Shareware Overload

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████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP ONE THE SOFTWARE MUST FILL A NEED! ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ To begin at the beginning, you have a software package or at least an idea for a package. The first question is does your software fill a market need? And is the need so great that someone will pay money for your solution? It is easy to confuse the hard work and frustration of programming - which is considerable - with the perception that the package must be worth something since you worked so hard to produce it. In reality there is NO relation between your programming effort and the real need for the program. Spend some time imagining and researching a large group of computer users who have a need for a package you could produce. I'll present a list of "new ideas for shareware" in just a few paragraphs. Successful shareware fills definite market needs. Glance at the following list of truly successful shareware authors and ponder how your package fits into the market pattern of these documentable winners. You don't have to offer a similar package, just something that fills a real need that people will pay for! Notice that the serious players offer SEVERAL packages or offer one mainstream package and develop it to near commercial quality. Complexity and a wealth of features tends to sell in the shareware arena. Another pattern is that the successful packages tend to be somewhat mainstream (databases, spreadsheets, serious utilities, accounting) BUT NEW IN CONCEPT. Still another pattern is that the winners hang in there for the long haul. They have patience measured in a duration of years. Another pattern is speed: successful shareware authors bring a program to market quickly before any other shareware (or commercial) company can. In some ways this is the advantage of remaining an proudly independent programmer: you can quickly decide on program features and bring your new idea to market faster than a large organization. A final pattern is dedication to excellence - successful authors continually refine and hone their programs to be the fastest, most user friendly then continuously update them which itself attracts considerable market attention. Study this list for patterns of SHAREWARE SUCCESS carefully! LARGEST SHAREWARE ENTERPRISES Buttonware - Baker's Dozen utilities, PC-Calc, PC-Type, PC-File Datastorm - Procomm telecommunications package Quicksoft - PC-Write, PC-Browse, PC-Write Lite Brown Bag - Homebase, Powermenu, PC-Outline, Cash-Trac Magee Enterprises - Automenu, Treeview Expressware - File Express, Express Calc, Check, Graph, Onside. PKWare - Pkzip Hooper Inc - Finance Manger Accounting Series, Cheque it Out MAJOR SOFTWARE COMPANIES Trius - ASEASYAS, Draft Choice AM Software - AM-TAX Sydex - 22 Disk, Teledisk FormalSoft - CubeCalc Mustang - Mortplan, PrtLabel, Wildcat Omniverse - Galaxy Word Processor REASONABLY SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS Neil Wagstaff - Family Ties Justin Boyan - Boyan Telecommunications program Mark Adler - NY Word John Friel - Qmodem Mark Harris - LQ utilities Dennis Lozen - Fastbucks Robert Hime - Letters and Labels Jerry Medlin - Medlin Accounting, PC-GL Obviously, obtain shareware catalogs from larger distributors such as PC-SIG, Public Brand, New England Software Library and other large distributors listed in the database which accompanies this package. Closely examine these marketing treasure troves and determine if similar packages to yours exist or, from a contrary viewpoint, if market gaps for your package exist. This is basic research which costs little and can prevent considerable frustration when you discover that the superb printer utility you had planned to program already exists as 23 different variations in the the shareware market. Look carefully for market gaps in a variety of shareware catalogs before you start writing code! A shareware programmer without a LARGE stack of shareware catalogs next to his/her computer is flying blind! ██████ TIP ██████ Know thy timeline: it will take 3 to 5 years to build critical mass behind your product. Be patient and hold on to that mail room job for a while. Fill a need. Don't program games (low registration potential) if you can program an application. Don't spend hours programming a killer database when 1,760 databases already exist. Find a niche market, create a niche market or spot a problem that isn't being solved. Watch for commercial software packages that seem new or unusual in concept then see if you can "shareware" the same concept to market quickly. Study other shareware that is "almost" market perfect but somehow misses the mark. Consider weaving the good ideas from several packages into one package. Consider collaborating with another shareware author. You will have to write more than one package if you are serious about shareware as a marketing method! As a starting point, consider these concepts for shareware packages: Mapping and plotting of contours, conversion of satellite imagery, business plan creation tools and templates, decision making software, IEEE 488 interface programming tools, contractor accounting package for DOD 2002, OCR with spell checking and AI, Criterium clone, AI resume generator, VGA demonstration systems, Windows 3.0 programs and toolkits, toolbook clone, libraries in C and pascal, dBase compiler, label printer with AI which can scan in any source document and find and format label information, Rbase clone with royalty free runtimes, clone any of the programs in the PowerUp software catalog, Reflex database clone, extremely complex vertical market management and market research packages for banking, law, medicine, statistics, accounting, biotechnology, database compilations of selected mailing lists, shareware magazines, package-specific tutorial systems, home business planning and marketing packages, shareware distributor inventory and billing packages, direct mail planning and marketing kits, how to deal with lower back pain for computer programmers, planning and pricing a move to another state, job finding kits, foreign investment guides, lists of Russian entrepreneurs, emerging home office income opportunity newsletters, tropical fish disease database, packages for senior citizens on a state by state resource basis and on and on! This is just a little from the "fat idea file" on my desk! Another great idea is to watch each issue of Compuserve Magazine which is published monthly for Compuserve members. Within the front few pages is a detailed monthly list of "popular software" downloads. Study the list carefully and ask yourself the question: could I clone a better variant of a particular shareware package which is ALREADY POPULAR? The key here is that these are POPULAR downloads by a vast array of Compuserve users which means the marketing research is done! All you have to do is clone a similar, more richly featured product! Sounds simple, but the idea is obvious and updated every month for your perusal in Compuserve magazine! You are not charged for the magazine subscription, only for Compuserve connect time which can be as much or little as you like! Obviously, if you develop a package, you should upload it to Compuserve (IBM shareware conference/GO SHAREWARE) as a nearly instantaneous way to distribute it to a mass market. Upload time is at no charge once your file begins to upload. If you want to stretch your thinking, go down to your local library and scan through shelves of books and magazines and ask the question: could I program a package similar to this book or magazine as an interactive data graphic generator/database/tutorial/calculator/marketing system? Then having done that could I find the precise market niche for the product? Books and magazines are still the best and most original random access device invented by man - a floppy disk and computer are the same thing with a a bit more speed, intelligence and grace. A beautiful concept for a package I had is a TOTAL management and billing control package for a person taking care of a senior citizen - the package would manage medical billings, physician appointments, banking and money, dental claims, unpaid bills, income sources and so forth. With the graying of the baby boom generation this is sure to be an explosive opportunity. I have hundreds of ideas and more like this in a fat folder on my desk. And I don't have the time and programming skills to make these ideas happen! Write me if you want to brainstorm ideas for packages nobody has yet done which may have incredible market potential as the shareware market matures. I would like to see shareware distributors start compiling a list of "needed software" derived from actual requests of their customers. Better yet, this could become the "bright ideas" database within this $hareware Marketing $ystem: you submit an idea which is maybe a little too complex for you to program or team up with a programmer to write the tough code while you work on an elegant user interface - follow the drift? There are MILLIONS of programs which have yet to be written and I would like to see shareware authors capture the largest part of the pie. I'm on your side since I am a shareware author too! My next bright idea is a shareware DISTRIBUTORS newsletter with a compilation of the best and brightest marketing ideas I have seen and discovered from shareware distributors throughout America. I'll bet most shareware distributors would find such a newsletter interesting and my idea and concept file for that package is already 8 inches thick (still too thin for me to get interested just yet!) Want to hear another wild idea? Today more packages are published as shareware than as commercial software. It is possible, some would say probable, that in the future all software will one day evolve into shareware . . . I hope you sense the concept: ORIGINALITY, PROFESSIONAL EXECUTION, RAPID DISTRIBUTION AND MORE THAN ONE SHAREWARE PACKAGE are more important than raw programming skills! "Marketing source code" (mailing lists, ideas for packages, identification of market niches, distribution tricks) is more important than software source code. Avoid the standards which everyone else writes such as bible search programs, text managers, hard drive menu systems, checkbook programs, general ledgers, genealogy systems, tiny little printer utilities, games, lotto pickers and spreadsheets. There are millions of other brighter ideas. PC-LEARN evolved in a more or less logical fashion. As the coordinator for a computer club I noticed an insatiable need for a SIMPLE tutorial for beginners. I wrote a few articles for the club newsletter which were avidly snapped up. Next I compiled several articles into what might be termed a PC-LEARN prototype. Response was good, but the articles were deemed too complex! Back to the drawing board and another try. Each time I got a little closer the market told me what to do next. I searched shareware catalogs for competitors to PC-LEARN (there were some, but lacking in some areas of content and simplicity). I checked commercial sources for similar tutorials which gave me further encouragement. Finally I submitted an early version of the package to several BBS systems and PC-SIG which is a large shareware distributor in California. Still more revisions and more aggressive marketing followed. I was prepared to wait about five years and then abandon the product since my commercial photography business was far more profitable with a lot less effort. But then the magic happened and PC-LEARN began to bring in registration checks and I knew I might be onto something interesting. Moral: programming a package is the easy part. Marketing persistence and patience measured in terms of years is where the work really starts! Hold onto that real job while you program and discover shareware. Reasons to try shareware distribution methods? You can't afford a major advertising and promotion budget. You need extra income but already have a job. Your existing package for a consultation client is good and might be adapted to a larger audience. Your small utility or game just wouldn't be attractive in the commercial software market, but a realistic extra $50 or $100 per year for your small package might be a stroke to the ego. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP TWO PROGRAM LOGISTICS ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ The best shareware adheres to certain common formulas: Strive to have your package run on humble monochrome machines as well as sophisticated VGA graphics computers. Can your software auto-detect various graphics resolutions and adjust accordingly? Remember that there are more monochrome machines out there than anything else. The customer can't send you a registration if he/she can't even read the registration request screen! High end packages have a very narrow base of support for registrations! Make the program run by intuition. Meaning: can the user fire it up and run your program without even glancing at the documentation. Good shareware is self-documenting as it runs! Don't rely on windows specific programs unless you are willing to wait until the majority of users run Windows. If you must, offer a version for windows and a non-windows version. Don't program specifically for 286/386 chips or math co- processors unless you want your program to leave the majority of users behind. Auto-detect these chips but don't hardwire instructions for these chips directly into your code. Make sure the program is REALLY bug free. If necessary reduce your program features even if you suspect a bug might be contained in a flashy graphics or machine code sequence. Shareware already has a reputation for being buggy in the eyes of many users. Consider having the program display a copyright and registration notice as the first welcome screen. This protects you and certainly reminds the user of your program of the need to register. In the shareware trade this is usually called the "beg screen." Will your program fit in whole or logical portions of standard 360K floppy disks? This is essential. Don't require a hard drive unless the program absolutely needs it. Provide two versions - one hard drive compatible and one floppy compatible, but don't neglect the big market of users with simple machines. While we are speaking about drives, do not hard code a floppy drive or directory into your program. Always allow a default directory and user selectable switching to other drives and directories. If necessary provide either a separate configuration program for drives, colors, and options or provide choices from a menu within the program. Not everyone's computer is the same as yours! The majority of machines out there are probably simpler than your machine. ██████ TIP ██████ Consider "brain bartering" Example: your package has many software features, but you need some excellent documentation upgrades for your package but aren't a good writer. Try swapping some programming skills with another shareware programmer whose package needs some revision or bug fixes in exchange for that author doing a serious rewrite of your documentation. No matter how proud you are of your programming skills, there is another shareware author out there who is better at machine code, documentation production, beta testing or something you can't do. Make a list of what your program needs but you don't know how or have time to accomplish. Post a message on a BBS system or write directly to another shareware author. Brain bartering! I would like to list in this publication a brain barter database: send me a note about what programming skill you can offer and what programming skill you need. Write it like a little want ad, ship it to me on ASCII disk and we thus have the brain barter database! I have some definite needs for programming upgrades to my own package PC- LEARN that I do not know how to accomplish. Write me! Believe it or not I don't know how to program in BASIC, C, PASCAL or even dBASE. I just tinker with batch files and program in the english language. Take a look at PC-LEARN and you will see loads of English but little programming! Crippleware (a program with limited features, date or time traps, or other cripples) is a sure looser. No crippled programs have ever made it in shareware! At one time the famous WAMPUM database had a date trap cripple which has now been removed. Moral: As soon as a user even faintly smells a cripple your program is out of the running for that registration check! If you make references to DOS commands be PAINFULLY clear. A lot of users still don't understand statements such as "boot DOS then diskcopy your master floppy onto a backup diskette then prepare two HD subdirectories, one for the program and one for the data." This seems pretty simple, but will confuse a lot of users who will not even try your program. Explain DOS commands clearly with painfully simple examples in both your program and documentation. Consider offering a detailed DOS training course in your documentation which some users will register even if they could care less about your program! See my DOS Tutorial in PC-LEARN if you want to examine painfully simple examples of DOS commands which many users can't seem to get enough of! Notice that many good shareware distributor catalogs always have little mini-DOS courses on the inside cover. Notice that commercial software houses such as Borland include mini-DOS courses in the appendix section of their program manuals. Moral: there are a lot of computer novices out there who need clear instructions and will send you a registration check if you can keep your documentation clear, simple, useful and educational. If your program prints files, documentation or reports, be sure to have the program include an extra form feed at the end of the printout to eject the paper from the printer - this is especially true for laser printer users who will be most annoyed that the final sheet of your report or screen display remains inside the laser printer and is overwritten with yet another document when they go to use the printer again. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP THREE DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING LOGISTICS ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ The final product pending yet another inevitable revision is the DISTRIBUTION DISK which is duplicated and submitted to shareware vendors, computer clubs and unsuspecting neighbors and co- workers. Some checkpoints: Always include a file named README on the disk. The README file must be sorted to the top of the directory listing. No exceptions! I suggest not even using a file extension (e.g., don't use README.TXT.) Here is why: when you sort the files in final distribution order (best by extension then filename) the README file will sort to the top of the directory where it belongs and where it will catch the eye and serve its purpose. Within the README file the first item at the top of the should be the program name, version number, how to start the program, author mailing address and a provocative description including a few "sizzle words." The top of the README file is the most valuable real estate in a shareware disk! Use it well! It demands more programming time and thought than the rest of your program code! Your program description must be provocative and precise. A reviewer will look for this first and frequently use it verbatim as a catalog listing. A user will be encouraged to try the program. The description isn't just a description, it must sizzle with what might be termed marketing adjectives! Obviously don't overdo the sizzle to the exclusion of the steak. Look again at an example README file: THE $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM (c) 1990, 1991 VERSION 91.02 (Year: 1991, Revision: 02) Suggested BBS name, this version: SMS9102.ZIP A shareware software package from Seattle Scientific Photography Editor, Jim Hood (206) 236-0470 Mailing address: PO BOX 1506, Mercer Island, WA 98040 ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ To start: A>GO <then press return/enter key> ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ DETAILED DESCRIPTION The $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM is a detailed two part resource for shareware authors who need creative marketing ideas and a RATED mailing list of over 2,300 major shareware distributors, large computer clubs, key contact names and recommended BBS systems. The first part of the package, the mailing list database, contains addresses, phone numbers, a UNIQUE MAILING LIST RATING and other detailed data which can be used to prepare envelope mailing labels or BBS calling uploads. The database file is rated by a unique quality ranking so you can mail shareware to vendors, computer clubs and BBS systems ranked A, B or C. The database file is supplied in standard dBase III (DBF) file format which can be imported to your database! You can sort lists of shareware distributors, computer clubs and BBS systems by zip, state and other criteria. Foreign and U.S. source lists are included. The second portion of the package is a detailed newsletter and marketing strategy guide which has been prepared by an established shareware author and contains dozens of creative tips, tricks and traps which every shareware author should review. Written by the author of the PC-LEARN computer tutorial which has accumulated over 9000 registrations in 3 years, the $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM provides detailed and experienced information in a frank, candid and sensible style. This is a package for the shareware author who desperately needs CREATIVE IDEAS for positive financial results. Program runs on ALL systems and does NOT require color or special graphics. You will need a database program such as PC- File, Wampum, dBase, Rbase, Reflex or any database program which can load files in dBase III format (DBF files). Other file formats such as Lotus, Paradox and ASCII file formats are available from the author. Hard drive suggested, but author of program can also supply mailing list files in smaller portions suitable for floppy systems if requested. Updates are planned (4 issues per year) and monthly updates are contemplated. (end of example) Notice that IMMEDIATELY the reader locates the essentials: what is the name? What is the version? What is the description? Is the description interesting? How do I start the program? If space permits within the README file also include a list of files and their descriptions, sizes and dates as well as further instructions on how to start the program and print the documentation. The top of the README file also includes a suggested ZIP file name for BBS use which is rarely supplied with most shareware packages but aids standardization if you go into national BBS distribution or if shareware distributors decide to archive/zip your file to conserve space on a floppy disk. Suggest you investigate the shareware program PKZIP if you are not familiar with archiving and file compression technology. A distribution disk should be defragged, date cleaned, EN sorted and spell checked. What does this mean? 1) Use a file defragmentation program to make all files contiguous prior to preparing the distribution disk. 2) Run a small utility like TOUCH.COM on the disk so all files have the same date/time stamp. 3) Run a file sorter like Norton on the disk to sort the files first by extension then by name (EN sort). 4) Use your word processor's spelling checker to clean up unprofessional documentation spelling errors (we're all human!) I am always amazed at how many shareware authors overlook these basic requirements! Also never use subdirectories on your main distribution disk! Prepare thorough documentation in ASCII text for your program. Include instructions on how to print it for the novice user. Maximum suggested text width is about 65 columns to allow for margins and printer variations. Consider ALL of your documentation for novices and prepare it accordingly. Document all auxiliary programs, special drivers and configuration programs as well as the main program! Don't use jargon; give examples of steps you intend. Moral: Good software gets the customer interested, but good documentation gets the registration sent. When you release a first or early version of a program, be prepared to listen to suggestions for updates and changes. It is tempting to dismiss requests for program changes since "you know the program bettter than anyone else." Don't let indpendence and ego get in the way. Software is most of all attention to detail. Abide by normal keyboard conventions which most users expect: F1 should bring up help screens. Escape should back a user out of a situation or menu or undo a previous command. F2 is an edit function in many programs. The slash bar or alt key activates a menu to open in many programs. F10 continues the program action in some older programs. If your program asks for a filename, try to show a list of all names availble as is common with many word processing packages. If possible allow the up and down plus right and left arrow keys to move through a table of filenames to select the file in question. Explain error messages. Cryptic errors such as: "67878 transfer abort" are curious and unfriendly. Think in terms of fuctional error messages like: "disk drive door open or disk is write protected." The rudest insult is to allow the program (with internal user data) to abort and simply drop to the DOS prompt and (probably) lose all user data in the process. Try to return the computer to the same defaults it began with when your program exits: same screen colors, video mode and screen column width. Close all files and reset clocks and dates as necessary. Many programs require adjustment of the AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS files. Explain this in detail and give examples! You cannot explain BATCH files, AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS too frequently! Check out your program with a LARGE file of dummy data. That super accounting package you so carefully crafted may be great with about 100 entries doing simple searches and reporting. Try it with about a year's worth of dummy data (say 5,000 entries). If the program slows down to a crawl, maybe you should consider optimizing a few routines in C, pascal or assembler instead of that clunky dBase/Clipper/Clarion/ Quick Basic compiler. Good programs are fast, deep, feature-rich, novel, elegant and magical! If possible provide example letters, files or other data so a user can play with the software with dummy data to quickly see if the package is useful. Many shareware authors ship large programs in ZIP or ARC compressed format. Be sure to thoroughly explain how to unpack to single drive systems, double drive systems and hard drive systems! Harder than it sounds when you consider the variations! Try to construct batch file(s) to unpack or configure the program to various systems. As a clue to unpacking to single drive systems, instruct the batch file to create a ramdrive, unpack the archive file into the ramdrive and then copy it back onto a formatted floppy. Conversely, you could copy the archive into the ramdrive and then directly unpack onto one or several floppies. You get the idea . . . Recently PC Magazine offered a batch file compiler utility which makes slow clunky batch files fly. Consider compiling your batch files. The little compiler is named BAT2EXEC.COM and was discussed in VOL9N15 of their Magazine. The utility itself is contained on many bulletin boards and the PC MagNet service on Compuserve. It is sure to become a classic! There are also commercial and shareware batch file compilers which add screen colors, popdown menus and other goodies, all from a compiled batch file which runs quickly! Always include an invoice in standard layout format in several areas of the program as well as an exclusive menu option. Some shareware programs even make it an option every time the program exits! Corporate users and Government offices require an invoice to process billings. The simple statement "$30 registration required" doesn't cut the mustard! Include a line for purchase order number if space permits. Speaking of standard formats, consider adding "Print documentation and program instructions" as a permanent menu item! A little shareware program named FASTFILE does exactly this. Why no other shareware author provides this is a mystery to me . . . . Whenever you ship a disk to a distributor or customer the prevailing thought is to enclose a pleasant business letter describing the program and asking the reader to consider using it or adding it to his/her list. My own personal opinion is to reprint the README file from your disk verbatim and submit it instead of the pleasant business letter! If you can't submit it verbatim, fix your README file! It should be more effective than the polite business letter because it has a clearly focused market style understandable to readers, reviewers and users of shareware. I feel strongly about a personal theory of shareware marketing I call "critical density marketing." Simply stated: set up up your distribution so that a large mailing/BBS distribution/marketing push of your disk takes place in a short duration of time. Key words: LARGE MAILING/SHORT TIME. Thus 1000 disks and 200 BBS uploads of your new shareware program or update is MUCH more effective in the space of three days rather than dribbled out over 6 weeks. Saturate your marketing push with critical density in a short time! What is minumum volume? Opinion: anything less than 500 disks mailed and 50 BBS uploads is barely minimum. 1000 disks mailed and 150 BBS uploads is decent. 3000 disks mailed and 300 BBS uploads is premium. What is critical duration? About two or three days! Time to payback for raw materials and telephone time with zero net profit? Depends on the quality of your program, but 6 months to a year would be a fair guess for an average new program which is not an update of an existing popular shareware program. ██████ TIP ██████ Make sure you receive a catalog from each distributor to whom you have sent a disk. Jot a note in your computer database about the date you shipped them a disk. Get a catalog from them 4 to 6 months later to determine if your program has been listed. Call their toll free number. Give them the name of your cat and mailing address for a free catalog so they don't cross reference your name on their mailing list. Some distributors are notoriously stingy sending out free catalogs and thus won't send you one if they know you are only a shareware author poking around trying to see if your software is finally listed in their catalog - they may have your name on file in their computer, but certainly not your cat's name! Two disk-based catalogs which I especially enjoy are from PrairieWare and Disk Count Data, both of which are listed in the main database. Disk-based catalogs are interesting in that we are beginning to see some distributors exploring new frontiers in catalog production using disks which are infinitely more recyclable than chopping down trees for paper - call this a personal bias, but I wish the shareware industry would head this direction. When you are tired of the disk, put something new on it and send it along to someone else! I don't think most trees will complain, and the petrochemicals used to make disks are already dead! If you are archiving all or sections of the program be logical! Will each unpacked archive still fit on a single 360K floppy? I have seen many archived programs which are too large to unpack to single floppy disks. You can kiss many registration checks goodbye from owners of simple machines. Many BBS sysops will not accept program files in ZIP format if the archive is greater than 360K in size per ZIP file program portion. Summarizing: keep ZIP files in their packed state to less than 360K in size and likewise check to make sure the unpacked version will also fit on a 360K floppy. As an example, my PC-LEARN package attempts on installation to configure itself with a simple menu system onto two separate 360K floppies if that is all the user owns. However when installing to a hard drive or 720K floppy, the installation will omit the simple menus and instead install the deluxe full-featured color system. Flexibility is the key. It takes timing and a little sensitivity to users to second guess what type of computer system your program might run on. Some shareware authors (and even disk vendors) include a copy of the PKUNZIP utility on the disk to assist unpacking a program. Unless you are a commercially registered user or are including the COMPLETE PKZIP utility with documentation, this might be a problem! Legally PKZIP is shareware and it is unlawful to distribute only a portion of the program without all parts and full documentation. Shipping a file in ZIP format is fine. The ZIP file format is available for public use just as you might use a LOTUS WKS format file. For this legal reason, some shareware authors distribute programs in LHARC format and include the LHARC unpacking utility which does not have similar restrictions. LHARC is a copyrighted product, but does not require payment for private or shareware distribution use. Be careful and be legal! By the way, a public domain unpacking/unzipping utility does exist: UNZIP.EXE. Is the archive file name descriptive and possibly hint at the version number? (e.g., THE LAWNMOWER REPAIR UTILITIES Version 3.6 = LAWNUT36.ZIP) Label your disks professionally. On a single label at the top of your disk use a large font for the program name and version, a medium font for the startup command and finally a small font description of the program. Some shareware authors use oversize labels and almost squeeze the entire README file onto the label - which is not such a bad idea! Just as the README FILE is the most valuable real estate inside a disk, the label is the most valuable real estate outside a disk! Think like a marketing animal and program like a marketing animal! There are many good label programs which will run on humble dot matrix printers. Many of these programs are shareware or public domain. Speaking of labels, I sometimes print mailing labels on plain paper, two or three labels wide, and cut and glue them to the face of the envelope. Saves money on sticky Avery labels when you mail out a lot of disks like I do! An odd shareware tip to save money: zip or archive SEVERAL programs onto one disk (everybody in the distribution network knows how to unzip files), SKIP the disk label, SKIP the disk sleeve/cover, enclose a one page printout of the README file on lightweight paper, ship in a single weight manila envelope (no metal clasp, just lick and close), do NOT enclose a cardboard to protect the disk from bending and put a SINGLE postage stamp on the face of the mailer which is all it will cost to mail your shareware economy class! Quite inexpensive, VERY unorthodox, and the few disks bent in shipping will be followed up with a "send me another" letter from the .05 percent who get a damaged disk. Moral: if you want volume and are willing to go "Volkswagon Class" in your mailing, you can do some incredibly LARGE mailings! Extend this idea by doing a COOP mailing (shared mailing of several authors shipping two or more unrelated programs in the same envelope.) Always update your database list and record to who and when the distribution disk was mailed. Make a note to check back in 6 months to see if the distributor added your disk to his/her catalog. In general, mailing your shareware to a distributor not within the United States is a waste of time. I have received little if any response from either distributors or customers outside the United States. This is an opinion, others may hold differently on this issue. In some respects this may represent a poor understanding of shareware and how the cash flow should work. My personal opinion is that while about 85% of U.S. users won't register your package even though they use it for many MONTHS, somehow about 154% of foreign users won't register even though they use it for many YEARS! In many respects U.S. distributors maintain operations in other countries (e.g., PC-SIG and GEMINI) so if you submit your shareware to them, it will find its way overseas anyway. Foreign distributors in the mailing list database are noted as distributor type "F" (foreign) while U.S. distributors are type "D" so that you may sort and search for those categories to select or exclude when you prepare mailing labels. Use "distributor leverage" to get your foot in the door. Example: once my package PC-LEARN was officially listed by PC- SIG, most other shareware distributors were willing to add it to their library just to "maintain marketing parity" with PC-SIG. Moral: work hard on listing with the big distributors, then let the smaller ones know via a printed letter accompanying your submission that major distributors have assigned your program to their catalog. Include the disk number/catalog number for that major distributor as evidence! Should you distribute to computer clubs/users groups? My personal opinion is to mail to the shareware distributors first, BBS systems second and mail shareware disks to the largest computer clubs in major cities third. The reason, although this may raise the ire of computer clubs, is that most club members are awash in shareware anyway and seldom check each new offering. Only the largest clubs have a newsletter which might feature your shareware as a new addition to the library. The rate of registrations I have experienced in my own documented analysis of registrations coming from computer club sources versus shareware distributors and BBS systems is about 20:1. Meaning I receive about 20 registrations from distributor's clients for every one from a computer club member who directly traced their source copy to the club library. In general shareware distributor catalogs reach more people who need shareware than those who are already awash in shareware! It is not that I dislike clubs, in fact I am a former computer club coordinator. It's just that the registration potential in my opinion is unreliable if cash flow is your focus. Should you distribute to BBS systems? YES! This is probably the fastest method to get your shareware into the hands of people who use and frequently will register a GOOD package. I frankly put BBS distribution a high priority (right after shareware distributors) on my list of MUST DO distribution methods. See file RAPID.TXT elesewhere on this disk or examine the main mailing list for "A" rated BBS systems which I consider a high priority distribution method. I have healthy respect for all SYSOPS since their "grapevine" opinion of a shareware package travels far and fast! In addition they are genuinely nice folks and have a sincere interest in computers, communications, electronic "pen pals" and shareware authors. Another target is computer stores. Here in Seattle, two large computer chains distribute my PC-LEARN tutorial system on hard disk with every computer sold. Since PC-LEARN is tuned for beginners, most computer stores love to distribute it to lessen the tedious phone calls from new computer users. This is a simple idea only a few shareware authors are using. Can you distribute your package in similar fashion? It is amazing to me the registration checks I get from huge government agencies and large businesses who purchase a volume of computers from a large distributor and then stumble onto my product carefully embedded onto every hard drive on every computer they purchased. Some commercial software houses would kill to have a demo of their software included with every computer a large distributor sells to a major corporate account. This is a simple trick which a small shareware author can use to "outgun" even the largest commercial software company! ██████ TIP ██████ Two interesting target audiences are 1) folks living in small towns beyond major metropolitan hubs and 2) seniors who have a little more time than most of us and are just getting started in computers. Sounds crazy but many registrations I receive are from little towns and are seniors if you carefully read the notes, questions and comments. However your package must be simple and attractive for this type of audience: a simple database, gardening guide, genealogy system, or personal accounting package would be a good candidate. A cross compiler wouldn't, obviously! Moral: if you decide to buy a small ad in a publication to try marketing your package directly, go for a logical four star choice like the TOPPSQUASH TRAVEL AND LEISURE GUIDE. Or even your own church bulletin if you have a religious software package. Skip the expensive ads in computer magazines. Are you after money or an ego stroke in an expensive magazine? You might consider joining the ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE PROFESSIONALS to further your education if you are serious about your software. The ASP has the backing of major players like Buttonware, Magee and Quicksoft and some fine ideas for marketing and mutual support. Dues are $50 per year. One drawback is that currently information flow is limited to Compuserve meetings on line and personal updates at Comdex. I am not a member simply because I am too busy, but I certainly endorse the concept of shareware authors banding together and helping each other in a constructive fashion. In a sense that is what this package is about! The ASP publishes a disk based catalog which freely circulates among U.S. BBS systems and is essential reading for all. The ASP was formed in 1987 and members subscribe to a code of ethics. No ratings are given to member shareware. The ASP Ombudsman can help customers resolve disputes with ASP members. The ASP maintains four forums on Compuserve: IBMJR 8, 9, 10 and 11. IBMJR 8 and 9 are open to the public. Type GO SHAREWARE at any CIS prompt. In addition, a recent agreement with Compuserve will allow any shareware user who registers an ASP shareware program a free membership to Compuserve and a $15 usage credit. The ASP membership application (on disk) contains a detailed author guide (filename: GUIDE.EXE) which is similar to this tutorial yet interesting and different. Another file discusses trivial software which will probably not be eligible for consideration by the ASP. Write for an ASP author application disk containing the file GUIDE.EXE. If you can't find either the ASP catalog disk or author registration disk with GUIDE.EXE, refer to the file GOODIES.TXT elsewhere in this package. ASP members agree to allow their programs to be examined and approved by the ASP the membership board. ASP members must agree not to cripple the program and must provide adequate support and documentation. The trademarked ASP symbol and address follows: ┌─────────┐(tm) ┌─────┴───┐ │ ──│ │o │────────────────── │ ┌─────┴╨──┐ │ Association of │ │ ├─┘ Shareware └───┤ o │ Professionals ──────│ ║ │──────────────────── └────╨────┘ The Association of Shareware Professionals 545 Grover Rd Muskegon, MI 49442 ██████ TIP ██████ You can also try to simultaneously distribute both commercially and via shareware. Kevin King, the brilliant owner at DISK-COUNT DATA shareware distributors, is one of the most amazingly creative people I have bumped into. He developed a little commercial retail package and distributes it to small stores with shareware packed inside. It is easy to understand: Obtain standard 7 x 9 inch poly plastic bags. You can use the expensive ones with ziplock seals from your grocery store or just look in the yellow pages under BAGS and order 1000 count non-ziplock types. Next design some nice artwork via a desktop publishing program and professionally print it onto stiff colored card stock exactly 7 x 5 inches in size. A printer can put two of these labels on a single standard sheet of card stock. Fold the newly made card label across the top of the bag, staple it shut and punch a hole in it for hanging on a rack. Cheap, effective retail packaging. I have extended the concept with PC-LEARN so that users return the yellow label for their bonus disk which tells me they got it from a retail location. Good locations for this kind of humble retail package are college bookstores, retirement homes, libraries, small stop and shop convenience stores and many stores with magazine racks. It has worked for me. Be sure to contact Kevin King at DISK-COUNT DATA for one of his amazing little DISK-BASED shareware catalogs. Kevin runs a major business out of Arkansas and is a bottomless fountain of SUPERIOR marketing ideas! His address is in the main database. Next let's examine superb author feedback and shareware distribution the way the pros do it: at PC-SIG and Public Brand (addresses in the main database.) At PC-SIG you will first be sent an application form which must be scrupulously filled out and returned. The review process takes from one to three months. A reviewer will eventually check out your shareware and send you a second response as the process moves along. The front of the PC-SIG form is a combined submission and update form. At the top right is a submission tracking number for packages under evaluation but not yet accepted into the library. Also on the front are spaces for the following: program title, version number, update or new submission checkboxes, author name, address, city, state, zip, day tel, evening tel, checkboxes to acknowledge that you are the author and submitting it as shareware or public domain, signature and date. On the reverse of the form are spaces to assist the reviewer. It is highly suggested that this information be submitted in ASCII on disk. The information on the back of the form is as follows: program title, detailed description, who is intended user, (if this is update,) what are improvements over old version, unique features/why is your program better, program's capacity or limitations such as record capacity, special system requirements such as memory/drives/monitor, how to start program, registration fee, materials or services which come with registration, list of files and one line description (ASCII file preferred). Many packages don't make it at PC-SIG because of poor quality and software bugs. The second advisory letter will acknowledge that PC-SIG is reviewing your program in greater detail. Finally if all goes well, the final acceptance letter arrives noting the formal PC-SIG catalog number. A nice shareware author's newsletter is also sent from time to time to keep you abreast of catalog deadlines and deadlines for their CD-ROM disk of library offerings. When you submit an update, the special submission form always accompanies your disk. Nice, effective and very professional. The newsletters give you an inside track on the shareware industry and you have a chance to change or edit the description of your program if the reviewer places your program in the main catalog. PC-SIG is one of the few distributors which can actually track and tell you how many of your packages have been shipped. They decline to give you customer names and addresses which makes sense when you consider the logistics, but this is a REAL PLUS which few smaller distributors can provide! Public Brand is similar yet different. Step one is a submission and acknowledgement form similar to the PC-SIG method. Step two involves posting on their BBS system for review by many others as well as their own reviewers. Step three, of course is an acknowledgement letter. They do an equally nice job and in some ways their catalog with ratings, registration prices and new releases of previously commercial products like X Tree and (previously Brown Bag Software's VP-Info) SR-Info Relational Database places them among the best. Many other fine shareware distributors exist on the scene, but these two place a premium on author feedback, acknowledgment letters, and logistic support systems which redefine the word distributor. If nothing else, information about these two companies will prepare you for what lies ahead and give you a yardstick by which to gauge other distributors. As a minimum even the smaller distributors should at least send an inexpensive postcard to authors to acknowledge submission of disks - many don't however! Many smart shareware distributors are now paying for or swapping mailing lists of customers. Moral: keep a tight database of customers who register your product and resell it or swap for more names with a shareware distributor. Remember you can make money selling information and information ABOUT information. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP FOUR CASHFLOW AND REGISTRATION CONSIDERATIONS ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ You will never forget the day. The day you open the mailbox and your FIRST registration check arrives! My first check came from Orlando, Florida several years ago. Orlando is a long way from Seattle where I live. It boggles the mind! You design something and toss it out on an electronic wind called the shareware distribution network and it finds someone who will pay you for your package. Over the space of about three years, many little envelopes arrived. Shareware is an amazingly interesting product! But let's back up a few steps. How much should you charge for your package? A good place to do some research is catalogs from Public Brand Software and PC-SIG which are listed in the main database of this package. These catalogs list the registration fees for many shareware packages and will give you some ideas about what you should charge. In general, graphics packages, games and small utilities are in the $5 to $20 range. Larger applications packages like databases, accounting systems or word processors typically are priced at about 30% to 50% of their commercial counterparts. Specialized vertical market software (e.g., a billing system for a dental office) are priced higher in the $50 to $300 range due to the smaller market and frequent need for higher and more sophisticated customer support. PC- LEARN, my package, is priced at only $25.00. My interest is volume and a more than attractive price. What goodies or "carrots" should you offer to induce registrations? Traditionally a printed manual, telephone support and a free update are commonly needed by users. Update notices should be mailed out giving the chance for customers to upgrade. Upgrades are usually priced at about 15% to 25% of the original package price. Other goodies might be a bonus disk which is the method my package PC-LEARN uses. What's in the bonus disk? Why a BONUS, of course! Site licenses for larger software installations, universities and businesses should be mentioned even if no price is given. Other goodies to be considered are newsletters, source code, an expanded version, customization, site license, commission (for passing copies to additional users who themselves register) or utilities which augment or configure the main package to include additional menus, colors or features. Registration cash flow is serious business. As a minimum PROMPTNESS is essential. Train yourself to provide same day or next day response to all arriving registration checks. Even if your package promises no support or update, send out a registration number and thank you letter as a minimum. Going on vacation? Hire a friend to cover your registration system. Visa and Mastercard are good possibilities if you want to aggressively enter the profitable phone order business and is a good thing to mention in your documentation. Your bank can provide information about setup procedures which are fairly simple. A fee is charged to you for each transaction. You will probably be asked for trade references and account status information so be prepared to provide some financial background information. If you raise the price of your program you will have to content yourself with honoring the lower price for a few years since any older version of your software will inevitably sit on a bulletin board in Southeast Toppsquash for years before it is updated. Don't even be tempted to raise the price on a customer who sends you a check. You might, however make it a condition in a polite letter than you will give him/her the newer higher priced version at the old price if they will tell you where they got the old program so you can update it and get it forever out of your hair! Telephone support is a pandora's box. It seems to be a bottomless pit of time with no recognizable income potential. But just remember that Wordperfect (tm) has become a major word processor for, among many reasons, the unlimited excellence of its support. The toll free Wordperfect telephone number even appears on the help screens of the program itself! One reasonable way to provide support is to note in your documentation that support is available only evenings or weekends or at certain times of the day. Next an amazingly powerful customer support idea from Bob Wallace of Quicksoft and PC-Write fame: The PC Write offices of Bob Wallace use PC-Browse (one of their products) to pop up over ANY application they happen to be running to quickly scan for a registration number via a hypertext link. If the number is there they are talking to a registered user. Yet they don't have to dedicate one computer to a registration database when everyone in the office can pop it up over any screen. Clever, don't you think? Take a second look at PC-Browse with this idea in mind and DON'T FORGET to register PC Browse if you use it. On the subject of unregistered users, it is best to answer a few questions and politely suggest that other calls are on the line and mention that the caller may register for full support. The general logic is not to fret over unregistered users. The goal is statistics: try to get your package into the hands of 10,000 or even 100,000 users where a 15% registration rate equals quite a few folks. Don't worry about "registration cheaters." Life is too short. I prefer to consider those folks as on an "extended evaluation period" with the possibility of some day registering . . . ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP FIVE COMMERCIAL AND SEMI-COMMERCIAL MARKETING ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ So that is the system, right? Hardly. The next step which the largest and most successful shareware authors have followed is both commercial and "semi-commercial" marketing. This means stepping outside the shareware distribution network into the real world of commercial advertising and marketing. Consider PC-File from Buttonware. A classic product with superb features and ease of use. A shareware product which has also made its way into commercial distribution channels like the Egghead Software Stores. Another is Procomm which now has a commercial version. If you follow the drift, the next target is to push yourself and your product a little harder. Can you convince a local retailer to carry your product on his or her magazine rack? Will a local software or magazine company accept 50 free copies of your product (in attractive packaging) for a test market run in their outlets? With PC-LEARN, my product, I place small ads in local and community papers and allow editors of those local papers to serialize the package in print as a computer column with questions, answers and of course sections of PC-LEARN. I require that the editor run a display ad featuring PC-LEARN next to each reprinted section of the article in each issue of the paper. The traditional channels of shareware distribution can only take you so far. Buttonware knows this and so do most of the major players on the shareware scene. By carefully, inexpensively and cleverly finding or bartering for commercial advertising space you ramp up your project just as the major players do. The point is this: to play for serious registration money you must be prepared to put in as much (if not more) time on marketing than on programming. ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP SIX CURVEBALLS AND "SNAREWARE" ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████ Into every life a little rain must fall, as they say. If you choose to actively and aggressively market your shareware through established distributors, be aware of "interesting offers." Most shareware distributors are reputable and fully understand that authors are their lifeblood. However a few distributors like to put a spin on things and will call you with various "pitches." Examples: one shareware distributor has an interest in offering registered versions of your program in addition to shareware versions. Nothing wrong with that, but be aware that the distributor may want a DEEP discount for volume packages of the registered version which cuts into your profit, depending on your interest. The distributor may propose that deep discount registered versions be offered by you to him as a requirement to listing your program in that distributor's catalog. Other distributors may call asking for exclusive rights which locks your package to them as a sole distributor. Still others may call or write asking you to help pay for advertising or mailing of their catalogs as a condition before they will accept your program. I personally feel there is nothing wrong with purchasing advertising in a distributor's catalog or mailing if the opportunity presents itself, but making this a requirement prior to listing your program is an arm twist of a different sort. Still another distributor who we shall leave unnamed proposes that gold stickers (costing $1.00 each in minimum rolls of 100) be required to be placed on your disk and exclusively available from that one distributor - before other distributors can further pass around your software. The gold stickers arrive with a serious legal contract which other distributors must sign. You get the drift. Human ingenuity can put a mischievous spin on a simple idea (shareware - try it before you buy it.) Basically, be prepared for interesting calls and proposals if you get involved with distributors. For some reason a few distributors seem to feel that they can obtain money both downstream (from the customer) as well as upstream (from the author). Keep your antennae up. By the way, some of these "interesting proposals" have come to me from ASP affiliated distributors which is a curious twist on ethical standards, to say the least . . . Moral: don't allow shareware to turn into SNAREWARE! Thanks for spending some time browsing through this article and considering the opportunities in shareware. By helping each other we all have a little fun and share in a little income. Even if you may not be interested in registering or subscribing to the $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM, drop me a note if you would like to share an idea or provide constructive criticism. My best regards . . . I'm a small shareware author by most standards, but my hope is that you will borrow some of my tricks and go for a shot at the brass ring. My sincerest wishes for your success in the shareware industry!