-------------  Continued from previous message ---------------
                        PART 11
==========================================
10.03 - Can I make money running a BBS?
==========================================
The BBS As A Profit Center

How To Successfully Run a BBS for Profit:
By S. Carol Allen
___________________________________________

Review by Dan D. Gutierrez, SYSOP, AMULET:vc BBS: A Collection of
Virtual Communities (specializing in Virtual Reality, Artificial Life,
Nanotechnology, Cyberpunk Lifestyles, Cyberspace). 310-453-7705
dataline.

     As a Sysop who has been running boards since 1984, the idea
of charging for what in the past has been a labor of love, a
hobby, a way to communicate with my students at UCLA, and the
occasionally useful tool for my business, is new to me. The
realities of this economy, a mortgage, and the desire to excel in
virtual reality, have been the impetus for me to look around for
information about making my board self supporting.  There is not
much out there that I could find and when I received a copy of
this book from the publisher, the title intrigued me -- How to
Successfully Run a BBS for Profit.

     Being a skeptic by nature, I approached this new release in
my usual fashion.  I read the foreword, checked out the table of
contents, then started to scan the chapters that most interested
me.  I was instantly hooked. For me, chapters 8-10, Getting the
Word Out, Hooking Your Caller's Interest and Assuring Your Callers
Return, were exactly what I had been looking for. I read those
chapters then proceeded to read the entire thing (unusual for me).
When I finished, I couldn't wait to put several of the creative
and inexpensive marketing ideas to work.

     As I assume is the case with most Sysops, when setting up my
board I concentrated on the technical needs of the board while
the marketing needs seemed unimportant. In my case, they were
also unknown. The author of this book obviously recognizes that
for most of us, marketing experience is not part of our past.
She tutors the reader, not with just an explanation or description
of what needs to be done, but with numerous worksheets and a
collection of sample marketing tools (press release, direct mail
letter to potential subscribers, a "report card" for user
feedback, etc.) that can easily be customized for any BBSes use.

     Don't think that this book is just for the hobbyist turned
entrepreneur. Any individual or business that is running or
planning a BBS will benefit from the marketing secrets revealed
throughout this book.  True, there is the basic business
information on putting together a business plan, determining
start-up costs and long term costs, and getting financing if you
need it. But, then there are the BBS focused tips on attracting
new callers, getting them to call back and to pay you top dollar,
collecting the fees by credit card (even if you don't presently
have a merchant account) and guaranteed ways to generate other
revenues besides subscription fees.  There are phone numbers,
board numbers and addresses for a long list of BBS resources.

     Some of the suggestions seemed pretty simple and were just
common sense, but I hadn't know about them so they gave me ideas
for my board.  Other marketing avenues seemed too advanced for
me, but on the other hand, I can see myself growing into them. In
essence, the tools are laid out in the book, it's now up to me to
choose the timing and implementation.

     For all of us, the timeliness of this book seems significant.
Although I found little information out there on making money with
my BBS, it's hard to read a magazine these days without seeing
references to the explosion of the BBS industry. With this book
has come the realization that a BBS can be a significant profit
center.

     Not only does it contain the marketing tools described, it
also includes over $1,000 worth of money saving coupons from
vendors of products and services for Sysops. Also included with
the book is a disk with the full version of a DOS based decision
support program. It proved to be very useful and lots of fun
whenever I needed to choose between alternatives the book
recommended.

Here's a list of the Chapters from the book:

1)  Winning in the 21st Century
2)  Surveying the Marketplace
3)  If You Fail to Plan Then Plan to Fail
4)  Choosing the Theme of Your BBS
5)  Value Adding Options For Your Customers
6)  Pricing for Profits
7)  Increasing Profits by Reducing Costs
8)  Getting the Word Out
9)  Hooking Your Caller's Interest
10) Assuring Your Callers Return
11) Collecting Your Money
12) Owning a Gold Mine
13) Growing and Expanding Successfully
14) Achieving Your Goals
Appendix A - BestChoice3 Documentation (software disk included)
Appendix B - Marketing Toolkit
Appendix C - Bibliography, Glossary and Quick Phone Directory
Appendix D - Coupons
Index

     The publisher is so confident that a reader who applies the
techniques described in this book will be making profits within
90 days that they offer a 90 day money back guarantee for the
book. I would be surprised if they get many back. It's on my
reference shelf with a 5 star rating.

     So, bottom line, this is probably the BEST investment you
can make for your BBS!

     The book has 304 pages and costs $49.95. You can call the
publisher, InfoLink, to order this book by credit card (Visa/
Mastercard/AMEX) by calling toll free 800-776-3818 Ext. FG20 (US) or
619-228-9653 Ext. FG20 or Faxing an order to 1-619-369-1185. FAX
orders please include: "ATTN Dept. 254-FG20". Orders with checks can
be mailed to InfoLink, 56089 Twentynine Palms Highway, Suite 254-FG20,
Yucca Valley, CA 92284. $49.95 + $5.00 shipping and handling + California s
ales tax.

* Reprinted by permission of AMULET:VC BBS

=========================================
10.05 - Building your online commmunity.
=========================================
- This topic will be available in future versions of the BBS FAQ.

=========================================
10.06 - BOOKS & OTHER SOURCES FOR SYSOPS
=========================================

                 QUICK REFERENCE PHONE NUMBERS
-------------------------------------------------------------------
PRODUCT        COMPANY              BBS#             VOICE
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 DLX            Baudtown         818-893-7600    818-894-4150
 Excalibur      Excalibur Comm.  918-496-8113    918-496-7881
 Kitten         Telpro Technol   804-442-5867    804-442-5865
 Major BBS      Galacticomm      305-321-2404    305-583-5990
 Megahost       ASCII Comp.      209-836-2402      ---
 OPUS-CBCS      --               214-528-4943    214-528-4687
 PcBoard        Clark Dev.       801-261-8976    801-261-1686
 Powerboard     NUIQ Softw.      914-833-1479    914-833-3479
 Proboard       Proboard Intl.   612-537-8655    612-537-8655
 Remote Access  Wantree          913-441-0595    913-441-1336
 RoboBoard F/X  Hamilton Tele.   819-685-0994    800-363-7626
 RY BBS         The Ryco Co.     414-962-1097    414-962-5967
 Spitfire BBS   Buffalo Crk. So  515-225-8495    515-225-9552
 Sapphire       Pinnacle Softw.  514-345-8654    514-345-9578
 Searchlight    Searchlight Sw.  216-631-9285    800-780-5483
 Synchronet     Digital Dyn.     714-529-9547    714-529-6328
 TBBS           eSoft            303-699-8222    303-699-6565
 TinyHost       Bruce Krobusek   716-924-4193    716-924-8284
 Virtual BBS    Virtual Tech.    616-399-4818    210-787-2443
 Wildcat!       Mustang Soft.    805-395-0650    805-873-2500
 WWIV           WWIV Soft. Svcs  210-631-5841    



- INTERNET USENET NEWSGROUPS
----------------------------
alt.bbs.allsysop 
alt.bbs
alt.first-class          First Class (Mac)
alt.bbs.majorbbs         MajorBBS, Galacticomm Inc
alt.bbs.pcboard          PCBoard
alt.pcbuucp              PCBoard UUCP gateway
alt.bbs.unixbbs          UnixBBS, Nervous XTC
alt.bbs.wildcat          Wildcat!, Mustang Software

comp.bbs.misc

- BOOKS
--------
- The BBS Construction Kit
  Author: David Wolfe

- Creating Successful Bulletin Board Systems
  Author: Alan Bryant

- How To Successfully Run a BBS for Profit:
  Author: S. Carol Allen


                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
                             MODEMS
                       ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
10.08 - Carrier Dedected
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Below is a list of companies which offer reduced prices for sysop's
when purchasing a modem for BBS's.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
VENDOR                   BBS#             VOICE             FAX
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
AT&T Paradyne         813-532-5254     813-530-8276     813-530-2398
ATI Technologies      905-764-9404     905-882-2600     905-882-2620
Cardinal Technologies 717-293-3074     717-293-3000     717-293-3104
Computer Peripherals  805-499-9646     805-499-5751     805-498-8306
Digicom Systems       408-262-1412     408-262-1277     408-262-1390
Galaxy Networks       No BBS           818-998-7851     818-998-1758
GVC Technologies      201-579-2380     201-579-3630     201-579-2702
Hayes Microcomputer   404-446-6336     404-840-9200     404-449-0087
Image Communications  No BBS           201-935-8880     201-935-6548
Intel Corporation     503-645-6275     503-629-7000     503-228-8707
Microcom              617-255-1125     617-551-1000     617-551-1988
Multi-Tech Systems    612-785-9875     612-785-3500     612-785-9874
Practical Peripherals 805-496-4445     805-497-4774     805-374-7202
Supra Corporation     503-967-2444     503-967-2400     503-967-2401
Telebit corporation   408-745-3861     408-734-4333     408-734-3333
U.S Robotics          708-982-5092     708-982-5010     708-982-0823
Ven-Tel               408-922-0988     408-436-7400     408-436-7451
ZyXEL                 714-693-0762     714-693-0904     714-693-0705
Zoom Telephonics      617-423-3733     617-423-1072     617-423-9231

=========
CD-ROMS
=========
10.08 - Takin' a spin through the CD-ROM showroom

-------------------  End of The Official BBSFAQ ----------------------


