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┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ 1992 SHAREWARE AUTHOR SURVEY │ │ by Steven Hudgik │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ ┌───────────────────────────────────────┐ │ This survey is copyrighted. We grant │ │ permission for information from this │ │ survey to be quoted, provided it is │ │ identified as coming from the Home- │ │ Craft 1992 Shareware Vendor Survey. │ │ Larger sections and complete tables │ │ may be reprinted with the written │ │ permission of the author. │ └───────────────────────────────────────┘ In 1991 and early 1992 we saw the continuation of a long term recession in the U.S. However many people were saying the shareware industry was recession proof. During that time the number of shareware programs keep increasing at a faster rate. The number of disk vendors also increased dramatically. The theory was that users needed to find low cost alternatives to expensive retail programs and would be flocking to shareware as the best way to get quality software at a reasonable price. So how is the shareware industry doing? Did the recession affect shareware authors? Can you still make money as a shareware author? During February and March of 1992 I conducted my second comprehensive survey of shareware authors (the first was done at the end of 1990). The results showed that, yes, you can make money as a shareware author and, in fact, there are some spectacular success stories. The shareware industry is alive, healthy and growing! In reading this summary please keep in mind that the bottom line rule for success in any business, is that you need to listen to your market - listen to what your users and potential users are saying. The information compiled here can serve as a general guideline or be used to give you a starting point. However, do not take the information summarized here as representing hard and fast rules. Keep in mind that the #1 rule for success in shareware is that you need to produce a quality program that people find useful. If you're familiar with the Rush Linbaugh school of business then you know that the entire course in how to be successful in business is: "Make something people want to buy." He's right! If you are not doing that it does not matter what registration incentives you offer; how you price your product; or how many disk vendors and BBSs post your software. The 1992 survey not only looked at how well authors were doing financially, it attempted to quantify the things successful authors do that make them successful. What types of registration incentives do most authors offer? What is the average registration fee charged for different types of software? How are bug fixes handled? How is technical support handled? And what books and magazines do authors read to learn how to improve their business? The 1992 survey was mailed to 1800 shareware authors and responses were received from 174. This compares with 812 surveys mailed in 1990 with 227 authors responding. The different response rates may be a result of my including postage paid return envelopes in 1990. Due to a limited budget I was not able to do that in 1992. This survey is funded solely with my person funds and I get no income from it. Thus the available funds do limit what can be done. A third survey is planned for late in 1993 and I am hoping to include postage paid return envelopes to try and increase the response. Please note that the numbers given in the tables summarizing the survey results may not always add up to what appears to be the correct total. Some authors were not always consistent in how they answered questions and some authors did not answer all of the questions. Two of the 174 surveys are not included in the results summarized here because the answers on those surveys were so inconsistent that they made no sense. We have divided how the results are shown based on author annual sales. Assuming authors with the greater sales are "doing the right things" we can look at the differences between how the various groups of authors run their business. However, keep in mind that shareware is not like any other business. There are many shareware authors who are not trying to run a high dollar volume business. They enjoy writing software and, if they can make a few dollars from it, they are happy. This type of author is just as successful as the author who builds a $1,000,000 company. They are both doing what they enjoy and are happy with what they are doing. That's what's so great about shareware! You can run your business any way you want. AUTHOR GROUPS Here's how the responses are divided based on annual sales. I've included the figures for both the 1990 survey and I've also shown the percentage of authors who are currently ASP members: 1992 1990 ASP Group 1 - Over $50,000 in annual sales 20 20 70% Group 2 - $10,000 to $49,999 annual sales 30 32 50% Group 3 - $2,000 to $9,999 annual sales 39 85 56% Group 4 - $0 to $1,999 annual sales 65 63 26% Group 5 - did not report annual sales 18 27 39% As you can see the biggest drop in responses came from authors receiving $2,000 to $9,999 in registrations. The survey results, however, do not show any significant differences that would account for why fewer authors in this group responded. Although I did notice that a couple of the authors who were in Group 3 in 1990 have now moved up into Group 1. (Congratulations!) REGISTRATION PRICES The following chart summarizes the average registration fee charged for different categories of software. Comparing 1990 and 1992: overall there has been a slight drop in the average registration fee authors are charging. However, the change I found the most interesting is the significant increase in the number of programs targeted at the home user market. In 1990 there were 17 programs reported as being designed for the home market. In 1992 that had doubled to 37 programs. This was the only market segment in which there was a significant increase. Here's a summary of the registration fees authors were charging in 1992: (Note: I am sorry but due to space limitations I can only provide a summary of the major differences between the 1990 and 1992 surveys. The complete 1990 survey results are summarized in the book Writing & Marketing Shareware published by Windcrest/McGraw- Hill). Areas where there was not a large enough response to provide reliable numbers are indicated by the letters NA). In the section listing specific types of software the number in parenthesis is the number of programs offered. The second number is the average registration fee. The number in the far right column (+/-) shows the change in total number of programs offered since the 1990 survey. Please keep in mind that fewer authors responded in 1992, so it would be expected that there will be few programs reported in each category. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 # programs 52 66 67 91 39 Avg. 1992 Registration $55.53 $54.28 $35.58 $28.19 $37.62 Avg. 1990 Registration $58.50 $57.50 $40.50 $26.20 $59.40 Avg. # Registrations 6,678 777 195 47* NA Per Program # Years Since First Program 4.5 3.9 3.4 2.2 NA Was Released __Type Software__ Business (13) (16) (15) (15) (2) -24 $69.76 $117.10 $42.37 $41.58 $35.00 Utility (6) (5) (17) (17) (11) -2 $51.65 $31.69 $34.29 $24.94 $36.90 Games (6) (4) (2) (6) (3) -13 $22.50 $16.25 $20.00 $10.62 $25.00 Communications (1) (1) (1) (2) (4) 0 $151.00 $45.00 $45.00 $45.00 $17.87 Programming (0) (6) (6) (6) (5) 0 NA $30.49 $37.00 $31.67 $37.80 Word Proc. (5) (2) (0) (2) (1) -2 $83.39 $20.00 NA $20.00 $39.00 Spreadsheet (5) (0) (0) (0) (0) +1 $64.90 NA NA NA NA Data Base (2) (3) (0) (6) (0) -13 $69.00 $31.00 NA $24.82 NA Graphics (0) (4) (0) (1) (0) -7 NA $38.75 NA $19.95 NA Educational (5) (6) (4) (10) (6) -10 $27.80 $17.67 $17.25 $19.19 $37.97 Home (5) (12) (7) (11) (2) +20 $38.74 $32.50 $27.71 $27.27 $11.95 Fonts (3) (0) (0) (0) (0) +3 $39.53 NA NA NA NA Clip Art (0) (3) (2) (0) (0) +5 NA $7.33 $29.95 NA NA Desktop Pub. (0) (1) (0) (0) (0) +1 NA NA NA NA NA Windows (3) (2) (6) (3) (1) NA $59.95 $44.97 $18.67 $38.67 $20.00 It was interesting to note in our 1990 survey of disk vendors one of the areas identified as having great potential was desktop publishing. The 1992 survey showed no significant desktop publishing software. Windows has also been identified as an area with a big potential and the 1992 survey showed that 15 of the 315 programs are windows programs. (The 1990 survey did not ask about Windows versions). * Looking at the "average # of registrations per program" line for Group 4: I have not included the registrations reported by one of the authors. That author reported a total of 15,000 registrations, which would increase the average to 217. However, that author reported very few sales in 1992. Thus this is a program that was once very successful, but its popularity has declined dramatically and thus it does not reflect current trends. (It is an Apple II program). REGISTRATION INCENTIVES What do most authors provide as registration incentives? There are no major differences between the responses in 1990 and 1992. The number of authors offering commissions to registered users who get other users to register has dropped from 10 in 1990 to 5 authors in 1992. In 1990 there were 3 authors in Group One who offered commissions. This year none of the authors in group one pay commissions. The other interesting change is that more authors are now including quick reference cards with their registered versions. In 1990 seven authors offered quick reference cards. In 1992 there are 19 authors offering quick reference cards. The most frequently offered incentive continues to be the current version of the software and free technical support. In Group One 75% of the authors also provide a printed manual. This is a much higher percentage than in any other group. This same trend was present in the 1990 survey. Here's a summary of what was reported on the 1992 author survey. The numbers show the number of authors who said they offered a particular registration incentive. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Printed Manual 15 11 9 13 7 Photocopied Manual 2 8 11 24 3 Current Version 20 23 29 52 17 Source Code 1 3 6 1 1 Free Updates 4 7 11 21 1 Commissions 0 2 2 1 0 Phone Support 16 22 27 40 12 Support Via Mail 19 20 25 49 12 Quick Ref. Card 4 2 4 5 4 Free Newsletter 7 5 3 4 3 Other 6 8 8 11 4 Some of the responses included in the "other" category were" - Discounts on upgrades. - Compuserve kit and evaluation copies of other software. - Technical support via Compuserve. - Sequels to the shareware version. - Free support via BBS - Hints, maps and game solutions. - 20% discount on other products - Ball point pen with logo. - On disk users manual Most of the authors who reported providing free updates said only one update (the next update issued) was provided free. Two authors reported providing unlimited free updates for a year. There was a second question, related to registration incentives, which attempted to look at this area from a different angle. This question asked: "Which of the following incentives do you provide to encourage users to register?" There were six choices which could be checked. The following table shows the number of authors who checked each choice. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 A New Copy Of The Software That Does 10 23 25 29 6 Not Display Shareware Messages A New Copy That Provides Additional 5 8 7 14 8 Features Discounts On Purchasing 6 8 7 10 4 Other Programs Make Available Other Software Not Available 5 6 4 9 7 As Shareware The Shareware Ver- sion Is Limited. The User Gets 0 5 0 8 1 A Registered Version That Has No Limits. Other 6 10 10 16 4 Most of the authors that checked the "Other" box described incentives included on the previous list such as a printed manual, free support and a newsletter. A couple of the unique registration incentives described here include: -- "There's a "mystery disk" offer. The user writes "mystery disk" on the registration form and gets a free additional program." -- "A registration number that removes the shareware "nag" screen." Many authors design their software so a registration code that will turn off the nag screen can be entered by the user. When someone calls to register as a user, the author provides them with a unique code that, when entered, eliminates the shareware messages produced by the software. This allows the user to immediately have a registered version without the author having to mail them a new disk. -- "I trust the user." This is an excellent comment. One of the best incentives is an intangible - showing you trust the user. How do you feel about buying something from someone who does not trust you? Generally we do not trust someone who does not trust us. The same is true with shareware. If you tell the user you don't trust them - by providing crippled shareware or including onerous terms and conditions - they are less likely to feel like they should pay for using your software. TECHNICAL SUPPORT We asked authors about their technical support policy and how they provided technical support. The 1992 survey showed that authors are starting to use 900 numbers to provide support. In 1990 no authors reporting using a 900 number. In 1992 there are six authors using a 900 number. The number of authors using 800 numbers increased slightly from seven in 1990 to nine in 1992. The following chart shows the number of authors who use a particular method to provide technical support. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 800 Number 2 4 2 0 1 900 Number 4 1 0 0 1 Conventional Phone 14 21 26 33 14 By Mail Only 5 6 7 9 1 Other 6 5 4 7 2 In most cases authors provide support for anyone who calls. Here are number of "yes" responses to a question asking whether is support given to anyone or just to registered users. Anyone 10 26 26 42 13 Only Registered 3 2 7 9 4 Users AUTHOR BBSs We also asked authors whether they ran a BBS and, if so, what benefits did it provide. 15% of the authors responding to the survey said they run a BBS. In most cases a BBS was seen as beneficial for providing user support, providing updates to users and for getting feedback from users. Here's a summary of the answers to this question. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Total # Of Authors Run- 8 9 3 3 3 ning A BBS Reasons For Running A BBS: Provide Support 8 8 2 1 3 Provide Updates 8 8 3 1 2 Get Feedback 8 8 1 1 3 Beta Testing 3 7 1 0 2 It's Fun 2 4 0 2 1 Other 3 4 0 0 1 Some of the "Other" reasons authors gave for having a BBS include: -- "Take credit card orders." -- "Advertising, public relations and for echo mail." -- "To answer sales questions." -- "To exchange genealogy information." -- "To announce updates." RESPONDING TO BUGS We asked authors how they handled fixing bugs. We asked them whether bug fixes were automatically sent to every user, to just those users who complained or whether the author waited till the next update to fix a bug. Most authors said they only send bug fixes to users who complained about the bug. Many authors also said that minor bug fixes would be sent with the next update, but that more significant bug fixes would be sent to anyone who complains. A few authors also said that if the bug was very serious, they would send a new disk to all users. Here's a summary of how authors get bug fixes to users: Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Send Free Updates To 4 4 6 12 4 Everyone Send Free Updates To Registered 2 7 5 5 2 Users Only Send An Update To Users Who 16 19 20 30 9 Complain Wait Until The Next Update Is 11 21 21 38 13 Sent Out COST OF UPDATES & UPGRADES Once a user has registered a program some authors continue to have a significant level of sales resulting from upgrades. This is important to both the user and the author. The sale of upgrades has become a significant part of many author's income. This provides a high level of motivation for the author to continue to work to improve the software and create upgrades that users feel are worthwhile and which they want to buy. As a result the user has continued access to software providing the latest technology and features. User's don't like being asked to purchase an upgrade every few months. And, if users feel they are paying too much for upgrades, they will eventually switch to another program. So how often should an author release an upgrade and what should the cost of the upgrade be? Part of the 1992 survey was designed to answer these questions. The following table shows the average cost of an upgrade as a percentage of the original registration cost. Please keep in mind that the percentage you charge should take into consideration the amount of the registration fee. If your program sells for $10.00, it does not make sense to charge $3.40 for an upgrade - in fact you might want to charge the full $10 registration fee for the upgraded version. We also asked authors whether they treat major and minor upgrades differently, and the answer was yes, they do. For example, authors generally charge more for upgrades that include a new manual vs. upgrades that come on a single disk. Here are the results of our questions concerning software upgrades. The number for the frequency of upgrades shows the number of months between upgrade offers sent to users. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Cost Of The Upgrade As A % Of The 34% 27% 40% 44% 29% Registration Cost How frequently are upgrades offered to 15 7 7.8 8.9 6.1 users (months) SHAREWARE DISK VENDORS My 1990 survey showed that only the most successful authors, those in Group One, sent disks to more than a 100 vendors. In 1990 the Group One authors sent their disks to an average of 268 vendors. During 1990 authors in groups 2,3 and 4 sent disks to a combined average of 65 vendors. The 1992 survey shows that this situation has changed dramatically. While the number for Group One authors has increased slightly to 286, authors in groups two and three are coming close to averaging 200 vendors. One factor that affects this is that many authors reported they are using the ASP disk mailing service and they report they are reaching 250-300 vendors via this service. This service is available to ASP members and it provides a way for the costs of mailing disks to vendors and BBSs to be shared among a large group of authors. On the average authors send updated disks to vendors about twice a year. Here's a summary of the average number of vendors authors mail disks to and how frequently they send updates to shareware disk vendors. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 # of Share- ware vendors 286 177 200 83 228 # of times per year disks are sent to 2.2 1.8 1.8 1.2 1.4 vendors We also asked whether authors upload or send their shareware to BBSs. The trend seems to be away from uploading software and toward mailing disks to BBSs. Although shareware disks for BBSs may need to be different than those sent to vendors (see the question and answer section) authors are finding it both cheaper and more convenient to mail disks to BBSs. The following table shows the number of authors who upload or mail their shareware to BBSs and the number of BBS to which they upload or mail disks. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 # Authors Who Upload To BBSs 14 23 23 39 14 (Or Mail Disks) Avg. # Of BBSs 22.6 61.3 57 12.4 43.6 We also asked authors whether they provided copies of their software directly to users. In 1990 40% of the authors said they sold or gave disks directly to users. The average price authors charged for a copy of their shareware was $5.00 per disk. In 1992 the percentage of authors willing to provide copies of shareware directly to their users increased to 90% with the average price falling to the $3.50 per disk range. In addition, in 1990 a large number of authors gave away their disks for free, to anyone who asked for one. Authors in Group 3, in particular, gave away free copies of their shareware. In 1992 less than 10% of the authors reported that they gave away free copies of their shareware. The following is a summary of the answers to our question about providing disks directly to users: Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 # Of Authors Who Provide Shareware 16 28 30 49 15 Disks To Users Average Price $6.08 $2.57 $3.77 $3.22 $2.90 Per Disk HOW LONG DOES IT TAKE? Once you send a new disk to vendors and BBSs, how long does it take to start receiving registrations (assuming you've got a good program that people find useful)? Our 1992 survey shows that, in general, it will take a minimum of 4 to 6 months. Some vendors will get your software into their catalogs within a week or two. Others, mostly the big name major vendors, may take 4 to 6 months to evaluate your software and place it in their catalogs. If your software is easily distributed via BBSs, it can reach users within days. The amount of time also varies depending on which of our five groups your company fits into. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 Avg. Time Between Issuing A Program And Starting To 16.5 20.9 28.3 28.4 15.6 Receive Registrations (weeks) It makes sense that authors in groups one and two start receiving registrations quicker. They have name recognition with both vendors and users. This helps their software to get evaluated sooner and users are more likely to try a program whose name they recognize. ADVERTISING Should you purchase advertising for your software? We asked authors who have used advertising to rate whether or not it was worth the cost. In general advertising is given very low ratings. The only form of advertising that got a average rating above 5 (on a scale of 1 to 10) was direct marketing. Advertising in specialty magazines was rated second with a 4.5 overall rating. Direct marketing is any method of selling in which you sell directly to the user, generally by mailing something to them. (Telephone selling is also direct marketing, but it is not a method used for selling software). The most frequent use of direct marketing is by authors who are announcing and selling software upgrades. Whether you are using a newsletter, postcard or a brochure, this is the most effective means to reach and sell to your existing users. That's why direct marketing received such a high rating as an effective means of advertising. There is another definition I should provide. Specialty publications are those magazines, newsletters, etc. which are targeted to a specific, noncomputer oriented market. For example, I sell software for cataloging music collections. I advertise in publications such as CD Review, DISCoveries and the Secret Guide To Music. All of these are specialty publications aimed at people who are interested in music. The following table shows, based on a scale of 1 to 10, how authors rate the effectiveness of advertising using various media and types of publications. A rating of 10 is the best rating possible and 1 the worst. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 General Effectiveness 3.00 2.57 1.33 4.66 2.83 ================================================================== Computer Magazines 2.83 2.71 5.00 2.00 2.00 Shareware Magazines 4.00 2.20 2.00 NA 3.00 Specialty Magazines 5.00 3.12 6.00 4.33 4.00 User Group Newsletters 3.33 1.00 NA NA NA Disk Vendor Catalogs 3.00 8.00 NA NA 1.33 Card Decks 2.00 2.35 1.00 NA 1.00 Direct Marketing 7.37 6.50 5.00 NA 5.80 Other NA NA NA 1.00 NA In a follow-up question concerning advertising we asked authors who had used direct marketing to describe where they got their mailing lists. The number one response was that the mailing list was an "In House List." This could be, for example, a list of registered users or possibly people who have requested information. A total of 24 authors answered this question and they mentioned 53 different sources of mailing lists. The following lists includes sources of mailing lists that were mentioned more than once. The number in the right hand column shows how many authors mentioned each source of mailing lists. In House List 15 ASP (Comdex & NY PC Expo Lists) 07 List Broker 06 Other Authors 06 $hareware Marketing $ystem 03 Phone Books 03 Trade Magazines 03 Bingo Cards 02 PC Magazine 02 PC World 02 The following table summarizes the number of authors in each group who have used direct marketing. Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 # Authors Using 14 12 14 12 8 Direct Marketing PRESS RELEASES The best advertising is free advertising. The way to get free advertising is to send out press releases. No one is going to tell the press about your software unless you do it! Both the 1990 and 1992 surveys showed that most authors do not send out press releases. Here's a summary of the 1992 results: Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Group 5 # Authors Who Send Out 13 8 9 16 8 Press Releases Avg. # Of Press Releases 192 12.7 131* 62.8 16.9 Per Mailing * The average number of press releases sent out by the authors in Group 3 was significantly effected by one author who reported mailing 800 press releases at a time. If this author's press releases are taken out of the calculation, the average number drops to 48.4 for Group 3. AUTHOR RESOURCES What resources and software do authors use to help them with their business? Here are the questions the 1992 survey asked and a summary of the responses. 1) What shareware programs do you use in your business? A total of 121 programs were mentioned. The following table lists the programs most frequently mentioned and includes those programs that were mentioned by three or more authors. The percentage shows the percent of authors who said they used this program. PKzip 31 18.0% PC Write 21 12.2% Tapcis 14 8.1% List 13 7.6% PC File 13 7.6% QEdit 13 7.6% 4 DOS 11 6.4% Procomm 11 6.4% Telix 08 4.6% CopyQM 07 4.1% $harware Marketing $ystem 06 3.5% As-Easy-AS 04 2.3% LHA 04 2.3% None 04 2.3% QModem 04 2.3% Zipkey 04 2.3% File Express 03 1.7% FormatQM 03 1.7% 1) What retail programs do you use in your business? A total of 116 programs were mentioned. The following table lists the programs most frequently mentioned and includes those programs that were mentioned by three or more authors. The percentage shows the percent of authors who said they used this program. Word Perfect 21 12.2% Turbo Pascal 12 7.0% Quatro Pro 09 5.2% DBase 08 4.6% Microsoft Word 08 4.6% Quick Basic 08 4.6% Quicken 07 4.1% Alpha 4 06 3.5% Word For Windows 06 3.5% Borland C++ 05 2.9% Borland Turbo C 05 2.9% Compuserve Information Svs. 05 2.9% Lotus 123 05 2.9% Wordstar 05 2.9% Label Pro 04 2.3% PC Tools 04 2.3% Windows (All versions) 04 2.3% Brief 03 1.7% Norton Utilities 03 1.7% ProComm 03 1.7% RBase 03 1.7% XTree 03 1.7% 3) What publications/books have you found to be useful in running your business? A total of 51 titles were mentioned. The following table lists the programs most frequently mentioned and includes those publications that were mentioned by two or more authors. The percentage shows the percent of authors who said they found a publication to be useful. Writing & Marketing Shareware (book) 29 16.8% Shareware Magazine 14 8.1% ASPects (ASP Newsletter) 04 2.3% PC Magazine 04 2.3% Computer Shopper 03 1.7% Advanced MS-DOS Programming (book) 02 1.2% Byte Magazine 02 1.2% Data Base Advisor 02 1.2% GUIDE.EXE file 02 1.2% Infoworld 02 1.2% PC Sources 02 1.2% Undocumented DOS (book) 02 1.2% ADVICE FOR AUTHORS & VENDORS The final two question of the 1992 author survey asked for advice for new shareware authors and shareware vendors. There was no real change between the advice offered in 1990 and that offered in 1992. The following provides all of the comments that were written on the survey form. These comments are provided in an unedited form, so not everything said here may be true. My comments are in parenthesis. What advice do you have for new shareware authors? - Start with a good idea and keep improving your product until you get a good response. - Think twice. - Do it for fun rather than money. The odds of making money are not good. - Join the ASP and participate in the monthly ASP mailing. - Get a good, unique idea. Develop it professionally. Join the ASP and don't cripple your software. - There's lots of hard work. Listen to your customers and be patient. - Concentrate on sales and marketing. - Go the extra mile. - Don't expect too much. - Don't quit your day job! - Have fun. - Join the ASP first of all. But _most importantly_ treat shareware as a business. You live or die by the seat of your pants in this game. The days of Jim Button have gone away. Too many authors compete now for a limited base of customers. - You had better be good. - Join the ASP and definitely get on Compuserve. - Get your program into PC-SIG, as they are the largest. Other retailers then will contact you for copies to include in their catalogs. (While PC-SIG is one of the largest and best shareware disk vendors, there are many other big disk vendors. If you wait for PC-SIG to get your disk into their catalog, and then for other disk vendors to notice it, it will be a long time before you start getting registrations. If you have a limited budget, target 10 or 15 of the largest disk vendors. These include companies such as The Software Labs, Public Brand Software, Reasonable Solutions and Software Excitement. You can find addresses for the larger vendors by looking for advertisements in magazines and card decks). - Find a market niche. - Don't join the ASP! - Don't quit that day job yet! - Don't expect a lot of money quickly. - Sales grow exponentially for the first several years. - Find vertical markets. The narrower, the better. - Do it for fun rather than money. The odds of making money are not good. - Get out. - Keep improving your product until you get a good response. Start with a good idea. - IBM authors: join ASP. Use national distributors. - Don't expect quick success. - Authors should add a sales letter to their README file that points out the benefit of using each feature of the program. NEVER assume users will know how they will benefit by registering your program. YOU MUST TELL THEM! Let's say that you have another great word processor. You will need something that will set your program apart from the rest. Make comparisons, the other great word processor vs. yours. Add a survey to your order forms. Find out what programs your users want and make sure you give it to them. You must offer something FREE to motivate your users to answer your questions and it must be useful. YOU WANT REPEAT USERS NOT ONE SHOT DEALS! Ask questions like... What magazines do you read? From what shareware catalog did you order from and why? What kinds of software do you need? Can I write a program to make your search easier? Is the program working properly? (I would like to add to the first part of what this author has said. Putting a sales pitch in your README or documentation can be a good idea. But, if you are going to do this, keep it short. Very short. Use a couple of sentences to highlight the unique and key advantages of your software. Why is your software better than any other similar program? When someone is trying to figure out how to use a program they do not want to have to wade through page after page of sales pitch before finding the information they need. Always keep in mind that the best sales pitch you can provide is a quality program with helpful and concise documentation). - Provide an easy user interface. Original program ideas. Follow- up with users. - A comment for authors in Australia only - Don't do it! Due to a general lack of registrations. Not worth the effort financially. (I feel the same approach will work in Australia as well as the U.S. The key to remember is that there are no step-by-step instructions that work for everyone and can be followed to guarantee you'll get registrations. The one rule to remember is that, if you are not getting registrations, YOU need to do something different. Your program or the documentation may need to be improved. You may need to change your registration incentives or change the files you have on your shareware disks. Maybe you have an outstanding program, but users are never told it is shareware and they need to pay for it. Possibly users don't understand how shareware works. Possibly, if the culture you are selling to believes software should be free, you need to explore ways to offer more powerful registration incentives. The key is to find out why you are not getting registrations and that can only be done by talking to users or through trial and error. For more information about improving your shareware marketing I recommend you get a copy of Writing & Marketing Shareware by Steven Hudgik and published by Windcrest/McGraw-Hill. It should be available in most major book stores. By the way, I am not unbiased when I recommend this book - I am the author. But I can, with all modesty, say that it is the only book that provides all of the details on how to become a shareware success). - Learn marketing and have patience. - Don't reinvent the wheel. - Check the market first. - Be ready to work hard. - Be patient and don't listen to the advice most other authors give you. Everyone told Scott Miller he could never make $$ with games! (Scott Miller is the owner of Apogee Software, the publisher of the Commander Keen, Crystal Caves and Duke Nukem series of games. Apogee Software has become one of the recent big (BIG) shareware success stories. The advice to not listen to other authors is good advise from the prospective that it is your market and your users who will tell you what you need to know to become successful. Always listen to your market and users first. You can listen to what other authors tell you and get some good advice and good ideas from them. But always pay attention to whether or not that advice applies in your market). - Listen to advice from vendors and users. (I'm listing these comments in random order and I find it interesting that this comment came up when it did. It just shows how contradictory advise from other authors can be. Yet, both this comment and the previous one are correct. They are both correct because there are no absolutes. You'll get both good and bad advice from other authors. Advice that may be good for you may be wrong for someone else. Your problem is that you have to figure out what is good advice and what is not good. The only way to do that is to know your market). - Think of all the incentives you can for people to register. ie, other non-shareware programs at a discount. Join the ASP. Do your best work. Document very well. - Be patient; don't scrimp on the software or manual quality; cultivate "power users" or beta testers; act like a big company in terms of professionalism. - Join the ASP. - Have a lot of patience. - Every chance you get read something about your language and rework your code all the time! - Patience, professional-grade code, appearance and outlook; sense of fun/humor. - If its useful to you, others may want it also, so no matter how simple it may be, let the people decide if its good. - I wouldn't say I'm very successful yet, so my advice has to be somewhat suspect, but; I would say - "It takes more time and more marketing effort than you may, at first, think. Don't get discouraged." (This author may be a beginner, but the above advice is good. Typically you can expect to spend 4 out of 5 days on marketing. You may be able to spend the remaining day on writing code, if you haven't received many technical support questions). - Be patient. - Produce quality, bug free programs. - Test, test, test your program before releasing them and be very good to each person who registers. He or she is very rare and special. - Produce quality products and charge a reasonable registration fee. - If you want to make a lot of money, stay out of educational shareware. It is a labor of love. - Research the market. Be market, not product, driven. - Write a good program and it will market itself. Shareware works! - Be realistic in your expectations. Commercial software prices are falling, the shareware market is becoming saturated, and new operating systems are fragmenting users even more. - Market your product. - Get a laser printer to do press releases and disk labels. Design a logo. - Write bug-free, user friendly code and follow my EvALUEwARE approach. Don't annoy the user! - Pick a market that isn't already crowded; use testers; do your best; HAVE PATIENCE. - Determination and patience. Write quality packages. - Write things people want to buy. Be patient. - Good luck. - Make sure you provide ample registration incentives. - Provide the "full package"; examine existing software for packaging details and (especially) language used in the standard .DOC files. - Stick it out. - Before I began marketing my program via shareware I assumed success could only be measured in terms of registrations. However, I found additional benefits that augment the immediate financial returns from registrations: * Personal satisfaction and growth from completing and marketing my own program. * Ego boosting from reading favorable reviews (humbling and thought provoking when reading negative ones). * Recognition and admiration from colleagues and friends. * Successful attention grabber in a cover letter/resume. - Be professional in handling clients and absolutely honest about program limitations. - Think very hard before you write any programs. - Be patient. - Quality pays. Complete the product, don't ever ship a trial or preliminary version. Paying customers are not interested in helping you complete your software. - Don't expect too much. - Write good software. Work hard. - Persevere. - Be patient and listen to your customers. - Patience! And remember the idea is service first. If you maintain that, registrations will follow. - Spend as much time promoting your program as you do programming. - Don't be afraid to offer free evaluation copies. Be patient. Remember that a satisfied customer is paramount. - Is it good? Does it work? Is it different? Stick with it. - Write good documentation. Make programs easy to use. - Success = Quality Software + Extensive Marketing + Saturated Distribution - Produce a good product and trust people. - Hang in there. Target your market. Don't generalize in your approach. - Write detailed and thorough documentation. - To have a good quality/bug free program and distribute as far & wide as possible. - Its great as a hobby, but don't bet your mortgage on it! - I think (not yet enough personal experience) that upward mobility is certain for one who keeps writing new updates. But it is slow at first. Allow 1-3 years to make real money! - Persistence. Don't expect to get rich. You need lots of imagination and patience. - Forget it. - Find an unfilled need. - Have a README.DOC and INSTALL.EXE. Make installation obvious and quick. Have the program offer to print the REGISTER.DOC. - Be patient. Do Windows 3.0. - Don't give up your day job. - Write a product either 3X better or 1/3 the price of commercial products. - Get it into lots of boards. Create professional products. Offer service, service, service. - Quality and patience. - Be patient. - Don't set yourself up to crash and burn. Survive the first year at all cost. Even as sales are in sinkhole digits. Listen and learn from your customers. - Don't join the ASP. The benefits are minimal and you have to follow a bunch of silly rules. - Research product ideas; use good development tools; don't leave loose ends. Product must be competitive with commercial products. Be good to users. Get in some kind of support group, BBS or club. - Promote your product actively. - Do not expect to make money by following the ASP guidelines. Do not expect to generate significant income. - Patience! It takes awhile to get anywhere. - Don't place ads! - Create a quality product and listen to users. - Don't bother unless you want to do your very best. The thing to remember is that you'll compete with retail shelfware as well as other shareware. - Have another way of supporting yourself for at least a year and probably indefinitely. - Make your program user friendly. Have the program do the work, not the user. - Never have the shareware version use all the options as the registered version would have. Don't expect to make a fortune. - Remember that the program you release today will haunt you for at least five years and plan accordingly. - Be sharply focused on target market. ie. don't do a check writing program, do a check writing program for veterinarians who treat large animals. - Join the ASP. - Research the market and get an objective evaluation of their program vs. the competition. - Be patient, it takes time for your first product to saturate the market & to get a significant response. - If you enjoy programming, just keep working at it and increasing your promotional actions. My statistics are not very high, but they are rising. - It is just as hard as real work. - Spend more time on marketing. - Read and use $M$ (the $hareware Marketing $ystem). - Listen to customers. No "me too" products. Stick with it. We also asked authors what they thought vendors could do to improve. The answers to that question are in the next article. <end of article>