Q: What do you find to be most effective marketing and promotion vehicles of your software?

A: I don't really focus on marketing or promotion - perhaps I'd be a millionaire if I had ;-) My main focus is to keep software going out and make sure that it's available from a wide range of websites. I occasionally get approached by magazines who wish to covermount software and I usually accept those. Most of my sales come from word of mouth.

Q: What distinguishes your product from others on market?

A: In beginning it was a combination of being a direct-to-disc recorder and having auto-track. A few programs now contain an approximation of auto-track now, but I'm told that mine is probably most effective. Now, I guess that sheer weight of features is a big selling point as well as degree of customer support I offer. There are lots of little uniquities (if that is a word) in software, but it's really up to user whether those are what they're after.

Q: What kind of market research did you perform prior to developing your product(s)?

A: I didn't. I don't really go with idea of looking for a market and developing a product for it - it's too calculating and it means that you'll have less interest in what you're doing than in how much money is coming in. Good shareware works because users are dealing with a fellow enthusiast.

Q: What tools do you use to manage your software development business?

A: My development is done with Visual C++ 6.0 under Windows 2000 with Visual Sourcesafe for revision control. I have VMWare for cross platform testing and use a combination of Microsoft Word and Doc-to-Help 2000 for my help development. The rest of operation is handled by a fusion of MS Outlook, MS Access and a huge amount of home grown VBA code and C++ plugins. It's a real timesaver having your website, backups and even your release procedure totally automated and it also removes likelihood of mistakes caused by shipping wrong file (it used to happen occasionally). I used to use Installshield Express for distribution, but old version broke on systems which had used installs from new version and new version couldn't be automated as easily, so I now use my own installer. Finally, for distribution, I have Aid Submission Genius, PadGen, AddSoft and Submass (all paid for, of course) and for keeping an eye on my website I use 123 Log analyser. There are other tools I use for various purposes, but nothing which is development specific.

Q: Where do you see your business/software heading in future?

A: I'm branching out into writing now - my other shareware projects haven't met with same degree of success as Audiotools and I don't really want to keep all my eggs in one basket. There may be some more shareware coming in next couple of years (I have a couple of products in development) but I imagine that Audiotools and my books will be my main focus. I even plan to write a book about Audiotools at some point, to give shareware developers "the inside story" as it were. Ultimately, I follow path of least resistance, so my direction in future will very much depend on my successes in present. That concludes a very insightful conversation with Andrew Fish from Unrelated Inventions - http://www.unrelatedinventions.com. Please take time to visit his web site and check out his software and some of his writings.

You can apply as much or as little feathering on fly as is needed, and use touch-up tools such as touchup brush and eraser as they are required. It is even possible to preview saved part of image against proposed backdrop so that any problems can be resolved before exiting program.

You work on a separate duplicate layer like an adjustment layer, so background (original) one is always maintained.

Once you have done tutorials that are provided in form of a booklet, or in HTML format from CDrom, you should have no more trouble, and results are brilliant. More tutorials are to be found on-line just to finish off training.

Just because it is a plug-in does not mean that KnockOut 2 is not worthy of consideration by serious graphics users, it just speeds up work that can take hours to get right otherwise. I think that it should be part of every professional photo re-toucher's toolbox.

© Tim Skyrme 2002

Freelance reviewer of graphics and multimedia programs and books.