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From Program to Product:

Turning Your Code into a Saleable Product

Rocky Smolin

Foreword by Bob Walsh, author of Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality

Published March 2008
ISBN-13: 978-1-59059-971-6

$29.99 USD, 224 pages

Berkeley, CA—March 2008— Do you have an idea for a commercially viable software product or already have a product with the potential for dream financial rewards? For an indispensable roadmap to creating a commercially successful software product, would-be software entrepreneurs must consult From Program to Product: Turning Your Code into a Saleable Product by Rocky Smolin.

Many would–be software entrepreneurs with expertise in many fields attempt to turn a homegrown application—one developed for use in their own business or profession—into a commercial product. Lack of knowledge, experience, or skills often prevents the idea from ever taking shape, let alone achieving its potential. Entering a new field to start a business leaves many developers unprepared and not even fully aware it’s something they know so little about. They will also often have a job that conflicts with the time commitment required to market the program well enough for it to become a complete success.

“In a lot of ways, Rocky has written the perfect prequel to my book, Micro-ISV: From Vision to Reality. Where I focus mainly on what to do after you’ve gotten your product to sell, Rocky covers the hard ground of getting to that point. That’s why I said at the top of this foreword I’d wished Rocky had written this book a decade ago—it would have immeasurably helped me go that first step from developer to micro-ISV.”

—Bob Walsh, from the Foreword

To read more about From Program to Product: Turning Your Code into a Saleable Product, or the author, please select this title from our online catalog at www.apress.com.

Apress Author: The Expert’s VoiceÔ

Rocky Smolin began programming computers at the age of 16 at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He created and marketed his first commercial product in 1969 while an undergraduate at Bradley University, and received an MBA from San Diego State in 1974.

In the 1980s Smolin co-authored PMS-II, the first popular critical path Project Management System for PCs. He went on to develop and market E-Z-MRP(r) - an entry level manufacturing system for small manufacturers and The Sleep Advisor(r) - a consumer-targeted expert system to identify and remedy sleep problems.

Smolin is the author of How To Buy The Right Small Business Computer System (Wiley, 1981) and co-author of Production and Management Systems for Business (Prentice-Hall, 1990) .

Today, Smolin's company, Beach Access Software (www.bchacc.com), provides custom databases and applications for a wide variety of businesses. He lives in Del Mar California with his wife of 30 years and two children.

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Apress, Inc., based in Berkeley, California, is the fastest-growing publisher of technical books in the world today. It is dedicated to meeting the needs of IT professionals, from novice to expert. Apress is dedicated to publishing titles of the highest quality and has compiled a team of authors that is a “Who’s Who” of the high-tech industry.

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