What lessons and mistakes did you learn in these 5 years? Have you been avoiding them after they happened? Technical skills do not seem to be the problem here. If you can't gain traction, you probably aren't building products for your right audience. Were your attempts those SV types that try to go for it big targeting consumers? You may want to try the micropreneur route championed by Patrick McKenzie, Rob Walling, and Amy Hoy. If you already are, you may want to ask them for advice. If all things fail, what about write a book teaching others what you know and learn? If no one buys your book, can you try to teach more with your blog first?
Maybe you aim too big to begin. Why not set a much smaller goal, achieve that first so you feel good about yourselves. Then use that positive energy to fuel your journey forward.
Don't give up on your dream. If you do, how many more years do you have to wonder what ifs and swallow your pride working at a job you don't like.
You already pull in enough to pay the bills, so there is no worries. Try again. You can always find a contract to pay the bills again.
I second that. I recently had the chance to participate in an online conference with Nathan. He came across as real and friendly. He took the time to understand every question from the audience and gave thoughtful answers. I don't believe in get-rich-quick scheme either. Writing a book definitely takes a lot of time and effort. My wife recently wrote a 10-page tutorial on a single topic about Revit. It took her like 2 weeks with all the research, writing, and editing. If you are looking to make easy money quickly, this book is not for you. No book will ever be right for you. But if you are willing to put forth the effort, I think at least some people who can learn from you can benefit and appreciate.
We have to realize that no product is built for everyone. Hey, Android fans dislike the iPhone, but there's nothing Apple can do about it. The reason that you dislike the pricing model is because there is not already enough trust being built between you and the author for you to believe the values Nathan can provide. Yes you are intrigued by the headline and promise at the top of the landing page. But you are also internalizing to find reasons not to buy because you don't trust the author yet. Like Apple, there is nothing Nathan can do about it. Maybe he shouldn't release anything until he gets trust from everyone on the planet?
There is nothing wrong not to buy the product. If I just knew Nathan for the first time with Authority, I probably won't buy it either. But I've followed him for some time and trust he can deliver, so I bought the complete package without much hesitation.
I've been a reader much much more than a commenter here. But I developed a habit of ignoring any negativity expressed here. I think it is a skill not less important in dealing with life in general and in organizations.
However, yesterday I was really burnt out emotionally on some personal matters. And I've yet to fully recovered...
I also recently started to use mailing list in my blog. I thought a mailing list will be useful in iOS and Mac apps as well. So I started a project building a universal framework for both the iOS and Mac platforms, complete with UIs. It illustrates the concept of code sharing between iPhone, iPad, and Mac apps with just one codebase. The fact that you got 30,000 emails proves its viability. The project is at https://github.com/rayvinly/DevNewsletter