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ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG

Elite Shareware Authors Group

Newsletter

Issue: 6-97

http://www.edepot.com/esagindex.html

ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG ESAG



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Table of Contents:







(1) Current News

(2) Marketing your shareware

(3) Tips from our members (That's you!)





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Section 1) Current News







o Highlights...





Because there were so many responses from ESAG members,

this newsletter will concentrate on them specifically.



ESAG is getting a facelift. The process is a slow

and evolutionary one, so the site may change day by day.

Future changes include the incorporation of

Java applets into the site. However, this will

be delayed until the major browsers supports the

newest Java Virtual Machine.



Brandyware contributed a very nice ESAG logo. Check

it out at http://members.aol.com/brandyware/index.html

If you have an idea for a new logo, feel free

to contribute. Animated GIF logos are welcome.





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Section 2) Marketing your shareware.





There are now so many shareware programs being churned

out every day (new and patched), and there are now so

many distributors (sites promoting shareware), that many

shareware authors need a lot of resources to market

their shareware and get noticed. To alleviate this

problem, here are some information that will help you

navigate this state of frenzy. . . (all free, but

require some dedication on your part) A step by step

guide allowing you to succeed in marketing your shareware

follows. . .



1) Upload your shareware to shareware archives with a lot

of mirrors, or have a prominent name in the shareware

community. Shareware archives are places where you

can ftp your programs to, and mirror sites are sites

in other cities or countries that duplicates what

is in a main site.



The archives with a lot of mirrors are

Coast to Coast and Simtel. Famous archives are

WUArchive and WinSite. (Garbo is famous also, but

it is dedicated to MS-DOS only)



The URL address of these sites are located at

http://www.edepot.com/shareware.html





2) Announce your shareware to major distributors.



The free ones are usually websites with links to

the archives, or to your website. Some sites

even offer to do registration for you if they

get a cut of the sale.



For your shareware to succeed you need to upload to the

biggest distributors, sites with big advertising

budgets. Currently, the two biggest are at . . .

http://www.download.com, and http://www.hotfiles.com



http://www.shareware.com just duplicates files

in the Coast to Coast and Simtel archives, so you

do not need to announce your products there.



Of course, the more locations you distribute to,

the higher the chance people will see your shareware.

A list of other distributors are located at

http://www.edepot.com/sharware.html





3) Advertise.



Now that you have your shareware out, concentrate

on advertising. This can be done through email,

usenet posts, and banner advertising. Free

banner advertising sites are located at

http://www.edepot.com/shareware.html



An alternative form of advertising is to get as

many sites in the world to link your site. You

can use link swap as an incentive to achieve this

goal.



4) Remember those that helped you the most!





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Section 5) Some words, history, and TIPS from our members.



==========================

FLOPPY FLUFFWARE SOFTWARE

==========================



My name is Bob Stephenson proprietor of FLOPPY Fluffware

Software and I wish to thank you for letting me become a

member of ESAG.  FLOPPY Fluffware Software is a small

concern, only myself, dedicated to creating shareware

that will help the average Joe/Joette organize the

various facets of their lives.



My current list of products include At Bat Stats II

(5 star Ziff Davis), Affairs In Order (4 star Ziff Davis,

4 smiley ROCKETDOWNLOAD.COM), Coupon Clipper's Accountant

(3 star Ziff Davis), and Grocery List maker 1996.



At Bat Stats II is a system designed to help the

baseball/softball coach, player, or fan maintain and

manage the numerous statistics involved in

scoring a baseball/softball season.



Affairs In Order is a system designed to help a

family keep information/inventory of various aspects of

their lives. These aspects include but are not limited to

financial, genealogical, recreational, and material

endeavors. This is a nice system that if properly

maintained would truly come in handy after a personal loss.



Coupon Clipper's Accountant is a system designed to

help the family grocery shopper manage their coupon collection.

The user can create a comprehensive grocery coupon portfolio

and print various lists to manage

that portfolio.



Grocery List Maker 1996 is a must have for those that do

the weekly grocery shopping.  Using weekly grocery receipts

a comprehensive data base can be built so shopping lists can be

easily created and printed.



All of these systems are  32 bit systems and run on the

Windows95 platform.  They might run on NT but they have never

been tested there.



FLOPPY Fluffware Software wishes to target those segments of

the market looking for what I refer to as "niche" applications.

These are applications a little bit different from the rest

that support a need by the average family member but usually

not found as specific solutions on the commercial market or the

answers currently in the shareware sector are too generic to suit

those interested in my products.  That in a nutshell is

the audience FLOPPY Fluffware Software wishes to target.



The question is how did I get started in programming ...

well, I am 40 years old and have been programming those Big

Blue boxes in such languages as ASSEMBLER, SAS, PLI, etc. for

a major Fortune 500 company (Top 125) since 1982.  Prior to that

I was involved in scheduling jobs for those Big Blue boxes from

1977 to 1982.  I have seen the evolution of data processing

from the day of key punch machines, EAMs, card readers, and

collators to today where the computer sitting beside my desk

at home is many times more powerful and has more peripherals

than those water cooled giants of yesteryear.



About a year and a half ago I began to get the itch as well

as a couple of old my mainframe buddies at work to learn more

about this new (but really old) phenomenon called the Internet.

They were thinking big, ISP big, but I was more interested in

what was available for tinkering programmers.

That is when I ordered my little ole' home computer and

began exploring the world of HTML and Visual Basic. I began a

hobby and that hobby has evolved into FLOPPY Fluffware Software

which offered it first shareware products in the middle of

December 1996.  Though this is my first foray into the shareware

arena it is not my first attempt at creating software for the

masses. You see At Bat Stats II had a predecessor - At Bat

Stats which was a system I developed in Commodore Basic and

6502 Assembler language for the Commodore 64 prior to the

advent of the IBM PC.  Well to end this paragraph I must say

I am chasing a dream (So far it has been an enormous amount of

work for small financial rewards but I love it) that I hope

doesn't end as a pipe dream, and my buddies at work (I still

have my day job), they are currently running cabling throughout

their houses attempting to network every room in their home to

their Cyrix powered home built machines.



What talent do you I have that makes me stand out ?  Well, to

be truthful if I'm outstanding then I'm outstanding in the

rain. Actually, over the years I have had to be designer,

developer, and programmer for all of the projects I have been

assigned. This has included supporting the Financial

Administration, Data Security , Operations Services, Problem

Change Management, and Disaster Recovery groups for a major data

center. Having had to interface my applications with such

systems as ACF2, MICS, ENDEVOR, TSO, ROSCOE, INFOMAN, LOTUS NOTES,

NETSPY, etc. I had to be adept at designing applications that

would work in ways that applications were not meant to work

together. In other words I have had to take things others

wouldn't touch and make them work.  This experience brings

with it the ability to design systems in a way most people

find easy to understand and simple to use. As for technical

strengths in such areas as OOP, VB, C++, Active X, and Java I

am but a novice still learning what these letters stand for,

much less  understanding everything that lies behind them.



What tips would I like to share with other ESAG members ?

Since I am probably not up to snuff technically with most of

you, let me share these common sense tips :



1). Always be courteous and polite to those that support your

products. YOU know what you are attempting to do but not

everyone has your forethought and understanding to grasp

the neat concepts behind your wonderful idea.



2). Be kind to each other. The shareware business is a HUGE

enterprise in itself.  Groups like ours can make it much

easier for all shareware authors and supporters everywhere

by supporting them and each other.



3). Don't give up ... be persistent ... but be persistent in a

tactful way. The poor guys that forward your messages at places

like ZD Net are only the messengers ... don't shoot them.



4). Accept credit cards or find yourself a reputable service

that accepts credit cards and process them for you.  If you

are not taking credit card registrations then you are losing a

good deal of your business.



As redundant and trite as these four tips sound they are

still sound ideas.



Gosh, what's in the future ? Maybe a basketball application,

maybe some small home business stuff, I don't know.  Nothing

major until the fall, I am going to enjoy the summer and push

what I have already completed.



That is about it for now. Hope to see you all later at the

forum. And again thank you for accepting me into your group.



Bob Stephenson for FLOPPY Fluffware Software

http://www.win.net/fluffware/welcome.html



==============

BRANDYWARE

==============



1) Brandyware Software creates freeware, shareware, and custom

programs. Most of the time I write freelance for other

companies.



2)The Viewer Pro - is a graphic viewer for Win 3.x & Win95.

Cinema Savers - is a custom MPG,MOV,AVI screen saver for Win95.

StartHere - is a free spoof screen saver on Windows95.

(Win3.x-Win95) Super Data System - is a custom data base (10

data bases in one). Download Dummy - is a auto installer

for the unzipped impaired. Impress - Corny screen saver

to impress your friends. Plethora - The most complete GUI

system for DOS.



3) DOS, Win3.x, Win95, Win NT



4) Everyone with a computer!



5) Started programming in 1981 at Arizona Institute of Business and

Technology. This was for IBM mainframes.. studied COBOL, RPG,

BASIC, FORTRAN. Bought first computer in 1982 - Timex Sinclair

(2k memory) Self taught QuickBasic in 1985 - Visual Basic in 1991



6) I keep getting RE-hired from the same companies... must be doing

something right! I had my program The BabySitter reviewed on TV,

I've had programs reviewed in PC Magazine, PCM, PC Today, other

mags, many newspapers, all the major shareware catalogs at one

time or another. (rated trophy in Public Brand Software, plus 4 - 4

star programs), I've been in Shareware Magazine... just got rated

EXCELLENT in The Mining Co. this weekend. and so many others I

quite collecting reviews! I guess my main talent is I NEVER give up

and I always try to create something better, new, or different then

the rest.



7) BEST two tips in the world are:

ALWAYS do your homework (get all the competitions programs

and make yours better), and always keep learning - get all the

info on your language and really read it!



8) The completion of Download Dummy! and ya never know with me!



Mike O'Rourke

Brandyware Software

http://members.aol.com/brandyware/index.html



==================

COOMAN SOFTWARE

==================



1) Describe your company

Cooman Software develops commercial and shareware software for IBM PC

compatible computers.  We specialize in business and personal software

in document management, bulk e-mail, software development and

protection, and vertical markets.



2) Describe your products

Our major products include:

- CLOUDS, document management software

- BEMS, bulk e-mail system

- Club Secretary, complete club/association management

For a complete product listing, visit our website at:

http://www.coomansft.pair.com/



3) What platforms does your products run on?

Our products run under Windows 3.1, 95, and NT.



4) What kind of audience do you target?

We target mainly the business and personal markets.  Many of our

products appeal to users in both market segments.



5) How did you get started in programming?

Cooman Software was founded in 1993 with our first product being

the PILOT Professional programming language and compiler for DOS.



6) What talent do you think you have that makes you stand out?

We have extensive consulting experience in many of the markets that we

develop software.  We work with "real world" users of our products to

make improvements.  We have been told that our customer oriented

approach makes us "stand out."



8) What future products can we expect?

We are hoping to release a church management software package in

the near future.  We will also be continually upgrading the products

which we already have.





================

NuMorse and NuTest

================



1) Describe your company



I'm the only employee! And I work from home. My income is

relatively small but my costs are almost none existent and so I'm

happy with this. Visit us at

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/Tony_Lacy/



2) Describe your products



Here is the standard description for my products NuMorse and NuTest:



NuMorse offers a comprehensive array of training aids for learning the

Morse Code. Listen via PC speaker, sound card or externally-keyed

oscillator, or view visual signals. Learn from random, text,

or simulated QSO (contact) sources, and create character sequences

that you find difficult. Compare your results with the program source,

and view error statistics. NuMorse supports prosigns

(compound characters), and offers fully-adjustable timing settings

and spoken-character feedback via sound card. NuMorse includes

excellent online help, making it an ideal training system for

radio amateurs.



-------------------------------------------------

Review Text:

Interested in amateur radio? NuTest can help you earn the

required license by offering simulated FCC exams that include

explanations of questions and links to an included file of official

FCC regulations. View your score onscreen, review questions you

missed, and create printed tests, score sheets, and answers. This

first-class package includes a study guide and FCC Part 97 rules.

-------------------------------------------------

3) What platforms does your products run on?

PCs with Win311 or Win95



4) What kind of audience do you target?

Radio Amateurs and prospective Radio Amateurs. Also military

and boy scout groups.



5) How did you get started in programming?

Hobby, then learned how to do it "properly" at college.



6) What talent do you think you have that makes you stand out?

People say that my software addresses the real needs of the user.

I do listen to what people really want before I start coding.



7) What tips would you like to share with other ESAG members?

Find a niche that is served by only a few programs. Then look

at the competition and make sure that your offering is *much*

better. Listen to your potential users. Get some good beta

testers. The best ones are experts in their subject who have

tried the competitions programs and have good ideas about what

they would like in your super program. Make sure that your

serial number routines are secure! (See below.)



8) What future products can we expect?

I have a very long "wish list" from users comments on both of

my main products. There are enough ideas to keep me busy with

new version releases for a long time yet.



<<Please write an article, tip, or trick, so I may include in the

next newsletter.  Take this opportunity to help other members.>>



This isn't a tip or trick, just a comment about a worrying trend

for us shareware authors. I recently visited

http://198.82.200.44/serial/SNC/snc2.html

and was shocked to find serial numbers being freely issued for

thousands of shareware programs. You can even submit a request

for a specific program to be hacked! These people are undermining

us and I'm not sure what their motives are. This site had links

to dozens of similar sites and some of them offered downloads

of viruses and other malicious software.





=========

QBSoft

=========

Not intended to compete with the big boys, I feel that my

data storage offerings are at home on laptops where HDD space

is at a premium, but don't underestimate them, my FoneBook

can search through several thousand records and find what

you want in a few seconds, quite simply if you want it

stored, QBSoft might just have it <g>.



3) At the moment Windows 3.1 and 3.11 are the only

platforms QBSoft shareware runs on, I have halted development

of my DOS equivalents to concentrate on Windows, I am yet

to take the plunge into Windows 95 (but I fear it won't

be long!!)



4) As 3 above, Win 95 eventually.



5) My aim is for the smaller user, the people who, like

myself don't want to buy a box twelve inches thick to do a

simple task, QBSoft means simple and I want it to stay that way.



6) Several years ago, when Amstrad first developed their PC

market there was a simple PC called the Amstrad CPC464

which was a 64K memory mono screen PC, the first of its kind

I believe to include a monitor with the price, I bought one

to start a bit of Basic programming and never really got into

it. It was a few years after when I bought my first IBM

compatible that I caught the programming bug, firstly with

Visual Basic for DOS (which incidentally I still tinker with

occasionally) and later C, then came VB for Windows which is

what QBSoft programs are created with.



I am also teetering on the brink of Delphi....that s another

story..<g>



7) QBSoft programs are intentionally small, laptop systems

etc. are the main target, I try to be big by being small and

it works for me.



8) My advice would be - try to avoid over-crippling

shareware, it is very tempting to disable print routines or

file saving routines but all that you ensure is that the

evaluator of the program will get tired quickly and move on

to somebody else's program, you might talk yourself out of

a registration by being over cautious.



9) Future products from QBSoft ? - well I would throw myself

open to suggestions here, I have a few ideas in mind but

nothing solid just yet.



I hope that you have enjoyed reading about me and my small

one man empire......



Enjoy! You can visit us at

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/sidderney/qbsoftsw.htm



================

DMR Software

================

1) Describe your company

DMR Software - Shareware Software Products



2) Describe your products

Software Inventory 97 - 32-bit Win95/NT based software record

keeping system for large corporations who need to track

multiple software systems/applications on multiple platforms.



Probation Offender Database System v1.1 - 16-bit database

system designed for law enforcement agencies to record and

track probation offender information.



Child Support Tracker v2.2 - 16-bit child support record

keeping system for businesses and for individuals who need to

record and maintain child support payment information.



Software Inventory v1.2 - 16-bit software record keeping system

for small businesses or individual use.



Budget Planner v3.0 - 16-bit budget software to plan out budget

spending.  Many calculation features included.



>3) What platforms does your products run on?

Windows 95/NT and 3.1x.



>4) What kind of audience do you target?

Business and home users.



>5) How did you get started in programming?

I took a 2-year programming course at Idaho State University and

earned an AAS in Computer Science degree as an advanced applications

programmer.  I then began learning PC-based programming languages

beginning with GW-BASIC, then moved to QuickBASIC v4.5, then on to

4GL languages such as Clarion and then on to 5GL object-oriented

languages such as Layout.  I am currently developing with Borland

Delphi Developer 2.0.



>6) What talent do you think you have that makes you stand out?

The ability to create custom database/reporting applications to meet

the needs for businesses and individual users.



>7) What tips would you like to share with other ESAG members?

When the sales are down, DON'T GIVE UP!  Hang in there and keep

trying!



>8) What future products can we expect?

New 32-bit versions of Software Inventory, Probation Offender Database

System, Child Support Tracker, and any other applcation I can think of

to write.



Dan

DMR Software - Shareware Software Products



http://www.cyberhighway.net/~danrose