Why I Wrote A Book On iPhone App Development

This is a brief excerpt from my newly released book, The App Store Playbook: Discover How 10 Successful iPhone App Developers Hit It Big Selling Games On The App Store. It features in-depth interviews with some of the biggest names in indie iOS game development, coupled with my own personal take on their methods to success. 

The developers featured are behind such award winning games such as Canabalt, Bumpy Road, Super Crate Box, Hunters, Spider: The Secret of Bryce Mansion and many more.

You need every edge you can get and this book reveals real world examples from those who have made it in the challenging world of independent game development. This is required reading!

- Jeff Hughes, Author of iPhone and iPad Apps Marketing

It’s become a cliché to mention that, in any gold rush, the ones who make the biggest fortunes are the ones who sell picks and shovels. Unfortunately, it almost seems as if there’re as many shovel merchants as there are miners.

In the app development space, these shovel merchants are the peddlers of information products and tools. They are the sellers of video courses on iOS development, the authors of books on building an iPhone app business and the founders of app advertising networks.

I’ve purchased many shovels the past few years, and found that some of them break the first time they touch ground. Others sell decent shovels but charge exorbitant amounts of money for them, taking advantage of the uninformed.

While conducting research for this website, I found that there was a large disconnect between reality and what was being portrayed in popular media. The press is fixated on success stories and makes it seem as if every 15-year-old whiz kid with a Macbook Pro and a can of Red Bull can make a million-dollar app.

I was in the middle of developing my first application and I had a pretty good idea what the industry was like from speaking to hundreds of iOS developers. I conduct interviews with all manner of indie developers for my blog and it was apparent that success was elusive to all but a small number of innovators.

Part of my desire to write this book was to provide a balanced counterpart to this hyperbole. The rest of it was fuelled by an urge to find out what successful developers did that was different.

• How did they get the ideas for their games?
• What were the elements to their success?
• What strategies did they use to promote their games?
• What advice do they have for aspiring developers?

It then became a natural extension to seek out the iOS game developers I admired most.

This isn’t a book on How You Can Become a Gazillionaire App Developer while Sipping Piña Coladas by the Beach. Readers who’re looking for some sort of secret sauce to immediately formulate a hit app should turn away right now.

However, if you’re seeking additional insights on improving your chances of releasing a bestselling iOS game or app, you should find much that is useful in the following interviews.

You can purchase The App Store Playbook on the Kindle Store here.

Thanks for your support!