One year of Grumpy Testing post
It was one year ago today that I released "The Grumpy Programmer's Guide To Building Testable PHP Applications". 650+ customers later (about 10% of those are free copies) I am happy with some of the outcomes, and unhappy about others.
Just for the sake of openness, here's an awesome ASCII bar graph made with barg to show you week-by-week sales counts and numbers. I apologize for the scrolling you might have to do to see it.
Week Starting # Paid 2012-01-09 00:00:00-05 56 $673.06 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-01-16 00:00:00-05 29 $306.05 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-01-23 00:00:00-05 17 $95.00 |||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-01-30 00:00:00-05 19 $203.50 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-02-06 00:00:00-05 17 $160.00 |||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-02-13 00:00:00-05 7 $73.05 |||||||||| 2012-02-20 00:00:00-05 14 $162.2 |||||||||||||||||||| 2012-02-27 00:00:00-05 7 $89.71 |||||||||| 2012-03-05 00:00:00-05 6 $69 |||||||| 2012-03-12 00:00:00-04 7 $70.93 |||||||||| 2012-03-19 00:00:00-04 15 $128.67 ||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-03-26 00:00:00-04 55 $356.97 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-04-02 00:00:00-04 11 $131.00 ||||||||||||||| 2012-04-09 00:00:00-04 1 $8.50 | 2012-04-16 00:00:00-04 25 $277.30 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-04-23 00:00:00-04 16 $157.83 ||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-04-30 00:00:00-04 8 $95.00 ||||||||||| 2012-05-07 00:00:00-04 7 $81.50 |||||||||| 2012-05-14 00:00:00-04 8 $75.04 ||||||||||| 2012-05-21 00:00:00-04 13 $43.00 |||||||||||||||||| 2012-05-28 00:00:00-04 2 $21.50 || 2012-06-04 00:00:00-04 19 $149.41 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-06-11 00:00:00-04 8 $74.42 ||||||||||| 2012-06-18 00:00:00-04 10 $92.00 |||||||||||||| 2012-06-25 00:00:00-04 7 $30.00 |||||||||| 2012-07-02 00:00:00-04 11 $104.08 ||||||||||||||| 2012-07-09 00:00:00-04 14 $157.47 |||||||||||||||||||| 2012-07-16 00:00:00-04 3 $26.99 |||| 2012-07-23 00:00:00-04 3 $34.50 |||| 2012-07-30 00:00:00-04 11 $120.50 ||||||||||||||| 2012-08-06 00:00:00-04 4 $43.00 ||||| 2012-08-13 00:00:00-04 10 $108.00 |||||||||||||| 2012-08-20 00:00:00-04 4 $47.50 ||||| 2012-08-27 00:00:00-04 7 $82.00 |||||||||| 2012-09-03 00:00:00-04 6 $55.50 |||||||| 2012-09-10 00:00:00-04 6 $464.98 |||||||| 2012-09-17 00:00:00-04 6 $62.01 |||||||| 2012-09-24 00:00:00-04 3 $34.50 |||| 2012-10-01 00:00:00-04 5 $61.40 ||||||| 2012-10-08 00:00:00-04 55 $624.92 ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-10-15 00:00:00-04 21 $218.78 |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-10-22 00:00:00-04 16 $169.50 ||||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-10-29 00:00:00-04 6 $105.00 |||||||| 2012-11-05 00:00:00-05 12 $120.00 ||||||||||||||||| 2012-11-12 00:00:00-05 4 $43.00 ||||| 2012-11-19 00:00:00-05 10 $112.02 |||||||||||||| 2012-11-26 00:00:00-05 9 $101.25 ||||||||||||| 2012-12-03 00:00:00-05 15 $159.00 ||||||||||||||||||||| 2012-12-10 00:00:00-05 6 $72.30 |||||||| 2012-12-17 00:00:00-05 13 $142.03 |||||||||||||||||| 2012-12-24 00:00:00-05 4 $38.50 ||||| 2012-12-31 00:00:00-05 1 $13.90 |
What am I disappointed about? I think, to use the old expression, I left a lot of money on the table. I could've charged more for the book, but this was before I started learning more about the marketing of info products and how to do research to find solutions to problems people are experiencing.
Setting that aside, I think my Testing Crusade is paying dividends for the community as a whole. The more developers who are exposed to the ideas that people like myself are promoting, the higher quality code that is likely to be produced.
If you're a customer of mine, thanks so much for supporting my efforts through your paid contributions. Writing automated tests and code that you can easily test doesn't have to suck. I can show you how to do it, and I look forward to bringing you more of it in 2013.