@5                          Why you should Choose F1?
@3
Since  I  joined the Internet I have come under some abuse from programmers
that  think F1 does not offer a good deal to programmers.  These people had
never  even  read  the conditions under which F1 operates.  If you think F1
are  exploiting  programmers  or are not giving good value then please read
the following facts first, then decide.

         A typical 3.99, 1 disk sale and SOME of the costs incurred:

                            Basic, obvious costs:@4
                            ---------------------@3
1.00   royalty
   27p  disk (we only use top quality branded disks)
   20P  jiffy
   26p  stamp
    2p  label
    2p  Printed orderform as above
    2p  Wear and tear
    5p  wages (approx)
   72p  per cheque banked (bank charges)
   30p  Income tax (approx)
#22.86   TOTAL
@1

                            Not so obvious costs:
                            ---------------------@4

All the money invested in equipment, two A1200's with hard drives, A500 and
A600  for  testing  purposes,  Injet printers, TV's/Moniters, Action replay
cart  for  ripping  screenshots  for  the mags and the cat disk And lots of
other odds and sods that should be obvious.

Wages for two adults that run F1 10-14 hours a day, 6 days a week.

Extra phone line + many phone calls to programmers, magazines, distributers
etc.   In  business  you  need  many good contacts to get anywhere and this
means many hours on the phone.

Income  tax  also means we need to employ an accountant, our books are kept
in  professionl  condition  in  case anybody should accuse us of dishonesty
with the royalties.

A  Modem  and  internet account were specifically bought so I can upload F1
demo  versions  to  Aminet and keep in touch with programmers and make more
new contacts, not cheap.



Spares  and repairs to machines, not cheap when you blow your CIA's or that
powerpack blows up again.

Advertising, last year we spent over 4000 on magazine adverts.

Don't  forget we send EVERY program for review to every relevent UK mag and
some  foreign one's too.  There is many, many more little things like that,
but I am sure you must be getting the gist of things.

@3
Also don't forget some of the benefits afforded to F1 programmers:
@5
* Due to the good repuation of F1 titles being of generally high quality
  your program will usually get noticed, a nice head start.

* Due to many contacts made in the trade and with the UK mags a very high
  percentage of our titles get reveiwed in the mags, this is another bonus.
  Our top titles get reviewed in ALL the mags, since we started we have had
  hundreds of reviews (listed in our cat disk, also available from Aminet
  in docs/lists). We hope to set up a web site sooner or later too.



* Once your title is in F1 you are free of the constraints of having
  to market your product, buy disks, stamps, jiffies, you don't have to copy
  disks and post jiffs and deal with customers, we do all that for you.
  Which means you are free to start your next project and keep the ball
  rolling.

* A perfect example of the benefit of being in F1 is with the game 'Teeny
  Weenys' by Mal Lavery, he released it as Shareware, sent it to all the
  mags and lots of PD libraries. He got 1 (one) sale and one review in Amiga
  Computing. We took it on and immedately Amiga Format reviewed it and I
  quote

  'This game has been around for sometime, but it hadn't really caught
  our attention until now'

  Mal had previously sent a review coy to AF. F1 later sent a review copy in,
  because it was an F1 title it got noticed, reviewed and was awarded
  'Selection of The Month' At the time of writing that AF is not on
  sale yet I have a preview copy (May 96)

* Another good example is our best ever selling title, GRAC. The author has
  recieved well over 2000 in royalty payments SO FAR. If he had sold GRAC
  to a commercial software house he would of got around 500 as a lump sum
  and would of lost his copyright, he would now have nothin.

  With F1 he still retains the copyright to Grac, is allowed to do as he
  pleases with it AND IS STILL MAKING MONEY FROM IT through F1.

  So in some cases F1 offer a better deal than a commercial release.
  Obviously GRAC is an exceptional case but we have other titles that are
  looking like they may do the same, Magic Paint Box is doing well and in
  its first quarter netted over 250 and don't forget MPB will be selling for
  years. The Relics Of Deldroney Adventure games are always a steady seller
  and have made a fair whack for its author.

* One last thing, all F1 programmers are entitled to a 20% discount on any
  F1 titles they purchase direct from F1.

#8
                      Now ask yourself these questions:
@4
* Are F1 exploiting programmers?@5
* Are F1 offering a bad deal to programmers?@6
* When are you going to send in your program for FREE evaluation? :-)
@3

*3Phil.
