I started about 12 years ago writing shareware apps for the Mac, towards the end of high school. It was easier then since there was much less competition, so I think you'd have to pick your niche pretty carefully now.
My business (actually just me) made a small name for itself on the Mac scene (again, easier then than now) and pretty quickly hit around $50K/yr in revenue. It stayed around that level for many years, sometimes peaking at $7K/month after a significant release.
I haven't released any significant updates for years, yet it still brings around $30K/yr. This is in exchange for a couple of hours of sales and support per month. That's what great about shareware - just like a well-designed web business, once you've written the code, it can become a tidy passive income stream. And I've no doubt I could have made more of it by marketing it better, but I never quite had the inclination.
Two concrete bits of advice:
1. My two best and longest-selling products are tools for small (and occasionally large) businesses to get things done easier and quicker.
2. Work the feedback loop. My top selling product ended up being used in a way I never predicted. I heard about this from my customers and over time made it highly specialized for that purpose.
When it comes to acquiring wealth, did shareware make a millionaire? No - more like 1/3 of the way there, after tax.
But shareware did give me the income and freedom to not have to seek a job when I graduated, and in turn that let me pursue further study, and in parallel develop other (web-based) ideas which turned out to be the real earners.
My business (actually just me) made a small name for itself on the Mac scene (again, easier then than now) and pretty quickly hit around $50K/yr in revenue. It stayed around that level for many years, sometimes peaking at $7K/month after a significant release.
I haven't released any significant updates for years, yet it still brings around $30K/yr. This is in exchange for a couple of hours of sales and support per month. That's what great about shareware - just like a well-designed web business, once you've written the code, it can become a tidy passive income stream. And I've no doubt I could have made more of it by marketing it better, but I never quite had the inclination.
Two concrete bits of advice:
1. My two best and longest-selling products are tools for small (and occasionally large) businesses to get things done easier and quicker.
2. Work the feedback loop. My top selling product ended up being used in a way I never predicted. I heard about this from my customers and over time made it highly specialized for that purpose.
When it comes to acquiring wealth, did shareware make a millionaire? No - more like 1/3 of the way there, after tax.
But shareware did give me the income and freedom to not have to seek a job when I graduated, and in turn that let me pursue further study, and in parallel develop other (web-based) ideas which turned out to be the real earners.