What I've learned while failing my current product
Today I want to be honest about failure. Specifically, I want to share what I’ve learned while struggling to build my current product, Library of All. I still have a long way to go, and I’m still grinding, but I’ve learned some hard lessons that are worth sharing.
Starting with a blind spot
I started this project with a massive ambition to build a library of all books. But reality hit fast. As a solo, non-funded indie hacker, I couldn’t just source every book in the world right away. I should have started small with a focused scope. That’s why I eventually chose classic literature. The content was in the public domain, which solved my budget issue.
So I just started building without thinking about a unique value proposition or a marketing plan. My first real milestone was simply to build a reader so users could read books. I told myself it was an MVP. But looking back, it wasn’t. It was really nothing unique. Amazon Kindle and a dozen other apps already provide libraries and readers, and they do it much better than I can. I set myself up to compete on features against tech giants, which is a losing battle for a solo developer.
I had read a hundred times that early startups must chase a niche market. I thought I understood that concept, but I really didn’t.
The first pivot
I thought I found my first niche in social media addiction. My logic was simple. Reading is the opposite of doomscrolling, so reading should help people cure their social media addiction. It felt like a solid, unserved market. To target this, I added gamification features like a reading time tracker and daily quests.
Then I tried to find the users. I went to X and subreddits like r/nosurf. The problem is that most of these communities strictly forbid self-promotion. The only way to introduce my product was to send DMs to individuals, which took a massive amount of effort for very little return.
More importantly, I realized my product didn’t actually solve their problem. I was looking for a tiny intersection of people who wanted to quit social media and immediately replace it with classic literature. That group is basically non-existent. I was trying to force a solution onto a problem that didn’t really fit, so I decided to pivot again.
Trying to solve my own problem
I’m not a native English speaker. When I started building this product, I noticed that reading these books was actually helping my English skills. Since I used to work at an English education company, pivoting to an English education service seemed reasonable. Reading English novels requires a certain level of proficiency, so I decided to target intermediate English learners.
To serve them, I asked myself what I needed. As a non-native speaker, I often have to switch tabs to search for words I don’t know, so I added a built-in dictionary feature. Armed with this new feature, I went back to Reddit. I joined communities like r/EnglishLearning and r/languagelearning. I commented on threads and messaged people who seemed like potential users.
The result? None of them needed a classic literature library. I was confused at first—don’t they want to improve their English?
Then I realized the truth. Most intermediate learners in these communities are preparing for specific exams like CEFR or IELTS. They want short-term, measurable improvements. They don’t have time to struggle through Moby Dick for fun. And honestly, I don’t blame them. If I were in their shoes, I’d probably do the same.
What I know now
My second niche was still too broad. I thought intermediate English learners who want to read books was a niche, but I was wrong about both the market size and their actual intent.
I’m learning that finding a niche isn’t just about defining a category of people. It’s about finding people who have a burning problem that your product solves right now. I’m still pivoting. I’m still learning. But at least now I feel like I’m failing in the right direction.
What’s Next?
I’m pivoting again. But this time, the goal is clearer. I’m currently building features for a much smaller, sharper niche. I’m moving fast to validate this new hypothesis.
I don’t know where it goes yet, but I’m excited to put this into the hands of users soon.