Ask HN: What are the best places to publish/sell downloadable software?

[ujjwalg]

Hi,

We recently finished our suite of applications for test preparation developed on Adobe AIR platform. We are selling them on our website and have submitted them on adobe AIR marketplace for publishing which is pending approval. I was wondering what other places HNers use to publish/sell their software? Amazon starting selling downloadable software but it is still work in progress. Any suggestions will be highly appreciated.

Thanks.

[Adrenalist]

I don't have a lot of experience in selling software online, but as a consumer, these are the places that I'd be looking to find niche software.

1. Your own website (with Google AdWords campaign)

2. CNET Downloads (if you have a free trial version)

3. snapfiles.com (if you have a free trial version)

4. eBay store

5. Amazon store

Really, it seems that you'd want to push ALL traffic to your own domain where you can completely control prices, offers, wording, etc.

EDIT: I just checked out your site [http://www.watermelonexpress.com] and it seems like you've already done a lot of the leg work. The problem that I see is that this market (test prep software) is saturated. I think an aggressive AdWords campaign would be your best bet.

[ujjwalg]

Thanks for the info. Trial versions for desktop app are currently being developed and we will upload them on the websites you mentioned once they are done.

I was trying to figure out Amazon store for software, but it seems to be not working for everyone at this moment. The list you provided is good. It seems like there is no complete list for these stores. We will make one, once we are done with finding all and post a link on HN for everyone to use.

[rodyancy]

When you run that adwords campaign, split test. I have a suspicion you are going to make how a user can download an app from your site far more obvious.

The site looks attractive, though.

[access_denied]

Delicious-Library guy said: half of traffic to his site comes from his blog. (I would give URL If I could, this is just me remembering.)

[k0ban]

Another option is to use PAD. That stands for Portable Application Description. Read FAQ here http://www.asp-shareware.org/pad/padfaq.php

Once you got PAD that describes your software, you could use PAD submitter tools to submit it to a lot of shareware sites.

HTH

[ujjwalg]

This is really helpful. Thanks a lot.

[kyro]

Off the top of my head, YC company BaseShield has a Windows app store. I'm not sure if they're open to app submissions, or handle purchases, though.