Quote:
Originally Posted by Mustrum_Ridcully  A possible reason that it wouldn't be carried is because they can't compete with the prices. A possible reason the FLGS or LGS does not exist is because of the fact they can't sell material if it's available considerably cheaper as PDF. |
Yes, remember how the Pathfinder Beta didn't sell any copies when the PDF was released for FREE? Oh boy, dark times, one FLGS closing down after the other, and each of them saying "nope, we're not stocking books which are available for free as PDFs - because NO ONE would ever buy them!".
/sarcasm out.
The $9.99 PDF serves a clear purpose. People get it and if they decide they like it they WILL buy the pricey hardcover, believe me. While
WotC makes a good effort to contract US printers, the quality of ink/colouring/paper in used/etc. in their book is on occasion mediocre to intolerable, and their PDF sales (at full pricing) have been
modest at best (this being the clear reason why pulling them off the market hasn't hurt them - see also Joe Goodman's comment on that).
Paizo, on the other hand, prints their stuff in China and anyone who EVER bought something in the Pathfinder product line can tell you - these things are W O W !!! The print quality (coloration, resolution, you name it) is
amazing - nothing your own printer at home will even remotely match (these not being exactly sentiments when I first received my copy of
Keep on the Shadowfell). Print copies of Paizo's FREE stuff still fetches solid sales on Ebay - a measerly 16-page adventure they gave away freely on FreeRPGDay fetches ten dollars - or, sometimes, not just solid but perverse prices: the Beta RPG could be bought on Amazon market place for $125 when people learned that the Beta print run had been SOLD OUT. And yes, these copies SOLD OUT too.
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