The Business Master (3rd Edition)

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**************** YOUR OWN SHAREWARE PRODUCTS **************** Many early users of my programs have asked questions about how to get their products into the shareware market, and I definitely have the answers for you: First, let me tell you that shareware marketing does work! Now, let me tell you that you probably won't make a million dollars, and that it won't happen overnight. But, this is a good way to bring in easy rainy day money, or make sure you have extra money coming to you in your retirement! Creating shareware is easy to do. All you need to do is know something that others would like to learn about, or be a good fiction writer, etc. And so, by using The Multimedia Workshop, or Writer's Dream, you create a shareware product containing some of your knowledge. For instance, if you know about playing a trumpet, you can write a shareware tutorial called BEGINNING TRUMPET LESSONS ON DISK. And then write another called INTERMEDIATE TRUMPET LESSONS, and possibly others such as ADVANCED TRUMPET LESSONS, PLAYING THE CORONET, INTERMEDIATE TROMBONE LESSONS, etc. BEGINNING TRUMPET LESSONS is shareware. You'll be essentially giving it away, but in it you include an advertisement for your other products, these other disks you have written. The only way people can get these other products is by sending you money. Well, You probably see the idea and it's incredible potential! There are other approaches to shareware marketing. For instance your tutorial might not advertise other products. You might simply state that it is shareware and that as the author, you expect the users who are happy with it to send you $15. This works, but of course not as well as to ask for $15 AND list other products available only from you. Interestingly, if your knowledge is in a very specialized field, you are not necessarily limited in the amount of money you can make. specialized knowledge is very valuable. If you can start someone on a new career, or can explain a technique that can save a small (or large) company lots of money, you have a product that will bring hundreds of dollars for each copy. Hobbyists in any field have been known to spend way too much to get exactly the knowledge they want! And many shareware distributors have learned that even very obscure titles sell well, because specialists will seek these titles out! For instance, PET, a shareware disk for veterinarians is a good seller. HYDROFLO, which has something to do with designing pipes and valves for fluids, has always been a good seller! AND HOW DO YOU GET THE DISKS TO PUBLIC? This is amazingly simple. All you do is make copies of your disks, and send them to shareware distributors. There are usually 50 or so advertising in the classified ads section of COMPUTER SHOPPER magazine. The distributors are hungry for new products and will be quite happy to review your disks. If they feel that your material is interesting and reasonably well done, and many shareware distributors will take almost anything that works, they will list it in their catalogs and start sending out copies to buyers. The distributors don't send you any money, and you don't send them any money. Whatever money you make, comes from your advertisements within your shareware disks. And your costs? Only the cost of a few blank disks and the postage to mail them. You can send just to a dozen shareware distributors, or to hundreds. Of course, the more you send to, the sooner you'll start making real money. Here are some good distributors: GEMINI MARKETING INC BOX 640 DUVALL WA 98019-0640 PC-SIG 1030D E. Duane Ave. Sunnyvale, CA 94086 PD SELECT BOX 1884 GASTONIA NC 28053 PUBLIC BRAND SOFTWARE BOX 51315 INDIANAPOLIS IN 46251 ATTN R. JOHNSON OR D GARNER REASONABLE SOLUTIONS 2101 W MAIN ST MEDFORD OR 97501 SOFTWARE EXCITEMENT! 6475 CRATER LAKE HWY CENTRAL POINT OR 97502 SOFTWARE LABS 3767 OVERLAND AVE #112 LOS ANGELES CA 90034 BOSTON COMPUTER SOCIETY 385 Elliot Street Newton, MA 02164 FREE BOOTER SOFTWARE BOX 19624 PORTLAND OR 97219 SIZZLEWARE P O BOX 6420 LAKE CHARLES, LA 70606 Although there are some organizations for shareware authors, you don't have to join any. This is not a union shop. Anyone can participate without a license, without paying dues or fees, and without waiting! On the other hand, if you want to fully immerse yourself in the shareware world, if you want to learn all you can about the business, you might like to join the Association of Shareware Professionals. The cost is $50 for the first year. There are several benefits. They can duplicate and mail your disks to distributors and BBSs for you (for a price). They have an ongoing conference between shareware authors and distributors on CompuServe. They have rather strict rules with which your shareware must comply, essentially forcing you to turn out a professional, financially effective product. Using the ASP name and logo adds a professional flavor to your shareware. Write to them for details: Jan Abbott - Executive Director Association of Shareware Professionals 545 Grover Rd Muskegon MI 49442 AND HOW MUCH HOW SOON? I can't give you figures set in concrete, but here's some ideas. The worst case I have heard of is a guy who makes $10 or $20 per month in registrations of his product. Is that ok? Would you settle for the price of a nice meal or a new pair of shoes every couple of months for something you did in your spare time? (and of course the time required to copy and mail 1 or 2 disks a month) On the other hand, another author is making $5,000 per month. There are a few shareware authors who have made over a million dollars, but they are by no means average. My guess is that the average author has to put out 10 good products over the course of perhaps three years before reaching an income of $25,000 per year. But there is no ceiling. You can keep improving and writing more! Regarding time, you can't be in a hurry. It takes a while for a distributor to print up new catalogs including your new disk. It takes a while longer to get these catalogs to the public. It takes another while for the people to order your shareware disk, and then even more time before they decide to send you money. You really shouldn't expect to start taking in much for about one year. We have one new product, which did not bring a single registration for 3 months. Eventually, checks started coming in regularly from that product. Late breaking news: Some shareware authors report good and relatively fast results by uploading their programs to several major BBSs (electronic Bulletin Board Services). Of course, the big national ones like CompuServe, Genie, Delphi, and America On-line are the best. A company called Megapost offers this service for you. For approximately $90 per 100 kilobytes, they will upload your shareware to many of the big BBSs. You can write to them for more information: MEGAPOST c/o Andrew M Saucci, Jr. 641 Koelbel Ct. Baldwin, NY 11510-3915 Of the big boards, CompuServe is probably the biggest. An account now costs only $7.95 per month and includes unlimited access time. However, many services are at extra cost. One of these services is uploading files. The cost is $12.40 per hour if you have a 2400 bps modem, but it seems well worth it. CompuServe customers download our programs at the rate of several hundred users per month! HERE ARE SOME THINGS THAT NEED DOING: Tutorials in playing all standard musical instruments. How about a tutorial in reading sheet music? Illustrated, disk-based cook books are sure to be a hit. Car repair manuals. All aspects of home sewing. All crafts and hobbies. Of course, the first few people who put art, drawing, or cartooning lessons on a disk will do quite well! Anyone want to tackle the subject of television repair? How about computer repair? Or how about a general course in electronics? Chemistry? Biology? Anatomy? Herbal medicine? How about making a clip-arts and clip-sounds library for use with The Multimedia Workshop, as a separate and independent shareware release? An illustrated separate, independent tutorial on the use of The Multimedia Workshop. Probably just about anyone can write something better than this text-only manual you are presently reading! PITCH We have a disk-based book about shareware marketing. It covers all the inside tricks and successful design, mailing, advertising and registration strategies that I have learned through personal experience, plus considerable research of the results gained by many other shareware authors. It uncovers all sorts of important information ranging from toll-free 800 phone numbers to registration delay screens, to bulk mailing rates. Also, a thorough study of what works and what doesn't. Plus a chart of 10,000 shareware disks sold, broken down into categories to illustrate what topics the American public is interested in. It is called SUCCESS WITH SHAREWARE. You can succeed without Success With Shareware, but why learn the hard way, the costly way, the time-consuming way, when you can have your own copy of SUCCESS WITH SHAREWARE for $29.95?! To get your copy: Send $29.95 plus $3 postage (Canada - $5, Overseas - $7) to: SOFTWARE EXCITEMENT! 1475 Crater Lake Hwy Central Point, OR 97502 USA Or phone them at 1-800-444-5457 or 503-826-8082 (Works in any IBM-compatible computer) (Please specify if you need 3.5" disk size) And of course, there are other marketing strategies besides shareware. You can sell your disks directly to retail stores, you can advertise through the mail, you can teach courses or workshops and sell your disks to your students. My own favorite way is shareware, however, because in terms of numbers of people who can gain from your work, nothing else comes close. Sure, by direct sales you might sell thousands of copies, but your shareware product will be seen by a million people! The point is this: Why keep what you know bottled up inside yourself, or teach it to a handful of students? Why work very hard to write a manuscript only in hopes that you can interest a publisher, and then hope the editor doesn't trim it to pieces? Through shareware, your story WILL be told, and it will be told YOUR way to a huge audience! _____________________________________________________________ end of chapter