Invasion of the 5-10 page PDFs . . .
- Thread starter philreed
- Start date
DaveStebbins
First Post
Possibly your success, Phil, is encouraging others?
I think it's a netural fit for the PDF world. A small idea that isn't worth the filler it would take to put out in print can be very popular in PDF. I also am attracted to small PDFs because I think they are a good value. I'm may use anywhere from a small fraction to a majority of a print product, but a small PDF can be so narrowly focused that I know I'll be able to get my money's worth out of it. If it covers a niche I'm interested in, it would be difficult for it to fail.
I think it's a netural fit for the PDF world. A small idea that isn't worth the filler it would take to put out in print can be very popular in PDF. I also am attracted to small PDFs because I think they are a good value. I'm may use anywhere from a small fraction to a majority of a print product, but a small PDF can be so narrowly focused that I know I'll be able to get my money's worth out of it. If it covers a niche I'm interested in, it would be difficult for it to fail.
DaveStebbins said:
Thanks!You've pretty much nailed my reason for creating short PDFs. Add to that the fact that I don't have to have a product in development for weeks (especially important now that I've quit my job to do this full time) and the short PDFs suit me very well. That's not to say I won't release longer PDFs (I just posted the 40-page vs. Monsters Deluxe Edition and should finish the 48-page Motocaust this week) but I will continue to release short PDFs.
I'm just curious to hear the reasons of others. Especially since I'm seeing a lot of them lately and some from publishers who complained about me releasing short PDFs.
Vigilance
Explorer
Having started to release a few short PDFs I was a little surprised at the cost.
At RPGObjects we always considered the 50 page mark the minimum at which we would price a product $5.
So when I released the prison/adventure supplement Inside Vossburg Supermax, which was 25 pages long, we split the difference and priced it 2.50.
Just recently I wrote a short little Blood and Guts book with some new classes and feats that was about 8 pages. We had never done a book that short so we started looking around at the short PDFs for an idea on price and found many 8-10 page PDFs priced at around 2 bucks.
This raised some eyebrows, from me at least. I had released a 30 page PDF for free, and a 25 page PDF for 2.50, and the idea that people would pay 2 dollars for 8 pages was... surprising.
Chuck
At RPGObjects we always considered the 50 page mark the minimum at which we would price a product $5.
So when I released the prison/adventure supplement Inside Vossburg Supermax, which was 25 pages long, we split the difference and priced it 2.50.
Just recently I wrote a short little Blood and Guts book with some new classes and feats that was about 8 pages. We had never done a book that short so we started looking around at the short PDFs for an idea on price and found many 8-10 page PDFs priced at around 2 bucks.
This raised some eyebrows, from me at least. I had released a 30 page PDF for free, and a 25 page PDF for 2.50, and the idea that people would pay 2 dollars for 8 pages was... surprising.
Chuck
Eosin the Red
First Post
I will not be doing short PDF releases in the same vein as you since it does not fit my objectives. However, I think if you were going for the short $$ to generate cash flow for a business then you would have to be foolish not to see the grass is greener on the short PDF side of the fence. A mix of short fillers and long IP pieces seems to me to be the ideal practice for long-term success. Conrgats, I believe that makes you a pioneer
Now to contradict myself, I have thought about what you & others were doing and decided to release a few free small PDFs to generate name and style recognition for my product line [It also gave me a break from rather boring module writing.]. I think they will mainly be magazine style articles like the one released yesterday. These also allow me to polish my layout, design, & PDFing skills. I hope that it works as well for my purposes as it does for yours.
BTW, It amazes me how much you and a few other folks can put out in a short period.
Now to contradict myself, I have thought about what you & others were doing and decided to release a few free small PDFs to generate name and style recognition for my product line [It also gave me a break from rather boring module writing.]. I think they will mainly be magazine style articles like the one released yesterday. These also allow me to polish my layout, design, & PDFing skills. I hope that it works as well for my purposes as it does for yours.
BTW, It amazes me how much you and a few other folks can put out in a short period.
2WS-Steve
First Post
I'll echo Dave and say I think other companies are emulating your success, Phil.
Now it works even better since there's a growing array of them available and that makes it easier for a customer to put together a $5 plus package.
I like the way they sort of work like a series of magazine articles that one can mix and match as they desire. Anyway, congrats on pioneering a way of making the electronic format more appealing to customers.
Now it works even better since there's a growing array of them available and that makes it easier for a customer to put together a $5 plus package.
I like the way they sort of work like a series of magazine articles that one can mix and match as they desire. Anyway, congrats on pioneering a way of making the electronic format more appealing to customers.
PlotDevice
First Post
pdf under $2
Thanks to the presence of these and their aparant success I am seriously considering breaking up my small-to-medium sized first release into a few versions. I would like some advice, if people are willing to give it.
I have a not-hypothetical release planned for about $4. It is seven character classes long, four of which are quite hefty in new ideas and rules, and 3 are tweaking on existing ones. I was originally planning to release the whole thing as one peice, but now I am considering the following models:
Release 4 main classes as (say) $1, and the collected 7 as a $4 release at the same time.
Release 4 main classes as $1, 3 minor as 75c and then a month or two later the collection as a $4 pdf.
Release just the one thing at $4.
The economics of the situation seem perplexingly in favour of small releases, considering how much good stuff there is for $5 or more that is over 100 pages. But, as others have said, there seems to be a perception that if a product is under $3 it is automatically a bargain....
If you were in my position, what would you do? Assume that you can find the spare time to cut down the larger release into smaller ones... I am not sure I actually do, but whatever...
Thanks to the presence of these and their aparant success I am seriously considering breaking up my small-to-medium sized first release into a few versions. I would like some advice, if people are willing to give it.
I have a not-hypothetical release planned for about $4. It is seven character classes long, four of which are quite hefty in new ideas and rules, and 3 are tweaking on existing ones. I was originally planning to release the whole thing as one peice, but now I am considering the following models:
Release 4 main classes as (say) $1, and the collected 7 as a $4 release at the same time.
Release 4 main classes as $1, 3 minor as 75c and then a month or two later the collection as a $4 pdf.
Release just the one thing at $4.
The economics of the situation seem perplexingly in favour of small releases, considering how much good stuff there is for $5 or more that is over 100 pages. But, as others have said, there seems to be a perception that if a product is under $3 it is automatically a bargain....
If you were in my position, what would you do? Assume that you can find the spare time to cut down the larger release into smaller ones... I am not sure I actually do, but whatever...
d20Dwarf
Explorer
I'm going to be doing short pdfs soon, it's an idea I've had for quite some time. I was surprised to see Phil doing it, but glad to have a test case and proof of concept before I splashed in. 
I think they take advantage of the medium well and can target concepts that wouldn't be appropriate in a large book. Compilation books, like Occult Lore for instance, are fine, but usually there are only 2-3 concepts a person wants to use out of their $30 book. With short pdfs, the customer can pick and choose, which I think is a benefit in the long run.
I think they take advantage of the medium well and can target concepts that wouldn't be appropriate in a large book. Compilation books, like Occult Lore for instance, are fine, but usually there are only 2-3 concepts a person wants to use out of their $30 book. With short pdfs, the customer can pick and choose, which I think is a benefit in the long run.
cleavthorn
Explorer
Forgive my ignorance, but what is the general subject matter of the shorter PDFs?
Is it mostly monsters or spell lists, or something a little more meaty?
Just curious.
Is it mostly monsters or spell lists, or something a little more meaty?
Just curious.
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