CompuServe Messages

They may seem obvious, but these would be my initial suggestions for all shareware authors. Some of them are just plain business sense. 1> Put your name and address VISIBLY in the executable. More than once, even — in NGI the address is on the startup page and also present in the "About" choice of the project menu. You see these little requesters all the time, why not use them as a gentle reminder? When you buy software in the store, it has the price clearly marked. 2> Try to make it special. As RJ so concisely put it (hope CBM doesn't sue me): "Think simplicity and elegance…Dare to be gorgeous and unique. But don't ever be cryptic or otherwise unfathomable. Make it unforgettably great." The Amiga was intended to be just that, and I think that users know good from bad. Remember that word "unique." There are dozens of spreadsheets, editors, and blinky-lights programs. As the art director of the old VANITY FAIR used to say to his photographers: "Don't click the shutter if you've seen that image before." AmigaDOS is not Unix. Use that as a strength. 3> Give them something keen, but offer more. You can't always do this, but it helps. The most recent shareware NGI is intended to be useful by itself, and many people might not want anything more. But the real shareware supporters gain not only a clear conscience but extended functionality — I made sure that the demo users can SEE that, with disabled menu choices. If your program is put together well, it shouldn't be too hard to include a few "#ifndef DEMO…" lines. 4> Include docs. Make the ARC file yourself, don't force some poor overworked sysop to do it for you. This gives you another shot at #1, above, lets you massage your ego by yakking about how great your program is, makes people more sympathetic to your cause and lets them know you want them to be happy with your product. In addition, docs can let you pitch other software at them — if you have several shareware offerings, you can offer them as a bundle on disk. That's a start. Anybody have any other keen suggestions? How about this question: which is a more effective means of initial dispersal — networks or BBS's? There's no market research — lets compare notes and find out. ^Kx