Dunno about you, but I tend to try to solve all my problems by myself. Probably a big part of why I’m an indie.
It’s a dichotomy, though. Because when it comes to programming, I’m all about finding and using someone else’s solution to a problem. Create my own configurable toolbar component? Not a chance. Build my own database format? Hell, no. Just look in the “Credits” page of The Journal’s online help, and you’ll see a long list of third-party components, libraries and tools that I used to create the software:
Twofish encryption component programmed by Dave Barton.
And the list goes on and on.
When it comes to software, I lean very strongly on the “buy it” side of the “Build it or buy it?” question.
But when you move out of the coding arena into the larger arena of life (seriously; there is such a thing), I draw back in on myself. I try to do it all.
Not just because I figure I can (ah, arrogance ). Sometimes (AKA “a lot of the time”) because I think I should.
A large part of the “should”, I think, comes from limited financial resources. I really am a one man show (with a very supportive spouse), and though I’ve seen some nice success with The Journal, we’re still a long way from lighting our votive candles with twenty dollar bills. It can be hard to pay someone to do something that you (or your supportive spouse) think you should be able to handle on your own. Or that you’re not sure you can afford.
But no one can do, or know how to do, or be qualified to do, everything that needs to be done. Even indies–especially indies–need to realize when they’ve hit the point where they require assistance.
“Micromanagement” is usually considered a negative thing. No one likes to be micromanaged. No one wants to be an intrusive boss or manager, butting in where they’re not wanted.
But if you’re an indie, one of the so-called “micro-ISV’s”, and you are working alone or with a very small team, if you don’t manage all the little aspects of your company, your project, your marketing, your income, your taxes, and so on …
While I take care of customer support via email, plan future features and marketing for The Journal, figure out the future of Paintball Net, and maybe even get some programming in…
The dog needs a bath.
My daughter has a fever.
(Or maybe my daughter needs a bath and the dog has a fever…)
The laundry drain needs roto-rootering. Again.
My wife comes in to tell me about changes to the quilting class she teaches.
Birds flutter and hop around the feeders I can see outside my window.
My son shows me the Warhammer 40K figurine he’s been working on.
The report from the engineering inspection of the house arrives.
An argument about the priority of various tasks erupts behind me between the teenage son and his mother.
My daughter, feeling better, comes in to tell me so.
Then you too can pay more taxes! And fill out more paperwork to get a house loan!
You can bask in the concern and confusion of friends and family when they ask, “Are you sure everything’s OK?”
You can reassure your neighbors you’re not a psychotic sociopath just because you keep a non-8-to-5 work schedule and you might still be up from the previous day when they head off to work.
Prose Challenges is an add-on for The Journal that generates writing prompts–created by indie game developer Mike Hommel of Hamumu Games.
Mike actually sent me the first version of Prose Challenges in early 2006, when he came across my writing project for last year A Short Story a Day. Mike had been using The Journal for a few months at that point (we swapped software, another form of indie collaboration), and the Prose Challenges were something he put together as an experiment with The Journal’s “enhanced templates”.
I liked Prose Challenges on sight, and emailed Mike that if he could expand the collection, I had no doubt we could both make money from it. My own set of writing prompts for The Journal, Writing Prompts 1, which create random “free writing” prompts, have been available since 2003 and continue to be a decent (if small-ish) monthly earner.
Development and enhancement of Prose Challenges continued in fits and starts throughout 2006 and into 2007. Some of the pokiness came from the project not being a priority for either of us. And some came from The Journal. Prose Challenges exercised some parts of The Journal that hadn’t been fully explored before, and that highlighted some bugs that needed fixing. (Because, yes, sometimes I add features that I’m not sure what I’ll do with them at the time…)
Finally, though, on 20 March 2007, Writing Prompts 2 – Prose Challenges was released.
So far, comments from users have been positive, and Writing Prompts 2 is already selling as well as Writing Prompts 1 (bundling WP1 and WP2 has been great for that quick-start boost).
The moral of this story, if there is one, is that indies should always be on the alert for opportunities to collaborate with/leverage/exploit each other.
I’ve spent the past couple weeks tweaking and improving (I hope) my marketing efforts for The Journal.
Specifically:
I went through my Ad Words keywords and tightened their audience some. Mostly by eliminating ad impressions to people who are looking for “FREE” anything. I also added a couple more low-bid, low-budget niche keywords, just to see how they perform.
I tightened my budgets on Ad Words campaigns (at Google and at Yahoo).
I added descriptive text to The Journal’s screen shot pages. I decided it made sense to *tell* as well as *show*. After all, it’s not obvious what’s happening in many of the screen shots. The screen shots pages get a lot of visits. I figured I should capitalize on that.
I made it more obvious that The Journal supports Windows Vista.
I went through the ad copy on the front pages and polished it up some.
I (finally) implemented a particular UI change that has been a FAQ item since 2001. Taking some of my own advice.
I improved how the add-on packages are pitched on the various buy pages.
I added links from The Journal’s pages to The Journal’s user discussion email list/forums.
My goal with all of this is simple: I want to keep sales up.
No, seriously. In previous years, sales have peaked in January (as I’ve mentioned before), fallen off through February and March, slumped in April, May and June, and begun to recover in July and on through the fall and into the winter.
This year, I’m trying to break the pattern. Create a new pattern, possibly.
No month gets to coast this year, or have a slow down just because they’ve always been a bit slow. The hell with that.
If for no other reason than my wife & I just put an offer on a new house.
You have your sales reports, right? They cover a few years now. And when you notice that current sales are a bit below what you had in mind, you review those reports and tell yourself, “Oh. This is April. April’s always a slow month.” So you go back to sleep.
That’s a Statistical Lullaby.
Don’t fall for it. Don’t let yourself get complacent just because “it’s always slow this time of the year/month/week”.
Open your eyes, and see if there’s maybe something you can do to turn that slow month around. Or at least make it “less slow”.
Don’t get fatalistic about your sales. Reports are about the past, not infallible predictors of the future. Use your sales reports to spot trends and track marketing results and so on.
). Sometimes (AKA “a lot of the time”) because I think I should.
