A Boise freelance iPhone application designer has revealed some tricks of his trade in an e-book on developing and marketing apps for tablets and smartphones.
Nathan Barry, 22, says he has sold more than 400 copies of The App Design Handbook on his website and additional copies on AppSumo and Dealotto, netting more than $30,000 since its Sept. 4 release.
He reported $1,000 in sales in the first 10 minutes and $12,000 in the first 24 hours.
Barry has created several apps, including OneVoice, which uses tiled images of icons, pictures and short phrases to allow a user to create synthesized speech. The $200 app replaces a $7,000 medical device, he says.
Much of his e-book’s success can be attributed to the effort and commitment Barry put into it. Starting in June, he wrote 1,000 words every day for 87 days, tracking his progress using an application he designed himself called Commit. “If you want to get good at something, you should do it consistently,” he says.
Barry says he always wanted to write a book. He drew inspiration from the success of Sacha Greif, a French designer living in Japan, whose guide to user interfaces, “Step by Step UI Design,” has earned Greif nearly $10,000 per month for the last six months.
“He was very open about how sales went, and how much money he made and all of that,” Barry says. “It showed me that it was possible for someone like myself to replicate it.”
Barry grew up near Idaho City and attended Boise State University. He dropped out after two years. “I decided I liked to make money more than spending it,” he says.
Barry has begun a second e-book on web design. “Everything I do is around teaching software design,” he says.
Harrison Berry: berryht@gmail.com
