by Rick Holzgrafe
of
Semicolon Software
Hello! I'm Rick Holzgrafe of Semicolon Software, and I'm a shareware
author. I've been at it for over fifteen years now, and my friends all know
better than to bring the subject up: once started, I won't stop talking
about it. How to improve my products, my sales, and my reviews is a topic
of absorbing interest to me.
When I meet with other shareware authors, they're just like me. We're
all looking for ways to be more successful at shareware, and we trade our
ideas and experiences with each other. I'm going to share some of those
ideas and experiences in this article. Although this is aimed mainly at
shareware authors, you may also find it interesting if you're a shareware
customer, a commercial developer, or just curious about the process of making
and selling shareware.
I am not the world's greatest shareware success by a long chalk. But I have
been at it a long time, and my shareware income now rivals
my regular day-job income. I didn't start out that way. In the beginning
I was lucky to sell more than two copies of my first product in any given
week. Over time my business improved, and each time it did I tried to learn
from the experience: what did I do differently this time that made a difference?
I've tried to put the things I've learned into this article.
Credit where it's due: Much of the good advice in this article is not
mine. It was contributed by other shareware people: most notably Peter N
Lewis and Jeremy Nelson of Stairways
Shareware, Kee Nethery of Kagi, Tonya
Engst of TidBITS, and the authors
on the Kagi Authors mailing list. Thanks to you all, and of course any bad
advice is all mine.
The first question we've got to answer is what we mean by "success."
It can mean different things to different people. I considered myself fairly
successful several years ago, when I'd sold some 500 copies of my first
shareware product (an adventure game named Scarab
of Ra). There weren't so many shareware authors back then as there are
now, and few had bothered to write anything ambitious. At $10 per copy I
made a few thousand dollars over the course of about five years: enough
to buy some good software and even a little hardware now and again. I also
acquired a small reputation and a few nice reviews.
Right there you have several criteria for success. You can aspire to fame,
praise, and/or money. There are other possible benefits as well: by choosing
your own projects you can gain experience you wouldn't get in school or
on the job. You can make friends, which is good for pleasure and for business.
Some of the friends I've met through shareware are among the best I have;
some are not only good friends but useful people to know.
I recommend that you take a little time to decide what your own goals are.
Some people are more interested in reputation, experience, and friends than
anything else: they are the ones giving away good-quality freeware.
Most people will be interested in "all of the above," with a heavy
emphasis on making money. (You don't have to be shallow and greedy to want
to make money. No one knows better than a developer how much all this hardware
and software and time costs. Expensive hobbies are a lot easier to support
if they bring in a good income!) The rest of this article is therefore mostly
a discussion of how to increase your shareware sales. If you can do that
you'll not only make more money, but the rest of the rewards you might want
will come along with the dollars.
After some thought, I've decided that there are seven keys to shareware
success. But I call them the "Seven P's" instead of the "Seven
Keys" because -- well, you'll see. Here they are:
You'll see as we go that there's a lot more to shareware than just writing
a good piece of code. In fact, for most of us that's the easy part! I think
it's best to take the seven points in the order I've given them, but feel
free to use your magic web browser to skip back and forth if you prefer.
The Next Chapter: Product
Introduction Product Patience Polish Pay Up Propagation Promotion Politics Links