Books

A little background on the two (physical) books I’ve written: Back in March 2005 I’d launched my microISV, Safari Software, Inc. and my first product, MasterList Professional. I quickly realized that while the initial programming was done, I needed to learn and do a whole slew of other things if I wanted to make money; everything from the basics of marketing a commercial product, to handling tech support, to dealing with the money to doing a product blog.

Micro-ISVL From Vision to Reality

Having been a reporter before getting into programming, I decided since I couldn’t find a book, I’d write one. Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality is that book, and from the Amazon ratings to the the emails I get, I know I not only scratched my itch, but contributed a valuable resource to the community.

Here’s what’s inside Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality:

Book Summary

Chapter 1: Having a Vision

Points:

1. Find a problem people will pay to have solved in the Long Tail.
2. How we got here: shareware no more.
3. Find a problem: A systematic approach.
4. Find a problem: Joel Spolsky’s find the pain.
5. Find a problem: Mike Johnson, chief executive officer (CEO) of BigAtticHouse Software: “What’s your damnit?”

Interviews:

1. Eric Sink, Software Craftsman, Sourcegear
2. Joel Spolsky, CEO, Fog Creek Software

Chapter 2: Developing the Micro-ISV Way

Points:

1. Designing the micro-ISV app: paper use cases, prototype, decision log,
2. Painless software schedules explained.
3. A micro-ISV development infrastructure: source control, VMware, testing.
4. Strategies and tools for quality code.
5. Organizing your Beta Program.

Interviews:

1. Eric Sink, Software Craftsman, Sourcegear
2. Nigel Chanter, chief operating officer (COO) of Perforce
3. Kevin Epstein, VMware’s vice president for marketing
4. Atanas Stoyanov, Chief Scientist and CEO, Automatedqa

Chapter 3: Presenting the Product

Points:

1. Marketing basics for micro-ISVs: get on the Cluetrain.
2. Naming your product and company.
3. Good looks matter.
4. Online demos and screenshots of your product done right.
5. Quickie Web Design for non web designers: get a template.
6. Getting a good domain name.
7. The parts of a good micro-ISV web site.
8. Getting Paid.
9. Blogging for micro-ISV success.

Interviews:

1. Danny Altman, CEO and founder, A Hundred Monkeys
2. Mike Rohde, Design Director, Makalumedia
3. David Ridgway, Manager, Glyfx
4. Konrad Musial, Ceo and Founder, Yessoftware
5. Dmitry Chestnykh, Founder and CEO, Difolders Software
6. Alan Homewood, CEO and Founder, 2checkout.Com
7. Mithel Veys, Director of Products, Verisign sPayment Products
8. Mena Trott, Cofounder, Six Apart:
   

   “A small company can really leverage bloggers in the sense that bloggers out there are very interested in small companies; they are interested in underdogs, [and] they are interested in people out there doing interesting things. And you can get your customers who are bloggers to be advocates for your product because they are writing about things that interesting to them. Having that sort of connection with your customers is extremely important.”

Chapter 4: Business Is Business

Points:

1. Business types in the US, UK and Australia: balancing paperwork and liability.
2. Getting Things Done in Your micro-ISV.
3. GTD Overview.
4. David Allen interview re micro-ISV issues: email, information overload, the proactive side of GTD, staying focused.

Interviews:

1. David Allen, Author, Getting Things Done:
   

   Q. On that note, if you are doing a start-up business, should you allow time to go wrap up all those open loops from your previous employment or way of doing business?

   A. Well, open loops just create drag on the system. It doesn’t mean you’re not moving or that you can’t do it. It’s kind of like, how important is it to get rid of drag on the system? Sometimes you don’t have time to get rid of drag on the system; you just got to work with a draggy system.

   But when in doubt, clean a drawer, because crap is occurring as we speak. Things change, so they change their nature, [and] today’s newspaper is tomorrow’s fire starter. So as time marches on, so does residue accrue.

   Anybody who is trying to ignore that they need to from time to time stop and clean up the open loops and renegotiate them are kidding themselves. But then it’s just a matter of how clean do you like to stay? I have a bias towards being as close to zero as possible, because it’s easier to deal with surprise with a lot less stress. If you get surprised with 3,000 e-mails, that’s one thing; if you get surprised with an empty In basket — hey, new opportunity.

2. Patrick Cunningham, Attorney
3. Teri Takahashi, the training manager for the Florida Atlantic University Small Business Development Center

Chapter 5: Focusing on the Customer

Points:

1. Marketing for micro-ISVs: tools and templates. SIMS, MAP and more.
2. Dealing with email: retail and wholesale.
3. Technical Support as a competitive micro-ISV advantage.
4. Discussion boards and forums: what works, what doesn’t.
5. How your customers find you.
6. You and Google Adwords.
7. Downloads.com and the Microsoft Office Marketplace.
8. The Influencers: Mainstream media and the online tech press.

Interviews:

1. Raj Khera, CEO of MailerMailer
2. Michael Pryor, president and cofounder of Fog Creek Software
3. Emily White, Adwords Manager,
4. Kelly Morrison, Director, CNET Download.Com
5. Jeanette Fisher, Business Development Manager, Microsoft Office Online
6. Leslie Brooks Suzukamo, Telecom And Technology Reporter, St. Paul Pioneer Press
7. Rob Vamosi, Senior Editor, CNET Networks

Chapter 6: Welcome to Your Industry

Points:

1. What about Microsoft?
2. Microsoft Empower Program.
3. Microsoft Buddy Program.
4. The Other Microsoft.
5. Microsoft Digital Locker Program.
6. Office MarketPlace Program.
7. Microsoft Wants You! (Maybe.)
8. Keeping an Eye on Microsoft.
9. Business Intelligence for the micro-ISV.
10. The Micro-ISV Community: Joel on Software, Association of Independent Software Industry Professionals (AISIP), Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP).

Interviews:

1. Avi Sagiv, Program Manager, Microsoft Buddy Program
2. Nigel Parker, Development Advisor, Microsoft NZ
3. Raj Biyani, Product Director, Windows Marketplace Labs/ Digital Locker
4. Don Dodge, Emerging Business Team, Microsoft Corp.
5. Rosemary West, Past President And Webmaster, ESC

Chapter 7: What Happens Next?

Points:

1. Interviews with 25 emerging, growing or wildly successful micro-ISVs: advice and suggestions.

Interviews:

1. Andy Brice, Founder, Oryx Digital Ltd
2. Andrey Butov, President, Antair Corp
3. Boris Yankov, Founder/Owner/CEO, Virtuoza
4. Brian Plexico, Founder, Cloudshack And Microisv.Com
5. Gavin Bowman, Director, V4 Solutions Ltd
6. Graham Asher, Owner, Cartography Ltd.
7. Ian Landsman, President, Userscape, Inc.
8. Kirby Turner, Founder, Whitepeaksoftware, Inc.
9. Rudolf F. Vanek, Founder & Executive Director., Quanticus S.A. De C.V
10. Andy Miller, Owner, Structured Solutions
11. Brian Nottingham, Vice -President, Interapptive
12. Clay Nichols, President, Bungalow Software
13. David Michael, Owner, Davidrm Software
14. Ben Richardson, Co-Founder, Switch I.T. Pty Ltd
15. Keith Casey, CEO, Caseysoftware, Llc
16. Mike Schoeffler, President, Profitdesk
17. Phil Wright, Founder, Crownwood Software
18. Sanjay Bhatia, Founder, Izenda
19. Tony Edgecombe, Founder, Frogmore Computer Services Ltd
20. Vladislav Ukhov, Founder, Cetera
21. Dharmesh Shah, Founder, Hubspot
22. James Shaw, Founder, Dozing Dogs
23. Mark Hoffman, Chief Technical Officer, Autorevo
24. Byron Matheson, Founder And CEO, Clearnova
25. Joel Spolsky, Co-Founder, Fog Creek Software

Clear Blogging: How People Blogging Are Changing the World and How You Can Join Them

My second book, Clear Blogging, grew out of something I noticed as I wrote my first book: hour for hour blogging is the most effective marketing activity a microISV or software startup can engage in. What’s more, blogging is literally changing the world as it breaks down traditional, pre-internet rules and conventions. This is major stuff: whether it’s using a blog as an alternative to traditional career-building and jobhunting to being able to connect with everyone from CEO’s of powerful companies to the guy that runs the resturant you and your work buddies hang out at, blogging is opening up new channels of powerful communication.

Clear Blogging is not a technical book. In fact, I think there’s exactly one line of javascript code in the entire book. It’s all about the all the pieces you need to assemble and implement that are already out there waiting to be tapped to create your version of successful blog.

My publisher for both these books, Apress, has kindly made available a free chapter from Clear Blogging you can download by clicking this link: Successful Blogging. This chapter is all about effective techniques for finding things to blog about, and to find out who’s talking about your product or company in the blogosphere.

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