Upper Access Offering Business Software for Free
-- Publishers Weekly, 6/4/2009 11:25:00 AM
Effective immediately, Upper Access, Inc. is making the Lyric version of its business software program, Publishers’ Assistant, available for free. Upper Access has been publishing Publishers’ Assistant, which was developed by Ron Lawrence, since 1989, but company president Steve Carlson said he had been thinking about thinking about making it available for free for a while. “We’ve been considering this for some time,” Carlson, who is president of Independent Publishers of New England, said. “Now with publishers struggling in a tough economy, it seemed the right time.” He said the program is most effective for startups through midsized publishers that do about 100 titles per year.
Publishers’ Assistant tracks data automatically when publishers enter invoices, shipping records and other information. It also performs other backoffice tasks such as computing royalties, issue billing statements, track promotions and follow review copies. Lyric had been priced at $1,495 but now can be downloaded for free at www.pubassist.com. The free offer is in keeping with the growing practice in software publishing of offering freeware. Upper Access will continue to sell its Couplet program, which manages contact and title information, for $99, and Lawrence will continue to offer a suite of Web services tied to Lyric. Couplet can be used with Publishers’ Assistant or independently.
