Successful Shareware

by Rick Holzgrafe of
Semicolon Software

Links

Here are a few links useful to shareware authors. If you have any to contribute that I've missed, please send them to me and I'll add them to this list.

• Shareware Authoring Part 1 and Part 2
  Peter N Lewis and Jeremy Nelson's discussion of how to write successful shareware. Peter actually makes his living by writing and selling shareware, and does well enough to have an employee or two to help out. His advice was a tremendous help to me in advancing my own shareware business. When Peter talks, I listen closely.
• Hookware
  Kee Nethery of Kagi discusses the costs and benefits of a wide range of options for annoying and enticing users to pay for your shareware.
• To Read or not to Read
  Tonya Engst wrote this article, a how-to for writing Read-Me files, for the e-zine TidBITS. Tonya reviews software including shareware, and her reviews are widely published and read. She is telling you what reviewers want to see in a Read-Me, so pay attention!
• Human Interface Subtleties
  Quinn "The Eskimo!" describes a few case studies in user interface excellence. Better than anything I could say or anything else I've ever seen, Quinn can show you why long and careful thought about Human Interface is worthwhile.
• Why Do People Register
  ...and does crippling work? This article by Colin Messitt is one of the few cases where an actual experiment with quantitative results was made on this issue. The experiment doesn't have real scientific rigor, and discusses only the benefits and not the costs of crippling. Nevertheless the results are highly suggestive, and we rate it as "recommended reading."
• Tips for Shareware Authors
  Matthias Kahlert's collection of advice and links.
• Defending Shareware Against Cracks
  Adam Smith's discussions of elaborate ways to defeat hackers and crackers.
• Anti Cracking FAQ
  Richey's "How to make cracking your programs a little harder." Includes advanced tips and advice from actual crackers.
• Kagi
  An excellent payment service for shareware authors (and others). Not the only such service, but it's the one that Semicolon Software uses and we can recommend it whole-heartedly.
• The Association of Shareware Professionals
  The ASP is a non-profit organization of people who are serious about selling shareware. Not everyone can join: members must meet a stringent list of requirements in the way they do business, designed to reassure customers that they are dealing with reputable firms. (Regretfully, Semicolon Software is not a member. In the past we did not have the resources to man the technical support phone number that the ASP required its members to provide. The ASP has since removed that requirement, and we will consider joining in the future.)
• InterNIC
  This is one of the organizations that registers Internet domain names (like "semicolon.com"). When you get serious about your Web site, check in here and read up on how to register your own domain name.
• A Sample Press Release
  The press release for Solitaire Till Dawn 3.0, presented purely as an example for when you want to write your own.

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