I want to buy a license for Scrivener on my Mac and I just wondered if there are any pros or cons to consider regarding the Mac App Store Vs going directly through this site?
I don’t see ANY pro for MAS. Apple takes revenues that would go straight to the company making Scrivener, were you to buy it here. If you are an educator, you can even get a discount buying directly here (well, with ‘here’ I think you know what I mean). You can’t do that at MAS. Finally, I am not sure you’d be able to beta test (assuming that’s something that eventually may interest you) new Scrivener versions were you running a MAS copy of the software.
The pro for the App Store is that it keeps track of registration and updates for you. No need to worry about a serial number.
A major con is that there’s no serial number. You can only use the App Store version on multiple machines if they all support the App Store software. Many users have run into this when trying to install Scrivener on an older secondary machine.
As marcolac noted, Apple takes a significant fraction of App Store sales, so the Literature & Latte team’s preference should be obvious. 
Katherine
I agree that it’s better to buy direct from Literature and Latte.
But you should be able to use App Store Scrivener on more than one machine – any app you’ve bought is on the Purchased tab and can be installed on any of your computers. App Store recognises if you don’t have it on this computer and will allow you to install it.
Buy direct from Lit&Lat though…
David
You are correct. I updated my post accordingly, but apparently not fast enough… 
The issue arises when one of the target machines is older, and unable to run the App Store software. Scrivener supports some systems that the App Store itself does not.
Katherine
Indeed - the App Store only runs on 10.6 or above, so if you think you will need to run Scrivener on any machines running 10.4 or 10.5, then you should go for the version on our own site. Other than that, there is no difference (you can beta test if you use the Mac App Store version, although that might not be possible in the future given certain changes coming to the Mac App Store). For obvious reasons, our preferred route is our own web store, simply because we get around 93% of each sale from that, compared to 60-70% from the Mac App Store, but obviously that shouldn’t influence our users’ decisions. 
We’re grateful to customers who buy from any source, and whichever you choose we’ll be very happy to have you on board!
Thanks for wanting to purchase!
All the best,
Keith
Thanks for all the feedback, which seems to be pretty conclusive in favour of shopping here. I just bought a license here also because important updates through the Mac App Store can take longer and also because there is no real upgrade path that I know of with software sold via the Mac Store.
As somebody who has experience of dealing with billing companies as a seller I can assure any users that developers are not getting a free ride when selling directly and they will probably have higher overheads in terms of support & marketing than they would when selling through the Mac Store, so I am sure that it’s not quite so black & white for software developers. Even so 30% is a heavy charge…
I’m glad we still have both options at present with Scrivener unlike some developers that have chosen to go exclusively with the Mac Store. Apple have huge marketing leverage and it’s very possible that we will see far fewer opportunities to buy directly through developers in the future. Many of us may come to regret that if it happens.
I’ve just noticed Keith that you are in Truro. I am in the far off territory otherwise known as St Austell
Thanks for buying! Actually in our case it is fairly clear-cut - the Mac App Store doesn’t really do much in the way of advertising (except when you’re lucky enough to get a feature), and we provide support the same to Mac App Store users and non-MAS users alike (sadly, we get many emails from MAS users who have emailed Apple asking where their serial number is, or why a program they have transferred from one machine to another rather than downloading again via the MAS won’t work, only to have Apple support tell them to contact us - so we tend to deal with a lot of the support issues that the MAS was supposed to obviate…).
And indeed I am in Truro! Although I’m one of those much-maligned interlopers who moved here from “up country”. I know St Austell, though - along with Bodmin, home of Cornwall’s best pastries (Barnicutts).
I know that some developers did exceptionally well through the MAS when it first started and I believe Pixelmator is a good example. Agile who make 1Password have gone 100% MAS with their latest version and mentioned various reasons for doing so, but I don’t think they were at all prepared for the huge negative backlash they received from many existing loyal users.
It’s sad to hear that MAS aren’t being as helpful as they could and it’s very good of you to try and help those users when they are in difficulty because I can imagine some people becoming very frustrated if Apple fails to help as they should.
The real worry for users and developers alike may come if Apple ever secures an effective monopoly for selling Apple software, much like I have seen for photographers who want to sell their images online and quickly discover the market is effectively controlled by one major player. It’s a similar situation with major supermarkets who basically bully small food producers into accepting any terms they demand.
I remember a time in Cornwall when the fresh arrivals really were treated in less than hospitable ways much like you hear about in Wales but these days it’s rare to even hear a genuine Cornish accent if you walk about the towns. I lived abroad for many years but Bodmin is my home town so I know Barnicutts very well and I agree they are the best, though I’m not sure what the VAT situation is these days on pasties… Doesn’t that only apply in England?
To be honest, although I’m sure apps that made the move had sound reasons, I can’t see why anyone would want to go Mac App Store-only if they already have a non-MAS version. It certainly makes sense to get on the Mac App Store, but exclusively? I’m not so sure. Since introduced to the Mac App Store shortly after the latter’s launch, Scrivener has consistently been in the top 40 top grossing apps (on the US store today we are number 28; Pixelmator is number 21). But we still sell more via our own web store, and there is no sign that we are going to be millionaires any time soon - far from it, sadly! The Mac App Store is great and it has certainly brought us a fair few new customers and increased our exposure, but it doesn’t seem that it’s selling anywhere near the numbers that the iOS store sells - which is understandable given the smaller market share. So I’d say that we are, in fact, among the developers to have done best out of the Mac App Store over the past year, if you go by the top grossing lists. (I read somewhere that Pixelmator made millions in those first few weeks, which seems incredible to me, especially seeing as we made it to number 4 Top Grossing at one point and were in the top 10 for a couple of weeks after our release and were certainly making nowhere near that amount! But Pixelmator did get a lot of publicity as the first app to go MAS-only, so that may well have been an anomaly.)
Also, I should clarify and say that it has only been the tech support division of the MAS that hasn’t always been great for users. The Apple guys and gals who actually run the Mac App Store itself are brilliant - very nice and friendly folks who have been very good to us. I have no complaints in that department at all, and am grateful to them for their hard work and for their inclusion of us in several App Store features. My main gripes against the App Store are just it desperately needs upgrading to have some of the following features:
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Upgrade pricing for apps.
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Ability to provide free trials (especially seeing as you’re not allowed to mention a free trial on your website in the blurb).
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Ability for developers to respond to user reviews. As it is, someone can post a one-star review claiming that there is such-and-such a problem, which you’d be able to clear up in a second if you could reply.
I’m glad to see that Apple is so far showing no signs of wanting to exert a monopoly - Developer ID in Mountain Lion is a nice addition for providing security for apps not on the App Store. (It is a little annoying that iCloud isn’t available to non-Mac App Store apps, though.)
So, I wasn’t trying to give the impression that the Mac App Store is any way a negative thing - far from it, it’s been great for us. The advantages and disadvantages are just not as clear-cut as some people see it, that’s all.
I know Bodmin well, by the way - that’s where my wife’s parents live.
Cornwall is in England. [Runs away quickly.] 
Oooh careful… you’re in dangerous territory with that comment!
When I first came back to Cornwall after many years of living in Italy I asked an old boy for directions to St Michaels Mount and he wanted to send me off on a wild goose chase around the county. It didn’t sound right so I quietly added that I felt stupid for not knowing the way as a Cornishman but I had been abroad for many years and had forgotten the last bit. He replied “Oh, I thought you were English…”. We chatted a while longer and at the end he said “never mind what I told he before boy, its just down there on the left”. 
I have a friend in Doncaster who is quietly a bit of a genius on the web and has made a small fortune selling iPhone apps but he has to work very hard at driving the traffic to his apps sold through Apple by fair means and foul to achieve those sales. He says the glory days are over as well because the shear number of available apps means that you are only ever getting a tiny piece of the pie.
Exactly the same thing has happened to professional photographers who often have amazing collections of expensively produced images that now earn peanuts because the market is flooded and images sell for pennies. Oh yes and the agencies are often taking 80% of every sale…
My last book has been sold exclusively via my own website because I wanted to get away from the situation where I am reliant on the efforts of others for distribution. I was contemplating selling my next book on the Kindle store and possibly the Apple iBooks as well but again I’m wondering about the pros and cons of doing so.
One final thought on Cornwall and the English. I wonder if you remember the rather macabre old joke “Come home to a real fire; buy a cottage in Cornwall…”. I’m pretty sure nobody has ever gone that far thankfully, unlike in Wales.
Coincidence: I lived in the Veneto for ten years. Coming back to England (a long time ago, now) was a bit strange. The odd thing, to me, was how much English had changed in the intervening time. Perhaps Cornish has changed less …
M.
Just thinking about that a second I reckon there is a 50/50 chance we are related then if they are from Bodmin. In the old days just about everybody including quite a sheep as well were cousins in Bodmin.
I was in Milan for 11 years until 2002 and only got up to Veneto a few times mainly for work. Cornwall has changed out of all recognition compared to 30 years ago and all of this is just banter really, though I think many people have moved to Cornwall because it still feels like it has one foot left in a different time. I like it here for the most part and the only downside is that it’s so far from everywhere else. Work opportunities aren’t that great for most people either.
I’d agree with all three points here and the current setup leads to some weird situations. For example one developer was encouraging his existing users to buy a license on MAS so they could download it again through MAS but why would anybody want to pay full price a second time to buy something they already own?
Heh. The exact same sort of thing might happen to a Bostonian asking for directions Down East in Maine.
Katherine
Masshole: “Does it matter with one of these roads I take to Bangor?”
Maine-ah: “Not to me it don’t.”
Ancient joke from round these parts:
Driver winds down car window: “Leatherhead?”
Rustic gentleman standing by the roadside: “Wooden belly!”