ABOUT THE BOOK
Mike Amerson, Co-Founder and President of WET Productions, Inc., learned the hard lesson that many developers face today: just because you built it, doesnt mean they will come. His game My Virtual Girlfriend went nine months with only modest sales until late in December of 2010, when he gathered what hed learned about app discoverability and used it to propel the game to the Top 100 list for its category. Furthermore, the game has only gained momentum, sitting in the Top 25 for over a year.
Though Mike overcame the challenges of app development, he knows exactly what its like for a developer to spend time and money on a project that falls flat. Today, he shares his knowledge with other struggling developers, encouraging them to follow their dream to venture out and find success in the iOS space.
MEET THE AUTHOR
A longtime resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, Michael Amerson is a video game developer, who has worn many hats. In his 12-year career, Mike has been a 2D, 3D and lead artist, animator, web developer, project manager, designer, creative director, business development, and marketer. Mike has 10 published video game titles to date, including credits on mega hits such as: Star Wars Empire at War and Call of Duty World at War.
In 2009 Mike Ventured into iOS space as Co-founder and President of WET Productions Inc. Just a year later, in 2010, he released the hit iOS game My Virtual Girlfriend, whose launch was featured on MSNBC, Kotaku, and the late night TV show Lopez Tonight! with comedian George Lopez. Mike later followed up to that title with the partner iOS game My Virtual Boyfriend, which was featured in an article on TechCrunch.
EXCERPT FROM THE BOOK
I am often asked something along the lines of, How much should be spent on marketing? The answer to this will vary from project to project, but one common sense rule applies to all: spend as much as you can on the things that give you a return on investment.
Think of it as a formula. Lets use a ratio of 1:2 as an example, for simplicity. If you have a good game and you spend $500/month, your returns at that ratio would be $1,000/month. By the same token, if you spend $5,000/month, the returns would equate to $10,000/month. Sounds pretty good, right? Just keep in mind that the 1:2 ratio is just an example, and a pretty decent one at that. Anything that offers you more back than your spending is considered to be good. And the higher the quantity you sell, the more leadway you have to turn less of a profit off of an individual sale, so its ok to have a low profit margin if youre making up for it in quantity.
For example: if you only make $ 0.10 profit off of each app you sell, but youre making 1M sales per month, then youre actually generating $100,000 per monthnot a bad deal for an indie developer. However, if you were to price your app to where it makes $3 per sale, but because of the higher price it only get 100 sales per month, then its probably not the most efficient way for you to monetize. Remember that quantity is king in this game, and the lower price points (including free) tend to get way more downloads than a paid version. In either case, its ultimately up to you to determine where that profit margin sweet spot is.
Buy a copy to keep reading!
CHAPTER OUTLINE
- Introduction
- Chapter 1: Getting Started
- Background
- Considerations
- Chapter 2: Developmental Considerations
- Create A High Quality Game/App
- Competition
- Names Matter
- Size Matters
- ...and much more
- Chapter 3: Preparation For Marketing
- The First Few Weeks
- The Tools of the Trade
- Your App Store Page
- Press Releases
- ...and much more
