Announcement: Changes to the Website, App, and Books
Sometimes, like goes the way that you want, other times it does not. Over the last month or so, you may have noticed some changes to the site. In the coming days you are likely to see some changes in my apps as well. The reason for this is quite simple, I am in the process of winding down my side business. I stated the following in my latest book:
As this is the 25th review I have written, it will be my last one. This is not a decision that I came to lightly and there is some rationale behind the decision. Looking back at my book sales over the course of the last 13 years, there have been ups and downs, as one might expect. However, over the last five years the sales trend has been in a downward trend, a significant one. If sales were about the same for each year, it might be different, but the amount of work that goes into research and writing just are not worth the investment given the lackluster sales.
While I sold a few more books this September than last September, the proceeds were about the same. As mentioned above, the declining sales is a motivating factor. To re-iterate, there will be no book next year. My existing books will continue to be sold, but I will not be writing any new ones. Besides the lackluster sales, the motivation to write another book is not there. This was not a decision that was made recently, but has been something I have been thinking about for the last couple of years, and I have finally made a determination.
I will still continue to write articles on my website, because why would I not. I do not have any particular changes in terms of the articles that I will write, but there will be other changes to the website.
Website Changes
One of the ways that I attempted to monetize the website has been with ads. These are first-party ads, meaning ones that I have created, and host, and none of the data is ever given to third-parties, unless you clicked on one of the ads, at which point they would track the fact that you clicked on it. The links in the ads are affiliate links, meaning that I get a bit of a commission. This has not worked all that well. In the six years that I have been participating in the program, I have earned less than $175. I have been participating in Amazon’s affiliate program since 2015 and I haven’t gotten a single commission in all that time.
Since the affiliate links have not provided much of a commission, I opted to remove them. If you look at the top of the page, you will notice that they have already been removed. The website is just one of the places seeing changes and it is not the only place where there are ads.
App Changes
The way that the apps have been monetized has changed significantly in 14 years of existence. When the App Store began paid upfront apps were common. However, over time, a freemium model became more prevalent. In case you are not aware, a “freemium” model is where you provide a basic set of features for free, but additional ones are available through in-app purchase. This approach is appropriate for many types of apps. Even more commonplace these days is a subscription. While some may balk at a subscription, it does provide ongoing revenue that supports continued development of the app. A subscription was never something that made sense for my app.
My app, wwriteLite uses a freemium model, that is both ad-supported, like my website, as well as providing some in-app purchases. The in-app purchases are to remove ads as well as for a couple of different icon packs. In the 14.5 year lifetime of the various versions of the app, it has generated less than $500 in that entire time, therefore it is not really a viable side business.
Given that the ads are not working within the app, they have also been removed. There are also some other changes that I made within the app, but it is definitely be moved into a hobby project, more so than it already was. The other changes have been outlined in another post.
Final Thoughts
Even after making a sincere attempt to have my books, app, and website be a profitable side job, it ultimately did not pan out. It is not like I have a ton of app ideas. If I did have a ton of ideas, I would have tried them to see if any of them stuck. Alas, I do not have any good ideas. Instead, I am shutting down my entire side business. If I have any good ideas in the future.
I will continue to write on my site, mostly likely continuing to write about Apple, but there may be additional changes there as well. What those changes might be, I am not sure yet, but stay tuned.
I would like to thank anybody who has clicked on an ad on the site, and purchased something