Fritz: All Fritz/All Fritz.zip/All Fritz/FILES/BUSITION/SMARKET1.LZH/SMSDATA.EXE/TUTORIAL.TXT

Text File | 1992-04-02 | 127KB | 2,342 lines

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                         SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP ONE
                        THE SOFTWARE MUST FILL A NEED!

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       To begin at the beginning, you have a software package or at
       least an idea for a package. The first question is does your
       software fill a market need? And is the need so great that
       someone will pay money for your solution? It is easy to confuse
       the hard work and frustration of programming - which is
       considerable - with the perception that the package must be
       worth something since you worked so hard to produce it. In
       reality there is NO relation between your programming effort and
       the real need for the program. Spend some time imagining and
       researching a large group of computer users who have a need for
       a package you could produce. I'll present a list of "new ideas
       for shareware" in just a few paragraphs.

       Successful shareware fills definite market needs. Glance at the
       list of truly successful shareware authors which I will provide
       in a few paragraphs and consider how your package fits into
       the market pattern of these documentable winners. You don't have
       to offer a similar package, just something that fills a real
       need. Notice that the serious players offer SEVERAL packages or
       offer one mainstream package and develop it to near commercial
       quality. Complexity and a wealth of features tends to sell in
       the shareware arena.

       Another pattern is that some of the successful packages tend to
       be mainstream (databases, spreadsheets, serious utilities,
       accounting) BUT NEW IN CONCEPT. Still another pattern is that
       the winners hang in there for the long haul. They have patience
       measured in a duration of years. Another pattern is speed:
       successful shareware authors bring a program to market quickly
       before any other shareware (or commercial) company can. In some
       ways this is the advantage of remaining an independent programmer:
       you can quickly decide on program features and bring your new
       idea to market faster than a large organization. A final pattern
       is dedication to excellence - successful authors continually
       refine and hone their programs to be the fastest, most user
       friendly then continuously update them which itself attracts
       considerable market attention. Study this list for patterns of
       SHAREWARE SUCCESS carefully!

       LARGEST SHAREWARE ENTERPRISES

       Buttonware - Baker's Dozen utilities, PC-Calc, PC-Type, PC-File
       Datastorm - Procomm telecommunications package
       Quicksoft - PC-Write, PC-Browse, PC-Write Lite
       Brown Bag - Homebase, Powermenu, PC-Outline, Cash-Trac
       Magee Enterprises - Automenu, Treeview
       Expressware - File Express, Express Calc, Check, Graph, Onside.
       PKWare - Pkzip
       Hooper Inc - Finance Manger Accounting Series, Cheque it Out

       MAJOR SOFTWARE COMPANIES

       Trius - ASEASYAS, Draft Choice
       AM Software - AM-TAX
       Sydex - 22 Disk, Teledisk
       FormalSoft - CubeCalc
       Mustang - Mortplan, PrtLabel, Wildcat
       Omniverse - Galaxy Word Processor

       REASONABLY SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS

       Justin Boyan  - Boyan Telecommunications program
       Mark Adler - NY Word
       Dennis Lozen - Fastbucks
       Robert Hime - Letters and Labels
       Jerry Medlin - Medlin Accounting, PC-GL

       ADDITIONAL SUCCESSFUL INDIVIDUAL AUTHORS

       Bob Ainsbury: Technojocks Toolboxes. Nels Anderson: Cipher, EGA
       Trek, Mah Jongg, Shooting Gallery. Chris Anthistle: Payroll USA,
       Payroll Canada. Alan Avery: Elftree. Gene Davis: Lotto Prophet.
       Vern Berg: List, Arce, FV. John Friel: PC-Disk, Qmodem. Mark
       Harris: LQ, Active Life. Dick Kelly: Billpower, Ramdesk. Frank
       LaRosa: Searchlight BBS. Keith Phipps: Sagewords. Hans
       Salvisberg: Boot.sys. Karl Thompson: Solveit!, Amortizeit! Dan
       Veaner: Darn! Neil Wagstaff: Family Ties.

       Obviously, obtain shareware catalogs from larger distributors
       such as PC-SIG, Public Brand, New England Software Library and
       other large distributors listed in the database which
       accompanies this package.

       Closely examine these marketing treasure troves and determine if
       similar packages to yours exist or, from a contrary viewpoint,
       if market gaps for your package exist. This is basic research
       which costs little and can prevent considerable frustration when
       you discover that the superb printer utility you had planned to
       program already exists as 23 different variations in the the
       shareware market. Look carefully for market gaps in a variety of
       shareware catalogs before you start writing code! A shareware
       programmer without a LARGE stack of shareware catalogs next to
       his/her computer is flying blind!

       ██████ TIP ██████ Know thy timeline: it will take 3 to 5 years
       to build critical mass behind your product. Be patient and hold
       on to that mail room job for a while. Fill a need. Don't program
       games (low registration potential) if you can program an
       application. Don't spend hours programming a killer database
       when 1,760 databases already exist. Find a niche market, create
       a niche market or spot a problem that isn't being solved. Watch
       for commercial software packages that seem new or unusual in
       concept then see if you can "shareware" the same concept to
       market quickly. Study other shareware that is "almost" market
       perfect but somehow misses the mark.

       Consider weaving the good ideas from several packages into one
       package. Consider collaborating with another shareware author.
       You will have to write more than one package if you are serious
       about shareware as a marketing method!

       As a starting point, consider these concepts for shareware
       packages: Mapping and plotting of contours, conversion of
       satellite imagery, business plan creation tools and templates,
       decision making software, IEEE 488 interface programming tools,
       contractor accounting package for DOD 2002, OCR with spell
       checking and AI, Criterium clone, AI resume generator, VGA
       demonstration systems, Windows 3.0 programs and toolkits,
       toolbook clone, libraries in C and pascal, dBase compiler, label
       printer with AI which can scan in any source document and find
       and format label information, Rbase clone with royalty free
       runtimes, clone any of the programs in the PowerUp software
       catalog, Reflex database clone, extremely complex vertical
       market management and market research packages for banking, law,
       medicine, statistics, accounting, biotechnology, database
       compilations of selected mailing lists, shareware magazines,
       package-specific tutorial systems, home business planning and
       marketing packages, shareware distributor inventory and billing
       packages, direct mail planning and marketing kits, how to deal
       with lower back pain for computer programmers, planning and
       pricing a move to another state, job finding kits, foreign
       investment guides, lists of Russian entrepreneurs, emerging home
       office income opportunity newsletters, tropical fish disease
       database, packages for senior citizens on a state by state
       resource basis and on and on! This is just a little from the
       "fat idea file" on my desk!

       Another great idea is to watch each issue of Compuserve Magazine
       which is published monthly for Compuserve members. Within the
       front few pages is a detailed monthly list of "popular software"
       downloads. Study the list carefully and ask yourself the
       question: could I clone a better variant of a particular
       shareware package which is ALREADY POPULAR?

       The key here is that these are POPULAR downloads by a vast array
       of Compuserve users which means the marketing research is done!
       All you have to do is clone a similar, more richly featured
       product!

       Sounds simple, but the idea is obvious and updated every month
       for your perusal in Compuserve magazine! You are not charged for
       the magazine subscription, only for Compuserve connect time
       which can be as much or little as you like! Obviously, if you
       develop a package, you should upload it to Compuserve (IBM
       shareware conference/GO SHAREWARE) as a nearly instantaneous way
       to distribute it to a mass market. Upload time is at no charge
       once your file begins to upload.

       If you want to stretch your thinking, go down to your local
       library and scan through shelves of books and magazines and ask
       the question: could I program a package similar to this book or
       magazine as an interactive data graphic
       generator/database/tutorial/calculator/marketing system? Then
       having done that could I find the precise market niche for the
       product? Books and magazines are still the best and most
       original random access device invented by man - a floppy disk
       and computer are the same thing with a a bit more speed,
       intelligence and grace.

       A beautiful concept for a package I had is a TOTAL management
       and billing control package for a person taking care of a senior
       citizen - the package would manage medical billings, physician
       appointments, banking and money, dental claims, unpaid bills,
       income sources and so forth. With the graying of the baby boom
       generation this is sure to be an explosive opportunity. I have
       hundreds of ideas and more like this in a fat folder on my desk.
       And I don't have the time and programming skills to make these
       ideas happen! Write me if you want to brainstorm ideas for
       packages nobody has yet done which may have incredible market
       potential as the shareware market matures. I would like to see
       shareware distributors start compiling a list of "needed
       software" derived from actual requests of their customers.

       Better yet, this could become the "bright ideas" database within
       this $hareware Marketing $ystem: you submit an idea which is
       maybe a little too complex for you to program or team up with a
       programmer to write the tough code while you work on an elegant
       user interface - follow the drift? There are MILLIONS of
       programs which have yet to be written and I would like to see
       shareware authors capture the largest part of the pie. I'm on
       your side since I am a shareware author too!

       My next bright idea is a shareware DISTRIBUTORS newsletter with
       a compilation of the best and brightest marketing ideas I have
       seen and discovered from shareware distributors throughout
       America. I'll bet most shareware distributors would find such a
       newsletter interesting and my idea and concept file for that
       package is already 8 inches thick (still too thin for me to get
       interested just yet!)

       Want to hear another wild idea? Today more packages are
       published as shareware than as commercial software. It is
       possible, some would say probable, that in the future all
       software will one day evolve into shareware . . .

       I hope you sense the concept: ORIGINALITY, PROFESSIONAL
       EXECUTION, RAPID DISTRIBUTION AND MORE THAN ONE SHAREWARE
       PACKAGE are more important than raw programming skills!
       "Marketing source code" (mailing lists, ideas for packages,
       identification of market niches, distribution tricks) is more
       important than software source code.

       Avoid the standards which everyone else writes such as bible
       search programs, text managers, hard drive menu systems,
       checkbook programs, general ledgers, genealogy systems, tiny
       little printer utilities, games, lotto pickers and spreadsheets.
       There are millions of other brighter ideas.

       PC-LEARN evolved in a more or less logical fashion. As the
       coordinator for a computer club I noticed an insatiable need for
       a SIMPLE tutorial for beginners. I wrote a few articles for the
       club newsletter which were avidly snapped up. Next I compiled
       several articles into what might be termed a PC-LEARN prototype.
       Response was good, but the articles were deemed too complex!
       Back to the drawing board and another try. Each time I got a
       little closer the market told me what to do next. I searched
       shareware catalogs for competitors to PC-LEARN (there were some,
       but lacking in some areas of content and simplicity). I checked
       commercial sources for similar tutorials which gave me further
       encouragement. Finally I submitted an early version of the
       package to several BBS systems and PC-SIG which is a large
       shareware distributor in California. Still more revisions and
       more aggressive marketing followed. I was prepared to wait about
       five years and then abandon the product since my commercial
       photography business was far more profitable with a lot less
       effort. But then the magic happened and PC-LEARN began to bring
       in registration checks and I knew I might be onto something
       interesting. Moral: programming a package is the easy part.
       Marketing persistence and patience measured in terms of years is
       where the work really starts! Hold onto that real job while you
       program and discover shareware.

       Reasons to try shareware distribution methods? You can't afford
       a major advertising and promotion budget. You need extra income
       but already have a job. Your existing package for a consultation
       client is good and might be adapted to a larger audience. Your
       small utility or game just wouldn't be attractive in the
       commercial software market, but a realistic extra $50 or $100
       per year for your small package might be a stroke to the ego.

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                         SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP TWO
                               PROGRAM LOGISTICS

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       The best shareware adheres to certain common formulas:

       Strive to have your package run on humble monochrome machines as
       well as sophisticated VGA graphics computers. Can your software
       auto-detect various graphics resolutions and adjust accordingly?
       Remember that there are more monochrome machines out there than
       anything else. The customer can't send you a registration if
       he/she can't even read the registration request screen! High end
       packages have a very narrow base of support for registrations!

       Make the program run by intuition. Meaning: can the user fire it
       up and run your program without even glancing at the
       documentation. Good shareware is self-documenting as it runs!

       Don't rely on windows specific programs unless you are willing
       to wait until the majority of users run Windows. If you must,
       offer a version for windows and a non-windows version.

       Don't program specifically for 286/386 chips or math co-
       processors unless you want your program to leave the majority of
       users behind. Auto-detect these chips but don't hardwire
       instructions for these chips directly into your code.

       Make sure the program is REALLY bug free. If necessary reduce
       your program features even if you suspect a bug might be
       contained in a flashy graphics or machine code sequence.
       Shareware already has a reputation for being buggy in the eyes
       of many users.

       Consider having the program display a copyright and registration
       notice as the first welcome screen. This protects you and
       reminds the user of the need to register. In the shareware trade
       this is usually called a "beg screen."

       Will your program fit in whole or logical portions of standard
       360K floppy disks? This is essential. Don't require a hard drive
       unless the program absolutely needs it. Provide two versions -
       one hard drive compatible and one floppy compatible, but don't
       neglect the big market of users with simple machines.  While we
       are speaking about drives, do not hard code a floppy drive or
       directory into your program. Always allow a default directory
       and user selectable switching to other drives and directories.
       If necessary provide either a separate configuration program for
       drives, colors, and options or provide choices from a menu
       within the program. Not everyone's computer is the same as
       yours! The majority of machines out there are probably simpler
       than your machine.

       ██████ TIP ██████ Consider "brain bartering" Example: your
       package has many software features, but you need some excellent
       documentation upgrades for your package but aren't a good
       writer. Try swapping some programming skills with another
       shareware programmer whose package needs some revision or bug
       fixes in exchange for that author doing a serious rewrite of
       your documentation. No matter how proud you are of your
       programming skills, there is another shareware author out there
       who is better at machine code, documentation production, beta
       testing or something you can't do. Make a list of what your
       program needs but you don't know how or have time to accomplish.
       Post a message on a BBS system or write directly to another
       shareware author. Brain bartering! I would like to list in this
       publication a brain barter database: send me a note about what
       programming skill you can offer and what programming skill you
       need. Write it like a little want ad, ship it to me on ASCII
       disk and we thus have the brain barter database! I have some
       definite needs for programming upgrades to my own package PC-
       LEARN that I do not know how to accomplish. Write me! Believe it
       or not I don't know how to program in BASIC, C, PASCAL or even
       dBASE. I just tinker with batch files and program in the english
       language. Take a look at PC-LEARN and you will see loads of
       English but little programming!

       Crippleware (a program with limited features, date or time
       traps, or other cripples) is a sure looser. No crippled programs
       have ever made it in shareware! At one time the famous WAMPUM
       database had a date trap cripple which has now been removed.
       Moral: As soon as a user even faintly smells a cripple your
       program is out of the running for that registration check!

       If you make references to DOS commands be PAINFULLY clear. A lot
       of users still don't understand statements such as "boot DOS
       then diskcopy your master floppy onto a backup diskette then
       prepare two HD subdirectories, one for the program and one for
       the data." This seems pretty simple, but will confuse a lot of
       users who will not even try your program. Explain DOS commands
       clearly with painfully simple examples in both your program and
       documentation.

       Consider offering a detailed DOS training course in your
       documentation which some users will register even if they could
       care less about your program! See my DOS Tutorial in PC-LEARN if
       you want to examine painfully simple examples of DOS commands
       which many users can't seem to get enough of! Notice that many
       good shareware distributor catalogs always have little mini-DOS
       courses on the inside cover. Notice that commercial software
       houses such as Borland include mini-DOS courses in the appendix
       section of their program manuals. Moral: there are a lot of
       computer novices out there who need clear instructions and will
       send you a registration check if you can keep your documentation
       clear, simple, useful and educational.

       If your program prints files, documentation or reports, be sure
       to have the program include an extra form feed at the end of the
       printout to eject the paper from the printer - this is
       especially true for laser printer users who will be most
       annoyed that the final sheet of your report or screen display
       remains inside the laser printer and is overwritten with yet
       another document when they go to use the printer again.

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                        SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP THREE
                     DISTRIBUTION AND MARKETING LOGISTICS

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       The final product pending yet another inevitable revision is the
       DISTRIBUTION DISK which is duplicated and submitted to shareware
       vendors, computer clubs and unsuspecting neighbors and co-
       workers. Some checkpoints:

       Always include a file named README on the disk. The README file
       must be sorted to the top of the directory listing. No
       exceptions! I suggest not even using a file extension (e.g.,
       don't use README.TXT.) Here is why: when you sort the files in
       final distribution order (best by extension then filename) the
       README file will sort to the top of the directory where it
       belongs and where it will catch the eye and serve its purpose.

       Within the README file the first item at the top of the should
       be the program name, version number, how to start the program,
       author mailing address and a provocative description including a
       few "sizzle words."

       The top of the README file is the most valuable real estate in a
       shareware disk! Use it well! It demands more programming time
       and thought than the rest of your program code!

       Your program description must be provocative and precise. A
       reviewer will look for this first and frequently use it verbatim
       as a catalog listing. A user will be encouraged to try the
       program. The description isn't just a description, it must
       sizzle with what might be termed marketing adjectives! Obviously
       don't overdo the sizzle to the exclusion of the steak. Look
       again at an example README file:


                 THE $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM (c) 1990, 1991
                   VERSION 91.02 (Year: 1991, Revision: 02)
                 Suggested BBS name, this version: SMS9102.ZIP

       A shareware software package from Seattle Scientific Photography
                        Editor, Jim Hood [phone]
             Mailing address: PO BOX 1506, Mercer Island, WA 98040

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              To start:     A>GO   <then press return/enter key>

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                             DETAILED DESCRIPTION

       The $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM is a detailed two part resource
       for shareware authors who need creative marketing ideas and a
       RATED mailing list of over 2,300 major shareware distributors,
       large computer clubs, key contact names and recommended BBS
       systems.

       The first part of the package, the mailing list database,
       contains addresses, phone numbers, a UNIQUE MAILING LIST RATING
       and other detailed data which can be used to prepare envelope
       mailing labels or BBS calling uploads. The database file is
       rated by a unique quality ranking so you can mail shareware to
       vendors, computer clubs and BBS systems ranked A, B or C. The
       database file is supplied in standard dBase III (DBF) file
       format which can be imported to your database! You can sort
       lists of shareware distributors, computer clubs and BBS systems
       by zip, state and other criteria. Foreign and U.S. source lists
       are included.

       The second portion of the package is a detailed newsletter and
       marketing strategy guide which has been prepared by an
       established shareware author and contains dozens of creative
       tips, tricks and traps which every shareware author should
       review. Written by the author of the PC-LEARN computer tutorial
       which has accumulated over 9000 registrations in 3 years, the
       $HAREWARE MARKETING $YSTEM provides detailed and experienced
       information in a frank, candid and sensible style. This is a
       package for the shareware author who desperately needs CREATIVE
       IDEAS for positive financial results.

       Program runs on ALL systems and does NOT require color or
       special graphics. You will need a database program such as PC-
       File, Wampum, dBase, Rbase, Reflex or any database program which
       can load files in dBase III format (DBF files). Other file
       formats such as Lotus, Paradox and ASCII file formats are
       available from the author. Hard drive suggested, but author of
       program can also supply mailing list files in smaller portions
       suitable for floppy systems if requested. Updates are planned (4
       issues per year) and monthly updates are contemplated.

                         (end of example)

       Notice that IMMEDIATELY the reader locates the essentials: what
       is the name? What is the version? What is the description? Is
       the description interesting? How do I start the program? If
       space permits within the README file also include a list of
       files and their descriptions, sizes and dates as well as further
       instructions on how to start the program and print the
       documentation. The top of the README file also includes a
       suggested ZIP file name for BBS use which is rarely supplied
       with most shareware packages but aids standardization if you go
       into national BBS distribution or if shareware distributors
       decide to archive/zip your file to conserve space on a floppy
       disk. Suggest you investigate the shareware program PKZIP if you
       are not familiar with archiving and file compression technology.

       A distribution disk should be defragged, date cleaned, EN sorted
       and spell checked. What does this mean? 1) Use a file
       defragmentation program to make all files contiguous prior to
       preparing the distribution disk. 2) Run a small utility like
       TOUCH.COM on the disk so all files have the same date/time
       stamp. 3) Run a file sorter like Norton on the disk to sort the
       files first by extension then by name (EN sort). 4) Use your
       word processor's spelling checker to clean up unprofessional
       documentation spelling errors (we're all human!) I am always
       amazed at how many shareware authors overlook these basic
       requirements! 5) Never use subdirectories on your main distribution
       disk which vendors and customers receive. This will drive most
       disk vendors and BBS SYSOPS wild and you will hear from them
       rather quickly! The idea is that many programs are archived on
       BBS systems and subdirectories on a distribution disk works against
       the "all files in one primary floppy root directory" philosophy.
       DO NOT be tempted to create separate subdirectories on your
       distribution disk for such files as documentation, overlays
       and executable or data files!

       Prepare thorough documentation in ASCII text for your program.
       Include instructions on how to print it for the novice user.
       Maximum suggested text width is about 65 columns to allow for
       margins and printer variations. Consider ALL of your
       documentation for novices and prepare it accordingly. Document
       all auxiliary programs, special drivers and configuration
       programs as well as the main program! Don't use jargon; give
       examples of steps you intend. Moral: Good software gets the
       customer interested, but good documentation gets the
       registration sent.

       When you release a first or early version of a program, be
       prepared to listen to suggestions for updates and changes.
       It is tempting to dismiss requests for program changes since
       "you know the program bettter than anyone else." Don't let
       indpendence and ego get in the way. Software is most of all
       attention to detail.

       Abide by normal keyboard conventions which most users expect:
       F1 should bring up help screens. Escape should back a user out
       of a situation or menu or undo a previous command. F2 is an
       edit function in many programs. The slash bar or alt key
       activates a menu to open in many programs. F10 continues the
       program action in some older programs.

       If your program asks for a filename, try to show a list of all
       names availble as is common with many word processing packages.
       If possible allow the up and down plus right and left arrow keys
       to move through a table of filenames to select the file in
       question.

       Explain error messages. Cryptic errors such as: "67878 transfer
       abort" are curious and unfriendly. Think in terms of fuctional
       error messages like: "disk drive door open or disk is write
       protected." The rudest insult is to allow the program (with
       internal user data) to abort and simply drop to the DOS prompt
       and (probably) lose all user data in the process.

       Try to return the computer to the same defaults it began with
       when your program exits: same screen colors, video mode and
       screen column width. Close all files and reset clocks and dates
       as necessary.

       Many programs require adjustment of the AUTOEXEC.BAT or
       CONFIG.SYS files. Explain this in detail and give examples! You
       cannot explain BATCH files, AUTOEXEC.BAT or CONFIG.SYS too
       frequently!

       Check out your program with a LARGE file of dummy data. That
       super accounting package you so carefully crafted may be great
       with about 100 entries doing simple searches and reporting. Try
       it with about a year's worth of dummy data (say 5,000 entries).
       If the program slows down to a crawl, maybe you should consider
       optimizing a few routines in C, pascal or assembler instead of
       that clunky dBase/Clipper/Clarion/ Quick Basic compiler. Good
       programs are fast, deep, feature-rich, novel, elegant and
       magical!

       If possible provide example letters, files or other data so a
       user can play with the software with dummy data to quickly see
       if the package is useful.

       Always check your shareware disk for incompatabilities with
       OTHER programs which are popular such as 4DOS. I recently had
       problems with my PC-Learn package whose installation routine
       uses a small file called INKEY.COM. To my surprise, a few users
       found that when running 4DOS, which has an internal reserved
       keyword named INKEY, my PC-Learn installation bombed out. There
       are many other shareware and commercial packages which can also
       conflict. In general you can't fix everything, but be aware of
       4DOS and other popular packages which should be at least beta
       tested with your product.

       If your package contains lotus style worksheets or templates
       will your macros run under both 123 and popular shareware
       packages such as ASEASYAS and PC-Calc?

       Many shareware authors ship large programs in ZIP or ARC
       compressed format. Be sure to thoroughly explain how to unpack
       to single drive systems, double drive systems and hard drive
       systems! Harder than it sounds when you consider the variations!
       Try to construct batch file(s) to unpack or configure the
       program to various systems. As a clue to unpacking to single
       drive systems, instruct the batch file to create a ramdrive,
       unpack the archive file into the ramdrive and then copy it back
       onto a formatted floppy. Conversely, you could copy the archive
       into the ramdrive and then directly unpack onto one or several
       floppies. You get the idea . . .

       Recently PC Magazine offered a batch file compiler utility which
       makes slow clunky batch files fly. Consider compiling your batch
       files. The little compiler is named BAT2EXEC.COM and was
       discussed in VOL9N15 of their Magazine. The utility itself is
       contained on many bulletin boards and the PC MagNet service on
       Compuserve. It is sure to become a classic! There are also
       commercial and shareware batch file compilers which add screen
       colors, popdown menus and other goodies, all from a compiled
       batch file which runs quickly!

       Always include an invoice in standard layout format in several
       areas of the program as well as an exclusive menu option. Some
       shareware programs even make it an option every time the program
       exits! Corporate users and Government offices require an invoice
       to process billings. The simple statement "$30 registration
       required" doesn't cut the mustard! Include a line for purchase
       order number if space permits. Speaking of standard formats,
       consider adding "Print documentation and program instructions"
       as a permanent menu item! A little shareware program named
       FASTFILE does exactly this. Why no other shareware author
       provides this is a mystery to me . . . .

       Whenever you ship a disk to a distributor or customer the
       prevailing thought is to enclose a pleasant business letter
       describing the program and asking the reader to consider using
       it or adding it to his/her list. My own personal opinion is to
       reprint the README file from your disk verbatim and submit it
       instead of the pleasant business letter! If you can't submit it
       verbatim, fix your README file! It should be more effective than
       the polite business letter because it has a clearly focused
       market style understandable to readers, reviewers and users of
       shareware.

       I feel strongly about a personal theory of shareware marketing
       I call "critical density marketing." Simply stated: set up up your
       distribution so that a large mailing/BBS distribution/marketing
       push of your disk takes place in a short duration of time. Key
       words: LARGE MAILING/SHORT TIME. Thus 1000 disks and 200 BBS
       uploads of your new shareware program or update is MUCH more
       effective in the space of three days rather than dribbled out over
       6 weeks. Saturate your marketing push with critical density in
       a short time!

       What is minumum volume? Opinion: anything less than 500 disks
       mailed and 50 BBS uploads is barely minimum. 1000 disks mailed
       and 150 BBS uploads is decent. 3000 disks mailed and 300 BBS
       uploads is premium. What is critical duration? About two or
       three days! Time to payback for raw materials and telephone time
       with zero net profit? Depends on the quality of your program, but
       6 months to a year would be a fair guess for an average new
       program which is not an update of an existing popular shareware
       program.

       ██████ TIP ██████ Make sure you receive a catalog from each
       distributor to whom you have sent a disk. Jot a note in your
       computer database about the date you shipped them a disk. Get a
       catalog from them 4 to 6 months later to determine if your
       program has been listed. Call their toll free number. Give them
       the name of your cat and mailing address for a free catalog so
       they don't cross reference your name on their mailing list. Some
       distributors are notoriously stingy sending out free catalogs
       and thus won't send you one if they know you are only a
       shareware author poking around trying to see if your software is
       finally listed in their catalog - they may have your name on
       file in their computer, but certainly not your cat's name!

       Two disk-based catalogs which I especially enjoy are from
       PrairieWare and Disk Count Data, both of which are listed in the
       main database. Disk-based catalogs are interesting in that we
       are beginning to see some distributors exploring new frontiers
       in catalog production using disks which are infinitely more
       recyclable than chopping down trees for paper - call this a
       personal bias, but I wish the shareware industry would head this
       direction. When you are tired of the disk, put something new on
       it and send it along to someone else! I don't think most trees
       will complain, and the petrochemicals used to make disks are
       already dead!

       If you are archiving all or sections of the program be logical!
       Will each unpacked archive still fit on a single 360K floppy? I
       have seen many archived programs which are too large to unpack
       to single floppy disks. You can kiss many registration checks
       goodbye from owners of simple machines. Many BBS sysops will not
       accept program files in ZIP format if the archive is greater
       than 360K in size per ZIP file program portion. Summarizing:
       keep ZIP files in their packed state to less than 360K in size
       and likewise check to make sure the unpacked version will also
       fit on a 360K floppy. As an example, my PC-LEARN package
       attempts on installation to configure itself with a simple menu
       system onto two separate 360K floppies if that is all the user
       owns. However when installing to a hard drive or 720K floppy, the
       installation will omit the simple menus and instead install the
       deluxe full-featured color system. Flexibility is the key. It
       takes timing and a little sensitivity to users to second guess
       what type of computer system your program might run on.

       Some shareware authors (and even disk vendors) include a copy of
       the PKUNZIP utility on the disk to assist unpacking a program.
       Unless you are a commercially registered user or are including
       the COMPLETE PKZIP utility with documentation, this might be a
       problem! Legally PKZIP is shareware and it is unlawful to
       distribute only a portion of the program without all parts and
       full documentation. Shipping a file in ZIP format is fine. The
       ZIP file format is available for public use just as you might
       use a LOTUS WKS format file. For this legal reason, some
       shareware authors distribute programs in LHARC format and
       include the LHARC unpacking utility which does not have similar
       restrictions. LHARC is a copyrighted product, but does not
       require payment for private or shareware distribution use. Be
       careful and be legal! By the way, a public domain
       unpacking/unzipping utility does exist: UNZIP.EXE.

       Is the archive file name descriptive and possibly hint at the
       version number? (e.g., THE LAWNMOWER REPAIR UTILITIES Version
       3.6 = LAWNUT36.ZIP)

       Label your disks professionally. On a single label at the top of
       your disk use a large font for the program name and version, a
       medium font for the startup command and finally a small font
       description of the program.

       Some shareware authors use oversize labels and almost squeeze
       the entire README file onto the label - which is not such a bad
       idea! Just as the README FILE is the most valuable real estate
       inside a disk, the label is the most valuable real estate
       outside a disk! Think like a marketing animal and program like a
       marketing animal! There are many good label programs which will
       run on humble dot matrix printers. Many of these programs are
       shareware or public domain. Speaking of labels, I sometimes
       print mailing labels on plain paper, two or three labels wide,
       and cut and glue them to the face of the envelope. Saves money
       on sticky Avery labels when you mail out a lot of disks like I
       do!

       An odd shareware tip to save money: zip or archive SEVERAL
       programs onto one disk (everybody in the distribution network
       knows how to unzip files), SKIP the disk label, SKIP the disk
       sleeve/cover, enclose a one page printout of the README file on
       lightweight paper, ship in a single weight manila envelope (no
       metal clasp, just lick and close), do NOT enclose a cardboard to
       protect the disk from bending and put a SINGLE postage stamp on
       the face of the mailer which is all it will cost to mail your
       shareware economy class!

       Quite inexpensive, VERY unorthodox, and the few disks bent in
       shipping will be followed up with a "send me another" letter
       from the .05 percent who get a damaged disk. Moral: if you want
       volume and are willing to go "Volkswagon Class" in your mailing,
       you can do some incredibly LARGE mailings! Extend this idea by
       doing a COOP mailing (shared mailing of several authors shipping
       two or more unrelated programs in the same envelope.)

       Always update your database list and record to who and when the
       distribution disk was mailed. Make a note to check back in 6
       months to see if the distributor added your disk to his/her
       catalog.

       Don't forget to mail your shareware to foreign vendors! I
       receive foreign registrations from time to time and the volume
       is growing. Large shareware authors, for example Quicksoft,
       maintain foreign translations of their programs and have begun to
       align themselves with foreign shareware agents and brokers who
       can facilitate the exchange of foreign currencies from foreign
       shareware registrants. Foreign shareware sales are growing and
       will become a dependable income source for more authors as time
       goes on. The world is a big LUCRATIVE market.

       Commercial software houses (e.g., Microsoft) now develop a
       LARGER income stream from foreign sales than domestic U.S.
       sales! Primary countries in your first mailing should include
       English speaking countries or those with high English
       proficiency. Examples: Australia, New Zealand, England, Canada,
       Germany and Denmark.

       The shareware concept (try before you buy) is a surprisingly
       well established concept in some foreign countries (e.g.,
       England) and represents an affordable and respected option.

       A special word to American shareware authors about Canada which
       is home to MANY shareware customers, authors, high quality
       vendors and BBS systems. Make every effort to encourage a sense
       of "hospitality" in your documentation and shareware which will
       be viewed by potential Canadian customers and vendors. Small
       details like currency exchange courtesy will go a long way.
       Canadian customers and shareware vendors are very sensitive to
       overtones that you may consider them a "foreign country". For
       example, your registration documentation may suggest $25
       registration fee for US customers and $35 for foreign orders. A
       small notation that "Canadian orders honored at $25 (US funds)
       will earn you many friends! Likewise be cordial about returning
       long distance calls to Canadian customers in need of support.
       Maybe even include some examples of Canadian towns and city
       names if, for example, your program includes zip code or
       telephone area code sorting. Canadian zip codes are different
       than US zip codes. Can your program handle sorting and searching
       BOTH formats? The bottom line: Canadians resent the status as a
       "foreign" country and many prefer to be considered as North
       American neighbors and not foreign trading partners. You'll be
       surprised what a little fine tuning will do to increase
       registrations in the VAST canadian market!

       Some U.S. distributors maintain operations in foreign countries
       (e.g., PC-SIG and GEMINI) so if you submit your shareware to
       them, it will find its way overseas anyway. Foreign distributors
       in the mailing list database are noted as distributor type "F"
       (foreign) while U.S. distributors are type "D" so that you may
       sort and search for those categories to select or exclude when
       you prepare mailing labels. The foreign distributors listed in
       the mailing list are also good candidates for research and
       proposals regarding the "brokerage" of your program to a foreign
       audience and the subsequent collection and conversion of foreign
       registrations into dollars.

       Use "distributor leverage" to get your foot in the door.
       Example: once my package PC-LEARN was officially listed by PC-
       SIG, most other shareware distributors were willing to add it to
       their library just to "maintain marketing parity" with PC-SIG.
       Moral: work hard on listing with the big distributors, then let
       the smaller ones know via a printed letter accompanying your
       submission that major distributors have assigned your program to
       their catalog. Include the disk number/catalog number for that
       major distributor as evidence!

       Should you distribute to computer clubs/users groups? My
       personal opinion is to mail to the shareware distributors first,
       BBS systems second and mail shareware disks to the largest
       computer clubs in major cities third.

       The reason, although this may raise the ire of computer clubs,
       is that most club members are awash in shareware anyway and
       seldom check each new offering. Only the largest clubs have a
       newsletter which might feature your shareware as a new addition
       to the library. The rate of registrations I have experienced in
       my own documented analysis of registrations coming from computer
       club sources versus shareware distributors and BBS systems is
       about 20:1. Meaning I receive about 20 registrations from
       distributor's clients for every one from a computer club member
       who directly traced their source copy to the club library. In
       general shareware distributor catalogs reach more people who
       need shareware than those who are already awash in shareware!
       It is not that I dislike clubs, in fact I am a former computer
       club coordinator. It's just that the registration potential in
       my opinion is unreliable if cash flow is your focus.

       Should you distribute to BBS systems? YES! This is probably the
       fastest method to get your shareware into the hands of people
       who use and frequently will register a GOOD package. I frankly
       put BBS distribution a high priority (right after shareware
       distributors) on my list of MUST DO distribution methods. See
       file RAPID.TXT elesewhere on this disk or examine the main
       mailing list for "A" rated BBS systems which I consider a high
       priority distribution method. I have healthy respect for all
       SYSOPS since their "grapevine" opinion of a shareware package
       travels far and fast! In addition they are genuinely nice folks
       and have a sincere interest in computers, communications,
       electronic "pen pals" and shareware authors.

       Another target is computer stores. Here in Seattle, two large
       computer chains distribute my PC-LEARN tutorial system on hard
       disk with every computer sold. Since PC-LEARN is tuned for
       beginners, most computer stores love to distribute it to lessen
       the tedious phone calls from new computer users. This is a
       simple idea only a few shareware authors are using. Can you
       distribute your package in similar fashion? It is amazing to me
       the registration checks I get from huge government agencies and
       large businesses who purchase a volume of computers from a large
       distributor and then stumble onto my product carefully embedded
       onto every hard drive on every computer they purchased. Some
       commercial software houses would kill to have a demo of their
       software included with every computer a large distributor sells
       to a major corporate account. This is a simple trick which a
       small shareware author can use to "outgun" even the largest
       commercial software company!

       ██████ TIP ██████ Two interesting target audiences are 1) folks
       living in small towns beyond major metropolitan hubs and 2)
       seniors who have a little more time than most of us and are just
       getting started in computers. Sounds crazy but many
       registrations I receive are from little towns and are seniors if
       you carefully read the notes, questions and comments. However
       your package must be simple and attractive for this type of
       audience: a simple database, gardening guide, genealogy system,
       or personal accounting package would be a good candidate. A
       cross compiler wouldn't, obviously! Moral: if you decide to buy
       a small ad in a publication to try marketing your package
       directly, go for a logical four star choice like the TOPPSQUASH
       TRAVEL AND LEISURE GUIDE. Or even your own church bulletin if
       you have a religious software package. Skip the expensive ads in
       computer magazines. Are you after money or an ego stroke in an
       expensive magazine?

       You might consider joining the ASSOCIATION OF SHAREWARE
       PROFESSIONALS to further your education if you are serious about
       your software. The ASP has the backing of major players like
       Buttonware, Magee and Quicksoft and some fine ideas for
       marketing and mutual support. Dues are $50 per year. One
       drawback is that currently information flow is limited to
       Compuserve meetings on line and personal updates at Comdex. I am
       not a member simply because I am too busy, but I certainly
       endorse the concept of shareware authors banding together and
       helping each other in a constructive fashion. In a sense that is
       what this package is about!

       The ASP publishes a disk based catalog which freely circulates
       among U.S. BBS systems and is essential reading for all. The ASP
       was formed in 1987 and members subscribe to a code of ethics. No
       ratings are given to member shareware. The ASP Ombudsman can
       help customers resolve disputes with ASP members. The ASP
       maintains four forums on Compuserve: IBMJR 8, 9, 10 and 11.
       IBMJR 8 and 9 are open to the public. Type GO SHAREWARE at any
       CIS prompt. In addition, a recent agreement with Compuserve will
       allow any shareware user who registers an ASP shareware program
       a free membership to Compuserve and a $15 usage credit. The ASP
       membership application (on disk) contains a detailed author
       guide (filename: GUIDE.EXE) which is similar to this tutorial
       yet interesting and different. Another file discusses trivial
       software which will probably not be eligible for consideration
       by the ASP. Write for an ASP author application disk containing
       the file GUIDE.EXE. If you can't find either the ASP catalog disk
       or author registration disk with GUIDE.EXE, refer to the file
       GOODIES.TXT elsewhere in this package.

       ASP members agree to allow their programs to be examined and
       approved by the ASP the membership board. ASP members must agree
       not to cripple the program and must provide adequate support and
       documentation.

       The trademarked ASP symbol and address follows:

                               ┌─────────┐(tm)
                         ┌─────┴───┐     │
                       ──│         │o    │──────────────────
                         │   ┌─────┴╨──┐ │  Association of
                         │   │         ├─┘  Shareware
                         └───┤    o    │    Professionals
                       ──────│    ║    │────────────────────
                             └────╨────┘

                              The Association of
                            Shareware Professionals
                                 545 Grover Rd
                              Muskegon, MI 49442

       ██████ TIP ██████ You can also try to simultaneously distribute
       both commercially and via shareware. Kevin King, the brilliant
       owner at DISK-COUNT DATA shareware distributors, is one of the
       most amazingly creative people I have bumped into. He developed
       a little commercial retail package and distributes it to small
       stores with shareware packed inside. It is easy to understand:
       Obtain standard 7 x 9 inch poly plastic bags. You can use the
       expensive ones with ziplock seals from your grocery store or
       just look in the yellow pages under BAGS and order 1000 count
       non-ziplock types. Next design some nice artwork via a desktop
       publishing program and professionally print it onto stiff
       colored card stock exactly 7 x 5 inches in size. A printer can
       put two of these labels on a single standard sheet of card
       stock. Fold the newly made card label across the top of the bag,
       staple it shut and punch a hole in it for hanging on a rack.
       Cheap, effective retail packaging. I have extended the concept
       with PC-LEARN so that users return the yellow label for their
       bonus disk which tells me they got it from a retail location.
       Good locations for this kind of humble retail package are
       college bookstores, retirement homes, libraries, small stop and
       shop convenience stores and many stores with magazine racks. It
       has worked for me. Be sure to contact Kevin King at DISK-COUNT
       DATA for one of his amazing little DISK-BASED shareware
       catalogs. Kevin runs a major business out of Arkansas and is a
       bottomless fountain of SUPERIOR marketing ideas! His address is
       in the main database.

       Next let's examine superb author feedback and shareware
       distribution the way the pros do it: at PC-SIG and Public Brand
       (addresses in the main database.)

       At PC-SIG you will first be sent an application form which must
       be scrupulously filled out and returned. The review process
       takes from one to three months. A reviewer will eventually check
       out your shareware and send you a second response as the process
       moves along.

       The front of the PC-SIG form is a combined submission and update
       form. At the top right is a submission tracking number for
       packages under evaluation but not yet accepted into the library.
       Also on the front are spaces for the following: program title,
       version number, update or new submission checkboxes, author
       name, address, city, state, zip, day tel, evening tel,
       checkboxes to acknowledge that you are the author and submitting
       it as shareware or public domain, signature and date.

       On the reverse of the form are spaces to assist the reviewer. It
       is highly suggested that this information be submitted in ASCII
       on disk. The information on the back of the form is as follows:
       program title, detailed description, who is intended user, (if
       this is update,) what are improvements over old version, unique
       features/why is your program better, program's capacity or
       limitations such as record capacity, special system requirements
       such as memory/drives/monitor, how to start program,
       registration fee, materials or services which come with
       registration, list of files and one line description (ASCII file
       preferred).

       Many packages don't make it at PC-SIG because of poor quality
       and software bugs. The second advisory letter will acknowledge
       that PC-SIG is reviewing your program in greater detail.

       Finally if all goes well, the final acceptance letter arrives
       noting the formal PC-SIG catalog number. A nice shareware
       author's newsletter is also sent from time to time to keep you
       abreast of catalog deadlines and deadlines for their CD-ROM disk
       of library offerings. When you submit an update, the special
       submission form always accompanies your disk.

       Nice, effective and very professional. The newsletters give you
       an inside track on the shareware industry and you have a chance
       to change or edit the description of your program if the
       reviewer places your program in the main catalog. PC-SIG is one
       of the few distributors which can actually track and tell you
       how many of your packages have been shipped. They decline to
       give you customer names and addresses which makes sense when you
       consider the logistics, but this is a REAL PLUS which few
       smaller distributors can provide!

       Public Brand is similar yet different. Step one is a submission
       and acknowledgement form similar to the PC-SIG method. Step two
       involves posting on their BBS system for review by many others
       as well as their own reviewers. Step three, of course is an
       acknowledgement letter. They do an equally nice job and in some
       ways their catalog with ratings, registration prices and new
       releases of previously commercial products like X Tree and
       (previously Brown Bag Software's VP-Info) SR-Info Relational
       Database places them among the best.

       Many other fine shareware distributors exist on the scene, but
       these two place a premium on author feedback, acknowledgment
       letters, and logistic support systems which redefine the word
       distributor. If nothing else, information about these two
       companies will prepare you for what lies ahead and give you a
       yardstick by which to gauge other distributors. As a minimum
       even the smaller distributors should at least send an
       inexpensive postcard to authors to acknowledge submission of
       disks - many don't however!

       Many smart shareware distributors are now paying for or swapping
       mailing lists of customers. Moral: keep a tight database of
       customers who register your product and resell it or swap for
       more names with a shareware distributor. Remember you can make
       money selling information and information ABOUT information.

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

                         SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP FOUR
                   CASHFLOW AND REGISTRATION CONSIDERATIONS

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

       You will never forget the day. The day you open the mailbox and
       your FIRST registration check arrives! My first check came from
       Orlando, Florida several years ago. Orlando is a long way from
       Seattle where I live. It boggles the mind! You design something
       and toss it out on an electronic wind called the shareware
       distribution network and it finds someone who will pay you for
       your package. Over the space of about three years, many
       little envelopes arrived. Shareware is an amazingly interesting
       product!

       But let's back up a few steps. How much should you charge for
       your package? A good place to do some research is catalogs from
       Public Brand Software and PC-SIG which are listed in the main
       database of this package. These catalogs list the registration
       fees for many shareware packages and will give you some ideas
       about what you should charge. In general, graphics packages,
       games and small utilities are in the $5 to $20 range. Larger
       applications packages like databases, accounting systems or word
       processors typically are priced at about 30% to 50% of their
       commercial counterparts. Specialized vertical market software
       (e.g., a billing system for a dental office) are priced higher
       in the $50 to $300 range due to the smaller market and frequent
       need for higher and more sophisticated customer support. PC-
       LEARN, my package, is priced at only $25.00. My interest is
       volume and a more than attractive price.

       What goodies or "carrots" should you offer to induce registrations?
       Traditionally a printed manual, telephone support and a free update
       are commonly needed by users. Update notices should be mailed out
       giving the chance for customers to upgrade. Upgrades are usually
       priced at about 15% to 25% of the original package price. Other
       goodies might be a bonus disk which is the method my package
       PC-LEARN uses. What's in the bonus disk? Why a BONUS, of course!
       Site licenses for larger software installations, universities and
       businesses should be mentioned even if no price is given. Other
       goodies to be considered are newsletters, source code, an expanded
       version, customization, site license, commission (for passing copies
       to additional users who themselves register) or utilities which
       augment or configure the main package to include additional
       menus, colors or features.

       Registration cash flow is serious business. As a minimum
       PROMPTNESS is essential. Train yourself to provide same day or
       next day response to all arriving registration checks. Even if
       your package promises no support or update, send out a
       registration number and thank you letter as a minimum.

       Going on vacation? Hire a friend to cover your registration
       system.

       Visa and Mastercard are good possibilities if you want to
       aggressively enter the profitable phone order business and is a
       good thing to mention in your documentation. Your bank can
       provide information about setup procedures which are fairly
       simple. A fee is charged to you for each transaction. You will
       probably be asked for trade references and account status
       information so be prepared to provide some financial background
       information.

       If you raise the price of your program you may have to content
       yourself with honoring the lower price for a few years since any
       older version of your software will inevitably sit on a bulletin
       board in Southeast Toppsquash for years before it is updated.

       If a customer sends you a check for the older registration price
       you might want to honor it making it a condition in a polite letter
       than you will give him/her the newer higher priced version at the
       old price if they will tell you where they got the old program so
       you can update it. If a price increase is necessary due to increased
       support or programming, obviously attempt to announce it via a
       mailing to major distributors, computer clubs and BBS systems.

       Telephone support is a pandora's box. It seems to be a
       bottomless pit of time with little recognizable income potential.

       But just remember that Wordperfect (tm) has become a major word
       processor for, among many reasons, the unlimited excellence of
       its support. The toll free Wordperfect telephone number even
       appears on the help screens of the program itself! One
       reasonable way to provide support is to note in your
       documentation that support is available only evenings or
       weekends or at certain times of the day.

       Next an amazingly powerful customer support idea from Bob Wallace
       of Quicksoft and PC-Write fame:

       The PC Write offices of Bob Wallace use PC-Browse (one of their
       products) to pop up over ANY application they happen to be
       running to quickly scan for a registration number via a
       hypertext link. If the number is there they are talking to a
       registered user. Yet they don't have to dedicate one computer to
       a registration database when everyone in the office can pop it
       up over any screen. Clever, don't you think? Take a second look
       at PC-Browse with this idea in mind and DON'T FORGET to register
       PC Browse if you use it.

       On the subject of unregistered users, it is best to answer a few
       questions and politely suggest that other calls are on the line
       and mention that the caller may register for full support.
       The general logic is not to fret over unregistered users. The
       goal is statistics: try to get your package into the hands of
       10,000 or even 100,000 users where a 15% registration rate
       equals quite a few folks. Don't worry about "registration cheaters."
       Life is too short. I prefer to consider those folks as on an
       "extended evaluation period" with the possibility of some day
       registering . . .

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

                         SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP FIVE
                   COMMERCIAL AND SEMI-COMMERCIAL MARKETING

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

       So that is the system, right? Hardly. The next step which the
       largest and most successful shareware authors have followed is
       both commercial and "semi-commercial" marketing. This means
       stepping outside the shareware distribution network into the
       real world of commercial advertising and marketing.

       Consider PC-File from Buttonware. A classic product with superb
       features and ease of use. A shareware product which has also
       made its way into commercial distribution channels like the
       Egghead Software Stores. Another is Procomm which now has a
       commercial version. If you follow the drift, the next target is
       to push yourself and your product a little harder.

       Can you convince a local retailer to carry your product on his
       or her magazine rack? Will a local software or magazine company
       accept 50 free copies of your product (in attractive packaging)
       for a test market run in their outlets? With PC-LEARN, my
       product, I place small ads in local and community papers and
       allow editors of those local papers to serialize the package in
       print as a computer column with questions, answers and of course
       sections of PC-LEARN. I require that the editor run a display ad
       featuring PC-LEARN next to each reprinted section of the article
       in each issue of the paper.

       The traditional channels of shareware distribution can only take
       you so far. Buttonware knows this and so do most of the major
       players on the shareware scene. By carefully, inexpensively and
       cleverly finding or bartering for commercial advertising space
       you ramp up your project just as the major players do. The point
       is this: to play for serious registration money you must be
       prepared to put in as much (if not more) time on marketing than
       on programming.

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

                         SHAREWARE MARKETING STEP SIX
                          CURVEBALLS AND "SNAREWARE"

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

       Into every life a little rain must fall, as they say.

       If you choose to actively and aggressively market your shareware
       through established distributors, be aware of "interesting
       offers." Most shareware distributors are reputable and fully
       understand that authors are their lifeblood. However a few
       distributors like to put a spin on things and will call you with
       various "pitches."

       Examples: one shareware distributor has an interest in offering
       registered versions of your program in addition to shareware
       versions. Nothing wrong with that, but be aware that the
       distributor may want a DEEP discount for volume packages of the
       registered version which cuts into your profit, depending on
       your interest. The distributor may propose that deep discount
       registered versions be offered by you to him as a requirement to
       listing your program in that distributor's catalog.

       Other distributors may call asking for exclusive rights which
       locks your package to them as a sole distributor. Still others
       may call or write asking you to help pay for advertising or
       mailing of their catalogs as a condition before they will accept
       your program. I personally feel there is nothing wrong with
       purchasing advertising in a distributor's catalog or mailing if
       the opportunity presents itself, but making this a requirement
       prior to listing your program is an arm twist of a different
       sort. Still another distributor who we shall leave unnamed
       proposes that gold stickers (costing $1.00 each in minimum rolls
       of 100) be required to be placed on your disk and exclusively
       available from that one distributor - before other distributors
       can further pass around your software. The gold stickers arrive
       with a serious legal contract which other distributors must
       sign.

       You get the drift. Human ingenuity can put a mischievous spin on
       a simple idea (shareware - try it before you buy it.) Basically,
       be prepared for interesting calls and proposals if you get
       involved with distributors. For some reason a few distributors
       seem to feel that they can obtain money both downstream (from
       the customer) as well as upstream (from the author). Keep your
       antennae up. By the way, some of these "interesting proposals"
       have come to me from ASP affiliated distributors which is a
       curious twist on ethical standards, to say the least . . .

       Moral: don't allow shareware to turn into SNAREWARE!

       Finally, I would like to leave you with a personal "core
       philosophy" concerning successful shareware development.

       1) Find a niche that isn't filled or filled poorly at the moment
       2) Look at many vendor catalogs first to see what/who your
       competition is 3) Realize it will take one year and maybe two to
       achieve market recognition - EXTREME PATIENCE 4) Distribute your
       disk(s) to at least 500 vendors, 500 computer clubs, 500 BBS
       systems, 50 magazine writers 5) distribute to the major foreign
       vendors 6) Start your next package 4 months after you have
       started your previous package - regardless of whether your
       previous package is completed 7) Be totally straight arrow with
       customers: cash checks after shipping goods, be prepared to
       return long distance calls, have an outside support service
       (e.g., AGC or other company) do your support and order
       fullfillment if necessary due to volume 8) Have at least $3,000
       to finance your modest startup 9) get outside programming help
       if your program interface is lacking, you documentation is poor
       or your customers suggest a change beyond your capability 10)
       Get and use this package: SMS 11) Don't give up EVER 12) Frame a
       xerox of first registration check to give life reality 13) As a
       minimum spend 50% of your time marketing and 50% programming 14)
       realize that you are probably doing this because you are
       addicted to computers and are rationalizing (at the early stage
       of the game) the possible financial income 15) Have as a modest
       goal two good packages a year for life 16) Beta test the dickens
       out of your package then PAY someone to really beta test it 17)
       When you ship your package to vendors and BBS systems include a
       piece of paper that makes SENSE to them (who, what, where, when,
       why, phone number, etc). 18) LISTEN to what others say about
       your package and don't be defensive - it is just code. Criticism
       is a form of flattery turned inside out.

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

                         SHAREWARE MARKETING - A POSTSCRIPT

       ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████

       An afterthought from a different perspective. In 1990 Tim Campbell,
       a Canadian shareware author, provided additional thoughts on
       shareware development which dovetail with this tutorial and provide
       fresh insights.

                    PINNACLE SOFTWARE'S COMMENTARY (c) 1990
                        (A shareware software diatribe)
                      from Pinnacle Software of Montreal
                      WRITER, T. CAMPBELL [phone]
              MAILING ADDRESS: PO BOX 386, MONT ROYAL, QC H3P 3C6

       SHAREWARE MARKETING BACKGROUND -- WHO THE HECK I AM

       From my standard corporate blurb (for magazine people and
       others):

       Pinnacle Software is a computer consulting company based in
       Montreal, Canada.  It was founded in November of 1985 by Timothy
       Campbell.  In January of 1986, Mr. Campbell started work on the
       Pyroto Mountain BBS program, Pinnacle's first shareware
       offering.  Since that time, Mr. Campbell has written numerous
       shareware programs is generally considered to be the most
       prolific shareware author in Canada.

       Prior to setting up Pinnacle Software, Mr. Campbell founded
       Canada's first coast-to-coast consumer telecomputing service,
       which many called "The CompuServe of the North".  Mr. Campbell
       is a self-taught programmer and has been coding since 1971.

       So much for the official line.  In informal terms, I write
       shareware -- a lot of it.  I'm not a big shareware superstar.  I
       pay the rent with my registration money -- sometimes.  Much of
       the money I get goes back into building up my potential for
       registrations.  As time goes on, I plow more and more of it in,
       finding that the "free advertising" of shareware is merely a
       pretty myth.

       A WORD OF WARNING

       As my last remark may have indicated, I'm quite cynical about
       shareware. Even though it brings in nice, crinkly, spendable
       money, I am distressed by the amount of misinformation and
       disinformation you can find out there.

       So when I write about shareware, I tend to push in the opposite
       direction. Call me a curmudgeon. It's a dirty job, but
       somebody's gotta do it. So even if, in the following text,
       I seem very "down" on shareware, bear in mind that I've been
       doing it for 5 years, and though I keep threatening to give it
       up and get a real job, I keep at it.

       Shareware is my chosen mode of expression, and brings in a good
       chunk of my revenue.

       SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTION POINTS -- MY PERSONAL RATING METHOD

       Let's start by saying that the variable quality of our outlets
       goes 'way beyond the "ABC" rating system of the Shareware
       Marketing System project (hereinafter referred to as SMS),
       though I gather that the subjective nature of rating makes the
       "ABC" system one of the few that's feasible.

       I rate the shareware houses in my head, but to make it clear how
       I think about them, I suppose I could organize my ratings
       according to this system:

       X X X
       │ │ │
       │ │ │
       │ │ └─ ACCURACY  (A) SUPER (B) AVERAGE  (C) POOR   (?) UNKNOWN
       │ │
       │ └─── ATTITUDE  (A) KEEN  (B) AVERAGE  (C) CRASS  (?) UNKNOWN
       │
       └───────── SIZE  (A) BIG   (B) AVERAGE  (C) SMALL  (?) UNKNOWN

       PC-SIG I'd give a rating of AAC.  They're big, they push
       shareware hard, but I've run into numerous problems dealing with
       them (which means I have to watch them every time I send in a
       disk).

       Little T&Z Software (have you heard of them?), get CAC.  They're
       as keen as all get-out, sending frequent letters to authors --
       even a Christmas card! Their one-sheet catalog, crammed full of
       teensey lettering, however, is just too compact to provide
       people with an accurate view of the products.  This is somewhat
       different from making actual mistakes; they just don't give
       people a chance to judge what a product does, so the potential
       buyer can't accurately make a decision on what to get.  (I
       haven't heard from T&Z for a while, so I assume they've pulled
       up stakes.)

       Shareware Express, which SMS gives a big warm "A" rating, gets a
       ?D? rating from me.  Yes, "D" for "Beyond Crass".  I've sent
       them many a disk, and my last one even included a cover letter
       asking them why they never acknowledge receipt of my disks.  I
       really dislike shareware houses that don't realize that the
       authors are their primary resource.

       The Software Labs I give a rating of AAA+.  Not that I haven't
       had the odd difficulty there.  For example, they latched onto my
       software and never got in contact with me -- I had to track THEM
       down.  But I knew it would be worth it, because they were doing
       SOMETHING right.  I got a significant majority of my
       registrations from them (of the regs that came from shareware
       houses -- more on this later).

       SHAREWARE DISTRIBUTION POINTS -- MY PERSONAL LIST

       Before SMS, I had to work hard to find out where to send my
       disks.  Now that I've got the SMS database, I'll be able to mail
       to my heart's content --until the posties get sick of seeing me
       at the post office.

       So my list is rather short in comparison to the SMS list.
       Nevertheless, I think there's a message hidden in my data that
       says something about the attitude of the people to whom we
       authors send our diskettes:

                   Column 1: Used to keep track of the latest
                             product that I have sent these people.
                             Prevents sending duplicate disks.

                   Column 2: the month in which I mailed the software

                   Column 3: the month they acknowleged!

                   Column 4:"-" means they've acknowledged at least
                             once before

        LATEST   OUT  ACK   CURRENT MONTH IS:  DECEMBER

        FREE31   SEP    - Gemini Marketing Inc., 5 Montgomery Crescent,
                          Roxboro, Quebec H8Y 1H3, 684-3522,
                          Barry Dufresne
        FREE31   SEP      Gemini Marketing Inc., P.O. Box 640, 200 1st
                          St., Duvall, WA, USA 98019-0640
        FREE31   SEP    - Micro-Mart Computer Center, 792 Hamilton
                          Street, Somerset NJ, USA 08873
        FREE31   SEP    - PC-SIG, 1030D East Duane Avenue,
                          Sunnyvale, California, USA 94086
                          [phone]

                 (list shortened for this article to provide
                 examples. Tim's full list available from SMS. ed.)

       Notice a pattern?  Most of these people just plain grab the disk
       and don't even say thanks.  Don't even drop me a line. (Tim's
       full list shows lack of acknowledgement, ed.)

       Well, before SMS, I tried each one a few times, then dropped
       'em.  No point sending disks into a black hole.  That's the way
       I figured it.

       Actually, this list is a bit shorter than my "real" list, which
       includes individuals (mostly registrees).  I'm pushing a new
       concept of using my registrees to spread my software, and I'll
       talk about that later.  I've also mailed to a lot of BBS's,
       lately, but I haven't kept track of that, since I don't EXPECT a
       BBS operator to behave, uh, professionally.  (That came out
       wrong ... I mean, if I send him an unsolicited disk, there's no
       expectation for him to acknowledge it.  But a shareware house,
       by golly, lives or dies on the basis of shareware submissions,
       no?)

       DISK VENDORS -- A FEW LAST GRIPES

       The good ones are REALLY good.  Public (Software) Library and
       Public Brand Software get good marks, though the latter has, on
       two occasions, made HOWLING mistakes in rating my products (not
       matters of opinion, but glaring factual errors that caused them
       to reject the submission -- a concrete example is given later).

       Boo-boos I can deal with, however.  The industry is still new.

       PC-SIG has weirded me out a little.  They used to send me "Free
       Disk" slips (they no longer do this).  I got fed up of getting
       all these slips, without having a catalog from which to pick a
       disk (!), so finally I took a huge stack of slips, mailed it to
       them, with a letter reading, "These are wallpaper, as far as I'm
       concerned; they're useless to me.  How about sending me a
       catalog?"  They sent me their shareware encyclopedia, which I
       considered a commendable response.

       I realize that these disk vendors are busy busy busy.  But I
       maintain that my ultimate source of my gripes is always the
       same:  lack of useful feedback.

       FEEDBACK, OH LOVELY FEEDBACK -- GETTING IN TOUCH WITH THE BIG
       WIDE WORLD

       As a struggling (though productive) shareware author, I get lots
       of feedback from my registrees.  Most of it, though, is along
       the lines of "Great program!", which is heart-warming and
       certainly most welcome, but not very helpful in increasing my
       ability to get even more registrations.

       If I lived in California, I'm sure that I'd be more "plugged in"
       to what's happening. Alas, many of us shareware authors aren't
       plugged in.

       Part of my problem is that I live in Canada.  I was in touch
       with somebody over at Gemini Marketing in Washington, and he
       concurred when I suggested that maybe Americans have a
       resistance to registering with a Canadian company.  There's an
       imagined hassle with currency (though I take American money and
       my documentation says so), but there's also another factor.  The
       guy at Gemini encapsulated the problem when he innocently said
       (to my astonishment), "Oh, if I had to send money to a foreign
       country, I wouldn't mind sending it to Canada".

       The term "foreign" is not one that Canadians apply to the U.S.A.
       The U.S.A. is that big, interesting place to the South, which
       you have to go through customs to get to.  But it isn't really
       "foreign" to us.

       In order to deal with this problem, however, I have obtained a
       mailing address in the U.S.  This is a recent development,
       though, so I don't know how well it will do.

       I should point out that I had a long, helpful discussion with a
       shareware author in Vermont (who writes a football-pool program)
       and he cited his isolation as a major source of irritation.  If
       your area isn't hooked up to something like PC-Pursuit, and you
       can't afford CompuServe, it's a drag. Authors like us, we look
       towards the shareware houses to keep us informed and we even
       look to them for a bit of motivation...

       Quite seriously, whenever I get a shareware catalog in return
       for one of my submissions, I feel like I'm getting "a letter
       from home".  Things are opening up, as shareware becomes more
       "mainstream", but I still feel a quiet thrill when I find a
       catalog in my post office box. I'm quite sure that many
       shareware authors feel this way.

       THE QUEST FOR SOME FACTS

       PC-SIG, with its "Shareware" magazine, goes a long way in the
       motivation department.  Alas, in terms of "informing" us, it's
       not so good.  They have to paint a rosey picture of shareware
       (and hey, that's their job), so they tend to portray things as
       just peachy-keen and everybody's gettin' rich, like.

       The A.S.P. in particular is of no use to me.  CompuServe access
       is very expensive here in Montreal.  And basically, all ASP says
       is, "Send in your $50 and you can join us on CompuServe".
       There's no newsletter, as far as I know.  As such, it'd be $50
       down the drain UNLESS their service is so stunningly
       indispensible that ... but then, in chatting with other authors,
       I've gotten mixed reviews...

       Good information is very hard to come by -- which is what makes
       SMS so marvelous.  It may not answer ALL my questions (or even
       most of them), but at least it presents, in an unadorned manner,
       plain facts that I need to know, such as who to mail my
       diskettes to.

       Obtaining facts about shareware, it seems to me, is about half
       the art of playing the game.  It seems that some people (Jim
       Button, for example) somehow acquired the facts early in life.
       Dummies like me take a long time to figure these things out, I
       guess.

       Actually, perhaps it isn't ideal to take people like Jim Button
       or Bob Wallace as examples, because their products stand head
       and shoulders above most shareware, simply by virtue of their
       scope.  Let's fact it:  there's shareware and there's SHAREWARE!
       Something awesome like "As-Easy-As" doesn't dribble out of the
       computer of a casual weekend hacker.  Some of these creations
       are flat-out no-nonsense commercial-level gems!

       But, then, does this mean that you have to make something BIG to
       make it big? I don't think so.  There are a few smallish
       programs that (supposedly) have made the author some big bucks.
       Supposedly.  Is this true?

       HIDDEN EFFORT -- WHAT YOUR SHAREWARE HOUSE WON'T TELL YOU

       Alas, I don't know.  I hear stories, but how many can be
       believed?  And when you DO hear of a "small" product making it
       big, you usually dig a little deeper and find that while the
       actual product might not be a whopper like, say, Qube-Calc, the
       author nevertheless bent over backward to market the heck out of
       his wares.  Take Apogee Software, with their "Kroz" games. I
       wrote a similar game once, a few years ago, named "Drifting".
       (It was a guy in a space-ship that was without power, see...)
       Anyway, after a few weeks of diddling with it, I trashed it,
       figuring, "Nobody registers games ... why am I wasting my time
       with this?"

       I hear that the Kroz games are doing exceptionally well.  But as
       you can see if you download, say, Kingdom of Kroz, the author
       markets, markets, markets.  He mentions, for example, that he
       poured about $2000 into marketing that game.

       The average shareware author isn't prepared to do that.  That
       sounds too much like "serious" marketing!

       I think that -- if he doesn't give up -- every shareware author
       finds out, sooner or later, that shareware is a heck of a lot of
       hard work.  I've formatted so many disks for mail-out that I can
       guide a diskette into the slot without looking, while munching
       on a sandwich and watching TV and chatting on the phone.  Sure,
       some mayonnaise gets on the diskette, but at least it formats
       quickly with Sydex's super FORMATQM program.  (Yes, yes, I
       registered it.)

       I once suggested that somebody could make some money by offering
       to be a mail-out service.  You mail him a master diskette, and
       he mails a copy to everybody on his list.  He charges about 3
       bucks per disk.  Expensive, maybe, but most shareware authors
       would rather program than format disks.

       It sounds like a good idea, but don't look at me; I want to
       program, not format disks.  I'm a shareware author.

       Which is ... hmmm ... why I spent all last night formatting
       disks. (Sigh)

       Now you know why this article is occasionally a bit incoherent.
       I actually write better than this.  Honest I do.

       SHAREWARE FOR FUN AND/OR PROFIT

       I have a very bad personality trait:  I write the shareware
       programs that I enjoy writing.  I don't do market surveys.
       Ideas pop into my head, and I suddenly declare myself an artist.
       That is to say, I create my creation for it's own sake, and
       subsequently find out why the word "starving" so often appears
       before the word "artist".

       Which is not to say that I'm utterly beyond help.  I do
       occasionally recognize the need to buy actual food with actual
       money, so on occasion, I actually create things that are
       practical.  My Area Code Hunter program, for example, was
       created deliberately to be practical.  And just look at all my
       other practical products ... like, uh, well ... umm.

       A few little utilities 'n' things, which (as we know) are not
       the dollar-makers in shareware.

       It seems to me that when we talk about shareware, we could
       express its potential for profit in two ways:  cash and
       satisfaction.  These two aren't actually separate:  I get more
       of a thrill from a $45 cheque in my mail-box than I ever got
       from the weekly $600 cheque I received when I was earning a
       salary.

       In our society, we tend to express value in terms of dollars,
       since that's a darn convenient way to talk about things.  But
       there are plenty of people like me (if I may judge from the
       shareware I see) who program for, well, the ART of it all.

       But sometimes I wonder if these people are frustrated, hearing
       about how much money they "should" be making.  It would be a
       shame for their satisfaction to be overwhelmed by a misplaced
       expectation, when their original motivation was simply to create
       something for its own sake.

       That is why I do not appreciate the shareware hype that suggests
       that any hacker can make big bucks just-like-that; it's not
       entirely necessary.

       All this reminds me a bit of the early days of rock 'n' roll.
       Back then, it was just a guy with his guitar ... just a guy with
       his guitar ... and don't ya know he's gonna go far ... yeah,
       'cuz he plays a mean guitar.  A mean guitar.  Oh yeaaaah.

       Now it's a guy with his computer.  He CAN go far, but he should
       remember how many broken guitar strings and hearts littered the
       pathway to today's rock 'n' roll.  Once a musician stops playing
       music for it's own sake ... it changes.  I don't think I have to
       explain what I mean to anybody who has experienced 60's rock, or
       compared it with 90's rock.

       NOT SHAREWARE!

       Getting back to the subject of disinformation, I find that it's
       easy to be led into believing that the big success stories just
       uploaded their files here 'n' there and then the money started
       pouring in.

       Let's look at the classic "success" companies:

       NAME OF COMPANY    MY COMMENT

       AM Software        ?
       Brown Bag          ?
       Buttonware         M.B.T.R.O.M.S.A. (See note)
       Datastorm          Not really shareware any more
       Expressware        M.B.T.R.O.M.S.A.
       FormalSoft         ?
       Hooper Inc         ?
       Magee Enterprises  M.B.T.R.O.M.S.A.
       Mustang            M.B.T.R.O.M.S.A.
       PKWare             M.B.T.R.O.M.S.A.
       Quicksoft          M.B.T.R.O.M.S.A.
       Sydex              Looks like shareware to me
       Trius              ?

       KEY       EXPLANATION
       --------  -----------
       ?            I don't know enough about these people to
                    comment intelligently
       MBTROMSA     Marketing Beyond the Realm Of Most Shareware
                    Authors

       I am not quibbling about the success of the MBTROMSA people, nor
       am I playing sour grapes.  Hey, these are cagey people who made
       a success of themselves, and more power to them!

       What I quibble about is the blithe use of the word "shareware"
       in application to these people.  Shareware (as generally
       presented to the innocent) tends to evoke images of self-
       propagating software.  No, not viruses, but, well ... it's an
       image of people ... SHARING!

       I believe that you'll find that all of the companies mentioned
       above (not the least of which is Datastorm!) know that Shareware
       isn't really about sharing at all.

       AN ACTUAL INTERVIEW WITH AN BUDDING (INNOCENT) AUTHOR

       Somebody just signed on to my bulletin board, saying he's
       releasing a shareware product for his ST computer.  It turns out
       it's ... a biorhythm plotter.  I asked him what he expected from
       shareware, and here is a transcript for your edification:

       ME:  What are you expecting from shareware?  What do you think
       it is?

       HIM:  From what I've been led to understand, basically it's
       released to the public domain [sic] and the author asks for
       something in return, giving the promise of updates.  In my case
       I'm not promising updates, because the program is basically
       already as polished as it can be, so I'm basically releasing it
       and depending on people's good will.

       ME:  Where are you uploading it?  How will you distribute it?

       HIM:  I have a friend who will upload it to Genie.

       ME:  Anywhere else?

       HIM:  No, just Genie.

       ME:  How much money do you expect to make?

       HIM:  I'm asking for $2 for the registration. I don't expect to
       make lots of money.  It's just a little ego trip to see my
       software spread around the world.

       What can I say?  Clearly this is an author who is in need of
       solid infor-mation.  He later told me that he wants to make
       something BIG (a "cover" of a commercial game), but wants to see
       what this does, first.

       In the absence of solid information, it seems that he's going to
       be disappointed, and we might lose a good author.  (Hey, we all
       wrote biorhythm programs at one time, didn't we?)

       IF NOTHING ELSE HERE IS SIGNIFICANT, AT LEAST HERE'S SOMETHING
       STARTLING

       I track my major products with serial numbers.  This enables me
       to find out PRECISELY what happens when I send a product out the
       door.  And the stunning fact is:

       PEOPLE DO *NOT* SHARE SHAREWARE TO ANY GREAT EXTENT

       Most of my registrations are "first-tier".  The person accesses
       a board that I've uploaded to, likes my product, and pays for
       it.  He doesn't give it to a friend.

       Hence the need for decent marketing.  It took me a long time to
       realize what my distribution figures were screaming at me:  the
       shareware world is NOT a magical conduit for most of us.

       True, PKZIP gets around.  Overnight, it'll spread across North
       America. But it's the exception.  I'm sure that anti-viral
       software also manages to reproduce wildly across the continent.

       Here in Montreal, I VERY rarely see even the mighty PC-File,
       except on boards that are on some kind of ASP mailing list (or
       something like that -- I wasn't too clear on how the board in
       question got its updates, except that it was a formal
       agreement).

       There IS a solution to all this, I think, and it involves making
       reality more like the lovely myth.  And that would involve
       getting sysops of BBS's to really push upload/download ratios,
       encouraging people to go out and FIND things to upload.

       Is that practical, though?  I don't know about your area, but
       most of the boards here in Montreal are free.  Upload/download
       ratios are an effective way to keep users from becoming software
       sponges.  But in many areas of North America, the big systems
       are pay systems.  And they can't really go for upload/download
       ratios ... can they?

       I don't run a big board, so I couldn't say.  The last big system
       I ran was in 1985, on a minicomputer.  That was before multi-
       line micro-based BBS's were around.

       When I first got into shareware, I naively thought that I'd
       upload my baby to CompuServe and it'd be spread around the
       entire continent within a few frenetic weeks.  I figured that
       eager people would want to upload it to their favourite boards,
       just to "share" the experience with others.

       That was a very egocentric way of looking at things.  As a
       computer junkie, *I* would behave that way.  At least, 5 years
       ago I would have, when there wasn't a glut of shareware.

       But it didn't happen.  Back then, I didn't know what was going
       "wrong".  Now I know how little sharing goes on, and I have the
       data to prove it.

       Now, you might think that perhaps my products just aren't
       shareable.  There's some truth to that!  My BBS products would
       only interest sysops, for example.

       Yet, that pinnacle of achievement, the super-duper LIST command
       by Vern Buerg, is UNKNOWN to any business client I've ever had!
       They all use DOS TYPE, for cripes sake!  How can this be?

       If it was simply a case of quality and value, the LIST command
       should have swept the world within a few weeks.  Personally, I
       hammer it into every computer I come into contact with, along
       with a few other "Must-Have" utilities.

       Try this out:  walk into any company that has, say, 10 PC's.
       Ask them what version of PKZIP they have.  You'll be met with a
       dumfounded stare, probably.

       Maybe it's different in California; I don't know.  But where I
       am, shareware is a big blank.  Most people have never even heard
       of it.  I can only conclude that the "gospel" isn't being
       shared.

       SO ... SMALL NUMBERS YIELD SMALL SALES -- HARDLY A REVELATION

       Getting back to CompuServe ... I was delighted to see that my
       Area Code program was downloaded 100 times in only a few days.
       But I was only excited because it was a RELATIVE success.  My
       BBS programs don't get that kind of traffic -- which is
       understandable, as CompuServe isn't over-run with people
       frantically looking for some way to become a sysop.

       A month later, the initial surge wore off, and I had maybe 120
       downloads.

       Some really popular downloads achieve a few hundred downloads in
       a month. Percentage-wise, considering the active population of
       CompuServe, that's impressive.  But ... just a couple of hundred
       downloads?  Chicken-feed, really.  A commercially successful
       program ships tens of thousands of copies in that time.  A few
       hundred is nothing.

       So CompuServe isn't THE answer.

       I realize that most veteran shareware authors know this.  All
       the successful shareware companies must know this.  Heck, after
       a while, even *I* figured it out.  But I have the sneaking
       suspicion that a LOT of new shareware authors DON'T know.  They
       still think shareware is mostly about sharing.

       WHERE DO BIG NUMBERS COME FROM?

       Alas, the disk vendors are very careful about not releasing
       their distribution numbers, even to the authors.  I suppose they
       don't want the information to leak out to their competitors.
       It's a shame, because it would help us a lot.

       For example, in one issue of Shareware magazine, my Sapphire BBS
       product was listed as PC-SIG's #1 telecommunications package (in
       terms of number of units ordered).  Does that mean that they
       moved 1000 of them?  If that was the case, the resulting number
       of registrations was certainly below par, which in turn would
       mean that somewhere along the line, I've made a SERIOUS mistake.
       It would benefit me to know the figures so I could assess the
       value of my work to the end-user.  I'd like to know the facts!

       Also possible, though, is that it was simply a slow month for
       them.  They only shipped, say, 20 of ANY telecommunications
       package, and Sapphire happened to ship 21 units.  In which case,
       my product is reaping an awesome percentage of registrations.
       If that's the case, I'd like to know THAT, too.  It means I'm
       doing something RIGHT!

       Maybe they worry that we authors would let the numbers leak out,
       but that's unlikely to be a problem, for two reasons.

       First of all, even if the numbers for a particular product were
       SMALL, it isn't a way to judge the entire disk vendor company.
       Perhaps that particular shareware product was, by fluke, badly
       described in the catalog, or there was a feature article in the
       catalog for a competing product. Whatever.  You can't derive
       much information from a single data-point.

       But maybe they worry that their competition would amass figures
       by canvassing dozens of authors, building up a database?

       Not likely to work.  In my experience with shareware authors,
       they're just as tight-lipped about distribution figures as any
       disk vendor ever was.  I've heard some unconvincing claims of
       "tremendous success", and some ominous admissions of "doing
       okay, I guess".  But actual figures?  Never.  Nor do I give out
       actual figures.

       Quite frankly, I haven't a clue just how many disks ANY
       shareware vendor ships.  I hear that PC-SIG ships lots and lots
       and lots.  That's about as accurate as it gets.  What *I* want
       to know is:  how many of *MY* products do they ship?

       I hear that some shareware houses will release that kind of
       information if you provide them with a mailing list of your
       registrees.  I hesitate to do that, because I never warned my
       registrees that I'd be trading their names like baseball cards.

       I suppose my position, in this big "information vacuum", is a
       somewhat ... hmmm ... libertarian stance.  I figure it this way:
       if the disk vendors can help the shareware author make decisions
       more intelligently, it can only improve things...

       The author will write more marketable software.  The disk
       vendors will receive better product information, which in turn
       will help them represent an improved product in a more accurate
       way.  More people will be pleased with their products and order
       more disks.  Everybody will win, and we can all go frolic in the
       fields of clover and fragrant spring flowers!

       Maybe that's a little too "Ayn Rand".  Benefits seldom build up
       so smoothly. The harsh reality is that diskettes get lost in the
       mail, and disk vendors can find all their mailing envelopes
       damaged by a broken water-pipe.  My rosey picture of an alliance
       between disk vendor and author is only an ideal.

       But having said that, I think it wouldn't hurt if we all shared
       the ideal.

       WHO OWES WHAT TO WHOM AND WHY?

       I do not believe that in the long run it helps to have all those
       shareware authors groping in the dark.

       Once again, this reflects my attitude that a shareware houses'
       PRIMARY resource is the author.  I admit that I'm somewhat
       biased in this regard!

       A friend of mine once stated the problem in a cynical (or
       refreshingly honest) way:  "If you don't write the stuff,
       somebody else will.  Nobody ASKED you to write it!"

       He's right, of course.  There are probably lots of budding
       authors who would take my place.  Naturally, their (wince)
       drivel won't be as good as my (blush) deathless masterworks, but
       hey.

       The point is, we've got a case where it behooves both parties
       (authors and vendors) to understand how they work together and
       how they need each other. I believe that we've got a long way to
       go before that understanding has brought us to a condition of
       synergy.

       To be fair, I'm sure that if I ran a shareware house, I'd have a
       very dim view of 95% of shareware authors.  I've seen a lot of
       shareware that is just plain awful.

       So I try to put myself in the shoes of the disk vendor, and I
       understand that he has a LOT of garbage to sort through, and
       that quite frankly, many authors haven't even done enough
       groundwork to DESERVE the red carpet treat-ment.

       At this point in my commentary, I've got to say, "Dang it!  My
       software is GOOD!  They should be NICE to me!"

       While I acknowledge that the actual value of my software (or any
       software) is open to debate, I nevertheless maintain that my
       software is both presentable and saleable.  A good portion of my
       stuff is mere ballast, but in any shareware pack I send to a
       vendor, a reasonable portion of my wares is good enough that I
       expect them to say, "Hey, this guy isn't a slug ... let's treat
       him like a real author!"

       I've had enough positive feedback from INDIVIDUALS at the disk
       vendors to know that I deserve a fair shake.  The words
       "Commercial quality" have been used to describe some of my
       stuff.  (Mind you, I've seen some "commercial" products -- that
       will remain nameless -- which do well financially, yet are
       horrendous when compared to good shareware).

       So how do you explain the crassness of some disk vendors?  I
       usually tell myself that they're busy, and having trouble
       keeping up with growth.  I'm sure that this is true.  But it
       hardly absolves them of all blame.

       DEAR SIRE, WE REGRET TO INFROM YOU THAT YOUR SUB MISSION HAS
       BEEN REJEECTED

       Here are a few stories to illustrate the frustrations an author
       can have:

       STORY #1

       I sent a disk labelled "Grab-Bag" to PC-SIG, along with a cover
       letter explaining that the various ZIP files contained all my
       shareware.  (At that time, I could still squeeze it onto one
       disk)  It was rejected lock, stock and barrel.  Explanation:
       "No room for documentation on disk."

       Can you wrap your mind around that one?  The guy who reviewed
       the disk thought the product was named "Grab-bag", and that it
       did something or other, but it was too big.  God knows what he
       concluded it was FOR, as none of the programs were in any way
       related to each other.

       I phoned the President of PC-SIG and he said he'd look into it.
       Six months later, I came to realize that he'd done nothing, and
       that none of my products were in their catalog.

       STORY #2

       Last week, Gemini Marketing in Washington called to ask me to
       resubmit my shareware pack.  It seems that somewhere along the
       line, the papers that accompanied the disks became separated
       from the cover letter, as were the individual disks, or
       something like that.  Plus, the master disk wasn't any good,
       see, and we don't know what we did with your disks.  Or
       something. Please resubmit.

       STORY #3

       Public Brand Software rejected one of my programs.  Here's the
       letter I sent to them:

                                  April 2, 1990

       Public Brand Software
       3750 Kentucky Avenue Indianapolis,
       Indiana USA 46241
       ATTN:  Software Reviews

       Dear Software Librarian:

       I have enclosed your review of my Sapphire Bulletin Board
       software.  I am moved to write to complain about the assessment.

       My previous contact with your company has impressed me greatly.
       I've come to expect careless reviews from some disk vendors, but
       I had hoped that I would be spared the same painful experience
       when dealing with your company.

       My feeling is that Sapphire was reviewed quickly.  I cite three
       items in particular:

       1.   Your reviewer failed to mention the "Zero-Maintenance"
       aspect of the product, which is its main "selling point" and in
       fact is mentioned right on the diskette label!  Unlike some
       BBS's that require constant or even occasional attention,
       Sapphire can be set up and then virtually forgotten. (The sysop
       may wish to retain the task of validating users, but this is
       optional.)

       2.   Your reviewer said that Sapphire is useful where "E-Mail"
       is of paramount importance.  Well, I try to look at my own
       product fairly, and I must say that my product's approach to
       private messaging is not what would be called "E-Mail".  This is
       admittedly a failing of the product, so I could hardly take
       credit for excelling in this area.

       3.   The most irritating aspect of the review was that I was
       refused entry into the catalog because the product was "A
       limited version".  This is simply not true.  The product is
       fully functional; registration does nothing but remove the
       opening screen.  Moreover, there is no time limit. The user
       could "test-drive" the product for years (though that would run
       contrary to my shareware terms).

       Please have this product reviewed again.

       Should you require any additional information, please feel free
       to call me.

       Sincerely, Timothy Campbell President

       I enclosed another copy of the disk.  They never answered or
       acknowledged receipt of my letter.  As far as I know, my product
       is not listed in their catalog.

       I should point out that in general I find PBS to be very
       supportive of shareware authors.  But they really dropped the
       ball on this one.

       STORY #4

       I really appreciate the feedback that PBS gives shareware
       authors.  They acknowledge receipt of your disk, and then they
       send you a copy of the review.  They're very organized -- and I
       appreciate that!

       I realize that it's BECAUSE they're so organized that any errors
       come to the forefront.  Whatever the case, they dropped the ball
       again when they reviewed my Free Speech BBS product.  Here was
       the letter that I sent:

                              November 1, 1990

       Public Brand Software
       3750 Kentucky Avenue
       Indianapolis, Indiana USA 46241
       ATTN:  President          <-- Note the change in emphasis

       Dear Sir,

       On April 2nd of this year, I wrote to protest the exclusion of
       my "Sapphire" bulletin board product, which your reviewer had
       written off as "a limited [i.e. crippled] version".  This was
       and is utterly false.  Yet, since I wrote you the letter (6
       months ago), I haven't heard a word from you on the matter.

       Now I receive a letter telling me that two people have reviewed
       my Free Speech software.  The first reviewer found that it was
       fine, but the second found that it failed on an "Error 100".
       Looking up the error in my Turbo Pascal manual, we came up with
       several possible explanations, all of which point to an
       installation error.

       In any case, we have carefully test-installed the enclosed
       version and we assure you that it works as advertised.  If your
       reviewer ("A/S") has the same problem again, we would appreciate
       knowing how his system is configured.  (A full disk drive would
       also cause that run-time error, for example.  And if he failed
       to follow the instructions in the manual about inserting
       FILES=20 in CONFIG.SYS, this too could cause the problem.)

       I would like to have both products reviewed again.

       Should you require any additional information, please feel free
       to call me.

       Sincerely,

       Timothy Campbell President

       You might say that this problem is my fault, insofar as ANY
       installation problem is MY problem.  If the reviewer had a
       problem, anybody could have the problem.  My program should have
       been designed to expect a departure from the installation
       procedure.

       On the other hand, I have never received a call complaining
       about a problem with Free Speech installation, except for one
       guy, whose modem behaved in a bizarre manner.  (He replaced the
       modem and things were fine after that.) Based on my experiences
       with other reviewers, I wonder how carefully the guy paid
       attention to the installation procedure OR IF HE'D EVEN BEEN
       GIVEN THE ORIGINAL ZIP FILE.

       Anyway, the point is moot, because as you might expect (by now),
       I never received a letter in response to this letter.  I hope
       that by now they're carrying my Free Speech product in their
       catalog.  But I have no way of knowing, short of sending them
       money to become a member.

       OVERVIEW OF THE STORIES

       As Pat Paulsen says, "Picky, picky, picky!"  I suppose I should
       expect a certain amount of grief, considering how young the
       shareware market is. But as I said, I'm optimistic enough to
       keep hacking away at shareware, but not blind to its failings.

       I have lots of stories like these.  I remember at least two
       other cases where my products were rejected after only a cursory
       examination that led the reviewer to the wrong conclusion.

       Again, my complaints aren't really valid if my products are
       trash.  A good reviewer can make a decent assessment of the
       product just on the basis of the READ.ME file.  (If it's got
       typos, quality is not likely to be forthcoming.)

       Most of my work is a lot more carefully written than this long
       missive. I'm doing "stream of consciousness" here and I only
       intend to proof-read for typos.  Actually, I spend an inordinate
       amount of time honing my READ.ME's. In fact, my HELPME product
       is kind-of a huge READ.ME.  I put a lot of loving care into my
       packaging.

       Am I the only shareware author who is occasionally frustrated by
       the disk vendors?  I can't believe that that's the case.  I hope
       that SMS becomes a force to be reckoned with and -- like the
       Michelin Guide -- encourages the vendors to slave for that extra
       "star".

       IDEAS THAT DON'T WORK -- DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME, KIDS!

       "In order to succeed, you've got to learn to fail".  Somebody
       MUST have said that.  In any case, it certainly applies to MY
       career in shareware.

       Nowadays, shareware brings me about half my net income.  Dollar-
       wise, it brings in more than that, but about a third is plowed
       back into promotion.

       METHOD #1 -- HOPE FOR THE BEST

       But from the time I released my first product (Pyroto) until I
       received my first registration ... it took SIX MONTHS!

       In my wide-eyed innocence, I simply spread it around a few
       places, expecting it to magically reproduce.  I certainly
       learned the error of my ways.  Now, when I release a new
       product, I send out a few hundred copies at least.  It's the
       only way.

       Interestingly, I've found that BBS's and telecomputing systems
       produce far better results than Shareware houses.  This may be
       only my experience. Some authors, I know, bank on the disk
       vendors.

       But thanks to my shareware tracking (using serial numbers), I
       can't help but have more faith in modem power than mail power.

       I've always felt that if somebody sends in money for a disk, he
       feels that he's paid for it already.  It doesn't matter if the
       shareware house states otherwise (and come to think of it, a lot
       of them don't spend much time explaining what shareware is).

       METHOD #2 -- SHAREWARE SHOTGUN

       Perhaps I'm "down" on shareware houses because of a bad
       experience I had once.  I bought an issue of Computer Shopper
       and sent a shareware pack to every single person or company
       listed in the shareware classifieds.

       I mailed out over a hundred packages.  Only three bothered
       acknowledging receipt of the disks!

       I suppose that lots of people figure they'll make easy bucks by
       running a shareware house, but quickly realize that it's NOT so
       easy.  By the time they decide to change their career, however,
       they've received hundreds of disks from hopeful authors.  I'll
       bet those ads in Computer Shopper pay for themselves, just in
       free disks!

       METHOD #3 -- BIG-BUSINESS SHOTGUN

       Once again armed with Computer Shopper, I wrote down the names
       and addresses of the 100 biggest hardware vendors, and sent
       along my Area Code reference program, suggesting that they
       include it with every computer they send out.  I figured maybe
       they already included a disk or two of useful things, so tucking
       in another program would be a snap.  It was worth a shot. But no
       such luck.

       Of the companies who bother to reply ... neither was interested.
       So ... scratch $100 worth of postage, $25 worth of envelopes,
       $40 worth of diskettes, and the price of the gallon of cola I
       needed to wash the taste of envelope glue out of my mouth.

       This method failed, I think, because I was asking them to do
       something they weren't doing in the first place.  Perhaps if I'd
       offered to MAKE the disks for them...  It's something to think
       about.

       METHOD #4 -- HERE 'N' THERE REVISITED

       Eventually, by the sheer weight of programs I was sending out, I
       started getting a so-so number of registrations.  But not enough
       to make me dance with joy (and it wouldn't take much to make me
       dance, you know).

       I realized that I wasn't going about this in a BIG way.  True, I
       was hitting the really big shareware houses, and getting my
       programs on CompuServe.  Occasionally, I'd send a pack to some
       other telecomputing service.

       But that was no way to make a buck.  Y'gotta work harder than
       that.

       METHOD #5 -- DOLLARWARE

       For the past few months, I've sent out hundreds of disks that
       promise people that, if I get a registration for the product,
       they get half the registration price.  Each product is clearly
       stamped with their name, and they can test-install the product
       and verify that their name does indeed show up on the
       registration form.

       This method of distribution doesn't work, either.  Maybe it's
       because they only stand to make 5 to 10 bucks per registration.
       Whatever.  I don't know why it doesn't work.

       All I know is that I've sent out HUNDREDS of disks like this,
       and my results strongly suggest that most of them get thrown in
       a drawer, where they gather dust.  They're neither uploaded nor
       shared.

       It is very time-consuming to make individually-stamped disks,
       but I'll keep trying the DOLLARWARE concept for a while longer.
       I've added a few embellishments.  Maybe I can polish up the
       concept a bit and make it work. It sure sounds like a fabulous
       deal to ME!  Hey, all you do is upload a file (no big effort)
       and it can bring in some money.  What more can you ask out of
       life?

       METHOD #6 -- ATTACK!

       Over the holiday season, I am going to use the SMS database to
       prepare a mailing which I expect will cost me around $500.

       Five hundred bucks?  I've come a long way from the days when I
       thought I could simply upload my program to CompuServe and let
       it spread by itself.

       Shareware may be many things, but a zero-dollar-startup business
       it ain't.

       I realize that $500 isn't much by big business standards, but
       the average person isn't too keen about spending that kind of
       money.

       Moreover, I start to think to myself:  is this going to work?
       Will THIS $500 investment make a difference?  Wouldn't it be
       better to go all out and buy an ad in a computer magazine?

       SOME FINAL MUSINGS

       In other words, isn't it time to abandon shareware? There.  I
       said it.

       Well, I'll give it one more go.  Or knowing me, I won't give up
       even if this $500 thing doesn't work.  I expect it will pay for
       itself, of course. I fully expect to make a small profit.  But
       that's not the point, is it?

       The point is that my marketing costs are no longer anywhere NEAR
       the "zero" I'd expected when I got into shareware.  My costs are
       maybe one order of magnitude less than small-scale commercial
       marketing.

       Moreover, if I went commercial, I wouldn't do it alone.  I know
       people who would be interested in helping me market some of my
       stuff.

       I don't use shareware because of the money aspect, I suppose.
       It's a question of creating something that is mine, all mine.
       If it does well, that's MY thing that's doing well.  And that,
       to me, is worth a lot.

       Back to the drawing board. . .

       Tim Campbell