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Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!rutgers!ames!mailrus!nrl-cmf!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!manes
From: manes@dasys1.UUCP (Steve Manes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.misc,comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Shareware & Honesty (Was: Software (and other kinds of) copying)
Message-ID: <2879@dasys1.UUCP>
Date: 7 Feb 88 08:05:24 GMT
References: <8055@g.ms.uky.edu> <174@piring.cwi.nl> <39450@sun.uucp> <6649@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <39910@sun.uucp> <6718@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <1348@looking.UUCP> <8149@e.ms.uky.edu>
Reply-To: manes@dasys1.UUCP (Steve Manes)
Organization: Datamerica Systems, NYC
Lines: 22


Part of the reason for the failure of most Shareware products to realize
the author any remuneration for his time and effort is simple ignorance of
a basic showbiz tenet: always leave 'em wanting more.  Relying upon the
expansiveness and generosity of the public to compensate the author for
what they already have looks good in pious policy statements but the facts
speak otherwise.  Very few people contribute unless you give them an
additional reason to.  This might be a bound manual or source code or
something that the purist element might resent: limited program features.
Or it might include technical assistance (for a program that might demand
it).

I think that any potential Shareware author should plan his distribution
with at least SOME observation of basic marketing psychology.  If you give
away both the carrot and the stick then your "sales pitch" is going to be
no more effective than standing on a corner with a paper cup.

-- 
+-----
+ Steve Manes            Roxy Recorders, Inc.             NYC
+ decvax!philabs!cmcl2!hombre!magpie!manes       Magpie BBS: 212-420-0527
+ SmartMail:  manes@magpie.MASA.COM