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████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
USING THE SHAREWARE MAILING LIST DATABASE
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Please read this ENTIRE file prior to using the database mailing
list file, DATABASE.EXE. This tutorial will provide basic
information and some clever tips you may find useful.
The database file supplied with this package (DATABASE.EXE) is
updated FREQUENTLY by the author. Register to receive the LATEST
disk prior to beginning your mailing campaign. Shareware
distributors, computer clubs and BBS systems change addresses
and phone numbers rapidly! You can thus avoid a large number of
returned envelopes and out of date information! On average, I
find more than 130 entries added/changed every few weeks! Many
clubs and distributors call me or send postcards with updates as
they move or change telephone numbers. Several software authors
who initially decided to use an old copy of this package without
first registering and receiving an update disk have told me they
wasted more postage expense on old addresses than the low
initial registration cost of this package. Please support the
shareware concept!
The database mailing list is supplied in a self-extracting file.
The file supplied, DATABASE.EXE, will unpack to produce a dBase
III format file. The file is large and is best unpacked onto a
hard drive. To unpack the file, once you have safely copied it
onto your hard drive into the same subdirectory or area as your
database, simply execute the command:
C>DATABASE <then press return>
produces dBase format file: DATABASE.DBF
A companion file, DATABAS2.EXE, is a self-extracting file of
UNDELIVERABLE AND INACTIVE ADDRESSES. Useful for maintaining
custom mailing lists and deleting inactive addresses. This list
is compiled from lists of business closures and returned mail
from postal authorities. Unpack this list with the command:
C>DATABAS2 <then press return>
produces the dBase format file: DATABAS2.DBF
For those wishing the mailing list information in other formats
such as ASCII or other groupings (e.g., separate lists of clubs,
vendors, etc. OR smaller database listings suitable for floppy
based systems,) please refer to the custom database preparation
and price list at the end of this section.
The file has "live data" already inserted and ready for you to
import into your database. The data consists of lists of
computer clubs which maintain shareware libraries, commercial
shareware distributors and BBS systems. The list of
organizations within the database is the "target audience" for
your software mailing or BBS upload campaign. The primary
database is retained in Borland's Reflex V2.0 (tm) which can
export to MANY popular formats as well as dBase III.
You should have a database product to use this data. This
package contains a dBase III file which can be loaded into
products such as dBase, PC-File, Wampum, Rbase, Reflex and other
popular database packages which accept or translate and import a
dBase III file. A hard drive is suggested, but the author can
supply the file in smaller portions suitable for floppy drive
systems. If you do not use or understand database software, I
can make available small, simple packages which allow you to use
the data with Wordperfect (tm), or popup the data for editing
and printing (see file GOODIES.TXT on this disk.) Alternatively
I can print labels for you or prepare a simple ASCII file (see
file REGISTER.TXT on this disk.) Write the author of this
package if you need an unusual format or prefer an ASCII text
file version which can also be imported into many database
products. For those not having a hard drive, a special "multi-
part" database file is available which can be used with floppy
systems.
Also see the special note regarding a bug or problem within PC-
File when using the SMS database! This special information is
contained at the end of this file!
The shareware database program PC-FILE (tm) offers a mailing
label generator and may be attractive if you have not as yet
selected a database package. The label generator within PC-FILE
is a separate file (PCLABEL.EXE), use the command C>PCLABEL
<then press return/enter key>. The label generator is discussed
in detail within the PC-FILE main program documentation. File
Express, another excellent shareware database system, is also a
good choice.
Next, let's look at an example record within the database:
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
DATABASE RECORD EXAMPLE
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
TYPE: D,K RATING: A DATE REVISED: 9/11/90
------------------------------------------------------------
COMPANY: PC-SIG FIRSTNAME: RICHARD LASTNAME: PETERSEN
ADDRESS: 1030D EAST DUANE AVENUE
CITY: SUNNYVALE STATE: CA ZIP: 94086 POSITION: PRESIDENT
------------------------------------------------------------
DAY TEL: BBS TEL:
FAX TEL: TOLLFREE ORDER TEL: 800/245-6717
------------------------------------------------------------
REMARKS1: One of the largest vendors.
REMARKS2: Top quality catalog, library on CD ROM.
------------------------------------------------------------
PRINT?: LABELTOP: AUTHOR SUBMISSIONS & UPDATES
AFFILIATION: ASP
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
A few field names deserve special examination. The TYPE field is
a simple entry code: D=DISK DISTRIBUTOR, F=FOREIGN DISTRIBUTOR OR
CLUB, C=COMPUTER CLUB, B=BBS SYSTEM, M=MAGAZINE OR NEWSPAPER
WRITER, E=EXECUTIVE CORPORATE SOFTWARE USER, K=KEY CONTACT,
SUPPLIER, VENDOR OR AGENT.
Note that the type field can have compound entries. Example: K,D,B
would mean a key contact who is both a distributor of disks and
also maintains a BBS.
RATING field: A = PREFERRED status. B = COMMENDABLE status.
C = PENDING FURTHER RESEARCH or AVERAGE status.
The PRINT? field can be used by yourself to mark selected
entries prior to printing. The DATE REVISED field is the date
the record was last updated or created.
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
Next follows the layout template of the database file containing
field widths, field names, types and order. This may change with
time.
Field Name Dest. Type Dest. Width
COMPANY Text 44
ADDRESS Text 50
CITY Text 30
STATE Text 43
ZIP Text 12
DATE REVISED Date 10
TYPE Text 6
RATING Text 2
LABELTOP Text 40
FIRSTNAME Text 20
LASTNAME Text 20
POSITION Text 30
DAY TEL Text 28
BBS TEL Text 19
FAX TEL Text 16
TOLLFREE ORDER Text 13
AFFILIATION Text 13
PRINT? Text 1
REMARKS1 Text 80
REMARKS2 Text 80
(end of template/layout)
My favorite use of the data fields for mailing label production
is to use the LABELTOP as the first line, COMPANY as the second
line, ADDRESS as the third, and finally CITY, STATE and ZIP on
the final line(s). Add the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME to the
LABELTOP field if you have a name in the name(s) field.
Next, a sample printout of a portion of the database file in
final mailing label format which might give you an idea of the
"live data" inside the database as well as consideration of the
final mailing label format:
AUTHOR SUBMISSIONS & UPDATES
COMPUTER HUT
1825-F1 TAMIAMI TR.
PORT CHARLOTTE FL
33948
SHAREWARE LIBRARY SUBMISSION
FOG
POB 3474
DALY CITY CA
94015
SHAREWARE LIBRARY SUBMISSION
CAPITOL PC USERS GROUP
4520 EAST-WEST HWY, STE 550
BETHESDA MD
20814
AUTHOR SUBMISSIONS & UPDATES
PC ARCADE
276 MOREHOUSE RD.
EASTON CT
06612
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
MARKETING AND TARGETED USE OF THE DATABASE
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Just as there are many different types of shareware packages and
authors, there are many ways of using the database mailing list.
Prior to printing mailing labels you might wish to sort the
database by type or by rating to examine the data for
interesting trends.
Some authors may prefer to sort the database by RATING and mail
exclusively to the "A" rated vendors or BOTH the "A" and "B"
rated vendors. This can be EXTREMELY EFFECTIVE. You could mail
to only "A" rated distributors but not computer clubs to save
postage.
You might also wish to sort by the type code which will allow
you to separate out certain classes of vendors for
consideration. This is very useful to allow you to mail your
software to only computer clubs or distributors, if you wish.
Other shareware authors may wish to mail only to vendors within
their state or possibly only computer clubs.
If you are on a tight budget, I might suggest mailing to only
the ASP disk vendors (sort or search on the affiliation field in
the database.) This will narrow your mailing down to some the
the largest, if not most reputable vendors.
Other unusual mailings might involve sorting mailing labels by
zip code or by state. Yet another way to use the database is to
import the list and then ADD additional custom fields yourself
to track response time by the distributor, date you mailed your
shareware, name of key contact person or even a tracking field
to show you which distributor has higher registration response
for your package judging by registrations from that state, city
or county.
Some shareware authors may wish to add field(s) describing
particular distributor specialization (e.g., bible shareware,
graphics images or application packages.)
I have carefully added a field showing the date the database
entry was revised or listed in the database, so if you wish to
examine or append the latest updates to the list, sort on the
date field and you will locate the latest revisions which need
to be added to your list. Most database products will let you
append a similar file to an existing file. Thus you may add
newer entries to your list or start over with the newer, revised
list from my quarterly update. If an entry has a new phone number,
rating or other update, the date field will be changed in my master
listing so you can always spot changes by sorting on the date field!
A common question I receive from SMS users is how to determine
what listings have changed and how to merge new information,
such as a later update of the SMS mailing list, with older SMS
mailing lists. 1) Backup both lists onto spare diskettes for
safety 2) Sort OLD list on the date revised field 3) note on a
piece of paper the LATEST date of revision within the old list
(e.g., June 5, 1990) 4) Sort the NEW list on date of revision
5) within the NEW list, delete or filter out all records which
are PRIOR to the target date derived from the old list (e.g.,
June 5, 1990). 6) You now have a subset of NEW list which
represents updates which you can study or 7) merge with the old
list and then 8) delete duplicate records brought about by the
merge. By the way, be sure you do not accidentally merge a good
mailing list with the special list of UNDELIVERABLE addresses
(i.e., DATABAS2.EXE).
As a cost saving note, consider printing your mailing labels
on ordinary paper, two or three labels wide, cutting them out
with a paper cutter and attaching them to your disk mailers
with a glue stick. For small mailings, this isn't terribly
tedious and will save you money compared to purchasing gummed
labels.
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
ABOUT THE DATABASE RATING SYSTEM
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The rating system for each entry in the database listing is very
simple to sort, use and understand in maintaining your direct
mail campaign. Each entry receives a rating of A, B or C. A
rating of A is PREFERRED status. A rating of B is COMMENDABLE
status. A rating of C is ACCEPTABLE status or PENDING FURTHER
RESEARCH. Affiliation with a professional group if noted means
membership in the ASP (Association of Shareware Professionals
(tm) or other trade group as noted.
Ratings of shareware distributors are based on a variety of
factors in approximately the following priority (highest to
lowest): evidence of registration volume, evidence of customer
volume, volume of direct mail and national magazine advertising,
quality and size of catalog, degree of feedback and support to
AUTHORS, years in business, professional trade affiliations,
telephone support, multiple offices/sales locations, BBS support,
promptness of shipments, refund policy, reporting of sales volumes
to authors and other criteria. I also consider requests by vendors
for extreme discounts on registered packages and overt requests
for advertising revenues or other solicitations of money or
exclusive distribution rights from authors by a vendor as negative
factors.
In general a high rating may indicate a high volume of customers
and thus a more attractive distributor to whom a shareware
author might wish to submit software. The rating does not in any
way provide an endorsement and as such is is offered only as a
SUGGESTION. The purpose of this software package is to serve
shareware authors as a primary concern. If a rating does not
seem appropriate, contact SMS.
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
INVITATION TO DISTRIBUTORS AND COMPUTER CLUBS
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A listing in the main database should ensure you will receive
frequent mailings and updates of shareware - a good thing in our
relatively young industry. Please submit update information if
you move, change telephone numbers or cease business.
Unlisted distributors and clubs are encouraged to submit a
catalog or newsletter and detailed letter ON DISK (ASCII format)
explaining helpful evaluation factors if they wish to be added
to or revised in the database. The reason I would like the
detailed letter on disk is that I may insert those comments
directly into the remarks field of the database if I determine
this is helpful to shareware authors.
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
CUSTOM SERVICES
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Most folks who use a database should be able to convert the SMS
dBase file to other formats, export the file, search for certain
record types, print into paper labels ready to use, etc. However
some folks need a little extra service and would like the main
mailing list file in a different format. Prices for these
conversion services follow. Shipping included. Washington
residents add 8.2% sales tax. Prices assume 5 1/4 diskettes.
Other size diskettes available. You MUST first be a registered
user or subscriber to the main SMS program and have paid a
registration or subscription fee to be eligible for these
services. Also consider some of the simple database products
listed in the SMS file GOODIES.TXT if you want to use the mailing
list and would like to try software products which will let you
sort, search and print mailing labels from the SMS database file
in the current dBase III format.
Price list follows:
SMS conversion: change SMS mailing list DBF format to ASCII file
or other format such as Paradox, Lotus, Reflex, etc. $20
Selective export: Provide customer a file containing ONLY certain
criteria (e.g., just the clubs or just the distributors who are
A and B rating). ASCII or DBF format. $30
Split file by type: Customer needs a file of just clubs, another
file of just distributors, etc. Final format ASCII or DBF. $30
Split file for floppy systems: for easy use by computer which
does NOT have a hard drive. Final format DBF or ASCII $30
████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████
PC-FILE BUG REPORT!
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Lately I have received a few comments about an apparent
incompatibility of the SMS dBase format mailing list with PC-
File 5.01 from Buttonware. Sure enough, when you load in the SMS
mailing list, an automatically created "header file" or HDB file
is incorrectly generated due to some unknown bug in PC-File. On
the screen several fields of information are "overwritten" by
other fields. The data is there, it just will not display
properly.
The SMS dBase file imports to most other packages fine, but PC-
File requires an HDB file to layout the screen and a few other
functions. The records are intact, because if you switch to
list/browsing view you can see all of the company names,
addresses and so forth. You can either try the simple repair
outlined below or contact SMS for a correct copy of the HDB file
(available to registered SMS registrants and subscribers.) I
can't fix the bug in PC-File, but I can provide a correct header
and the following instruction so that problems disappear.
Here is how to fix the the problem with PC-File when importing
the SMS database. Load the SMS file DATABASE.DBF into PC-File DB.
The program will ask for an index field so it can generate an
alphabetically sorted NDX file - most users decide to select
the SMS field "Company." The program will proceed to generate an
NDX file and an INCORRECT header HDB file usually called
DATABASE.HDB. This process is called "adopting" by PC-File.
Now, load the incorrect DATABASE.HDB file into any ASCII text
editor or word processor in PURE ASCII MODE and notice the lines
at the BOTTOM of the HDB file which I have marked as errors due
to a bug in PC-File. The error lines represent the row and
column location for display of the Remarks1 and Remarks2 fields.
NREMARKS1
TC
L80
IN
R3 ---- error!
C53 ---- error!
V65
NREMARKS2
TC
L80
IN
R4 ---- error!
C53 ---- error!
V65
Zend
Next the repair operation: Using your ASCII text editor, change
the lines to the correct display location using my notes below
which adjust the row and column display values of the HDB file.
When you are finished, save the corrected HDB file, remove the
bad one (if it remains) and restart PC-File and load in the SMS
database mailing list. The corrected HDB file will provide
proper screen display information!
NREMARKS1
TC
L80
IN
R21 ----- New, correct value
C14 ----- New, correct value
V65
NREMARKS2
TC
L80
IN
R22 ----- New, correct value
C14 ----- New, correct value
V65
Zend
If you are curious about more information concerning how the HDB
file is used and other adjustments you can make, use the special
program contained with PC-File called DPRPT.EXE which generates
a report and provides clues about HDB file layout. Here is a
typical DPRPT report display which shows you how the HDB file is
used by the SMS database and PC-File. You can easily determine
the values of the HDB file.
PC-FILE DATABASE DESCRIPTION
Printed Wed Jan 08 08:38:30 1992
Database: C:\TEMP\DATABASE
Description: Adopted dBASE file
Next UNIQUE number will be: 1
FIELD NAME TYPE LENGTH DEC INDEX ROW COLUMN WINDOW
---------- ---- ------ --- ----- --- ------ ------
1. COMPANY C 41 A 3 14
2. ADDRESS C 50 4 14
3. CITY C 30 5 14
4. STATE C 30 6 14
5. ZIP C 12 7 14
6. DATE_REVIS D 8 8 14
Mask :09// :
7. TYPE C 1 9 14
8. RATING C 2 10 14
9. LABELTOP C 40 11 14
10. FIRSTNAME C 20 12 14
11. LASTNAME C 20 13 14
12. POSITION C 30 14 14
13. DAY_TEL C 28 15 14
14. BBS_TEL C 19 16 14
15. FAX_TEL C 15 17 14
16. TOLLFREE_O C 13 18 14
17. AFFILIATIO C 13 19 14
18. PRINT_ C 1 20 14
19. REMARKS1 C 80 3 53 65
20. REMARKS2 C 80 4 53 65