal readers. They have briefly written their stories as a thank you messages for me. I love getting such emails and if you have your own story I would be really happy to hear from you! As this post is not about me I will just make some copy&paste (I got permission from that guys) just with a little comment from me if needed.
First story:
Here is first email that I got from a developer from India (I am still asking him to write a guest post for me - hope he will agree soon):
Hi Chris, Basically I was following you from March and I started my Android Development after seeing your earnings. Though I am a smartphone geek thatswhy I wanted to create apps but with money , i was like definite. So i Started and followed and followed. But I wasnt able to buy your ebook due to my investment with my Development like buying a new phone, laptop etc. And before buying your ebook, I have already created 11 apps, out of which 3 are succesful somewhat ( enough for me, not like yours though) In september, I buyed your ebook on the 22nd and implemented it that night with like 7 hours remaining for next day. As I understood some of the key points of the ebook by researching the market, but i wasnt sure with them. But after getting ebook, i got sure shot. And like on that night of 22nd september, after I implemented your last tip, you can see in the screenshot that how my requests and impressions grew after 22nd( i think its 50%) Maybe you can just put this screenshot on your website in the next blog post, If it is equivalent to your expectations. And I would like to Thank you for your effort, and it would be like i would have also paid 30-40$ for buying this ebook with the new tip you added 2-3 months ago.( if i knew it can have such an intense effect on my earnings).
And here is a screenshot attached to the email (click for the zoom):
Thank you for your story and good luck with future development!
Another story:
I have heard about success of this developer from one of comments under my blog post "Developer Income Report #14". Here is the comment:
I have decided to ask him about more details via email. Here is what he has replied to me:
Hi, KreCi, I don't have my website right now. But I can write a brief story about my experiences in this email. I have been developing with Android since May this year. I developed three casual games in the beginning. However, none of them lives up to my expectation. Two of them have downloads less than 1000. The rest one is better, but the Ads CTR is pretty low (Maybe the users are just too concentrate on the game ). I saw your blogs a few months ago. I'm interested in your experiences so I bought your eBook. After reading the eBook, I tried to develop an entertainment app. Utilizing those tips you mention in the eBook, I uploaded the app to Android Market. To my surprise, it got nearly 1000 downloads on the first day and the downloads passed 10,000 in a week! The Ads CTR of the app is pretty good comparing with the other apps I made before. In last ten days, I earned three times as much as that in the previous three months! I have motivation to develop more apps now.
Looks like another successful Android developer! Congratulations!
Conclusion...?
So it looks that this is not true that there are no successful Android developers. It is rather that they do not have many places to share. If you will like this post - let me know in the comments and I will publish more emails received from other developers.
Or if you are one of such persons please leave me the message via email or comment. It will be a real pleasure to spread your success anonymously or with your name. I will be really happy to publish your story or even take a guest posts!
And one more little things... If you wish to join a club of successful Android Developers I am sure you can follow my path as that guys did! Just if you need little more help you may check my "Make Money on Android" marketing guide for Android developers! Good Luck!
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Interesting. I have question about updates for your ebook. If I buy your book, will I get access for update also?
Yes. You get access to all future updates.
Second, isn’t success for me :D 10 000 instalations peer week?
I have 20 000 without ebook…
Success is in increasing number of installs.
Hmmm, that’s strange. Maybe this is warning, don’t make a game ;)
I saw thousands of games in market with 500-1000 downloads.
Usualy, when I publish new app I have 5000 downloads in 4-5 days :|
That is pretty good. If you would be interested in publishing guest post you are welcome. Just contact me via email. Good luck with your apps!
Success is relative to the creator, I have 300 paid downloads on my app, and to me this is a great success as I wasn’t expecting more than 20 tbh. 10,000 installs to someone could be huge, while in comparison if Rovio(Angry birds) released a new app with 10,000 downloads they would be massively disappointed. It all depends on the aims of the developer.
Also to Kreci, I have been following your blog for a fair while now, and after creating my first app in July, i’ve also started openly blogging about my experiences. A link can be found here. (http://wirelesstoy.tumblr.com/)
Keep up the great work, its always an interesting read.
And this is a reason why I haven’t your book yet:D
I am afraid that I have this knowledge…
Maybe I’ll buy it after adsense withdrawal ^^
Good luck you too
with 20,000 installations per week you have some problems with AdSense and 20 USD for ebook? ROTFL :)
Admob: next month
Adsense – this week I think
But this is my first withdrawal from android :P
I am poor student :0
First 1,5 month, first apps and made $947 for now
Actually I suppose you can increase it more with this
Ebook
Interesting, now I’m really curious to what’s in the book. Is it marketing strategy for existing apps? Research and other details for coming up with new apps?
Very very curious…
You will find there both type of information. For good start of new apps and for boosting your current downloads.
What books (or internet tutorials) are the best for someone who doesn’t program at all? (besides Turbo Pascal in school, lol)
Thanks in advance
You may want to see my post at http://www.kreci.net/android/how-to-become-an-android-developer/ for books and tutorials
“now comes the hardest. You will need to learn Android API”
but first I have to learn Java, duh? :)
You will learn the Java with the API ;)
Is there any discount code or something like that or do you have plan to make some promotion?
Not for now. But you may follow my Facebook/twitter. Who knows what may happen in future ;)
I feel like another reason why you don’t see a lot of success stories is because some developers feel that their information are too sensetive to share to the public. Even a small amount of information would be too much to share. And, there are also some that the consider it a private matter (take me for instance). But, nope, i don’t see anything wrong with other people sharing success stories. It’s just me personally. Infact, i enjoy reading them. It gives me the motication. With that said, keep doing what you’re doing ;) And maybe one day i’ll break the wall and share my success story!
Still waiting for your next income report though :) *whistling* hehe
Report is already here ;) Waiting for your success story soon! ;)
Chris,
I just got your book via Kindle Market and can’t wait to read it. How will I get the free updates? Do they come through the Kindel?
Thanks,
George
Sorry but Kindle version is discontinued. I may only offer you some discount if any updates will happen.
Bummer. I appreciate any discount offered.
Hi Chris,
I just bought your ebook a few days ago. In my opinion the tips in the book are very obvious and it would not be difficult to figure them out by myself. But it would have taken some time to test different stuff in the market and find out what works best. With your “just a few clicks tip” I have about 240 downloads per day now compared to about 70 downloads per day before. Ok, that’s not really a success story ;-) But the tips are good… even if they are obvious.
It have increased your downloads. I can not guarantee that any app will be a hit after using my tips – but as you may see it helps.
I just don’t get it when i see your first week download reports. I bought the book just before i was ready to release my app at the market. I followed almost all instructions even “few clicks” one. 1 week later i got 69 total and 22 active installs. And maybe all installs are because i promote on few forums. On the top of that Installs count on the market page is not updating. “70 downloads per day before” looks amazing to me… at the current state.
Some apps are just not the one that people will look for. You need to find some niche that is already popular…
Do you ever get to answer your questions? I emailed you twice already!
Hello. I am answering to all of my emails with few days delay. If you have mailed me lastly please wait a while… If you did it longer time ago then I might not got your email… :/
Hi Kreci still working on that article about you for my readers. Gametrender has moved into publicising apps for free on our site now and that has dramatically increased our readership. Since you’ve been so great I wondered if you wanted me to publicise any of your Android apps on my site?
Good job! That is an insane amount of money :O