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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>