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1992-12-28
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WE GET LETTERS!
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This section is devoted to feedback from shareware authors,
vendors and subscribers to the $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM or
other readers wishing to express their views about the shareware
industry or shareware marketing.
Files or letters to the editor which are over 50K in length and
which are accepted for publication earn a free one year
subscription to the $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM. One free offer
per author. Views expressed do not necessarily reflect those of
SMS and are intended to stimulate discussion about shareware
marketing methods.
Please note that older letters from previous editions of SMS,
many with HIGHLY valuable marketing information, have been moved
to the SMS archives disks. See the GOODIES section of SMS for
information on ordering this archived material.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Letter from Richard W. Bonin, Piedmont Software
-----------------------------------------------------------
Richard Bonin
524 Buck Run Drive
Kernersville, NC 27284
September 7, 1992
Jeff Napier
ANOTHER COMPANY
P.O. Box 298
Applegate, OR 97530
Dear Jeff,
I, as co-owner of Piedmont Software, use a registered copy of
Writer's Dream Version 3.0. I will take this opportunity to
express our appreciation for a well written, reasonably priced,
simple, easy to use program. Piedmont Software is a new
shareware vendor that markets shareware at local flea markets in
the Greensboro - High Point - Winston-Salem area. Your program
helped eliminate one of our major start up concerns - how to
present our shareware programs in an professional manner.
As shareware vendors we need to support program registrations.
Only by supporting shareware authors will top quality shareware
continue to be produced. Piedmont Software has established the
policy of giving 3 free disks to any user who has purchased a
shareware copy from us and has provided us with proof of program
registration.
We receive many shareware vendor catalogs both paper and disk.
Several vendors are now using Writer's Dream such as Southern
Enterprises of Atkin, Virginia, Wagner Enterprises of Ravenna,
Ohio and First PC of Charlotte, North Carolina and our own
company - Piedmont Software.
I have enclosed a vendor catalog created by using Writer's
Dream. The shareware vendor is Practical Motivation Associates
of Scottsdale, Arizona. What is driving my curiosity is:
Why would a vendor rename the program name to READ.COM?
Why would a active shareware vendor not upgrade to the most
current version?
Does Practical Motivation Associates hold a "Registered" version
or are they guilty of depriving you of your registration fee by
continued usage of a non registered version?
Is there any way of identifying a registered copy just by
viewing the catalog?
Too often I see commercial or registered program versions being
offered as shareware. I have on many occasions received
appreciation from the authors for such notifications. Action
was taken by these authors and the commercial or registered
versions were removed.
Shareware vendors have a responsibility to protect the interest
of authors. Just like the dreaded computer viruses we all fear,
any shareware vendor who violates our established principles
also needs to be disinfected.
Sincerely,
(signed)
Richard W. Bonin
Piedmont Software
-----------------------------------------------------------
Letter of response from Jeff Napier
-----------------------------------------------------------
ANOTHER COMPANY
P.O. Box 298
Applegate, OR 97530
USA
503-846-7884
Hello Richard,
Thanks for the tip! Practical Motivational Solutions is NOT
registered to use Writer's Dream, so it would appear that by
renaming DREAM.EXE to READ.COM, they've been trying to hide!
I've sent them an invoice for "unauthorized use of Writer's
Dream." We'll see what happens...
Sincerely,
(signed)
Jeff Napier,
d.b.a. Another Company
-----------------------------------------------------------
Letter from Fred Parker
-----------------------------------------------------------
PARKER FRED 404/435-9137
USE-FULL SOFTWARE,
POB 2157 SMYRNA GA 30081-2157
I credit $hareware Marketing $ystem and Jim Hood, for
making possible my entrance into the "Shareware Industry".
Without the mail lists, tips, strategies and methodologies it
contains, USE-FULL SOFTWARE might never have emerged.
Jim Hood has been a good business friend and very
generous in publicizing our efforts. This letter is to
fulfill a self-imposed obligation to explain events of the
last year surrounding the still-born "SWAPS" (ShareWare
Authors' Professional Services) program.
The "SWAPS" program did not "fail" as my friend and
colleague, Paul Scanlon, mentioned in $m$. The "concept"
died from lack of author interest. It was never implemented
or formally offered. All funding was from USE-FULL SOFTWARE.
A BRIEF HISTORY AND DESCRIPTION OF SWAPS
My first shareware program, HealthAide(tm), was written
during 1988 - 89, copyrighted and released in 1990. During
that time, I was an avid buyer of shareware, many of which I
registered or ATTEMPTED to register. In a one month period,
I sent out five (5) registration checks and received three of
them back as un-deliverable. That evoked a germ of thought
about the nomadic nature of our society and the lost revenue
to Authors - perhaps to me, if I moved.
This was one Author problem that screamed for a solution.
Then I released my HealthAide program to several hundred "A"
distributors. I don't have to tell you what a two disk set
costs to mail in disk mailers. (This was before Jim put me
on to envelopes and LHA). I subsequently released six
up-dates. The cost in time, effort and real money was huge
by my standards. One up-date was to simply change my address
and make cosmetic changes. By now, of course, I had no idea
how to up-date every vendor selling my program world-wide.
This posed a second problem: how to distribute my program
without the concomitant tremendous costs in postage, time and
materials ?
This started me to thinking about the "SWAPS" concept.
The final nail was driven home when I realized that 90% of my
registrations came from 10% of my distributors. But how
could I get the greatest proliferation of my program
otherwise ? Another problem to be addressed by "SWAPS".
I began to outline a program that would ease the burden
of distribution costs from the Authors and shift a little of
the costs to disk vendors who were better able to shoulder
it. Obviously, any such plan would have to benefit the
vendors as well.
The plan, put simply, was to:
1) Organize Authors to establish a focal point for Author
redistribution;
2) Establish a sophisticated BBS with multiple nodes and
"800" and "900" telephone lines;
3) Prepare a detailed directory of Authors with the aim
of coordinating direct marketing mailings and
reciprocal services among member Authors;
4) Amass a mail list of Users who actually registered
shareware;
5) Maintain a central data file for authors who moved to
change their address by making one, free, up-load;
6) Provide a contract programming registry for Authors
who desired to earn additional income in that manner.
To test the feasibility of "SWAPS", I spent months and
lots of money amassing an Author mail list and PC owners
list. In November, 1991, I began to compile a list of
registered Users through the cooperation of other Authors and
to introduce the "SWAPS" idea. To do this, I asked Authors
to cooperate in the common cause of combining our registered
users and to provide feed-back on the "SWAPS" concept.
From November, 1991, to March, 1992, I mailed to 1,300
Authors by first class mail. Most as many as three times -
some I even called. This accomplished two things: I cleaned
my Author list and compiled a list of 14,400 registered Users
which was shared with the participating Authors. Oh yes, I
also spent $20,000 of which $650 was funded by participants.
The interest in "SWAPS" was virtually nil. Out of 1,300
Authors, only about 35 showed any interest. However, a few,
with vision, were enthusiastic. (Paul Scanlon, for one,
offered great inducements for joining the program by offering
some of his excellent programs to members at substantial
discounts).
Perhaps the mailings were not "slick" enough. I felt the
benefits and substance of the plan were more important than
paying a large printing bill to sell something that should
not have to be sold.
USE-FULL SOFTWARE would do all the work, Authors could
up-load new and up-dated programs to one place on free "800"
numbers, they could change their address with one free call
to the BBS, and vendors could download the most recent
versions of Authors' work via "900" numbers (to cover the
lines costs). A small charge of $25 - $35 per year for file
maintenance from the Authors and vendors combined with the
revenue from the "900" lines should provide a fair management
fee to U.S.A..
While doing all of this, our new program development and
our shareware distribution service was severly curtailed and
cash flow became a problem. An investor in Georgia expressed
an interest in the project on a more profitable basis so we
relocated to the Atlanta area. We finally concluded that
Author interest was insufficient to warrant further expense.
Perhaps, our intentions were too altruistic ?
So here we are in the "throbbing metropolis" of Smyrna,
Georgia. We are writing our catalog to disk as a more
economic approach to distribution. This involves writing the
program, re-writing descriptions and setting up a
point-of-sale database to allow us to track and report sales
by Author. (Something we have wanted from our vendors for
some time and which all have steadfastly refused to provide).
The "SWAPS" program would have been a good deal for all
of us. Eventually it might have led to substantial discounts
on systems, disks, supplies and other materials through
cooperative, quantity purchasing and professional courtesy
discounts on registrations among members. We might even have
been able to setup group insurance, a credit union and a
relief fund.
Alas, it was not to be. I could not do it alone. "Of
all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these: IT
MIGHT HAVE BEEN" !
How are we doing now ? Well, about as well as a priest
in a small town with no car. Nevertheless, we are sitting
up, taking nourishment and paying the bills promptly when
due, thank you.
NOTE TO AUTHORS:
USE-FULL SOFTWARE ANTHOLOGIES does not distribute any
programs received from any source other than the copyright
owners/Authors or their authorized agents. Our mail list is
small (approximately 40,000) but highly targeted.
We welcome your direct submissions for inclusion in our
Library. SUBMISSIONS ARE ACKNOWLEDGED!
Best regards,
Fred Parker
USE-FULL SOFTWARE ANTHOLOGIES
-----------------------------------------------------------
Letter from Chris Kangley
-----------------------------------------------------------
SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTION SERVICES
P.O. BOX 52 EL PASO, IL 61738-0052
PHONE (309) 527-8579
FAX (309) 527-8579 BBS (309) 527-4232
ATTENTION ALL AUTHORS OF SHAREWARE:
Looking for a way to reduce your mailing cost?
Tired of sending your programs to vendors who do not exist or
never respond?
Would you like more time to design those new programs or
improving what you have written?
Shareware Distribution Services (SDS) is the place!
We can give you major savings on mailings and reduce your time
spent on distribution of programs. SDS was created for authors so
they could distribute their programs at a cost they could afford.
Listed below are some of the many services we have to offer.
These are only points about the services. If they interest you
please send for the complete package that explains all of our
services in detail.
******************** PROGRAM MAIL SERVICE ********************
Will cut your mailing cost by as much as one half.
We have no set quantity of vendors you must mail to.
We only charge for the space a program takes an a diskette.
We maintain a database for each of your programs we send. We show
who listed your program and who did not. We maintain this for any
updates you may want to send to vendors
We have a database of 2000 plus names of people dealing in
shareware in some way. We offer mailings to diskette vendors or
clubs at this time.
You pick who you want to mail to or you can mail to both. We can
mail to our list, mail to your list or your list plus some of
ours.
We grade each vendor we mail to. This ensures your programs are
sent to vendors who list programs and respond.
A vendor response form is included with each mailing. You are
informed by us what each vendor did with your program.
We do not charge you for bad addresses we just resend the
program.
Using our mail service your programs are added to our catalog and
rebate program. Yes rebate you make money from the catalog also!
We are able to handle special needs such as putting the vendor
name on your registration form.
******************** DISK CATALOG SERVICE *********************
Each author using the mail service will have their program added
to the catalog.
Each sale of your program we give a rebate back to your mailing
account. You can make money from our catalog also.
We can furnish a list of who purchased your program from us. This
could be used to send out a letter asking why a person did not
register. The input from that could be put into a upgrade to make
them register.
**************** PROGRAM REGISTRATION SERVICE ****************
You can send us your registration forms and we will input them to
a database.
We maintain the database for future needs like notification of
new versions or what ever you would like to do. We can do
mailings to your registered customers.
For a small processing fee we can also send out a authors
registered program and printed material.
************************** IN CLOSE **************************
These are only three of the many services we have to offer. We
are able to meet the needs of most authors and very open to any
ideas authors may have.
If you who would like to cut your mailing cost in half. Make
money from our catalog. Have more time to research and design.
Then send a $11.00 registration fee that is a one time charge.
This will bring you our complete package explaining all of the
services we have to offer. It also contains our complete price
list for mailings and has a 30 day money back guarantee. Hurry
and do it now. Don't wait till you have a mailing going out to
register because you can start to earn credit from the catalog
now. Make sure to send your program with the registration fee.
We accept checks, VISA or Master card for payment of services. If
you have any questions about our services please contact our
office. If you would like to register with your credit card call
we will take it over the phone.
Sincerely,
Chris Kangley
Director of Marketing
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Please note that older letters from previous editions of SMS,
many with HIGHLY valuable marketing information, have been moved
to the SMS archives disks. See the GOODIES section of SMS for
information on ordering this archived material.
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
