I used to lurk here a long time ago, posted for a while to the forums, then got displaced by a Hurricane in 2005 and kind of dropped off forums in general since then. I couldn't remember the password for my old account here and the email is defunct so I made a new one.
Outside of my real job I'm a writer and have done a few small things for the RPG industry over the years, through small publishing houses here in the US and in the UK. I recently finished something new that I would like to distribute as a PDF by myself (to eliminate the pesky middle man), and I wanted to do it here on Enworld since this is really the only RPG venue I'm familiar with. The RPG world on the net is a little daunting to me to be honest.
This small document (which is a sourcebook of some alternate D20 combat rules) went through quite a process. I did playtesting for about two years including people in Europe and some folks I never even met (there are some beta versions of this floating around somewhere). I had some good custom artwork done, had it checked for compliance with the D20 contract, and eventually found someone willing to do editing and layout, it's been through those processes. It is now finally complete.
As this site seems to have been redesigned and I never knew my way around very well to begin with, I wonder if someone could give answer some newby questions for me:
1) Where do I go to register to sell my PDF on Enworld? Do they still do that here?
2) Where, if anywhere can I describe my doc and informally advertise it?
3) What else should I know about selling PDFs here and...
4) What other places are good to sell PDFs or is it better to just stick to one site?
Sorry man, you're almost two years too late. They dropped their own store two years ago in November. They now have an ENWorld-branded affiliate store through RPGNow/DriveThruRPG. Everything you need to know about signing up with them is here.
There is an industry forum here that has been designated for press releases. It's not this one (the e-publishing forum) though. There's also GamingReport.com, RPGNews, RPG.net, and RPGLife.com.
You may as well ask "what else do I need to know about being successful in the stock market?" I mean, that answer could go on for pages. RPGLife as a series of posts about the business end of things. There's a podcast series called The Digital Front that deals specificially with the business side of publishing RPGs as e-books. And I wrote a short, free PDF last year with some advice on the subject.
RPGNow/DriveThruRPG (known corporately as OneBookShelf or OBS) is the biggest store around. They offer a discount on their commission if you sign an exclusive deal with them. There are other stores around, such as Steve Jackson Games' e23, but you'll have to decide for yourself if you can make more from them than what you'll loose by not being an exclusive publisher.
Here's some things you didn't ask but need to know anyway:
The d20 licence, which you referenced above, is expiring at the end of this year. You need to do some research about the new publishing landscape.
You've got a long, hard road ahead of you as a new publisher with only one title. I know you want to cut out the middleman, but you really ought to consider taking an intermediate step and start out as an imprint of another publisher. They have an established customer base, marketing, brand, website, etc. Several of the bigger e-publishers take on new imprints.
Several of the bigger e-publishers take on new imprints.
Do you happen to know which ones, or how to go about inquiring into such a thing? I know Paizo has Necromancer . . . but I did some searching on a few websites and couldn't find any 'here's how to be an imprint with us!' link :P Anyway, I don't really know much about a lot of companies, so I'm sure that didn't help my search.
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Do you happen to know which ones, or how to go about inquiring into such a thing? I know Paizo has Necromancer . . . but I did some searching on a few websites and couldn't find any 'here's how to be an imprint with us!' link :P Anyway, I don't really know much about a lot of companies, so I'm sure that didn't help my search.
~
I'm sure I'll forget way more than I remember. But offhand we (12 to Midnight) do, I think Adamant does, RPG Objects, and Highmoon Media. I'm more familiar with modern than fantasy, so I'm sure I'm forgetting most of those guys. I would imagine your inquiry here will also get a few other publishers responding as well.
Each publisher will have their own definition for what it means to be an imprint. To us, it means you're able to produce a fully edited and laid out PDF, but you want our help primarily in sales and marketing. Consequently we only take a small commission. If all you have is a manuscript and need editing, layout, etc, we don't consider that an imprint relationship. At that point we'd consider you a freelance writer looking for a publisher, and the distribution of profit would shift accordingly. We're not really looking for freelance writers, but we'll always consider new publishing studios interested in imprinting.
I'm worried now about releasing this as D20. I registered with RPG now and I'm probably going to go through them, though now I admit I'm a bit curious about an imprint relationship with a small press, it might be cheaper for me than dealing with RPGNow and I could probably use some help with marketing, my document is already laid out and edited etc.
First things first though: If I release this as D20, can I later change that to OGL or will I have boxed myself into a corner and end up stuck with a doc I can't sell after a couple of months?
Somebody asked me about pathfinder compatibility, very generally speaking is that pretty much standard OGL or is there a big difference in their version?
I'm worried now about releasing this as D20. I registered with RPG now and I'm probably going to go through them, though now I admit I'm a bit curious about an imprint relationship with a small press, it might be cheaper for me than dealing with RPGNow and I could probably use some help with marketing, my document is already laid out and edited etc.
First things first though: If I release this as D20, can I later change that to OGL or will I have boxed myself into a corner and end up stuck with a doc I can't sell after a couple of months?
Somebody asked me about pathfinder compatibility, very generally speaking is that pretty much standard OGL or is there a big difference in their version?
G.
You cannot release it as a d20 product. The d20 STL has been rescinded. Publishers are enjoying a generous 6-month sell-off period for old stock, but can't release new products under the d20 STL.
You cannot release it as a d20 product. The d20 STL has been rescinded. Publishers are enjoying a generous 6-month sell-off period for old stock, but can't release new products under the d20 STL.
You can release it under the OGL.
Jesus, I'm SOL. I misunderstood what I was told about D20, I thought it was in effect until the end of the year. I just finished uploading my document onto RPGNow and finally got everything set up right, sent out complimentary copies to like 30 people.
I guess I'm going to go now and remove it before I get a lawsuit or something.
This is a nightmare. I am not a happy camper. I don't understand the OGL / D20 and apparently neither does the editor I was working with. I don't even know what I have to do to this thing to fix it for OGL, I think I may just trash the whole project.
Thanks for the warning, I wish I would have read this a week ago.
TTBOMK, if you remove the d20 logo, you have an OGL product. IIRC, the d20STL imposed restrictions on what you could put in your product in return for your ability to use the d20 logo, but I don't think it allowed things that aren't allowed by the OGL.
Jesus, I'm SOL. I misunderstood what I was told about D20, I thought it was in effect until the end of the year. I just finished uploading my document onto RPGNow and finally got everything set up right, sent out complimentary copies to like 30 people.
I guess I'm going to go now and remove it before I get a lawsuit or something.
This is a nightmare. I am not a happy camper. I don't understand the OGL / D20 and apparently neither does the editor I was working with. I don't even know what I have to do to this thing to fix it for OGL, I think I may just trash the whole project.
Thanks for the warning, I wish I would have read this a week ago.
G.
The d20 STL stands for "d20 System Trademark License". In other words, it's merely the terms under which you can use the d20 System Trademark (the logo). Remove the logo and the compatibility text on the cover, and you should be set.*
*Note, I'm not vouching for the legality of your product, knowing nothing about it. But from the d20 STL POV, all it's about is use of the d20 logo itself.
I'm not sure if they're still doing this, but it used to be when you signed up with RPGNow you received electronic copies of the three ePublishers Guides. One of those is the ePublisher d20/OGL Guide. Obviously some information it contains is out of date, since the d20 License is no longer available. However, the information on what you CAN do with the OGL is still good. If you have the Guide, check it out. (If you don't have it, get in touch with the folks from OneBookShelf and see about getting it!)
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