ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
        ³          FOCUS ON SHAREWARE           ³
        ³      Becoming A Shareware Success     ³
        ³          by Steven Hudgik             ³
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ


        ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ¿
        ³      Anyone Can Make Money and        ³
        ³    Become Highly Successful In The    ³
        ³         Shareware Industry!           ³
        ³                                       ³
        ³    You don't need to be a programmer  ³
        ³            or disk vendor.            ³    
        ÀÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÙ



I've heard people say that there are no opportunities left for
becoming REALLY successful using shareware.  The big name authors
such as Jim Button. Marshall Magee and Bob Wallace all established
themselves during the early days of shareware.  Nobody will ever
again be able to do what they did - there is too much competition
now.  On the other side of the shareware industry the big time disk
vendors are established and have so much money for advertising,
glossy catalogs and a large staff that it's impossible to compete
with them.  So, is it time to give up!  No!  There are more
opportunities for success in shareware than there ever has been!

Why do I say this?

Because I see it happening.  During the past year several new
"authors" passed the $1,000,000/year mark in registrations. 
The past year (1991) saw the formation of more new disk
vendors/distributors than any previous year.  The shareware
industry is booming and there are opportunities for almost anyone
to become successful.

Notice that I put the term "authors" in quotation marks in the
above paragraph.  That's because when most people think about
shareware as a business, they think about a programmer type of
person writing a program and selling it using shareware.  People
who can't write program code generally have not considered the
shareware industry as having opportunities for them.  And if they
did, they generally felt the only other opportunity was to become
a disk vendor.  But, it doesn't matter who you are, or what you
background is - there are yet undiscovered opportunities to make
big money in shareware.

Here's some examples:

Do book publishers make money by writing all of the books they
publish?  NO!  They buy books from writers (or the writer's
agents).  So do you need to write the software you publish?  NO!  
The shareware industry, with a few exceptions, focuses on being an
industry in which the writer and publisher are one and the same. 
Yet, people with programming skills are generally not very good at
marketing and sales.  So why not become a publisher and use your
marketing and sales skills to publish other people's software?

What is the most valuable thing you have on your hard disk?  Copies
of various programs?  No!  You can easy replace any of the software
you use.  What has the most value is the information - the data and
document files.  Correctly organized and packaged information is
much more valuable than software.  And the information age is just
beginning - the opportunities are just starting to be recognized. 
If you can type, even if you are a two finger typer like I am, you
can create database files or documents containing information
people will buy.  If you have a good background in some area;
whether it is country music awards or nuclear power plants; you are
in a position to start now and organize what you know to create a
saleable product.  If you have an interest in something, but little
experience, the information is available free in the public
library.

How do you find opportunities?  Keep your eyes open.  Pay attention
to what you see and hear.  Look for things, information and
services people need.  Look for niches no one is serving.  Look for
problems, because problems are opportunities.  They are
opportunities for you to create a solution and then make money
selling that solution.  Compare what other industries are doing
with what is happening in the shareware industry to find new ideas
and approaches that can be applied to shareware.

This issue of HomeCraft's Small Business Journal (HSBJ) focus' on
the shareware industry.  The two main articles present the results
of our 1992 shareware author and vendor surveys.  They show how the
existing shareware industry works and provide advice for success. 
The comments sections from both surveys are particularly
interesting.  If you have a computer, you can get into the
shareware industry and make money.  I hope this information helps
you get started or improve your business.



< end of column >