โ€œShould I support PDF, epub, AND mobi?โ€ | Unicornfree with Amy Hoy: Creating And Selling Your Own Products:

In theory, yes, there are people who wonโ€™t buy your book if itโ€™s not in the ideal format for their preferred reader. But thatโ€™s theoretical money you might make if everything is perfect. 

But if you donโ€™t ship, NOBODY buys. NOBODY gets your fix. You get no money.

Compare those two options: fewer sales (hypothetically) vs. no sales at all (proven fact).

Unicorn Free is an interesting, if often exceptionally scattered, website. It's often feels like a sort of imperfect copy of those incredibly long websites that end with a sign-up form where you can get and/or order some eBook about success. The crazy random italics and all caps sometimes makes all those sites appear one step away from the insane ramblings of a borderline schziophrenic genius, though often perhaps without the genius. I can't think of a great example off-hand, though there seem to be a disproportionate number of folks trying this with World of Warcraft gold selling guides. But I've seen then for starting your own business with some regularity too. Unicorn Free seems much more authentic than "real" members of this "bowl them over with words" sites, but the comparison isn't wholly un-apt (?).

That said, it's the quick nuggets of obvious common-sensical wisdom that this site offers like the one above that makes it worth adding to your RSS amalgamator. I often wonder how many features are necessary in an app before you could ship. I'm playing around with a desktop email client in my spare time -- my proverbial white whale -- and wonder what's absolutely necessary before you could start making money. Is full IMAP support absolutely necessary to reinvent the way folks search for email? Is IMAP support really part of the table stakes for a client that accesses Outlook.com and Gmail? I've toyed with adding just enough IMAP support that I can grab the user's sent mail (something POP doesn't usually leave laying around), but otherwise concentrating on presenting messages outside of the crazy folder structure folks might use, replacing it with something I find more useful.

That is, is full IMAP support the same as providing a mobi format for your eBook, or is it so crucial a part of your app table stakes that you never quite recover from missing that support in version 1? Obviously, idk, but it's interesting to consider.

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