2 questions for shareware authors

[mouser]

so we released a new app here (Unicode Image Maker), and each time we do i have to go around and manually submit these pad files to different software sites so that people will find out about our programs.  It's really annoying.  I use shareware .pad files which help a lot, but some sites inexplicably still do not take them and require you to enter by hand.  even those that do are often a real pain.

question 1:
has anyone tried those automatic software submission programs? do they work well?  i'd love for dc to host a review of such tools if anyone is willing to take on that.

question 2:
the natural place to find out people's opinion on this seems like maybe it would be shareware association newsgroups, but they are private and require membership.  membership is $100 a year - OUCH, thats a huge amount for us.  and our soft is not shareware.  question 2 is, anyone a member of shareware association? do you think its worth the membership dues?

[Carol Haynes]

question 2 is, anyone a member of shareware association? do you think its worth the membership dues?

Or perhaps they could pass on the odd question you have

[aignes]

so we released a new app here (Unicode Image Maker), and each time we do i have to go around and manually submit these pad files to different software sites so that people will find out about our programs.  It's really annoying.  I use shareware .pad files which help a lot, but some sites inexplicably still do not take them and require you to enter by hand.  even those that do are often a real pain.

question 1:
has anyone tried those automatic software submission programs? do they work well?

I use Promosoft from http://www.develab.net/ and it works well for me. Submissions work in approx. 80% of the supported sites, 20% of the submissions end in an error. Has also a nice search feature to verify on how many pages you are listed.

Another tool which is often recommended is Robosoft but I have never used it. Available at http://rudenko.com/robosoft/

question 2 is, anyone a member of shareware association? do you think its worth the membership dues?

yes, I'm a member of ASP-Shareware for several years now and it worth the money, at least for me.

[Veign]

yes, I'm a member of ASP-Shareware for several years now and it worth the money, at least for me.

-aignes (November 17, 2005, 09:46 AM)

What do you get out of it that makes it worth it?  I have also looked into a membership but just can't justify the cost..

[Veign]

I use shareware .pad files which help a lot, but some sites inexplicably still do not take them and require you to enter by hand.  even those that do are often a real pain.

-mouser (November 14, 2005, 01:23 AM)

I'm in the same boat as you and manually submit applications using the PAD files.  I have compiled and maintain a list where my applications are - this list tells me if they support PAD submissions and if they require an account to submit software.

List:
http://www.veign.com/download_sites.asp

[aignes]

What do you get out of it that makes it worth it?  I have also looked into a membership but just can't justify the cost..

You get a lot of reliable information from other shareware authors, there are discussions about software protections, how to limit a trial version or experiences with promotions, just to list a few. I got lots of useful ideas and information from that organization...

Another organization is AISIP - http://www.aisip.com/
I'm not a member yet, but I'm sure that I will join sooner or later this year. It's a smaller community than the ASP, and I think most AISIP members (a list is on their page) are also member of the ASP. It's cheaper, and on their page you can also find a list of typical postings which are similar to postings in the ASP newsgroups, but what I have heard is that there is not such high traffic.

I'm in the same boat as you and manually submit applications using the PAD files.  I have compiled and maintain a list where my applications are - this list tells me if they support PAD submissions and if they require an account to submit software.

Here are some other lists (if you want to take the time to submit your products manually ):

http://www.develab.n...list.cgi?sort=addrev (=list of pages supported by PromoSoft which I use for submissions)
http://www.asp-share...org/pad/padsites.asp
http://visualvision..../software_000009.htm
http://www.erezsoft....are_repositories.htm
http://www.accusolve.biz/stsites.html
http://www.softwarem...m/softwaresites.html