Not my cup of tea, but I think that its success is because it’s like this http://www.dafont.com/theme.php?cat=107 but done right.

It does what many like seeing for cheap.

hhp

Very aggressive pricing. I'll bet many folks don't even have a specific use in mind; it's just an impulse buy.

It seems to do what it does very well. It looks authentically 'retro' in style, as demonstrated in the MyFonts visuals, and the degraded effect looks natural, like the result of an analog process.

I can actually see this used in letterpress printing, allowing for faux under-inking without having to worry about actually carefully under-inking! :-/

BTW, it's interesting to compare Veneer to this:
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/yellow-design/anodyne/
Same designer, about two months prior, not nearly as dirt cheap...

hhp

I guess being a graphic designer, I just figure everyone would want to distress their stuff by hand.

Remember the price dude.

hhp

Yeah, I didn't see that price cut at first.

I also think it's interesting that only a few of the fonts in the top 50 are not display fonts. I guess people don't go out looking for book fonts all that much.

And when you find a good text font you stick with it.
Display fonts are like one-night-stands.

hhp