~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~ Making Money with Amos ~ ~ J.Rutherford ~ ~ ~ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Alright, how many people are sick of 'just playing around' with Amos and now want to turn their hobby into a money maker? I know it's fun making programs to amuse yourself and that you feel proud with your creations, but why not try to make some money. O.K. I'm not talking mega-bucks, but there is some money to be made. This way your hobby can still be a hobby but with some rewards for your efforts. I decided to make a list of potential money makers to give all you dedicated Amosians out there a chance to make some money! 1) Write a shareware program. The best way to do this is to write your program, then chop some bits out of it. If it is a game, only piut a few levels on the disk. If it is a utility, miss out a lot of the features. If it is good and people see what they like and want more, they'll register to get the full version. Remember to put your address and how much shareware fee you want and some documentation on the disk. The best way to get it distributed is to send it to as many P.D. libraries as possible, and if it's good enough they'll distribute it. 2) Write a licenceware program. This time, you send the full version of the program to any P.D. House who distribute licenceware and they'll send it to C.L.R on your behalf, or send it direct to C.L.R. at:- Central Licenceware Register Admistrator (UK/Worldwide Distribution) John Dudley 118 Middle Cockerford Basildon Essex SS16 4JA One success story of the CLR has to be Aaron McCormick (sorry if I spelt your name wrong!), who is a reader of N.B.Amos and has had several educational titles released into CLR. Alternatively, you could try to get a P.D. House to distribute your disk as licenceware, not through CLR. Examples include N.B.Amos (Hooray), Final Frontier, AMFM and The Amiga Coders Club. 3) Write a commercial program. This is going to have to be amazingly good to be feasible, I'm talking mega-tastic graphics, legendary mind blowing sonics, and addictability that just won't let you go. It's best to start with a budget game to see how well it sells, then try full price if you're lucky. An example of a commercial game is Aaron Fothergills "Jet Strike" A commercial game written in Amos, it is possible. Also look at the Funschool Series, or ADI. 4) Start up a disk mag. I'm not treying to get everyone starting a disk mag so no one reads N.B.A, but if you distribute it yourself and get it advertised in CU Amiga, Amiga Format and Amiga Shopper (like us) you might get some people buying it and you can actually make some money from it (not much though.) Take Brian Bell for instance, he runs the Mr Amos disk mag and has about 800 members at present. 5) Write a book. Take Len and Ann Tucker for instance. They have written several books for Kuma on using Amos and they have been quite successful. You might not think much of your journalistic talents, but you might be a good enough Amos programmer. Try anyway. Other ideas: Run an Amos Helpline, either by mail or by phone. Run an Amos Club that people can join. I'm sure that there are other things that you can do with Amos; these are but a few to get you started. Happy programming. Jonathan.