Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code?

Posted by mmccomb on Saturday July 23, 2011 @04:16AM
from the ask-hn dept.

I am planning to publish a number of free iPhone application development tutorials in the near future. Alongside the tutorials I would like to publish the associated code. In order to make the venture worthwhile I would like to charge for downloading the code.

Any HN'ers with recommendations for a content delivery service that supports code? I'm looking for a ThemeForest equivalent for programmers.

( 6 comments | 4 points | on HN )

Re:Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code? by Hrundi on Saturday July 23, 2011 @05:02AM (#2796543)

> I'm looking for a ThemeForest equivalent for programmers.

You got me thinking right there. I can't find any service for such things! I could use a site like that, certainly a fellow HN'er can think of something.

You can implement LibertyReserve, Paypal, AlertPay without much trouble. I've integrated Paypal very recently to deliver virtual goods such as games or apps in both mobile and desktop. It definitely works. Depends on your skills and your tolerance in dealing with SDK's.

Granted, you're up for some fierce competition, but if the content is good, people will come.

You could win an increasingly interesting income if you do some targeted advertising on Facebook. For instance, when I want to get people in the US to visit a website, I target English speaking people in South America, where PPC rates are as low as 1 cent and competition is not that tough. Clicks on your ad will eventually lead to sharing, leading to eyeballs residing in the United States.

This kind of indirect marketing can surely work! I'm from South America, so this method is much more sensitive to my wallet due to the unfavorable ARS to USD conversion and a constant inflation. I can get more people from the US by paying 20 cents for 20 clicks than targeting the US directly by paying much more, specially in the iPhone market.

Hope any of this helps, good night!

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code? by dstein on Saturday July 23, 2011 @08:07AM (#2796784)

This won't work for programmers. Like MP3's, open source has trained almost all programmers to expect all code to be free, all the time, and come with free support.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code? by hluska on Saturday July 23, 2011 @04:58AM (#2796539)

I have never tried this service, so please don't take this as an endorsement, but someone in another thread mentioned he/she is selling javascript on a service called CodeCanyon.

(citation - http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2795952)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code? by eswat on Saturday July 23, 2011 @08:29AM (#2796809)

CodeCanyon is also a sister site of ThemeForest, so if the OP is looking for something similar this would probably have the best fit.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code? by mmccomb on Saturday July 23, 2011 @09:14AM (#2796857)

That's exactly the sort of service I was looking for - I can't believe I haven't come across it before! Thanks.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Ask HN: Where to Sell Sample Code? by amccloud on Saturday July 23, 2011 @05:36AM (#2796590)

You could zip up the code and sell it with http://www.gumroad.com/

[ Parent | on HN ]