PDF Industry - How do we help it grow?

[Ashy]

I think that the root of the problem is that the largest percentage of gamers do not utilize the RPG networks on the internet. GASP! I know that it is hard to believe, but even despite my incessant ranting, my own group has NO IDEA what EN World is all about and moreso they could care less. I guess they simply do not have the spare time/energy to "play" on the Net...

So, if you could find some way to bring THOSE folks into the fold, I think that you'd see a fairly dramatic surge in sales.

Just my two greens....

 

[rpghost]

I think that the root of the problem is that the largest percentage of gamers do not utilize the RPG networks on the internet. GASP!...
So, if you could find some way to bring THOSE folks into the fold, I think that you'd see a fairly dramatic surge in sales.

Very true and that's the one major egg I donno how to crack. Do they read magazines? Will the d20 article or my ads help? They haven't yet. What do they do to learn about new games? Just from you?

Oh, and I posted this same thread over at RPG.NET and there is some excellent discussion there you might want to check out:

http://forum.rpg.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=65650

James

 

[Morrus]

Very true and that's the one major egg I donno how to crack. Do they read magazines? Will the d20 article or my ads help? They haven't yet. What do they do to learn about new games? Just from you?

If I knew how to crack that one, I'd be doing it. I'd love to see all those people coming to EN World. Not sure keen on the potential bandwidth costs, though.

 

[rpghost]

If I knew how to crack that one, I'd be doing it. I'd love to see all those people coming to EN World.

Right... maybe when we/someone figures it out we can do a co-promotion or something.

But how do you get people who don't surf the internet for their gaming needs to do so?

James

 

[astralpwka]

Hi James!

I'm really curious about whether or not you've approached game stores. I realize its a good assumption that the attitude would be "What's this going to do for me?", but maybe not in every case. For those store owners who care, they might take the sacrifice to promote the industry.

You could also offer the store a trade, in the form of free advertising, especially if they have an online store. However, you could also offer a similar service that Diamond Comics does, putting a "Find A Game Store Near You" on your web site.

Also, what about getting your epublisher's guide in stores? A lot of gamers might be interested in publishing their game worlds or house rules, and never considered this more financially agreeable direction. I think that alone would be a great tool for bringing new people to rpgnow.

Just my thoughts...

The Astral Pwka

aka Garth Wright

 

[Ashy]

Right... maybe when we/someone figures it out we can do a co-promotion or something.

But how do you get people who don't surf the internet for their gaming needs to do so?

James

Well the only thing in my mind (and it is probably not a viable solution) is to have a product evalangist (sp? - sorry, the tiefer is tired today) - basically someone to go and SHOW them how easy/cool/awesome the web is as a tool to find new stuff. Other than that - I know not....

To answer your questions, James - I don't know how they find out about new games - I guess word of mouth or just walking into their FLGS and seeing what is on the shelf.

Maybe you could rent shelf space at FLGS's! "YOUR PRODUCT HERE".... Billboards maybe???? I don't know, but it is frustrating....

 

[rpghost]

I have contacted a lot of game stores online and at conventions. Surprising there are a few who don't mind handing out my free CD's as they have content... but beyond that they have no reason or desire or time or space to promote us...

My online store RPGShop.com is my main money maker and lively hood. I feel the same way about them - I'm not to interested in pointing our customers to their LGS.

Also, what about getting your epublisher's guide in stores? A lot of gamers might be interested in publishing their game worlds or house rules, and never considered this more financially agreeable direction. I think that alone would be a great tool for bringing new people to rpgnow.

This is something I actually decided to to at Origins. I am working on reformating it to digest form and getting it released under RPG Objects. Probably only as a print on demand so we just fill those that are pre-ordered. But it's worth a shot I think. Not sure if game stores will understand what it is though and wether they'd support getting it to their customers.

James

 

[malladin]

Here's one quick thought...

The products at the top of the heap sell 500+ copies. That means there are 500 people who regualrly buy PDFs, however the average D20 product sales is about 100 copies.

Therefore I think there might be room to expand the market place by encouraging more spending by existing customers. Lets say we can get all the products (of quality) that sell about 100 up to 400-500 copies it would really boost the pdf 'industry', which would in turn allow for much better quality products to be churned out.

Being stung by a bad product is a big problem, and I think this is why there are a few products that do really well, as people trust Monte and the Game Mechanics because of their pedigree. They are not people who regularly come to RPGNow and so will not only miss many products, but will probably not trust us smaller publishers. I also think that this group probably includes most of the new customers and so getting them to spend more widely will gradually increase the whole customer base.

One possible solution I've thought of is a portal site that concentrates on D20 pdfs and draws a line based on quality. The idea being that people will learn to trust the quality of the wider market and there will be a smaller content so that you won't effectively drop of the front page quite so quickly. I've even gone so far as to design a web page that would allow people to build there own company site within the portal and to update product details and post news items and that has linked reviews. The only trouble is that I don't have the time to code it. I also fell that there might be a perceived conflict of interests if I were to run such a site.

Cheerio,

Ben, Malladin's Gate

 

[rpghost]

Don't forget the 1000's of customers that came for and only took the free Ars Magica or Deadlands releases...

A portal site or some sort of industry award or rankings system might help... I own PDFGames.com if that helps with anyone creating such a site I'm open to letting them use it.

I could see maybe some sort of independent (eg not publishers) board of judges that help rank publishers and products. Then at least the people in the top spots there could brag about it or at least the top half ranked could use it to gain the trust of customers.

Still, I'm sure there are going to be plenty of publishers who would also hate this idea. Plus I can see that most of the GOOD product is already selling GOOD and so patting them on the back helps the industry in what way? Helps sales in what way? What we need is to draw attention to good product from first time publishers.

Also, I don't think a d20 only slant is the way to go. Only half the product on RPGNow is d20 and I don't wish to alientate the others.

In summary I think there is a need/desire for a community portal that helps rank publishers/products that is driven by a staff/board of non-publishers. Digital RPG does a reasonably good job of displaying new products - but it doesn't help highlight good stuff or warn of bad stuff. It also is driven/run by the publishers themselves.

http://www.electronicd20.com was trying to be a d20 PDF review site, but the people running it disapeared. I own the domain if someone wants to continue it...

James

 

[malladin]

I'm not really thinking about the portal as patting good products on the back. If you have a good product you'll suffer a big drop in sales when it drops off the front page of RPGNow. As RPGNow is so successful with publishers it means that you drop off the front page really quickly.

As an example, Forgotten Heroes: Paladin and Unearthed Adventurers both had similar first month sales, but as Paladin was released at a time before RPGNow exploded it stuck around and generated a further 3 or 4 good months sales. Unearthed Adventurers had the first month's sales and then slowed right down to the same sort of trickle paladin did after 4 months. There may be something in the relative appeal/quality of the products, but I'm sure that the time spent on the front page at RPGNow plays a big role.

Therefore a portal site with a more restrictive mandate and an assurance of quality, I believe, would be well received by consumers. It would help sales by providing a better reliable quality assurance and retaining a shelf of new products for 2-3 months rather than 2-3 weeks.

I'm not suggesting alienating non d20 pubishers, I think two portal sites, one for D20 and one for non D20 would be ideal. Maybe you could have another for Wargames and another for support products, such as card models and clip art. At the moment I think we all interfere with each other's sales by pushing so much through the front page.

Cheerio,

Ben