Okay, I was looking at methods of enhancing my marketing and monetization strategies, more specifically, what it takes to get your game/app featured in a given distribution channel, rather than send it to various websites, put it up on steam, then hope and prey that it works. Also considering analytics and I've been reading up on google's documentation, information videos and success stories, while trying to be as realistic as possible about the entire thing.

In my search, I came across these links:

http://insight.venturebeat.com/report/mobile-marketing-automation-how-most-successful-apps-drive-massive-engagement-monetization

http://insight.venturebeat.com/report/mobile-games-monetization-what-successful-game-developers-do-differently?utm_source=vbnews&utm_medium=nova-recommendation&utm_campaign=insight-rec

http://insight.venturebeat.com/report/mobile-app-analytics-what-winning-mobile-developers-use

Now, they have a rather steep price tag, especially for an indie who may be working a day job making sandwiches. Although I can afford it easily, I'm not one to just jump on anything that I think will magically make my game successful in a great sense of desperation, but I wonder how many of you would or would not recommend paying for such information? It's easy to turn away such things based on the price tag, but at the same time, you never know what bit of information can make the difference between success and failure.

Although I'm on the fence, I'm open to all optimistic and pessimistic views (I'm almost strictly pessimistic for most things).

Shogun

While venturebeat has some occasionally interesting articles, I don't think those items are worth the money for most homebrew or hobby projects.

If you are planning on investing tens of thousands of dollars or more into a product, then perhaps they are worth it, but even then those specific items probably are not.

Market research and analytics are valuable, but each game has their own specific details that define the product and are unique. For individuals it is usually best to do your own homework on the specific things you want to do, and ensure you are being creative and pushing boundaries. The key to success for small projects is to be different. And when you are different, other product's statistics won't help.