Haggling guidelines

[Jerry]

Thirty bucks?! You must be joking!

Well, I'm not joking. Not at all. But while I was trying to come up with the right price for Jer's Novel Writer, I came to realize that there is no right price, or, rather, that the right price is different for different people. Rather than come up with a complex structure with separate prices for students, AARP members and one-eyed dogs, I thought it would be more fun and better in the end if we haggled for a bit.

So if you don't think you should pay the full amount, send me a note at haggle@jerssoftwarehut.com explaining why, and what price you should pay.


How it works

You send an email to haggle@jerssoftwarehut.com with the price you think you should pay and why. The why part is very important. I will review your message and send you an email with either a counter-offer or a code to enter when purchasing that will give you the price you asked for. I will make the final decision on whether to give you the discount.

Please keep your suggestion reasonable. What is reasonable, you ask? Heck, I don't know, but I'm not likely to go down to $5 without a really good reason. Really good reasons include massive volume or enthusiastic support of the Jer's Novel Writer community. Haggling style alone can probably save you five bucks, maybe even an extra five on top of that for permission to put your haggle in the Hall of Fame.

Note: anyone who has actively participated in the forums before version 0.5.0.0 can reasonably suggest "free" as a price, up until version 2.0.0.0.


Notes on successful haggling:

Style counts
Is your haggle worthy of the Haggle Hall of Fame? Did I laugh or cry, read it again, savor the imagery, and change the sorry course of my life? Don't be afraid of the haggle, embrace it and go with it. Review of Monty Python's Life of Brian before you start may be helpful.

After all I've done for you...
This is the best approach, assuming you have done something for The Hut. Helping to build the community in the forums, suggesting ideas for future development, reporting bugs, and all that stuff is the fastest way to my heart. Spreading the word about Jer's Novel Writer in some tangible way is also good.

This is the approach the elite beta testing force can use with great success.

With all I could do for you...
A haggle that started "Hi, this is Steve Jobs, and I want to include a copy of your software on every Mac we sell. Can you give me a discount?" would certainly do the trick (assuming, of course, you're not lying). Are you in a position to help spread the Jer's Novel Writer love? Perhaps you're a teacher who often influences the software your students use. Perhaps you're a novelist and you'll mention Jer's Novel Writer in the acknowledgements of your next blockbuster.

If you are qualified, you could also offer to provide services directly that improved the software.

The usual reasons
Students, teachers, one-eyed dogs, and the like could reasonably ask for a fairly steep price break. I would appreciate it if you didn't bullshit me. Providing at least some sort of evidence you are who you say you are would help me sleep better at night.

Flattery
Make my day! A meaningful endorsement I can put up on the Web site is even better.

"I'm poor" won't get much sympathy
Come on, we're writers. Of course we're poor. But you are a writer, right? If you want the "I'm poor" angle to work, you've got to sell it:

"I haven't eaten in four days and I'm running out of strength to pedal the generator to power my beloved Mac while I write you this email..."

Non-monetary compensation
I like reading things. A copy of your previously published work or the promise of future copies would be very nice, and it's a way defer part of your payment until such a time as you're actually published. Be creative. What do you have that I might need? No live chickens, please.

Buy the company
Don't like my price? Then you probably really won't like what I would ask for the company. Still, if that's the way you want to go...

[meika]

What if I offer to pay too much, how will you put me off... politely?

[Otie]

Your E-mail address doesn't work (haggle@jerssoftwarehut.com)... my very reasonable offer E-mail was returned as Undeliverable. Now I'd like you to knock off another 10%, which is what I'd do for someone wanting to order my Books.

[ciavyn]

Help! The haggle email doesn't work - I keep getting my email returned. Can someone tell me what is wrong??

[spitfire31]

Can someone tell me what is wrong??

I'd assume, until proven wrong, that Jerry has been pursuing other projects for quite some time and that JNW is, to all intents and purposes, orphaned.

It would be really sad if JNW were indeed abandoned. But just count Jerry's appearances here in the forum in the last six months or so and judge for yourself – rarer than a midwest snowstorm in July.

I guess we'll have to wait and see if there's going to be any kind of update for Snow Leopard. I'm not holding my breath and I've reluctantly shifted to another typewriter that is being actively developed, updated and supported, and has a very lively forum.

/Joachim

[Dan-o]

Can someone tell me what is wrong??

I'd assume, until proven wrong, that Jerry has been pursuing other projects for quite some time and that JNW is, to all intents and purposes, orphaned.

Sadly, I believe that's so. I understand Jerry has other priorities, and perhaps that will get noted on the JNW main page, that the software is now available only as-is, unpurchasable and unsupported until further notice.

I've reluctantly shifted to another typewriter that is being actively developed, updated and supported, and has a very lively forum.

I don't want that to happen to me, but I worry. I like JNW and don't need lots of new features, but since conflicts and questions are bound to arise, if the program has been abandoned, that'd be good to know.

Dan