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PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE Copyright 1985, 1989, 1990, 1991 by Nelson Ford January 1, 1985 Major Update: January 1989 Continual Updating Since Public (software) Library P.O.Box 35705 Houston, TX 77235-5705 (713) 524-6394 - CompuServe 71355,470 Additional Material By George Abbott For The Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP) Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP A limited license is granted to reprint short extracts from this guide as long as credit is given and a copy is sent to the address above. Individuals may copy this guide for each other as long as no fee is charged. Others including disk vendors, BBSs and User Groups may distribute copies of the unmodified self-extract GUIDE.EXE file as long as the file or its contents are NOT renamed, modified or made part of some larger work without the written permission of Nelson Ford. A BBS May rearchive the unmodified GUIDE.DOC file that is contained within GUIDE.EXE as long as the resulting archive name is GUIDE.ZIP, GUIDE.LZH, GUIDE.ARC, GUIDE.??? ---- NOTICE: ALL INFORMATION, TIPS AND ADVICE IN THIS GUIDE ARE PRESENTED TO "GUIDE" YOU INTO AREAS FOR YOU TO RESEARCH AND STUDY IN MORE DETAIL ON YOUR OWN. IN NO CASE WILL NELSON FORD, THE ASP OR OTHER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS BE LIABLE FOR DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR ACTING UPON INFORMATION THAT IS CONTAINED HEREIN. IN PARTICULAR, AN ATTORNEY SHOULD BE CONSULTED ON ANY QUESTIONS OF LAW BEFORE FOLLOWING ADVICE CONTAINED HEREIN. Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP Table Of Contents 1. Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1.1 Does Shareware Work? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.1 Going All Out Via Retail-Only . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 2.2 Taking a Smaller Step Via Shareware . . . . . . . . . 5 2.3 Taking it Easy Via Shareware . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 2.4 Letting Someone Else Do It . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 3. Marketing Shareware . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.1 Getting Publicity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 3.2 Sending Out Your Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 3.3 Sending Out Updates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 3.4 Check For Viruses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 3.5 Advertising . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.6 Direct Mail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 3.7 A "Pure" Shareware Marketing Strategy . . . . . . . . 12 3.8 Shareware vs Retail-Only Software . . . . . . . . . . 12 3.9 The User's Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 3.10 The Author's Point of View . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 3.11 Do Users Pay? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 3.12 PD/Shareware Distributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 3.13 Other Protective Measures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 COPYRIGHTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 PATENTING SOFTWARE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 TRADEMARKS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 WARRANTIES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.14 Selling Registered Versions Through Shareware Distributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 3.15 Selling Registered Versions Through "Retail" Distributors/Dealers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 3.15 Setting Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Underpricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Overpricing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 The Cost of Alternatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Value To The User . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Charge for Value to the User, Not for Your Time . . . 28 Case Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 3.16 Changing Prices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 3.17 Technical Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 1 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP Table Of Contents (Continued) 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4.1 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4.2 On-Screen Help . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 4.3 Supply defaults . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.4 Trap errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 4.5 Rules For Basic Programmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 4.6 Make The Program And Keys Work Naturally . . . . . . 33 4.7 Let The User Customize . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 4.8 Keeping Your Files Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 4.9 Do NOT Use 1.2m Drives To Make 360k Disks . . . . . . 36 5. Writing The Documentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 5.1 Multiple Documentation Files . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 5.2 Formatting and Printing The Documentation . . . . . . 37 5.3 Contents of the Documentation File . . . . . . . . . 38 6. The Association of Shareware Professionals ("ASP") . . . . 39 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.1 Telephone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.2 Smart Answering Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 7.3 Fax Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.4 Disk Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 7.4 Disk Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.5 Disk Sleeves . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.7 Blank Disks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 7.8 Disk Duplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 7.9 Diskette Mailers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 7.10 Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7.11 Bar Coding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 7.12 Credit Card Merchant Accounts . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 MasterCard & Visa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 American Express & Discover . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 7.13 A Banker's Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 7.14 Printers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 7.15 Printer Control Codes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 7.16 Manual Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57 7.16 Manual Publishing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 7.17 Shrink-Wrap Machines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 8. Compression Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 2 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 1. Forward The purpose of this guide is to provide tips on marketing and writing programs that look and work like top-notch professional software. Another purpose is to get programmers to share their ideas with each other. This guide is also going to new program authors, so some of the points may seem obvious or elementary to experienced authors. The information and opinions in this guide are drawn from several areas of the author's experience as a shareware author (first program: Diskcat in 1983, latest: CardShark Hearts in 1992-3), as head of a major shareware distribution company (Public software Library) since 1982 during which time I have personally reviewed tens of thousands of programs, as a magazine columnist/reviewer, as co-founder of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and more. Some information has also been gleaned from the Forum of the Association of Shareware Professionals on CompuServe (GO SHAREWARE) where this file resides. This file was originally written in 1984, so some references may seem dated, but the file has been regularly updated since. 1.1 Does Shareware Work? Andrew Fluegelman started the formal shareware concept (he trademarked the name Freeware for it). Andy did not say that everyone who spent an afternoon writing a program, uploaded it to a couple of bbs's and sat back and waited would get rich. He said that the shareware approach provides a way to let the users decide (rather than the people who control the advertising prices) which programs should succeed, based solely on the quality and usefulness of the program. Shareware is not some magic way to get rich from trivial or substandard, amateurish products of limited appeal or usefulness. Some shareware programmers who have failed prefer to blame the shareware approach rather than themselves. They think that millions of people are using their programs without paying and that the shareware concept just doesn't work. 3 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 1. Forward (Continued) 1.1 Does Shareware Work? (Continued) To these people we always reply: If shareware doesn't work, how are Button (PC-File), Wallace (PC-Write), and others making over a million dollars a year at it? "These are exceptions!" they reply. Sure they are exceptions. Anyone making a million dollars a year at anything is an exception. Many others are making lesser, but respectable, incomes. Not bad for a business that anyone can get into at virtually no up-front cost. Yes, shareware definitely works. Like anything else, how well it works for you depends on hard work, ability, and even a little bit of luck. And even luck often boils down to being prepared to take advantage of opportunities when they coming knocking. We hope this guide will help you get prepared. 2. Introduction You wrote a program to fill a particular need that you had or maybe just for the fun of it. Now you are thinking about selling it, but you are not sure of how to go about it. Well, what you do next depends on how seriously you want to pursue the marketing of your program. If you are very serious, you may find out that your work has just begun, and that the programming was the easy part. 2.1 Going All Out Via Retail-Only Some programmers quit their old jobs, hire people to write their manuals, have the manuals and disk labels professionally printed, send copies of their program to hundreds of user groups and shareware distributors, get an 800 number and credit card accounts, hire staff to take and fill orders and provide customer support, go to trade shows such as Comdex, go on speaking tours to user groups, advertise and publish product newsletters. They arrange deals with distributors and dealers in the U.S. and overseas. 4 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 2. Introduction (Continued) 2.2 Taking a Smaller Step Via Shareware Some programmers, not ready to go all out, keep their "day job", but still get manuals and labels printed, send out copies of their programs to lots of groups and upload to BBS's. If demand grows, they may hire an answering service to take orders. Some just have an answering machine. Others only take mail orders and don't publish a phone number at all. 2.3 Taking it Easy Via Shareware The least successful, or at least slowest to succeed, method is to upload your program to a few BBS's with a request for payment from satisfied users. You don't send out printed manuals, take phone orders, or hire any kind of staff. This is how Fluegelman first envisioned shareware working. When it does work, it works slowly. Take Vernon Buerg's LIST program, for example. Buerg originally released it in 1983, at first asking for nothing, later asking for a voluntary payment of $15. He relied completely on word of mouth, not trying to push it at all. As LIST slowly gained in popularity beyond the circle of hackers, magazines started recommending it in articles. Today, Buerg gets a healthy income from LIST. This is indeed a 1 in 10,000 story, however, and it paid off only because Buerg was willing to continue supporting users and working on the program for years before getting substantial payback for it. 2.4 Letting Someone Else Do It Some programmers have formed partnerships in which the partner handles all the marketing. That may be a viable alternative if you don't mind splitting the earnings and have someone whose ability, dedication and integrity you trust. However, with organizations like ASP to help you distribute your program to hundreds of vendors and BBSs for virtually no cost to you, and with services like PsL's which will take orders for you for a nominal fee, you may not need any additional marketing. You might also be able to find an established wholesale or retail distributor to market your program, rather than using the normal shareware approach. If you do, you will probably find that the returns are very low. If a program is good, it will sell whether you sell it or a distributor does, but if an established distributor sells it, you may end up getting 10 cents on the dollar, or even less, and you may lose the rights to your program. 5 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware 3.1 Getting Publicity In 1982 and 1983, the relatively few shareware programs available were able to get exposure in the press simply because of their uniqueness. In 1984, there was a column on public domain ("pd") and shareware software in Softalk magazine, but the magazine folded at the end of 1984. After that, reviews of shareware in the computing press were scarce for a couple of years. Recently there has been increased coverage of shareware in the press, but an even larger increase in the total number of shareware programs available. (At the PsL, we screen over 800 programs a month.) Sending your programs directly to a magazine will probably do no good. PC Magazine and its ilk cannot possibly assimilate even a small fraction of those 800 programs a month. Even the few who get mentioned (in fact, even some who have been named Editor's Choice in comparative reviews in PC Magazine) report a short burst of activity that doesn't have that much impact in the long run. (Look back at 1982-1985 PC Magazines and see how many Editor's Choices are no longer around.) Sending press releases to non-computer magazines might get you more attention because the computer angle is more unique to them and their readers. For example, if you have a wonderful video tape cataloging program, send PR's about it to all the video magazines. Opposing View: Some authors swear by the sending of press releases to magazines and the good that magazine reviews do. If you have the money and if you have already taken care of what should be your #1 priority - sending your program out to shareware vendors and BBS's - it certainly can't *hurt* to go after the magazines. Dan Veaner (author of SUPER-MAINT) offers his opinion and advice about press releases: As someone who just finished stuffing, labeling, and stamping 700 copies of a press release I can tell you I think it's a good idea. In my opinion press releases do have impact. Even if no one prints the information there are now 700 influential people who are beginning to have name recognition of my company and products. The current release is for version 2 of Programmer's SUPER-MAINT. 6 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.1 Getting Publicity (Continued) Dan Veaner Advice (Continued) When I sent a release of version 1.2, it was picked up directly by three journals: InfoWorld, Programmer's Insight, and Tech Specialist. I also got calls from two smaller journals who had seen the article in Infoworld, asking for a copy of the release. As for buying a list of press people, you can have one for free as an ASP member. Look for the great list Paul Mayer put together in Lib 10 (PRESS.ZIP)." [This file is updated by the ASP's Executive Director as changes are reported.] Writing a good press release is the hardest part. I spent almost a month working on my current one (it's not easy to make a Make program sound interesting!!). If you feel you are terrible at this sort of thing you should get help. Here's basically what you should do:" Format: At the top type "Press Release FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE" centered on the page. On the next few lines type contact information: From: EmmaSoft Contact: Daniel Veaner (607) 533-4685 Date: June 6, 1991 Next type your "headline," centered. Now type the body of your release, double spaced. Try to keep the whole thing down to two pages or less. If there are more than one page type "(more)" right-justified at the bottom of each page but the last page, on its own line. At the top of each page (after page one) type part of the headline with "continued" in parens. Ex: "(Shareware Make Utility! Continued)" At the very end of the release, also on its own line, type "# # #" which means "the end of the release." The first paragraph is the most important. Make it the most interesting, and assume that most people will read the first paragraph, then toss the whole thing. If you can get them in the first paragraph you've got 'em. 7 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.1 Getting Publicity (Continued) Dan Veaner Advice (Continued) I use mailing labels because I'm a one man office, but it's better to print the address right on the envelope if you can.One thing I did was to look at short newspaper articles and magazines with "new product" blurbs. Write your release as if it were an article. Put in interesting little facts (for example, in my current release I mentioned SUPER-MAINT was used in its own development). Keep it as simple for the lay reader as possible, and if there is something technical explain it briefly. Finally, when you mail press releases make the mailing as personal as possible. Spend the extra money to put a first class stamp on the envelope. 3.2 Sending Out Your Program Rather than waste time and money sending your program to magazines where it will probably be ignored or at best, generate a short-term benefit, spend the time and money sending your disk to distributors and user groups and uploading to major BBS's, such as CompuServe. Make sure your program is stable for a while before doing all this, because you don't want to have to suffer the expense (and embarrassment) of having to send them all out again in a few weeks to fix a bug. You can often get a lot of good user feedback by distributing the early versions of your program to just a few places. After the feedback has resulted in an improved, bug-free, stable program, then start sending out to as many places as you can afford. The Association of Shareware Professionals distributes members programs to hundreds of shareware vendors, BBSs, user groups, press members, etc., for no cost over the ASP's regular dues. There is no way an individual could reach all these people and organizations for less than a couple of thousand dollars for a single mailing. 8 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.2 Sending Out Your Program (Continued) Because of this service, advice that used to appear in this section about sending out programs has been removed. 3.3 Sending Out Updates After your first major, widespread release, you should probably aim for a major update about every six months to a year. Any more than that and people will get fed up with having to update their software. Any less than that, and some other program may out-feature you and steal your business. Despite the above advice, if you DO find a serious bug after sending out updates to everyone, do not hesitate to send out corrections. You are not "bothering" the vendors/BBS's as much as their customers will bother them if your software won't run. 9 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.4 Check For Viruses For 9 years, we never saw a virus at PsL. In our tenth year, disks with viruses were sent to us four times. Don't ruin your reputation; get a virus-checking program and check for viruses before making disk copies to send out. You may never find a virus. They actually aren't as common as the press would have you believe. Second to retail software are the computer repair shops at spreading virus attacks. They rarely, if ever, check a disk brought in by a customer that wishes to try out a new computer on the floor. They don't check computers that they bring in for repair. The customer's hard disk could be infected and the repair person can easily infect the test disk used to diagnose the computer. Every computer checked by that test disk thereafter will be infected. Many retail computer stores re-shrinkwrap returned software and place it back on the shelf without checking it. Scary, isn't it? SCAN EVERY DISK! Integrity Master is an excellent easy to use, up-to-date, anti-virus, data integrity, change management, and security program. It provides a single comprehensive solution to assure that all your programs and data are safe. In addition to scanning for known viruses, it detects unknown viruses and unlike other products will detect files which have been damaged but not infected by a virus. Integrity Master protects you against all threats to your data and programs not just viruses! To order with Master or Visa card, call 800-788-0787 or 314- 256-3130. You can subscribe to several upgrade packages. Virx - A so called "free" demo of the of Datawatch's retail Virex-PC. The latest Virx version can be obtained from the VIRUSFORUM on CompuServe, many BBSs and disk vendors as VIRX.ZIP. It is only the scanner and will detect over a thousand viri. If a virus is detected, you are warned so you can send back or destroy the disk being scanned. However, if you want to remove the virus, you buy a copy of Datawatch's Virex-PC which can be purchased through computer software stores and mail order houses or by calling Datawatch at 919-490-1277. 10 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.5 Advertising In general, advertising shareware does not pay for itself in direct sales. Even the little low-cost classified ads in the backs of magazines generally do not pay off. Such advertising is mainly good for increasing long-term public awareness of your product(s). Shareware programmers also report dismal results with those card decks which many people throw away without opening. Marshall Magee (Automenu) says: "I have done two card decks, PC Softdeck and another one. I don't think it was worth the money." The best form of advertising for your program should be the shareware version of it. If that won't sell your program, an ad surely won't. Spend your time and money getting your shareware disk out to users or to people who will distribute it to users. Shareware distributors can afford to advertise because it should generate repeat business for them that should pay off in the long run. Few shareware authors expect or get repeat business from the average customer, with the exception of occasional, small update fees. Let the distributors advertise your program for you by listing it in their ads and catalogs. Why should YOU pay for the advertising? Update: For a while there was discussion about a vendor who sold spots in his advertising to shareware authors. We haven't heard of this vendor for some time, so we assume the idea did not pay off for him or the authors. Again - the best use of your time and money is getting your program out into people's hands by sending it to distributors and uploading to BBS's, and ASP can make that a lot less painful. 3.6 Direct Mail If you are interested in trying direct mail advertising, you may be able to buy lists from other programmers and vendors. The ASP makes free lists available to it's members of all that stopped by the ASP's booth at the New York and Chicago PC-EXPO and Las Vegas Fall COMDEX shows Also, get a free subscription to Target Marketing Magazine, P.O. Box 12827, Philadelphia, PA 19108-9988. 11 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.7 A "Pure" Shareware Marketing Strategy Some programmers get so paranoid about stopping people from using their software without paying for it that they forget that these people are their distributors too. By cutting them off, you cut of your lines of distribution. Here is a "pure" shareware marketing strategy: Make your goal the first year to get as many people using your program as possible without worrying about who is paying and who isn't. That first year, you should either be working on polishing the program or on pushing the program all the time. If you can hit "critical mass", in terms of number of people really using your program, then the money should take care of itself. If your program becomes a clear standard then your leverage in getting people to pay becomes much greater. 3.8 Shareware vs Retail-Only Software In general, a program that will not succeed as shareware will not make any money in the retail-only market either. In fact, it may lose money. Conversely, a program that sells well in one market would probably sell well in the other too. Niche products with a limited user base are difficult to sell in either market. Programs that can be used by businesses on a daily basis are the top money-makers in both markets. Site license agreements with the government and large corporations are the biggest and easiest sources of registrations. There are some differences, though, from both the user's and the programmer's points of view. As a programmer, you need to be aware of these difference so that you can plan around them. 12 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.9 The User's Point of View * TRY-BEFORE-BUYING: The theoretical advantage of shareware to users is being able to fully try a program before paying for it. However, this shareware advantage is starting to be negated by retailers who allow users to return retail software within a 30-day trial period. * RESPONSIVENESS: Shareware authors are generally more responsive in terms of making changes. An author of retail software who wishes to change his program may have to get back the old version from distributors and have new labels, brochures and documentation printed. A shareware author just puts out a new disk. A major problem with shareware is that programmers move, but old versions of their programs continue to circulate with the old address. If possible, get a P.O. box and keep it after you move. I still get a couple of Diskcat registrations a week at a P.O. box that I haven't officially used since early 1986. Another solution is to join ASP (discussed later) so that users can locate you through that organization. * COSTS: The argument used to be that shareware could be cheaper than retail software because you didn't have to pay for printed manuals that sit on the shelf and fancy packaging that gets thrown away. Ironically, today virtually all major shareware programs include those trappings. It's believed that users have to feel that they are getting something for registering beyond fulfilling a theoretical legal obligation. Another alleged cost saving was eliminating the middle man - the distributor. Now many of the top shareware authors are selling through distributors too. These old, specious arguments ignored the fact that these "extra costs" also generated "extra income" that more than offset the costs for a successful product. In addition, Borland Software led the way in driving down retail software prices while registration fees for some shareware have increased dramatically. For example PC-File, which cost $25 in 1983 cost about $125 when it reached Version 5 in 1990. Of course, at the same time, the functionality of PC-File has increased correspondingly, but the point remains that shareware is no longer just "cheapware". 13 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.9 The User's Point of View (Continued) * PROGRAM COMPLEXITY: Shareware programmers normally work alone while retail software companies can employ dozens of programs for large, complex projects. As a result, some types of shareware programs cannot match all the features of retail programs of the same type. For example, a graphics related shareware program may only support a couple of printers while a similar retail program may support dozens. On the other hand, it may not be economical for large companies to try to market small, simple, niche programs and utilities. A shareware author could make $5000 a month from a utility when a large company could not even advertise it for that amount. * PROGRAM QUALITY: Many times, retail products contain serious bugs and there is little or nothing the user can do about it. The retail company may NEVER fix them. In contrast, if a shareware program has serious bugs, people just don't pay for it. In fact, some people probably use the existence of any bugs, no matter how insignificant, as an excuse not to pay. Therefore, shareware has to be in better shape than does retail software to succeed. 3.10 The Author's Point of View * COSTS: Advertising is horribly expensive. You can go broke quickly trying to break in a new program. The shareware approach offers a low- or no-cost alternative. Not only can you get into shareware marketing for virtually nothing, you can afford to take whatever time is required to establish your program since maintaining a presence in shareware can cost you nothing. Even so, if you want to have printed manuals and labels, to send out disks to user groups, to join and participate in the ASP, figure on spending at least a couple of thousand dollars, and be happy if you break even the first year. * TIMELINESS: A single magazine ad may make more potential users aware of your program in one month than shareware distribution will reach in a year or more, if ever. If you have a program that will be worthless a year from now and no follow-up versions are likely, you are almost certain to make nothing in shareware, and it will be difficult, at best, even in the retail market. 14 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.9 The User's Point of View (Continued) The shareware authors who are now making over $1 million a year report that they got very few registrations for the first six months to a year. In shareware, patience is not just a virtue, it is essential. By the way, while a single ad may make a lot of people aware of your product, that doesn't mean that you will sell enough to break even on the cost of the ad. "Being aware" does not directly equal sales. * COMPETITION: In 1984, we said that the retail market is more crowded and the competition fiercer. Now the reverse is true. There are more and more amateur programmers each year with better and better programming tools. Skyrocketing advertising costs force most of these people into the shareware market rather than the retail market. While improving on someone else's idea is a time-honored way to make money, people keep cranking out more and more of the same programs. When there are dozens of the same type of program available, it becomes more difficult for any one programmer to make money. Do yourself a favor and check on what is already available before programming your brains out. The PsL's "PD & Shareware Reviews Disks" and "Source Book of Free and Low-Cost Software" contain write-ups of thousands of programs, all arranged by subject matter. Look there before you leap. You can also contact the ASP and ask for the ASP's Catalog disk of shareware by the ASP author members. * IMPULSE SALES: The shareware author gets no money from impulse sales nor from a user's mistake in buying a program that he doesn't need. Everybody with more than six pieces of retail software probably has one that he bought and has never used because his needs changed or he didn't like the program. The author doesn't care that much if you use the program or not - he has his money. 15 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.11 Do Users Pay? Commercial software houses' wildest claims wouldn't put the percent of people who haven't paid for their programs out of total users at over 50%, yet most shareware authors estimate that from 80% to 99% of people using their program have not paid. Are these estimates valid, or are they just sour grapes from people with bad programs? Nobody knows for sure. Certainly there a lot of people using software of all kinds, shareware AND retail, without paying for it. Retail software houses tried to get these people with copy protection, and it did not work. Shareware authors have tried crippling (limiting) their programs, and it has not worked either. In both cases, the crooked user is going to find a way to get his "free" software, so all the programmer has done is create ill will with the honest users. Here are traps programmers fall into which only serve to insure their failure: 1. Lack of patience. Remember that it usually takes six months to a year for a program to begin to reach a broad enough range of people to begin bringing in significant returns. During that time, if you want to succeed and really believe in your program, you have to keep pushing it and improving it just as if you were making a million dollars. 2. Overestimating the program. Some programs are just not that good. It is easier for programmers to believe that ten thousand people are using their program and not paying for it than to believe that the program just isn't that good and to continue working to improve it. And a sad fact of life is that sometimes outstanding isn't good enough. Many authors have sent us press clippings saying how great their programs are and complaining that they have gotten few or no registrations. They blame shareware, ignoring the fact that many outstanding retail programs, highly acclaimed by the press, have also gone under. 3. Overestimating the number of users. A commonly heard complaint is "200 people downloaded my program from CompuServe and I only got 2 registrations. I know more people than that are using it." 16 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.11 Do Users Pay? (Continued) Many people who download programs or buy disks from distributors do so out of curiosity or to get programs for their own BBS's or libraries. It takes TIME for these people to get your program out to the masses, and more time for the masses to use the program enough to want to pay. 4. Trying to sell trivial software. People are generally not going to pay for a trivial program, especially since there usually are a lot of free versions of the same thing around if a program is trivial. 5. Not working at marketing. It takes a lot of work to get your program out to people, to get it reviewed by magazines, user groups and shareware distributors, and to continue to improve it in response to users. Most people getting into shareware have no concept of having to market their programs. Fortunately, getting your program out to the public has been made substantially easier thanks to the Association of Shareware Professionals. 6. Not continuing to improve. I have heard many programmers say that they were not going to invest any more time adding features or fixing bugs until they got some registrations. This brings certain failure. Most people originally write shareware for their own use or for the fun of programming. For the first year, your best bet is to not even think about registrations: continue to work on the program for your own use or enjoyment and don't worry about who might be using it. Remember, people who work at something just for the money seldom get pleasure out of what they are doing, and those who work at something because they love the work usually find that the rewards come without worrying about them. When programmers fail because of the preceding points, they usually start resorting to desperate measure such as the following: CRIPPLED DEMOS Crippled demos are what retail software houses sometimes provide potential customers. By disabling some critical function, such as the ability of a word processing program to save a file to disk, they allow the user to try out all the other functions of the program to see if they like it without taking the risk of sending out the complete program. 17 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.11 Do Users Pay? (Continued) You may wonder why shareware authors don't just send out crippled demos instead of fully functioning programs for which some users don't bother to send payment. Well, the theory is that the more copies of your program being used, the more money you will get in the long run as your program becomes the standard. This is what happened with PC-Write and PC-File, both of which have reportedly made seven-figure earnings for their authors. But PC-File's Jim Button estimated in 1985 that fewer than one person in 20 using the program is paying for it. (We question the validity of that figure, which is surely pulled from a hat, but that's beside the point.) You would have to be an iron man to stoically accept the fact that, no matter how much money you've received which you might not have otherwise gotten, there are thousands of people around who are using your program without paying. So some shareware authors try the crippling technique. The most common tactic is to omit parts of the documentation that explain more advanced program features. When the user makes payment, he gets a printed manual with the missing sections which may not be copied for others. This tactic may only work for programs with large amounts of documentation and with advanced features. Other authors offer less powerful versions of a program as shareware that may be freely copied and more powerful versions that may not be legally copied. Remember that while these tactics may ensure a higher ratio of paid users, they also cut down on the number of total users. Since you are relying on word-of-mouth instead of paid advertising, you may get fewer "cheaters" but you may also actually get fewer paid users. Another reason that people don't pay may be because of shareware distributors who mislead the people into thinking they are buying the software when they pay the distributor's disk fees. 18 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.11 Do Users Pay? (Continued) To sum it up, crippling just does NOT work. It makes too many users angry. It does not let people see your program at its best. Remember that shareware has become very popular and that you will certainly have shareware competition in your niche. Users will obtain copies of all of the shareware they can for the application they are evaluating. Crippling OF ANY KIND (program or documentation) will cause a DEL *.* and they will try your competitor's product instead. You will not only lose the sale, but your disk will NOT be passed on to others. Several years ago, the ASP authors overwhelmingly voted in no-crippling rules as a membership requirement as they were and are convinced that crippling does not work and that, in fact, in costs all shareware programmers money by giving shareware a bad name. 3.12 PD/Shareware Distributors In the beginning, the idea of shareware was that users would give copies to each other and user groups would give free copies to members. Everything was done for free. However, as libraries and user groups grew, librarians started charging fees to cover their expenses. Many libraries have over 1,000 disks and many groups have thousands of members to make copies for. Also, today's groups are filled with novices who must be assisted in learning to use the public domain and shareware software and the library must be better organized to avoid confusing or overwhelming these novices. Ideally, programs in a library must be tested for functionality, bugs and viruses; they must be organized by topic; and they must be kept up to date. Gathering the people with the expertise to do all this is costly and time consuming and has long since been beyond the capacity of user groups to keep up with. In addition, a substantial number of people do not have access to user groups anyway, so the job of distributing shareware has passed more to the full-time, professional shareware distributors who invest vast sums in reaching millions of people who otherwise might have never heard of shareware or YOUR program. 19 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.12 PD/Shareware Distributors (Continued) Unfortunately, there are distributors who are just looking for a quick buck and who do little or none of the work normally involved in testing, organizing and keeping things up to date. These same quick-buckers usually misrepresent to the public that they are selling the programs without explaining what shareware is. For example, look at some of the shareware ads in PC or other magazines and see if the nature of shareware is being explained. The Association of Shareware Professionals has passed Vendor Requirements whereby distributors can be approved by ASP. Under these requirements, vendors would have to explain shareware in their ads that quote a price. I strongly recommend that you state in your documentation that anyone charging any kind of fee for providing copies of your program must have your written authorization unless they are recognized by the ASP. I do not require groups to whom I send the program to fill this out; it is intended to limit unsolicited requests for free disks to legitimate distributors. The control number on the form (and on the registration form) lets you track where registrations are coming from. This can be very important as you may have dozens or even hundreds of BBS's, disk distributors or user groups distributing your program and if you know who is generating the most registrations, you know to whom it is worth sending updates. The ASP has prepared a document similar to this one designed for shareware disk vendors. It covers many of the same subjects, but from the vendor's viewpoint. The Vendor Guide is available on request from the ASP by calling 616-788-5131, FAX: 616-788-2765 or writing to : Association Of Shareware Professionals 545 Grover Road Muskegon MI 49442-9427 USA If you are interested in an Author, Vendor, BBS, User Group, Press or Friends of Shareware application kit, write, call or FAX and ask for the desired kit. 20 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.12 PD/Shareware Distributors (Continued) Following is a form that is used for Diskcat: DISKCAT DISTRIBUTION LICENSING AGREEMENT Anyone wishing to charge people a fee for giving them a copy of Diskcat must have the written authorization of the author, without which, the distributor is guilty of copyright violation. To receive such authorization, send this completed application, along with a copy of your software library's order form to: Nelson Ford, P.O.Box 35705, Houston TX 77235. Include $7 to cover the cost of processing the application and of sending you the latest version of Diskcat. For distributors who are members of the Association of Shareware Professionals, this application is not necessary, but you must notify the author when you add this program to your catalog. Name of Organization: ____________________________________ Your Name: _______________________________________________ Address: _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ TERMS OF DISTRIBUTION OF DISKCAT: 1. The fee charged may not exceed $10, including postage, mailer and any other charges (except for CD-ROMs). 2. Your library's catalog or listing must state that this program is not free, but is copyrighted software that is provided to allow the user to evaluate it before paying. 3. The offering and sale of Diskcat will be stopped at any time the author so requests. 4. Copies must be made from the copy of Diskcat sent to you with this agreement. This is required for control purposes. 5. Problems or complaints about the program will be reported to the author for investigation. In return for a license to charge a fee for the distribution of the program Diskcat, I agree to comply with the above terms of distribution. Signed, ____________________________________ ______________ your signature date __________________________ _________ ______________ Nelson Ford control # date 21 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.13 Other Protective Measures COPYRIGHTS: Your copyright notice should look something like this: DISKCAT COPYR. 1983,1984,1988 NELSON FORD ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The (C) is generally not acceptable (the C must be enclosed in a full circle), so spell out copyright or abbreviate it COPYR. If you have revisions spanning multiple years, list them all. The complete notice should be on one line. FILE A FORM TX! Speaking from experience garnered from someone ripping off the heart of this Guide as the basis for a book, I cannot advise you strongly enough to file a form TX. If someone rips you off, it makes going after them MUCH easier. Filing the copyright forms is cheap and easy. Start by calling 202-707-9100 and tell the answering machine that you want 5 copies of FORM TX and 1 copy each of Circular R61, Circular R1. Give your name and address. Speak slowly and clearly. They will send you the requested forms. You will end up filling out 1 copy of Form TX and sending it and $20 to the Register of Copyrights, Library Of Congress, Washington DC 20559. You will need to include 1 copy of your source code and 1 copy of your documentation. Then, wait about 3 months to get it back. The effective date is the day they receive it. You might also want to get SE and GR/CP. PATENTING SOFTWARE: Attorney Jon Wallace tells us: Re patenting a program - it is possible, but extremely time consuming and costly. The program must be novel and non-obvious (terms of art) and cannot merely solve an algorithm or incorporate a law of nature. The process can take two years and cost thousands of dollars. Is it worth it? Well, if Software Arts had patented VisiCalc, Lotus 1-2-3 would never have made it to market. 22 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.13 Other Protective Measures (Continued) TRADEMARKS: Generally, if you start distributing your program without a (TM) notice by the name, you lose the trademark protection. So spend the extra four keystrokes and put it on. Marshall Magee advises: The trademark office requires that you send them copies of artwork currently being used to market your product with the TM indicated next to your word or phrase. The patent & trademark office will then issue you a paper telling you that your word or phrase is now a Registered Trademark and then you have the right to use the circled R in place of TM. CompuServe has a service called IQuest (GO IQUEST) that will allow you to scan the Trademark Data Base for about $35 to $150 depending on how many ways you search. The search cost depends entirely on the exact mark and goods involved, how many "hits" come up in the search, etc. This may a quick way to check on whether or not someone else has already registered your words. If you send in a name that is already registered, you will lose the $200 fee, but that may cheaper than paying a lawyer to do a search. However, the experienced lawyer may well find more information than the novice searcher and save you a lot of problems later. The Association of Shareware Professionals uses two lawyers. William Baron was recommended by Jim Button and Bill handled setting up the ASP as a non-profit corporation and handled the trademark for the ASP's logo. Lance Rose has handled the ASP's lobbying efforts in Washington D.C. and was instrumental in having a bill modified that otherwise would have virtually eliminated any copyright protection for shareware. Lance Rose 87 Midland Avenue Montclair NJ 07042 201-509-1700 William Baron Baron, Lieberworth & Warner 1500 Pacific Building 720 Third Avenue Seattle WA 98104 206-623-6212 23 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.13 Other Protective Measures (Continued) TRADEMARKS (Continued) Lance Rose told us that "properly speaking it's not the words themselves that are registered, but the mark at issue for specific goods or services. The whole question of registration, of course, does not exhaust the issues raised by the question of can I use the mark? An unregistered trademark won't come up on an IQuest-style search, but the owner of the mark can sue someone who starts using it later. In this case, neither the registration search, nor registration itself, will keep the second user from getting beaten by the first user." They will want a copy of your package and need to know the first sale of the product with the "trademark" used. It can pay to shop around for a lawyer. ASP members have reported paying $200, $700, and over $1000. However, the $200 is impossible these days as the filing fee is now $200. For information about Trademarks call the Department of Commerce at 703-557-3158 and request a copy of Basic Facts About Trademarks. 24 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.13 Other Protective Measures (Continued) WARRANTIES: You should also put a disclaimer of warranty in your documentation. Place it at the front of the documentation where the reader cannot miss it. The following is a sample disclaimer that you can use: DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY THIS SOFTWARE AND MANUAL ARE SOLD "AS IS" AND WITHOUT WARRANTIES AS TO PERFORMANCE OF MERCHANTABILITY OR ANY OTHER WARRANTIES WHETHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. BECAUSE OF THE VARIOUS HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE ENVIRONMENTS INTO WHICH THIS PROGRAM MAY BE PUT, NO WARRANTY OF FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE IS OFFERED. GOOD DATA PROCESSING PROCEDURE DICTATES THAT ANY PROGRAM BE THOROUGHLY TESTED WITH NON-CRITICAL DATA BEFORE RELYING ON IT. THE USER MUST ASSUME THE ENTIRE RISK OF USING THE PROGRAM. ANY LIABILITY OF THE SELLER WILL BE LIMITED EXCLUSIVELY TO PRODUCT REPLACEMENT OR REFUND OF PURCHASE PRICE. Do use all CAPS. Before relying on the above information, be sure to ask around to make sure the information is still up-to-date. 3.14 Selling Registered Versions Through Shareware Distributors Several shareware distributors have begun selling "registered versions" of shareware programs. Practices for doing so vary widely. Some may have you send them packages to sell on consignment, some may buy packages from you just like a regular dealer, others may sell the program but have you ship it. The percentage that the distributor gets also varies widely, from less than 10% to as high as 60%. Before signing with a distributor who will keep 60%, keep in mind that if you allow such a distributor to sell your program, for you just to break even, he must generate more than two-and-a-half times more registrations from people who would not have registered otherwise. If out of 25 registrations, 10 of those people would have registered with you directly anyway, you barely break even. If half of the 25 would have registered with you anyway, you have lost money to the distributor. From what we have seen, such distributors do little or nothing to promote the programs, so they are just skimming the cream of registrations you would have received anyway. 25 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.14 Selling Registered Versions Through Shareware Distributors (Continued) We think more and more distributors will take to selling registered versions and in general, this will be beneficial to shareware. The main drawback is that you must be careful in selecting those you let sell your program. Once you put someone's name in your docs for taking your registrations, that doc file will be out on some BBSs forever. If that person rips you off or simply quits the business, you may lose many registrations. At PsL, we offer a non-profit registration taking service for authors. We charge a flat fee of $5 per transaction (no matter how many copies/programs are ordered) to cover the cost of taking the order and notifying the author to ship and the cost of doing the paperwork, etc., plus 4% of the total to cover the costs of the credit card. We started offering this service in 1988 and presently (1993) take orders for over 1000 shareware programs. For more information, get the file ORDSVC.TXT from LIB-4 on the SHAREWARE forum on CIS, or contact PsL. 3.15 Selling Registered Versions Through "Retail" Distributors/Dealers Some of the top shareware authors also sell their programs through normal retail channels. While there is nothing wrong with this from the shareware viewpoint, dealers and distributors often complain when they see "the same program" being listed in a shareware distributor's ad for a few bucks. Hopefully, in the long run, increased public awareness about the true nature of shareware and more truth in advertising by shareware distributors (both of which are major goals of ASP) will stop this from being such a problem. In fact, as more shareware distributors begin to sell both retail and registered shareware products, the distinction between the two may disappear, other than the advantage to users of being able to try shareware before buying. 3.15 Setting Prices Now let's look at the problem of setting a price for your program. Underpricing: If someone doesn't need a program, the fact that you may have grossly underpriced it is not going to induce them to register. 26 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.15 Setting Prices (Continued) Overpricing: Users don't care if you "really need the money" or if you spent 10,000 hours on the program. They care about THEIR needs and the costs and alternatives for filling those needs. The two keys to pricing a program are the cost of alternatives and the value to the user. The Cost of Alternatives: To do a sensible job of setting a price for your product, you need to know the shareware and retail markets for your product. Find out what other programs are selling for and compare your program to them in terms of quality and features. For retail products, don't look at list prices, look at mail-order discount ads. That is your main competition. For shareware products, the easiest way to compare is to look in the PsL's PD/Shareware Reviews. The license (or "registration") fees shown there include shipping and handling, in order to make comparisons valid. If you have written a simple program and you see other programs like it that are free or $10 or less, that does not bode well for the odds of your getting rich from your version. Even if you don't find any competition, if your program was easy to write and you overprice it, you can bet that others will write "improved" versions of your program and ask little or nothing for it. On the other hand, programs like TapCIS have made it big despite the availability of AutoSIG, an excellent (and FREE) alternative program (both are CompuServe communications programs). "Alternatives" are not always other programs. If you had the world's only program for keeping track of, say, telephone messages, you still could not charge hundreds of dollars for it because people still have non-computing alternatives -- writing the messages down on paper. 27 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.15 Setting Prices (Continued) Value To The User: For a program to be a huge success, it must have a large target audience, it must have a value far in excess of its cost, and it must be appear to be better and/or cheaper than alternatives. If the use of alternatives is already deeply ingrained in people's habits, then the program must be greatly superior to alternatives (not just cheaper) to get people to switch and to learn a new system. In effect, your target audience is made smaller when your program's niche is already dominated by a highly successful program. Sometimes a programmer will price a program very low because he thinks that will get more people to pay for it. This strategy is fine if it is based on a comparison of the program to alternatives, but it usually is based solely upon desperation and/or lack of confidence. This strategy of trying to low-price a program is most often employed with low-value programs or programs with small target audiences. It does NOT work. Large numbers of people are simply not going to pay for low value programs, no matter what the price. Likewise, pricing has virtually no effect on the size of your target audience. If you have a high value program, but a small target audience, you should keep your price up (still giving consideration to the cost of alternatives) and use the extra revenues to try to increase the size of your target audience (ie: get out and PUSH your program) or to develop other programs. Charge for Value to the User, Not for Your Time: If you are fairly new to programming and it took you weeks or months to perfect your program, keep in mind that an experienced programmer with a collection of sophisticated programming tools might duplicate your effort in a day. Don't price your product based on the number of hours you spent (which we have seen some authors prattle on about in their documentation), but on the value of the program to the user. 28 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.15 Setting Prices (Continued) Case Studies: BASIC compilers used to sell for hundreds of dollars. When Microsoft introduced QuickBASIC ("QB"), it had a street price of under $60, although its value to the customer was clearly very high and it had a large target audience. The reason why was competition from Borland Software who was releasing Turbo BASIC about the same time and at about the same price. A company named MicroHelp sells add-on's for QB, usually at prices much higher than QB itself. Even though the total time and money invested in these add-on's is undoubtedly many times less than in QB, and though the relative value of the add-on's is probably far less than QB itself, MicroHelp still enjoys very good success. The reason why is because of two key elements: (1) the relative value of the add-on's compared to QB notwithstanding, the value of the add-on's to the user is still many times the price of the add-on's and (2) for most of these add-on's, there are no alternatives that are significantly cheaper. Rabinowitz's SWAP Programs: In the shareware arena, Chip Rabinowitz has cleaned up with some add-on's for many popular pop-up programs (such as Sidekick) that reduce the DOS RAM used by these programs to about 9k. Again, the price of these add-on's is much higher than the value of and time/money invested in the original programs, but that fact notwithstanding, the VALUE of the SWAP programs is many times their PRICE, and the alternative (of not using the SWAP programs and continuing to waste precious DOS RAM) is not an attractive one. [Update: With later versions of DOS allowing TSR's to be loaded into high memory, the value of the SWAP programs became greatly reduced because of the availability of "free" alternatives.] 29 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 3. Marketing Shareware (Continued) 3.16 Changing Prices Eventually you may need to raise your registration price. After doing so, you will continue to receive registrations at the old price. Most ASP authors agree that you should explain to the customer that the price has gone up; they disagree on whether or not the original payment should be accepted or returned. The following is a sample letter that favors acceptance of the partial payment: Thank you for your registration of _______________. The version of the program that you registered is outdated and the price has since gone up due to the additional time invested in improving the program. Nevertheless, I have recorded you as a registered user and am sending you the latest version and manual. If you feel that the latest version is worth the increased registration fee, please return the enclosed invoice with the additional payment; otherwise, please just keep the new version with my appreciation for your support. 3.17 Technical Support The best asset you may have is your ability to provide better technical support than any "commercial/retail" competition could ever do. Even the business community is finding that they have more success in getting the features they need when they work with a shareware author. The excellent communications between you and your customers will make your product grow and improve at a rate much faster than the traditional "retail" software. Seriously consider providing pre- as well as post-registration technical support. It often will result in an order and will at least give you additional feature ideas or result in your writing clearer documentation. If you have a "day time" job, DO have an answering machine. Have your message clearly identify your company name and offer to call back. If necessary, ask for an evening or weekend number to return the call. Don't even consider fooling with collect calls. This will be viewed as VERY un-professional by many potential registrants. Large companies won't even consider accepting collect calls and you may miss a big site license. 30 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly 4.1 Installation Many authors assume that their users know as much about computers as the author. This is just not the case. Many shareware users can be novice computer users. If they download your software from a BBS, you can assume that they will at least recognize README text files and EXEcutable files. However, if they have purchased the shareware disk from a disk vendor or have been given the disk by a friend, you should have a README.DOC, READ.ME or README.1ST file. Many disk vendors instruct their customers how to copy these type of files to their printers or how to TYPE them to the screen. The README file should be short and sweet. If possible, limit it to one 24 line screen so that the TYPE command will not scroll the top of the file off the top of the screen. It should tell them how to install your system on floppy or hard disks. It will likely tell the user how to run your INSTALL.BAT or INSTALL.EXE file. MAKE IT EASY for the user to install, evaluate and make that all important "buy" decision before the span of attention lapses. One way to create an install program is to write and test an install BATch file. Create the necessary sub- directory and copy and/or uncompress all of the necessary files. If you have an install program, you can have a menu option that will print the on-disk documentation. There are a number of installation programs now being marketed as shareware. Check the PsL Reviews Disks in the Programming - Tools section. 4.1a Visual Basic Program Installation: VB programmers can easily make SETUP programs which will install their program and all related DLLs. Unfortunately, one of the DLLs is normally the very large VBRUN*.DLL. This creates such a large set of distribution files that vendors cannot put the program on a single disk, even though the program might fit on less than a single disk without the runtime module. At PsL, we recommend that VB-Win programmers do NOT use the SETUP program for distributing their shareware versions, just their registered versions. For your shareware version, just ZIP the essential files. 31 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4.1a Visual Basic Installation (Continued) Virtually all vendors and BBSs make the VBRUN*.DLL files separately available to customers/callers, so you do NOT have to include VBRUN*.DLL in your distribution files. A smaller ZIP file or fewer number of disks will result in more users getting your program. At the same time, be absolutely certain that you have included all the VBX and DLL files your program needs. Since you have them on your system, it is easy to not realize that your program is using one of these and to leave it out of your distribution files. The saftest way is to test your program on a "virgin" system. 4.2 On-Screen Help The first thing most people will do when they get your program disk will not be to print out and study the documentation; it will be to try to run the program. So your program should have enough on-screen help to allow the user to run the program at least well enough to get interested in it. One popular data base program has one place where instead of a self-explanatory menu, it shows a series of cryptic symbols and letters from which the user is supposed to select. 31b Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly (Continued) 4.2 On-Screen Help (Continued) Chances are, the occasional user will have to refer to the manual every time this part of the program is reached. (Since 1984 when the above was written, the data base program has been improved, to say the least.) The most desirable alternative is to have the program work in a natural enough manner and have enough information on the screen to allow the user to operate the program with no further help. The second best alternative is to have help screens that can be called up with a keystroke. The third best alternative is to have a well-written manual. The worst alternative is to have users calling you all hours of the day and night or even have them give up on your program. 4.3 Supply defaults If the user has supplied the name of a file to load, make that name the default when you ask him for a name to save with. While on the subject of files, if you ask for a filename, be prepared to let the user see the disk directory. Some programs make the user exit the program and look at the directory in DOS if he cannot remember the filename. A nice checkbook program in PsL lets you put a vendor's name and address on a check by entering the vendor's ID#, but it doesn't let you view a list of vendor ID numbers! 4.4 Trap errors Nobody wants to have ten minutes of keyboard input dumped into the bit bucket because the program kicked out to DOS when it found a disk drive door open, or some other minor infraction. One very fine shareware program has scared off potential users because it gives nothing more than error code numbers for simple things like having a write-protect tab on a disk. In this case, the author would have been better off not trapping errors. The program would have aborted, but at least DOS would have spelled out the error messages. 32 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly (Continued) 4.5 Rules For Basic Programmers Here are two cardinal rules for BASIC programmers: 1. Compile your program. There are many, many users who have never run anything but 1-2-3 or Wordstar. They do not understand the intricacies of getting in and out of the BASIC interpreter. They expect to be able to run the program by typing in its name from DOS. Furthermore, your program will run faster. Also, some PC-compatibles do not come with a BASIC interpreter. MS-DOS 5 does NOT include the GWBASIC interpreter any more. On these, the user cannot run your program at all! 2. Avoid using the INPUT command. It allows the user to wipe out the screen and provides very little control to the programmer. Instead, use an INKEY$ routine. Almost all BASIC programmers are now following these rules, but they still bear repeating. Not a cardinal rule but still a very good idea for BASIC programmers is to use assembler subroutines for doing screen writes. Users are accustomed to instantaneous screen writes in professional programs. An alternative is to use the paging capabilities of the graphics card but then users with monochrome monitors must still wait. 4.6 Make The Program And Keys Work Naturally All programmers should allow full-screen editing. This simply means that the user can move back to a prior prompt with the cursor keys to correct an error. Thoughtless (or lazy) programmers make the user go all the way through a series of prompts and then asks if there are any corrections. The best time to correct an error is as soon as you notice it. That way, you can get your mind off the error and back on your work. Similarly, the Esc key should always allow the user to get out of whatever he has gotten into. Nobody likes to re-boot his computer just because he accidentally selected a wrong option and can't get out of it. I have seen retail programs that use the Esc key to execute a command. Make the program as flexible as possible. What may seem to you like a natural, logical key to strike for a particular function may not seem so to the user. That's why keyboard modification utilities are so popular. For example, to page up, you could let the user press either Ctrl-P or PgUp or, better yet, select his own favorite key to use. 33 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly (Continued) 4.7 Let The User Customize Send your program out with black and white screens but allow the user to change colors. Some programmers use colors that are only visible on color monitors. Remember that some people use amber or green monitors on color graphics cards. Early versions of Diskcat tested for the presence of the color graphics card and, upon finding it, started using yellow (brown) for text. Of course, it did not show up on amber monitors. Allow the user to customize the program for his printer. Ideally, you should have the control codes for most printers in files on disk so that the user just selects his printer from a menu. An easier (for the programmer) alternative is to allow the user to enter the control codes for his printer, although figuring these out from the printer manual often seems to be beyond the capabilities of novices. When your program does printing, allow pauses for each new page for people not using fanfold paper. (This is not quite as critical anymore. Most people now use fanfold paper on dot matrix printers or use lasers with paper trays.) End each printout with a formfeed so that those who do use fanfold paper can chain printouts into a print buffer. Make sound effects optional. Some heavily modified versions of PC-TALK sound like a calliope, there are so many warning beeps and tones built in. These are not appreciated by others when you are working in an open office or late into the night at home. Again, some PC-compatibles do not support sound (eg: Sanyo). PUT THINGS BACK WHERE YOU FOUND THEM: One very useful utility in our library uses colors that do not show up on some monitors. Worse yet, it does not put back your colors when it exits to DOS, so you have to reboot the system to be able to see the screen again. Some other programs put you back in DOS with a 40-character display or in the graphics mode or with your printer set to print Sanskrit. 34 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly (Continued) 4.8 Keeping Your Files Together [This section used to discuss naming files in a way to keep them together on a vendor's disk where other programs might also be added. This is no longer a problem now that vendors archive programs when putting more than one on a disk and users normally give each program its own subdirectory.] You should also put a lot of thought into the filename of your program if it is a short utility that will be mixed in with others. For instance, the average user is never going to make the connection that GREP is a text-search utility. A name such as FINDTEXT.EXE would have been better. One nice utility came out with three files: DOWNLOAD.DOC, DL.COM and RESET.COM. What typically happens is that these are put in a utliity directory with 100 other files. Someone looks at RESET.COM, can't find any documentation for it, so they delete it. Same thing happens with DL.COM. The other problem is that someone skims through a listing of the disk, sees the name DOWNLOAD, and assumes that it has something to do with communications and ignores it. Doesn't matter, since the COM files have been deleted anyway. How much easier things would have been if the files had been named BKUP.DOC, BKUP.COM (this is a routine to backup a hard disk) and BKUP-SET.COM (sets the archive bit on a file so that it will be copied.) Number Each Release: Believe it or not, some people send out frequent updates to their programs and never put a date or release number on them. That makes it nearly impossible for you to control what versions of your program are in distribution and for users to know if you have released a new version. 35 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 4. Making Your Program User-Friendly (Continued) 4.9 Do NOT Use 1.2m Drives To Make 360k Disks If you own a computer with only a 1.2m 5 1/4" floppy drive and you use it for making 360k copies, replace that 1.2m drive with a TRUE 360k drive! Why? ALL disk vendors distribute either 360k 5 1/4" or 720k 3 1/2" disks. A few distribute collections on 1.44m 3.5" disks. NO, not ONE, nada vendors sell 1.2MB 5 1/2" disks. Period! Don't let a computer store or mail order outfit tell you that you can make 360k copies on 1.2m high density drives. Sure, sometimes you can. Often a disk vendor or customer will NOT be able to read the disk. The vendor will drop you from their catalog because you sent them an unreadable disk and you will get a LOT of calls from those to whom you have sent registered disks. It will cause you loss of big bucks, lost sales and frustrated customers. Sort of akin to the end of the world for a shareware author. Why? The answer is fairly simple. To get 1.2m on a 5.25" disk, the disk drive "paints" a track that is 1/2 as wide as the 360k drives so it can place 80 tracks on a disk rather than 40. Sure, you can ask the DOS FORMAT program to tell your disk drive to lay down only 40 tracks for a 360k format, but they are still THIN tracks. If the disk was previously formatted, and often suppliers sell pre-formatted disks at no additional price, the vestiges of the 80 tracks are STILL there, even though your disk drive just wrote a 40 track 360k format onto the disk. A true 360k drive has a WIDER head and will easily pick up portions of bits from the adjacent unerased thin track that was laid down previously. The 360k drive reads garbled data and DOS gives up. Even if you make 360k disks with disks that have NEVER been formatted before, the tracks are too thin to be read by many 360k drives. A slightly out of adjustment 360k drive can read true 360k disks just fine, but will choke on one of those darned disks made on a high density drive. This problem does NOT exist with 1.44m 3 1/2" drives. The track width on both the 720k and 1.44m formats is the SAME. Eighty tracks are used for both 720k and 1.44m. The 1.44m format just has twice as many sectors to the track. 36 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 5. Writing The Documentation The following book has been recommended by ASP member Morrie Wilson, author of Command Post: How to Write a Computer Manual; By Jonathan Price; The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company; (800) 227-1936 (USA); (800) 982-6140 (CA). Price: $35. ISBN 0-8053-6870-1. 5.1 Multiple Documentation Files As mentioned earlier, if you have a large documentation file, don't expect the user to print and read it right away. If there are some key points that the user will need to know to get through a first trial run, condense them into a shorter file and have a batch file print it out for novices. Your terms of distribution and payment should also be in a separate, short file (named REGISTER.DOC, ORDER.TXT, etc.) where software librarians and users can find them. Authors who bury their terms of distribution and invoice at the back of a 100k documentation file are just asking to have them ignored. ASP recommends putting vendor info in VENDOR.DOC. 5.2 Formatting and Printing The Documentation It is amazing how many authors put the documentation file on the disk with all of their word processor's formatting commands embedded in it. If the user can't read the documentation, you've already got one strike against you. Some people use file compression on the documentation file and the user must run a program to translate the file. Putting the documentation in a format that cannot easily be read from DOS is not a good idea because it reduces the odds that the user will thoroughly read the documentation. But if you must compress it, it is even more important to condense the key facts into a shorter file. Even if the documentation is in straight ASCII, it is helpful if you add a program to print it out to the screen or printer. This makes it easier for novices to get a printout while the file being in ASCII still allows experienced users to access the documentation in other ways. The program should allow for pausing after every page to change paper, if the user needs to do so. Use a spelling checker. We have talked about how a professional looking program will generate more revenues, and nothing looks more unprofessional than blatant misspellings. 37 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 5. Writing The Documentation (Continued) 5.2 Formatting and Printing The Documentation (Continued) If your documentation is more than 5 or 10 pages, include a Table Of Contents. You should also have an Index. Modern word processors will create these for you. Notice how this document is improved by both. Be sure that you "print" the finished document to a straight ASCII file that contains no control characters except a Form Feed (ASCII 12) after line 59 on each page. Do not pad blank lines to make a full 66 lines per page. The HP laser printers (and compatibles) can handle only 59 or 60 lines before they eject the page. If you have more than 59 lines between Form Feeds, the HP laser will perform premature ejection and the remainging lines will be printed at the top of the next page. Dot matrix printers will also handle the Form Feed every 59 lines just fine. 5.3 Contents of the Documentation File Right after your title page, disclaimer of warranty, and table of contents, there should be a listing of all files that are supposed to be on the disk, along with a short description of each. If a file has dropped out in the distribution process, this will alert the user and save him some frustration. This information should also be included in your condensed documentation file. Next, give a quick overview of just what your software does. This will help people reviewing your system and may cause a quicker positive "buy" decision. After you've recited all the dry facts in your documentation, try giving the user some illustrative examples. This can make things a lot clearer to the user and save you the headache of having to clarify things over the phone. List all the changes made with each version that's released. This lets potential users see that you are supporting the program by making enhancements and fixing bugs and allows users to know if you have fixed problems that they had with an earlier version. Make sure that when you refer to a file, the file name on the disk has not changed. Don't tell the user to run MYPROG.EXE when you have named it MYPROG21.EXE. 38 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 6. The Association of Shareware Professionals ("ASP") The file you are reading actually led to the formation of ASP. This file originated in late 1984 and was distributed to shareware authors in early 1985 along with a survey asking about an interest in a programmers group. After finally getting a good number of responses and compiling the information, I started work in early 1986 for a get-together of shareware authors for the primary purpose of forming a trade association. The plans culminated with a Shareware Convention on February 27, 1987 in Houston Texas, from which the ASP was born due to the enthusiastic participation of top shareware programmers such as Jim Button (PC-File), Bob Wallace (PC-Write) and Marshall Magee (Automenu). These people could have adopted the attitude that they were already successful enough without such an organization, but they did not. They paid their own way to the Convention even though they were the featured speakers! Button was elected the ASP's first (and second) Chairman of the Board of Directors. Magee became the first President. Tom Smith served as a director. And none of these are "honorary" positions; they involve a great deal of time and effort. Many others, such as Barry Simon, Bob Tolz, Joan Friedman, and others too numerous to mention have also done a tremendous amount of work for ASP as directors, officers, and committee members, but I suspect that had the top shareware programmers not taken such an active role, ASP would not have had much credibility and possibly would not still be around. The ASP also owes thanks to the sysops of IBMNET on CompuServe. Sysops Conrad Kageyama and Don Watkins were at the Convention and arranged, on the spot, a place on IBMNET for the shareware authors to meet electronically and continue our plans. We have been meeting there daily ever since in what must be a record for longest continuous business meeting. ASP also has an annual physical meeting at the Fall Comdex each year. For more information about ASP, log onto CompuServe and type GO SHAREWARE. You do not have to be a member of CompuServe to join ASP, but since much of the benefit of membership is related to the exchanges between members (and between members and users) on the Shareware Forum, anyone serious about shareware should make an effort to take part on the Forum. To get a CompuServe account, call 800-848-8199 (614-457-0802). To contact the ASP, write to Association of Shareware Professionals, 545 Grover Road, Muskegon MI 49442-9427, telephone 616-788-5131 or you can FAX to 616-788-2765. 39 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 6. The Association of Shareware Professionals ("ASP") Many ASP members as well as non-ASP shareware authors, vendors, BBSs, User Group representatives and others also attend the annual 2 1/2 day Summer Shareware Seminar hosted by Public Brand Software in Indianapolis, Indiana each June, usually the weekend (starting on Friday) just before the NY-PC Expo. This annual event is an excellent opportunity to rub elbows with lots of other shareware folks. Here is a testimonial from ASP member Lou Miranda: "I am a starving graduate student making $12,000 a year with enormous time demands. My girlfriend lives 30 miles away (checked the price of gas lately?); my apartment looks like a tornado swept through it. I used to log on to this forum only once a week when I first joined ASP." "Then twice a week. Now I'm up to four times a week (I simply *can't* afford the money or time to do more than that...yet). Why? Because the *volume* and *quality* of information on this forum is *phenomenal*! You simply can't create that in a newsletter, no matter how often it is released." "[The above] was in a message posted on the ASP forum over a year ago (in 1991). Since then, some things have changed: I'm still a starving student, but now I'm working on finishing up my Ph.D.; and my girlfriend is now my fiancee. And some things have stayed the same: I'm still very busy, my apartment still looks like a tornado swept through it, and I still log onto the ASP forum! The forum has gone through some reorganization in the past year, to better meet the needs of the members. You can get information from fellow members on such topics as: How to handle a purchase order; how to get a credit card account; what the best database managers are; how to handle a customer with an unreasonable gripe; how to handle a customer with a legitimate gripe; how to deal with price increases in your product; where to get your documentation printed; how to promote your newest release; and how much time to spend on programming vs. how much time to spend on promotion." "Remember--these are the best minds in the business, and they're all at your disposal at no charge! That's an offer *I* can't refuse. Can you?" Editor's Note - Lou is referring to the ASPFORUM (GO SHARE) on CompuServe. Even if you are not an ASP member, stop by the forum with any questions you may have. If you wish to join CompuServe call 800-848-8990, 614-457-8650, United Kingdom at 0800 289 458, Germany at 0130-4643. 40 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services NOTE: The information in this section is subject to change at any time. Check the date on this file. If it is old, this info may no longer be valid; get a new copy of this disk from PsL (713-524-6394) or from Lib 2 of the ASPFORUM on CompuServe. 7.1 Telephone AT&T has a low cost 800-line service called the Ready Line which is relatively inexpensive. For about 23 cents a minute out of state, about 35 cents a minute in state (for Texas), you can have a fancy 800 number just like the big boys. Most of the good acronyms are already gone, but you should still be able to come up with something. At the PsL, our number is 1-800-2424-PsL, which we think is easy to remember. However, we were not able to get anything like 800-PsL-DISK or 800-SHRWARE, which would have been better. Another shareware distributor has the number 800-IBM-DISK, but IBM clamped down on them for trademark infringement and they no longer advertise the number that way, so we suggest that you not waste time trying to work "IBM" into your acronym. The Ready Line 800 number is assigned to your regular telephone number, so you do not even have to get a second line, unless you just want to be able to know for sure if someone has dialed the 800 number. An AT&T competitor, Sprint, has cheaper rates, although only time will tell if their service will match AT&T's. Sprint's rates are as follows: $10/month Rates vary with distance and total number of hours: 0-5 hours: $.2125-$.23 5-25 hours: $.195-$.205 25-75 hours: $.1775-$.19 75-150 hours: $.1775-$.1875 Call 800-347-3300 to order service. (Rates above are as of 1990 and are subject to change.) 7.2 Smart Answering Machines Programmer John Newlin reports: I purchased a product called the Complete Answering Machine ("CAM") after reading about it in the July issue of Home Office Computing. It's an outstanding system that includes a plug-in card and all the necessary software. It runs in the background so the machine it's running on is not completely dedicated. The system allows you to do all kinds of nifty telephone things like transferring calls, having the caller touch different numbers to get different messages, message forwarding, remote message retrieval, etc. All messages, greetings, etc, are stored on disk in compressed digitized form. For that reason, a hard disk is almost a necessity. 41 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.2 Smart Answering Machines (Continued) The quality of the recording is phenomenal. CAM retails for $349, but I got it from 47th Street (800-221-7774) in New York for $214 plus shipping. The name of the manufacturer is The Complete PC; 521 Milpitas Drive, Milpitas, CA 95035. 415-434-0145. Here is another view by author Paul Mayer - I used to use the Complete Answering Machine until I moved to Florida. After the move, I started having problems with the system and decided to buy a new one. I remembered seeing a review in PC Magazine on computerized answering machines and voice mail systems and it had one that stood out above the others and was the Editor's Choice. Unfortunately the review was after I purchased my CAM device. I did a search on CompuServe in the ZIFNET files and found the information. It was BigmOuth from Talking Technology, Inc., 1125 Atlantic Ave., Alameda, CA 94501, 510-522-3800. One of the big plus features of BigmOuth over CAM was the ability to use numbers without having to press the # sign after entering the number. The CAM requirement of the pound sign and two or more digit numbers was too confusing for the callers I found after two years of use. With BigmOuth, I can have single numbers like press 2 for placing orders, 3 for dealer orders, etc. The system does not run as a TSR as CAM did so I've dedicated an old computer to the task. You can use multitasking software to run it in the background but having an unused machine laying around made this unnecessary. The system gives the appearance of the caller connecting to a big corporation with multiple departments. Before going full time shareware, I'd have my computer call a pager number and beep me whenever anyone called and I wasn't in the office. This is great as I could then call in and retrieve the messages it would take and get back to the customer right away. This gives them the feeling that the customer lines were busy and you've returned their call immediately. If you'd like a demo of BigmOuth, you can call the 510-522-3800 number and they will transfer you to a demo system using BigmOuth. The price was around $300 at the time I bought my system and I've seen it advertised for less in mail order catalogs. All in all, it's quite a value for what it can do. 42 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.2 Smart Answering Machines (Continued) Answering Services can be expensive. If you cannot be available during the day, your best bet is probably to get a computer voice synthesizing answering device such as Newlin described. Many large companies are now using these to route calls, so there should be less of a small-timer stigma attached to them as there is to a simple answering machine. 7.3 Fax Machines All the experts are predicting that everyone will have a fax in a few years, but it seems a little premature for someone just starting off in shareware to get one right now. On the other hand, if you have to deal with magazines and other large companies, they are going to *assume* that you have a FAX and it could reflect on your professionalism if you do not. At PsL, we have been using the Intel Connection Coprocessor. A FAX card with its own CPU will let you receive and send messages in the background while you continue to use the computer for other things. However, for about the same price, you can get a stand-alone FAX machine these days. Good FAX machines can be purchased for less than $500. 7.4 Disk Labels With font programs, you can make small quantities of laser labels at a low cost that look like they were custom printed. Avery Label Pro is the best laser label program, in my opinion. Paul Mayer recommends CompUSA for laser labels. If there is not one near you, you can call them at 817-261-7702 or 800-342-7638. They accept mail orders through this number by credit card. Prices on 6/1/90 were: 8-1/2 x 11 sheets (100) $17.99 Stock #853262 5-1/4" disk labels (840) $26.49 Stock #853901 3-1/2" disk labels (630) $26.49 Stock #853892 Avery will send you a sample pack of laser labels for the purpose of getting your software to work with them. Write to them at 777 East Foothill Blvd., Azusa, CA 91702-1358 or call 800-541-5507. 43 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.4 Disk Labels (Continued) The Computer Label Company, 800-332-4223 (619-322-3030) and MEI, 800-634-3478 (614-481-4417) have the best prices we can find on standard 3.5" by 1" labels. You can also call United Ad Label at 800-423-4643 (714-990-2700) and ask for a free catalog and sample label kit. They specialize in audio/video labels but they do have both pin-feed and laser sheet labels for 3.5" and 5.25" floppy disks. Another good source for labels is Lyben Computer Supplies 313-268-8100. They have the Avery labels. They are also one of the few suppliers that carry the continuous fanfold label stock that can be used for 3.5" disks. The labels are 2 3/4 by 1 15/16 inch and is Stock # 0300. 7.5 Disk Sleeves PsL's sleeves are printed by Data Envelope (408-374-9720) at an average cost of about 5 cents each for two-color printing on both sides of tyvek sleeves, including a one-time charge for plates. This was based on a volume of 50k, but even in volumes of 1000, you can get two-color sleeves for as little as 10 cents each. The same company printed our labels, which you can get for as little as one cent each. 7.6 Art Work If you can get someone to design a logo you like for as little as $500, you have gotten a bargain. Don't be surprised to pay $1000 or more. Your best bet is to find someone who works for a design agency and moonlights. Also check the person listed on page 58. 7.7 Blank Disks Flip through the pages of Computer Shopper and take your pick. It makes sense to us that if you are sending a copy to someone who should make a working copy from your disk and not use your disk much, the cheapest disk you can find should suffice, particularly if you are sending out a couple of hundred disks to distributors. Be aware that some colored disks (red or orange, in particular) may not be readable on some disk drives. We find that about half or more of our customers, when given a choice of disk sizes at the same price, choose 3.5". Some MUST have 3.5", so be prepared. Also realize that the cheapest disk will not always hold the image for long. 44 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.8 Disk Duplication In our opinion, disk duplication services are grossly over-priced. However, others use these services and are happy with them. If you are pushing out 1,000 or more disks a month, you might want to get a duplicator. You can get a stand-alone, four-disk copier for around $1100 these days, which is a real bargain; we have paid $2000 for copiers that require a PC. (Call Micro-Technology Concepts, Inc., 718-456-9100.) A stand-alone hopper-fed copier will cost a minimum of about $3500, but it will be a LOT nicer to use for large copy jobs than feeding disks in one at a time. You may be able to get a better price from Tony at Formats Unlimited, 121 Toledo St., East Farmingdale, NY, 11735 (800) 645-8461 or (516) 249-9200. There are many public domain and shareware programs designed to make disk copying and formatting faster. Before spending even $1100 on a duplicator, try some of these programs. In the PsL, we have many of them on disks U1-1553 and 2673 Disk Copying Utilities. ASP author, Randy MacLean has the shareware DUP program that stores an image of your shareware floppy disk master on your hard drive. Through the program's menu, you select the particular image to create floppy disk copies. Formatting is optional in case you have reliable pre- formatted disks. PsL U1-2673 contains this program or you can contact Randy at 416-857-4141. If you need a fancier version to drive the hopper type duplicator, Randy has the non-shareware ProCopy program. 7.9 Diskette Mailers A good source of plain, inexpensive, flat diskette mailers for one or two disks is MailSafe 800-527-0754 (798-872-6677). Mailers are less than $.14 in quantities of 1000. If you opt for a return address printed on it, it doubles the price, but looks pretty cheap. Instead, either print your return address labels or try the next company. If you want fancy mailers, try the Ames Safety Envelope Company, 312-279-9474, 188 Industrial Drive, Suite 431. Ask for Gary Traynor. You do have to order quite a few, however. For 5,000, the price should be about $.65 each. For 10,000, about $.45 each. 45 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.9 Diskette Mailers (Continued) PsL used to use the fancy mailers, but we think that a better alternative is to have 6"x9" (or whatever size you need) envelopes printed with your logo. Calumet Carton Company 708-333-6521 has 6" x 6" mailers for $0.16 each, 6" x 8" for $0.18 and 7" x 9" for about $0.21 each. These are Peal-Seal Stay-Flats with an easy- open tear strip. If you put a manual in with your disks, you probably don't need any more protection for the disk(s) than that. At PsL, we put the disks inside a MailSafe mailer and put that inside the envelope. This is still cheaper than the Ames mailers, and the customer gets a fresh mailer for his own use. You should be able to get paper envelopes printed with your logo for about a dime or so. Tyvek envelopes will cost about 20 cents or more, but they are worth it. They are rip-proof and water-proof. Check with your local printer. Quill sells 5 1/4" foam-lined cardboard mailers for $5.66/10 or $16.47/30 (They also have 8" foam-lined cardboard mailers.) Bubble-lined 00 mailing envelopes, $29.88/250, $129.40/1250 Self-sealing bubble-lined 00 mailing envelopes, $31.97/250, $139.80/1250 Recycled padding 00 mailing envelopes, $33.49/250, $144.80/12.50 Cro-nel self-adhesive foam packaging, $53.97/250 feet (This stuff has foam on one side, paper on the other, and the foam is treated to stick to itself. You just tear off a hunk, fold it over your diskette, and address the outside -- instant mailer, sized to what you want to send in it). Quill is at 714-988-3200 (Western states), 708-634-4800 (Midwest, Midsouth, Northeast) or 404-479-6100 (Southeastern states). No shipping charge on orders over $45. Some authors purchase 6" x 9" envelopes from their printers that include their address and logo. The words "FIRST CLASS" should be printed below the postage stamp area. The Postal Service employees that do the initial sorting are usually new hires that think anything larger than a business size envelope is Third Class. Unless you want a LOT of delays, have FIRST CLASS in large letters or purchase a stamp from your office supply store. Also have "DO NOT BEND - MAGNETIC MEDIA" below your return address. 46 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.9 Diskette Mailers (Continued) You can also purchase cardboard cut to 8 1/2" x 5 1/2 " from your local printer. Use this to sandwich your 5.25" disks. Use 4 sheets of cardboard for overseas mailings to insure they get there undamaged. You can also tape 3.5" disks to the cardboard to prevent sliding in the envelope. You can ship 3.5" disks in a regular business sized envelope. You can either wrap it in several sheets of installation or upgrade instructions or cut narrow cardboard stock to sandwich the disk(s). 7.10 Boxes If you are mailing manuals, you may need boxes. PsL gets boxes from Fidelity 800-328-3034 (612-536-6500) and Iroquois 800-453-3355 (312-436-4900). Call and ask for a catalog. We also get some boxes from local box stores, although they cost a bit more per box. The companies mentioned also sell general office supplies, but if you have an office supply super-store in your area, you can probably do better there. 7.11 Bar Coding If you hope to get into retail stores, you should be sure to put bar codes on your packaging. Start by calling the Uniform Code Council at 513-435-3870. At present, it costs $300 to get a number. Rumor has it that the rate may go up sometime in 1992. 7.12 Credit Card Merchant Accounts MasterCard & Visa MC/Visa Merchant accounts can be very difficult for mail-order merchants to get, more so in some parts of the country than in others. If you have had a business checking account for your business for several years, get to know your branch manager well. Try them first. If that fails, your next step should be to check ALL your local banks. It's possible that many of the local banks are processed by the same clearinghouse who sets the rules for member banks about acceptance of mail-order merchants. I checked almost every bank in Houston before finding First Interstate, who is cleared by its parent bank in California and who gave us an account. 47 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.12 Credit Card Merchant Accounts (Continued) I used to include in here the names and phone numbers of companies that might fix you up with a credit card account, but this information changes and it's important to get the very latest info. You can do so by asking on the SHAREWARE forum on CompuServe. If you cannot get an account, PsL offers a not-for-profit credit card ordering service. For a small fee, your customers can call PsL's 800# (or FAX or CIS numbers) and place an order with any major credit card. You can ship or have PsL ship. If you have PsL ship, you may want to have PsL ship ALL your orders for you for an even smaller fee. Contact PsL for more info. American Express & Discover While MC/Visa are the big guns, American Express was willing to give us an account when we were still operating out of our home. At the time, Discover was not willing to do the same. However, we have recently (5/9/90) been told that Discover has set up a branch for mail-order businesses. We do not know at this time if this includes in-the-home businesses. We had no trouble getting a Discover account after we moved into regular offices. 7.13 A Banker's Perspective Following is a document prepared by Eric Isaacson that may help you convince your bank that someone in the shareware business is worthy of consideration for a Merchant Account: ------------------------------------------------------- Shareware Marketing of Software: A Banker's Perspective by Eric Isaacson Copyright 1991 Eric Isaacson. All rights reserved. Permission is hereby granted to shareware businesses and members of the banking industry to freely copy and distribute this unmodified work between and among themselves. Your comments are welcome! Send them to: Eric Isaacson Software 416 E. University Ave. Bloomington IN 47401-4739 (812)339-1811 48 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) The Purpose of This Booklet In the past ten years a new approach to marketing computer software has emerged: shareware. Shareware is relatively small compared to the overall software market, and it is very different. It has been poorly understood by bankers wishing to evaluate shareware businesses. This booklet explains the shareware business from the banker's point of view. Why Software Is Different A computer has two components: the hardware and the software. The physical machinery comprises the hardware: the main box, various disk drives and circuit boards mounted inside, and the keyboard and monitor connected via cables. Computer programs comprise the software: the operating system, the word processor, the spreadsheet, the accounting package, the database manager, etc. The marketing of computer software poses unique problems. The value of software is intellectual: it comes from the hundreds-to-thousands of hours spent preparing the program and making sure it works perfectly for all users. The price of the floppy disks that carry the software is tiny compared to the intellectual value. This makes the computer software industry similar to the video-movie industry: both have problems with unauthorized copying. But the problems of computer software are worse: first, most computers have the built-in ability to duplicate software using just one machine. Duplication of movies requires two tape decks placed next to each other. Second, copies of software are perfect duplicates of the original. With videotape, there is significant and annoying degradation when copying is attempted. To combat unauthorized copying, some software publishers attempted to make their software difficult to copy. This "copy protection" was common in the early days of personal computing. But publishers have never succeeded in devising a protection scheme that doesn't annoy the legitimate purchaser of the program. 49 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) Today almost all computers have high-capacity ("hard") disk drives onto which all software is copied. If a user can't copy the software to the hard drive, that user isn't likely to buy the software. Copy-protected software has almost disappeared from the marketplace. Other software publishers have taken the completely opposite approach to the problem: they market their software as shareware. What Is Shareware? Shareware is the opposite of copy-protection. Rather than trying to prevent copying, the software publisher actually encourages the user to make copies and "share" the program with anyone interested. Complete documentation is placed onto the floppy disk along with the program. In the documentation there is an explanation of shareware. Anyone who receives a copy of the program is encouraged to try out the program. If they like it, they should send payment (usually called a "registration") for the program directly to the publisher. Thus the ability to make perfect copies of the program becomes a tool for marketing the program. Note that shareware authors retain a valid copyright to the program. The author establishes the conditions under which the program may be copied. The author may also establish a specific amount of time for evaluation of the program, beyond which the user is legally required to either pay the registration fee or stop using the program. The validity of a shareware program's copyright has been tested and approved by the courts: a Missouri shareware author successfully sued a Texas distributor for violating his conditions for copying. Also, a shareware author was invited to testify before a U.S. Congressional committee evaluating software copyright law, and the law was reworded to recognize explicitly the existence and validity of shareware. Shareware is still a small segment of the whole software industry, but it is growing rapidly. Annual revenues connected with shareware are estimated to exceed $100 million in 1991. 50 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) The Shareware Author's Business Most businesses publishing shareware consist of a single person: the author of the program. Many authors develop programs on evenings and weekends, while retaining a full time job weekdays. The author invests mostly time and not money: a good program takes many hours to prepare, but it takes at most only a few hundred dollars to market. Marketing a shareware product consists simply of placing it into the shareware distribution stream -- transmitting the program to free or low-cost dial-up computers called "bulletin-board systems", transmitting or sending it to nationwide services like Compuserve and Prodigy, and sending copies to companies that catalog and distribute shareware. If the product is good, enthusiastic users will spread it themselves, so that an initial distribution of a few dozen copies will proliferate into many thousands of copies. A significant number of those thousands result in registrations (money) sent to the author. What are the advantages and disadvantages of shareware marketing? The disadvantages are that a program takes time to build up sales volume, and the volume will usually be much smaller. Also, a program must be very good to succeed as shareware. It might be possible, via skillful marketing and advertising, to fool the public into buying a mediocre program when it's shrink-wrapped on a store shelf. But the user can try out a shareware program before buying it -- if it's mediocre, the user won't use it and hence won't register it. The advantages of shareware are low risk and low overhead. Through traditional (non-shareware) distribution channels, it takes from $200,000 to $500,000 to properly launch a software product. Markups must be granted to both retail outlets and their supplying distributors, so that the publisher might get only 15% of the retail price, and the author even less. 51 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) Some shareware programs fail: they aren't good enough to generate registrations. But the author doesn't thereby go bankrupt. He or she simply loses the modest, out-of-pocket initial disk-and-postage investment. There are hundreds of shareware authors who make enough money from shareware to substantially supplement their regular job income. About 50 authors are making a living from shareware receipts, and have gone full-time with their shareware business. Many of them can make a handsome profit without even needing to hire anyone else to help out. Some shareware businesses grow into full-fledged companies, with dozens of employees and multi-million dollar annual sales. To reach that level, the author typically supplements the shareware marketing with traditional advertising and dealer distribution. But even for those companies, the risks are low because the author moves into traditional distribution only after the product is generating significant revenue through shareware marketing. The expansion is financed via existing profits, rather than venture capital. Shareware Businesses and Banking Shareware marketing is completely unique -- the only other business with its try-before-you-buy philosophy is Public Television; but Public Broadcasting stations do not enjoy the low overhead that shareware authors do. The uniqueness of shareware makes it poorly understood in the banking industry, especially those handling credit-card merchant accounts. Shareware has some of the characteristics bankers normally associate with poor risk: payments are made almost entirely by mail or telephone, and all but the largest shareware businesses are operated out of the author's home. 52 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) In reality, however, shareware authors are ideal credit-card merchants from the banker's point of view. Unlike other mail-order businesses in which the customer doesn't see the product until it arrives, with shareware the customer already has the product. If the customer isn't happy, he or she simply stops using the program, and never pays the author in the first place. If the customer wishes to defraud the author, he or she simply uses the program and never contacts the author. Thus, all of a shareware author's paying customers are both happy with the product and honest enough to pay for it. The level of customer complaints and chargebacks is close to zero. Credit-card fraud for shareware is non-existent. If a banker knows about shareware, he or she should welcome a shareware author's business. How can a banker identify a bona fide shareware business? To start, the banker can ask the author for a copy of the program. If the banker doesn't feel "computer-literate" enough to verify that it's a genuine, non-trivial program, he or she can ask for references. Many shareware authors are members of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). The ASP screens applications for membership, to ensure that only legitimate authors of non-trivial shareware are admitted as author-members. The ASP would be happy to verify any claims of membership -- they can be reached at (616)788-5131, weekdays 8--5 eastern time. Other prominent authors have chosen not to join the ASP, but their programs are listed in the catalogs of shareware distribution companies such as Public Brand Software, P. O. Box 51315, Indianapolis, IN 46251; or the Public (software) Library, P. O. Box 35705, Houston, TX 77235. Shareware Distribution Companies Bankers should be aware of another major component of the shareware industry, distinct from the authors: the shareware distribution companies. These companies take advantage of the fact that copying of shareware is allowed, by providing a cataloguing and distribution service of shareware disks. Customers of distribution houses are sent lists of available programs, for which they can pay a copying fee of between $1 and $5 per disk. 53 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) There is no business arrangement between authors and distribution houses: authors neither receive any royalties for disks sold, nor do they pay anything for the publicity given them. Customers understand that they are not paying for the software, but merely for the distribution service. Most shareware authors allow distributors to handle their programs, because it spreads their programs even further. From a banker's point of view, the shareware distribution houses are closer to traditional mail-order businesses. Their profit margins are much lower than authors', because their overhead relative to revenues is higher. They must advertise in order to build business. Some distribution companies haven't charged enough for disks to cover their overhead costs, and have thus gone bankrupt. But others, such as Public Brand Software and the Public (software) Library, have built solid, profitable, multi-million-dollar companies from shareware distribution. A banker wishing to evaluate a shareware distribution company can use many of the usual criteria: length of time in business, size of business, profit sheets, etc. There are a couple of pointers specific to shareware distribution that can enhance the evaluation: first, companies should be charging at least $3 per disk in order to be profitable. There can exist "Mom and Pop" outfits, run out of homes, that make some money charging less; but if they try to expand into real businesses, their overhead almost always overwhelms them. Second, a banker can check the distributor's integrity by asking for a catalog and for advertising copy, to make sure that they are adequately explaining to the customer that they are a shareware distribution service and are not selling the software itself. If the customers understand what they are getting, the level of complaints and chargebacks will be much less than that of the average mail-order business; if they don't, it will be as much or greater. 54 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.13 A Banker's Perspective (Continued) For More Information The booklet "Shareware `Try Before You Buy' Software" by Rob Rosenberger describes shareware from the consumer's point of view. You may purchase it by sending $4.95 plus $1.75 S+H to Paradise Publishing, 3111 S. Valley View Blvd. Suite B-105, Las Vegas, NV 89102; or calling (702)253-1940. For free catalogs listing the best available shareware programs, you can write to Public Brand Software or the Public (software) Library at the addresses already given, or call them at their respective numbers: (800)426-3475 and (800)242-4775. ------------------------------------------------------- End of Eric's article. 55 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.14 Printers Most shareware authors "typeset" their own manuals on a laser printer. We have seen some "manuals" done with 9-pin printers. Don't bother; you will make a better impression by just having the manual on disk. You can get a laser printer for well under $1000 and an inkjet print of equal quality for even less. With a decent word processor that handles various fonts, you can print a very credible camera ready master. For doing mailing labels, you can get laser labels for an HPLJ, but it is usually a lot easier to have a dot matrix printer if you are going to be doing a significant number. We used Epson printers, but the labels got stuck in them all the time, so we switched to the Okidata 390, which has a bottom feed so that the labels go straight through the printer and the problems disappeared. The Panasonic KPX-1124i is also an excellent 24 pin printer that allows feeding stock from the back, bottom or front. 7.15 Printer Control Codes The following company sells reference books with list control codes for most brands of printers: Cardinal Point Inc. 4999 West Woodland Drive Bloomington, IN 47404 812-876-7811 56 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.16 Manual Publishing Probably the best incentive to register is to be able to receive a printed manual. This is particularly true if you have a complex program with a large manual. Registrants view the printed manual right up there with the excellent technical support given by most shareware authors as a good reason to send you money. If you are just starting, consider just having a professional looking manual on disk until the number of registrations is enough to convince you that you could use a thousand manuals in a year or so. A cheap looking, poorly done manual is worse than no manual at all. If you have a small manual (less than 100 pages), you should be able to get 1000 copies for about $1000. Check your local printers, but also check with Whitehall Press, who did PsL's Source Book. Their number for their Chicago location is 708-541-9290 and the telephone number for their new plant and headquarters in Florida is 813- 643-6464. Since they opened the second plant, they have gotten back to a 5 to 6 week delivery schedule. Author Gary Elfring recommended Patterson Printing in Michigan 616-925-2177). They may be slightly faster and can handle larger books. Recently, many authors have used Camelot Book Factory in Florida 904-672-5672. They will produce up to roughly 350 copies for those who want to start out printing less than 1000 copies. For my Diskcat-5 manual several years ago, I just used a local printer to print a first run of 500 copies with a glossy, two-color cover. I also paid an artist about $1200 to do the art and color separations for the cover, the labels and ads. Don't worry too much about your manual being rendered obsolete by program updates (short of major rewrites). Even big publishing houses have adopted the technique of putting the latest info in a READ-ME file on the disk. 57 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.16 Manual Publishing (Continued) Paul Mayer tells us "If you're going to 4 color process, don't degrade it by using printed screen shots. Do like the magazines do, send your graphic captured image to a company that converts them into color slides. The company that I use is:" Galaxy Graphics, Inc. P.O. Box 220538 Chantilly, VA 22022 Office: 703-802-1111 Fax: 703-263-111 Modem: 703-643-0329 Some authors who really want to go first-class use a binding procedure that looks like perfect bound, but when you open the book, it lays flat and stays open. It's called Otabind. For more information, call Hart Graphics 8000 Shoal Creek Blvd, PO Box 968, Austin TX 78767, telephone 512-454-4761. You should seriously consider getting professional help in laying out the cover of your printed manual, particularity if you plan to try the retail market. Call the printer to see how wide the spine will be for the number of pages. For example: a 96 page Perfect Bound manual will have a 3/16" spine. Some retailers will place your package edge on so that the printing on the spine is the only thing the customer will see. That is why many software packages are boxed for greater visibility. If you can't find professional help locally, the following person has designed several catalog covers for the ASP and has done logo and cover work for many ASP authors. Suzanne Bilodeau 5709 Pebble Beach El Paso TX 79912 915-581-9608 58 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 7. Where To Get Supplies And Services (Continued) 7.17 Shrink-Wrap Machines Almost everyone in the ASP who has a shrink-wrap machine has the AJM machine and is happy with it, including me. The system consists of a 15" sealer unit, an industrial 14-amp heat gun, and a 10" by 2000' by 75-G roll of film all for about $430. 800-858-4131 "National" 800-722-2246 "Inside California". 59 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP 8. Compression Software If you have a large program and/or large documentation files, you may wish to use compression software to fit everything on 1 (or maybe 2) 360k floppy disks. You can often squeeze twice as much information on a disk. The drawback is that you may cause confusion for the end user. There are two compression systems in wide use by shareware programmers today; PKZIP and LHARC. PKZIP is produced by Phil Katz of PKWare and is widely used by Bulletin Board Systems to reduce download times by compressing the files. LHARC is not as widespread on BBSs, but is used by many shareware authors due to no royalty requirement. The end user confusion is caused when it is necessary to run either PKUNZIP.EXE or LHA.EXE to uncompress the files. It is necessary to insure that the user have these programs, preferably on your distribution disk. Instructing the user how to extract your files can be difficult and can cause the user to give up or call you at midnight because they can't get your shareware installed. The solution is to use either PKZIP or LHARC to create self- extracting program files. This method tacks a small extraction program onto the front of the compressed data. When the user runs the program, it uses the portion of the EXE program after the front-end self-extract code as the data to uncompress. This is a good arrangement as the extraction program can not be separated from the compressed file. Both PKZIP and LHARC allow you to include multiple program and data files within the compressed EXE file. You will need to contact PKWare to obtain a royalty type license to use PKWare's self-extraction code on your distribution disks. LHARC is free as long as the Copyright notice is displayed by the self-extract module and this is done automatically when an LHARC self-extracting program is run. You should also mention the LHARC copyright in your documentation. Both the PKZIP and LHARC software can be obtained from most disk vendors and BBSs. You can obtain both systems from the Public (software) Library at 713-524-6394. LHARC is on disk U1 1862 and PKZIP is on disk U1-1705. Both can be purchased on one 3.5" 1.44meg disk number U1-7059 which includes several other compression utilities. 60 Programmer's Guide - Copyright 1992 by Nelson Ford & the ASP Index 1.2m Disk Problems . . . . . 36 Help Screens . . . . . . . 31 800 Numbers . . . . . . . . . 41 High Density Disk Address Considerations . . . 13 Problems . . . . 36 Advertizing . . . . . . . . . 11 Installation Procedures . . 31 American Express . . . . . . 48 Instruction Manuals . . . . 37 Answering Machines . . . . . 41 Integrity Master Archive Software . . . . . . 60 Anti-Virus . . . 10 Art Work . . . . . . . . . . 44 Label Stock . . . . . . . . 43 ASCII Documentation . . . . . 38 Laser Printer Problems . . 38 ASP . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 LHARC Compression . . . . . 60 ASP Disk Vendors . . . . . . 8 License Agreement . . . . . 21 ASP Group Mailing . . . . . . 9 LIST.COM . . . . . . . . . 5 ASPFORUM - CompuServe . . . . 3 Logos . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Bar Coding . . . . . . . . . 47 Mailers - Disk . . . . . . 45 BASIC Program Rules . . . . . 33 Mailing Service - ASP . . . 9 Batch File Compiler . . . . . 31 Manual Printing . . . . . . 57 Blank Disks . . . . . . . . . 44 Manuals . . . . . . . . . . 37 Boxes . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Master Card . . . . . . . . 47 Buerg, Vern - LIST.COM . . . 5 Merchant Accounts . . . . . 47 Changing Prices . . . . . . . 30 Organization Of Files . . . 35 Color Seperations . . . . . . 58 Patenting Software . . . . 22 Compiler For Batch Files . . 31 PKWare Compression . . . . 60 Compression Software . . . . 60 PO Box . . . . . . . . . . 13 CompuServe ASPFORUM . . . . . 3 Press Releases . . . . . . 6 Control Codes-Printer . . 57, 59 Price Changes . . . . . . . 30 Copying Disks . . . . . . . . 45 Pricing Shareware . . . . . 26 Copyrights . . . . . . . . . 22 Printer Control Codes . 57, 59 Cover Artwork . . . . . . . . 58 Printers . . . . . . . . . 55 Credit Cards . . . . . . 26, 47 Printers-Manuals . . . . . 57 Crippling . . . . . . . . . . 18 Printing Documentation . . 37 Customization By User . . . . 34 Printing Manuals . . . . . 57 Defaults . . . . . . . . . . 32 Program Defaults . . . . . 32 Direct Mail . . . . . . . . . 11 Program Distribution . . . 8 Discover Card . . . . . . . . 48 Publicity For Shareware . . 6 Disk Duplication . . . . . . 45 Registrations . . . . . . . 25 Disk Labels . . . . . . . . . 43 Retail Distributors . . . . 26 Disk Mailers . . . . . . . . 45 Retail-Only . . . . . . . . 4 Disk Sleeves . . . . . . . . 44 Self-Extract Files . . . . 60 Disk Vendors . . . . . . . . 19 Setting Prices . . . . . . 26 Disks - Blank . . . . . . . . 44 Sleeves - Disk . . . . . . 44 Distribution . . . . . . . . 8 Software Patents . . . . . 22 Distributor Registrations . . 25 Trademarks . . . . . . . . 23 Documentation . . . . . . . . 37 Universal Product Codes . . 47 Documentation Formatting . . 37 User Groups . . . . . . . . 9 Error Trapping . . . . . . . 32 Vendors . . . . . . . . . . 19 FAX Machines . . . . . . . . 43 Viruses . . . . . . . . . . 10 File Organization . . . . . . 35 Virx/Virex-PC Scanners . . 10 Fluegelman, Andrew . . . . . 3 Visa Card . . . . . . . . . 47 Formatting Documentation . . 37 Warranties . . . . . . . . 25 Freeware . . . . . . . . . . 3 WATS Lines . . . . . . . . 41 61