Aminet 33/Aminet 33 - October 1999.iso/Aminet/docs/mags/AIOV26.lha/aioissue26/data/fe5

Text File | 1999-07-13 | 13.9 KB | 249 lines

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{subhead} Guide on how to make good Shareware{def}{p}
Article by Chris Seward
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 Over the years I have registered many programs by various authors
and have also made some shareware software back between about
1991-1993 which I wouldn't want to show about these days and actually
probably couldn't find, luckily.
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 The main thing I have noticed is that the level of support you
get and the quality of the program design and presentation is alot
different in every case. I am not talking about the likes of Miami
and AmIRC type shareware/commercial software but the likes that
you will find on the Aminet and in various PD Libraries. This software
is the original shareware software that has been around since I
was a wee nipper and hasn't changed all to much over the years.
The major difference is that you now get alot more registrations
that will give an option to send via email which just didn't exist
back in the early days of PD houses and shareware authors.
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 As I have had many years experience with lots of different shareware
authors I have come to get used to what to expect and as I have
also produced some shareware myself I know what the market is like
from both sides of the fence. The different degrees of support,
presentation and the actual software you get can vary alot depending
on who you deal with. I have decided to give you a few tips and
tricks of the trade which will seriously enhance your reputation
and maybe even sales.
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 The first thing that people look at is the presentation of a product
no matter if it is game or utility. The presentation is one of the
most important factors for eye-candy and should also be pointed
out that the way you present your software is the first impression
about the software the user who has bought your product will see.
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 I have had many different experiences with lots of authors and one
of my worst presentation problems was in around 1994 when I registered
a game from one Assisins collection disks. The game I thought I was
getting was brilliant and obviously the point which made me buy the
full game.... well at least thats what I thought I was doing. I
packaged up my £5 registration fee and sent it off eager to receive
my software...
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 A few weeks later I receive a re-used jiffy bag in my little collection
of post/mail at the door. Opening the jiffy bag I find an old disk
with a cut up long style label to fit into the disk label groove along
with a tatty letter telling me that he never finished the game and
decided to keep my £5 and send me another game with 20 levels. The
game I received was quite nice with good graphics but I didn't actually
want it and if I did then I would have registered that instead!
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 I know these days £5 isn't all to much but you are paying people for
something they have done and if they come through on messy disks with
horrible hand written labels then people get a bad impression before
they have even used your software. Then when they come to use the
software they are going to mark it down rather than up because the
person who has bought it is annoyed by its bad presentation. The
presentation does not have to cost the world and obviously it is the
thing on the disk that counts but people do like to see something
nice and a bit like professional layout. The best presentation I
have had the pleasure of receiving was when buying a game called
Moose Drive which was made by Graeme Dean along time before he went
on to produce DrawStudio and many other loved Amiga graphics packages.
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 The disks had nice printed labels on and a great letter telling you
various bits of information and also thanking you for buying their
software which is always a good start. When you write or print your
letter then you should always start off thanking the person buying
your software because then they will feel you are grateful, after all
they are paying you... maybe it isn't a massive amount but if your
in it just for money then this isn't the game.
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 When deciding on what you are going to send the buyers of your
product you should always take into account what it is going to cost
you. If a registration fee is just £5 then people aren't going to
expect any sort of box or glossy guide that tells you how to work
various options so you shouldn't go wasting money on what isn't needed.
While talking into account the price each person will pay you should keep
in mind the cost of disks, jiffy bag, paper and postage. These should
all be new to make a good impression. The jiffy bag is probably the
least to worry about but if possible always try to buy a new one as
a tatty bag or envolope through the post does not give a good
impression. Using a normal envelope unless padded is not a good idea,
disks can be damaged which means you will only have to pay more
once they get returned, don't think cutting corners will save you
money because in the end it is likely to cause you more trouble than
its worth. When using disks always make sure they are new, it is
no good trying to peel off a bit of a label and then just hoping that
the bumps from the old label won't show up to much. Don't cut corners
here either, shop around for the cheapest disks but make sure they
are of good quality and always find out if labels are already stuck
onto disks before purchasing them. At best always try to print a label,
it doesn't matter if you don't have a good printer, the effort will
always look better. If no printer is to hand then get someone with
nice neat writing before attempting to scribble some scruffy writing
onto a label.
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 Remember that when sending disks to countries outside your own or
heavy items inside your country there could be extra charge than
just a normal postage stamp that you have been sticking on everything.
If you don't pay the correct postage then your package is either
unlikely to get to its destination or on the other hand the person
at the other end will have to pay the difference. If you registered
a product would you be very happy if you find your paying the postage
to receive it. If on the other hand is gets lost in the great world
postage service then you will expect to receive a nice angry letter
from whoever registered.
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 The trick is not to cut any corners because they will only fall
back on you with faulty or damaged disks, none arriving software and
a whole host of other problems, sort everything out before hand and
you will run smoothly.
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 When receiving orders make sure you deal with them as soon as
possible and if you know it will be hard for you to deal with them
in a reasonable amount of days say two weeks then make sure you
have put a notice in the documents before a person has registered.
If you have the time then deal with orders the same day or a few
days after because the person registering will be impressed by the
fast turn around speed which can only help to aid you in future.
If you can't be bothered to deal with orders then you shouldn't
really be trying to sell shareware software. If you show you are
as professional as possible then you can easily go far.
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 The different types of software all need different types of support.
Noone is asking that you have a 24 hour hotline open to take problems
but some sort of after sale service always go down well and its
doesn't have to cost the world. If you don't mind telling them your
phone number then do so because they can call {bold}you{nobold} costing you nothing
but time and they have a quick solution to their problem. It is a
real pain when you receive something and either it doesn't work or
you can't work an option and there is no documentation about it. You
find there is no help available and if the author (you) doesn't bother
to reply then they will most likely never buy from you again no
matter how good your product is.
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 If your product is updated on a regular basis then you should
decide if the registered user is going to get updates for free or
at a reduced price. If your software is updated very regularly then
you don't want to be giving it out free all the time because soon
the original registration fee they paid you will be past with no
profit and you will be eating into your own money something which
you should not do and nor are required to do. A good tip is not to
update products too often and keep building on them until you have
a product that is improved enough to warrant a new fee or keep you
well in budget by only sending out free update copies now or then.
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 When you decide on your fee you should take into account that next
time the person decides to upgrade they are not always willing to
keep paying the same fee. This can become annoying because you are
an already registered customer and getting no reduction or no
free updates. You are not required to give out free updates but
if you decide to charge for them then it is best to give a good
reduction to already registered customers. Once a major update has
been completed that warrants more money then your already registered
customers can occasionally for major updates be required to pay
the full price but this is up to you depending on what you want
to charge.
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 When working out what money is coming in then you should set yourself
a budget of how much each person is getting spent on disks and
equipment etc. Write down the cost of each item from disks to
postage and stick to what you have agreed with yourself. If your
registration fee is only high enough to cover the basics then
stick to that but make sure you aren't charging a high price just
to pay for the expensive boxes you've had made and the flashy
cover pictures. It is the product inside or on the disk that people
have registered for and not the frills that come with it. You should
make sure you do at least the basics with new disks and if possible
printed label and a good quality letter with details on updates
or how to use certain functions. You want to make a good cosmetic
impression but not go overboard making people pay for these add-ons
that don't make the product any better but just the first glance
cosmetic appearance.
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 A simple letter will do. You should give details on any hard to
use functions or if you want tell people about the secret bonuses
hidden inside if a game. Do not talk in length about how good you
think the product is because chances are if they have decided to
register the product then they already like what they have seen
at an earlier date. As I said earlier in the guide you should start
by thanking the person for registering and then ending with a
friendly comment saying that they can feel free to contact you
about the product any time.
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 A small detail that alot of people either forget to do or just
miss and hope it will be fine is virus checking of a disk.
It is very rare these days to find a virus but the time you don't
check a disk you are sending to a customer who has registered will
be the once in a million time that the disk receives a virus.
Always check lastly the disk you are sending out for viruses
because you will find yourself in alot of trouble if you corrupt
someones HD.
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 Another really annoying fact is that people test the disk on
their computer only or the systems they actually own. Check to see
if the software boots and works correctly on friends systems
or give it to some beta testers to check it works on a range
of systems and the more you try the better. You may think trying
it on your two or three personal systems will do the trick and
that will cover the wide range of different systems out there.
Wrong. The chances are that you will have the same or very similar
programs in each computers C: Devs: Libs: etc etc. When you boot
it on your computer it may take a library from your Libs: or need
to run a certain file from your C: which isn't on your disk and
then when the user comes to run it they find that it won't work.
Along with this subject if you are going to make a bootable disk
which is always better as people with no HD don't want to mess
around with booting WB disks etc. Make sure that the boot system
is fast and mainly effective. The more fancy things you build into
the bootup system like scroll-in ascii picture and special music
playing options the more programs and libraries you will need to
put onto the disk taking up much more room just wasting space.
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 The last annoying fact about registering software that springs
to mind is that when you get people asking for the registration
fee and then say include a disk and enough return postage. I think
this is terrible when people do this. If you don't want to loose
out money then increase the price just to include the disk and
postage, please do not make the user go through all this just to
register it will more than likely put them off.
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 My last piece of advice is about beta-testers. I suggest that
you get people you know well and I mean ones who will honestly
give you a run down of your software and not just say they like
it because they are your friend and don't want to hurt your
feelings. If you advertise that you want beta-testers you will get
people just asking to test your software so they get some free
shareware software and don't have to pay for it. The other thing
to watch out for is if you do or have advertised freely which is
a bad move in itself then always keep an eye out because it has
happened many times in the past that a piece of software has been
found pirated before the author has even released it. This is
obviously the work of someone you have given a copy to which is
likely to be a beta-testers. I am not saying don't trust anyone
and that everyone is going to run off and copy it all around the
world but don't just fall into the trap of handing out copies
here and there.
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 I hope this is or has been a little help to you and I hope if you
are planning to release some shareware software then you take into
account some of the points I have made because I have had experience
with both sides of selling and buying. My last words are have
fun making your software!
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Comments? email : {bold}[e-mail]{nobold}