Movin��� On Up

This is the sixth of several posts where I am revisiting CommonsWare, my long-timebusiness and current ���hobby with a logo���. I thought it might be useful to some tosee how all that came about, the decisions I made, and so on.

The series:

Waiting for a Chasm-Crosser Settling on a Business Model Dynamic Books Android or iPhone? The Summer of Silence Movin��� On Up

In 2009, things started to pick up. As carriers started offering Android devices ���and while Apple was only slowly reacting ��� interest in CommonsWare climbed:

I started delivering professional training on Android app development. Some ofthat was private for specific firms looking to jump on board Android. Some ofthat was public training, as I was the inaugural Android trainer forBig Nerd Ranch. The Big Nerd Ranch relationshiponly lasted a couple of years, as I was a contractor, and they eventuallyset up their own trainer talent. However,I struck deals to deliver training on behalf of other training firms in the USand Europe.

I entered an arrangement with Apress to re-publish The Busy Coder���s Guide to Android Developmentas Beginning Android. We did a few editions of that book together ���I would distribute my copies, and they would distribute theirs. Eventually, I declinedto continue with them, as sales of the Warescription (my subscription offering) outsoldthem by a lot, just on unit sales. Plus, direct sales of digital books had a lothigher profit margins than the royalty rate I got from Apress.

I started writing the occasional column for places like InfoWorld, before eventuallysetting up this blog and focusing on it.

All of that allowed me to quit my day job and work on CommonsWare full time.

I added ���office hours��� chats as a subscriber benefit, where I would hang out in a chatroom for an hour and field whatever questions came up. That ran for a decadeand probably contributed some to sales.

I also saw this little developer support site called Stack Overflowstart to get some traction, and I decided that maybe I could help there.I answered my first question in May of 2009��� and just kept going.Right now, it is up to 22,879 answers,though my contributions have definitely tailed off in the past several years.

Soon after, conferences started paying attention to Android. My first conferencepresentation was in 2010 at the Rich Web Experience, and the AnDevCon series beganin 2011. All told, I presented at 38 conferences between 2010 and 2019. At severalI delivered multiple presentations, so my total presentation count is probably around50.

And the books flew off the (digital) shelves. I originally published both print editions(sold via Amazon) and the Warescription. In 2012 I discontinued the print editionsbecause they did not sell very well and I was writing too much. Even at $40, then $45, peryear, I had ~2,500 subscribers through 2015.

Not everything worked. I dabbled in developing libraries (the CommonsWare Android Components, orCWAC). For the early years, they were OK, but by modern standards they were awful.I tried various ways to extend the value of the Warescription, such as includingtraining videos with the (self-distributed) book app. That didn���t get a lot of attention,and I eventually stopped distributing the book as its own APK.

Still, though, I was doing quite well, professionally and financially, despite havinglimited marketing presence outside of ���doing good stuff���. However,what goes up must come down, and I will explore that in my next and final postin this series.