Sales data for Ancient Awakenings Publications (I promised...)

[mroberon1972]

All right!

Back, near the beginning of the year, I promised to show my account books so that new publishers could see how I did.

Well, here you go:

                                     Ancient Awakenings Publications 

 
 Product                                    Viewed  
 
 The Valley of Frozen Tears                   2232  
 Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests          935  
 Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids            346  
 
 
                                        Monthly Totals by Product    
  
 Month     Model        Product                               Total Sold     Gross Sales     Earnings  
 
 04-2004   AA-VFT-01    The Valley of Frozen Tears                11           $76.45         $57.34  
                         SUBTOTAL:                                11           $76.45         $57.34  
 
 05-2004   AA-VFT-01    The Valley of Frozen Tears                 9           $50.85         $38.14  
                         SUBTOTAL:                                 9           $50.85         $38.14  

 06-2004   AA-MFC-PP1   Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests      10           $13.30          $9.98  
 06-2004   AA-VFT-01    The Valley of Frozen Tears                 4           $20.00         $15.00  
                         SUBTOTAL:                                14           $33.30         $24.98  

 07-2004   AA-MFC-PP1   Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests      11           $14.63         $10.97  
 07-2004   AA-VFT-01    The Valley of Frozen Tears                 4           $20.00         $15.00  
                         SUBTOTAL:                                15           $34.63         $25.97  

 08-2004   AA-MFC-PP1   Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests       2            $2.66          $2.00  
 08-2004   AA-MFC-RD1   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids        10           $13.30          $9.98  
 08-2004   AA-VFT-01    The Valley of Frozen Tears                 3           $20.85         $15.64  
                         SUBTOTAL:                                15           $36.81         $27.61  

                                                         Totals:  64          $232.04        $174.03  
 
 
 Sales Detail    
 
 No.      Order Date          Product                                Status    Total  

 128537   20th April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 128920   22nd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95
 128931   22nd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 128936   22nd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 128958   22nd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 129142   23rd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 129226   23rd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 129278   23rd April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 129298   24th April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95  
 129688   26th April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 130520   29th April, 2004    The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 131156   02nd May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 131255   03rd May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95  
 132180   08th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95  
 132970   12th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00 Sale Price Begins
 132984   12th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 133339   14th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 133424   15th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 133738   17th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 136498   28th May, 2004      The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00 
 138208   06th June, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00   
 138590   08th June, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 138737   09th June, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 141265   21st June, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00  
 141951   25th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 141960   25th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142022   25th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142068   26th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142205   27th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142223   27th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142286   27th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142459   28th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142477   28th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 142765   30th June, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 143219   02nd July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 143253   02nd July, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00   
 143354   03rd July, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00   
 143780   05th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33     
 144030   06th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 144173   07th July, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00   
 144643   09th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33 
 144805   10th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 145468   14th July, 2004     The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $5.00 Sale Price Ends
 146282   18th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 146638   20th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 147035   22nd July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 147329   23rd July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 148192   27th July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33   
 148909   31st July, 2004     Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 150828   09th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33  
 150933   09th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33  
 150954   10th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33  
 150968   10th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33   
 150972   10th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33 
 151159   10th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33   
 151384   11th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33  
 151423   12th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33  
 153990   25th August, 2004   The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95   
 154034   25th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33  
 154712   29th August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33  
 154783   29th August, 2004   The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95  
 154872   30th August, 2004   The Valley of Frozen Tears             Shipped   $6.95 
 155236   31st August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Paladins and Priests   Shipped   $1.33 
 155236   31st August, 2004   Modern Fantasy: Rangers and Druids     Shipped   $1.33 

Production cost for VoFT:

$350 interior art.
$200 cover art

Other current products have no cash production costs.

Final accounting: -$375.97

As a side note, I have sold exacly one (1) print copy of VoFT.  Thanks, you know who you are!

From this, you can see the dates of sales and the products involved. I made some mistakes in the beginning, and now have a small hole to dig my way out of.

Keep in mind, my first product was a setting book, and as such did not sell as well as I had hoped. I created it using production values that were obviously wayyyy to high for PDF. I don't regret that, but it does mean I had to find an alternate source of art for my Modern Fantasy classes. They were created using royalty free art from various sources, and then altering them to be useful.

The point of this? PDFs sell based on the following:

How good your products are. (based on Word of Mouth and Reviews)
How well known you are. (Let's be honest, name recognition has always been a marketable feature.)
How relevant your product is to the buyer. (Players don't buy settings, and only a few GMs buy them as well.)

I'm tired after formatting the chart, so I will just let anyone who wants to know something ask questions.

Later,
John Bowden
The Fool
Mr. Oberon

 

[Krug]

Thanks John. Very insightful.

 

[HellHound]

Wow, those are rough figures, John.

I honestly expected the modern fantasy ones to sell better, but I get the impression from your numbers that few are interested in running fantasy games using the modern rules set.

Unfortunately, the sales numbers of settings are indeed slim. No matter how much call you hear for less crunch, crunch is what sells. If you can bury excellent crunch in amazing exhibition material, then you have learned to both beat the system and keep a vast number of customers happy.

 

[mroberon1972]

You're welcome...

I just hope these numbers help other in looking at the low end of the publishing industry. I know a lot of people have pie-in-the-sky expectations of sales when they first get started.

Then again, even I thought some of these items would sell a little better...

Oh well, we all think we'll do better until we get to see the numbers...

I finishing up the final touches on my next product right now... Last minute editing. I may even have it out today/tomorrow...

Later,
John

 

[D_Sinclair]

Wow, those are rough figures, John.

I honestly expected the modern fantasy ones to sell better, but I get the impression from your numbers that few are interested in running fantasy games using the modern rules set.

For a moment here at the ARP office, we thought the modern fantasy class booklets would have sold better as well. Then I took a look at the sales numbers of our own products featuring D20M classes and realized there was a huge nose dive that's lasted the entire summer. Last spring, we were seeing sales for similar products at a rate of 30-40 units each per month, then summer struck (more likely school let out) and now we're lucky to see 20 units combined sell per month. Hopefully, the theory that the low sales are due to school getting out will prove to be true as this month progresses.

 

[Treebore]

I don't know, I think Mesopotamia will change the "campaign" book stigma, if people actually bother looking at it. Of course I also run campaigns with lots of cultural diversity and have my players travel through them. Most DM's seem to rum much more linear campaigns, IE only in one city/country.

 

[mroberon1972]

I don't know, I think Mesopotamia will change the "campaign" book stigma, if people actually bother looking at it. Of course I also run campaigns with lots of cultural diversity and have my players travel through them. Most DM's seem to rum much more linear campaigns, IE only in one city/country.

Everybody thinks that at some point or another.

But it doesn't...

 

[Arnwyn]

Unfortunately, the sales numbers of settings are indeed slim. No matter how much call you hear for less crunch,

"Settings" and the call for "less crunch" are not synonymous.

Though I'd probably agree that in the pdf market, settings don't sell well.

 

[PlotDevice]

Thanks

Thanks for posting this John.

I have actually been following John's story avidly, and based my business model on information in no small part obtained through reading his posts. I have since entered the market some months after him, and am happy to report I have done so while remaining in the black, so far.

To any other new publishers, I highly recommend reading everything John has posted both here and on the rpgnow forums. And take a look at his site too, he is far more professional a web designer than I will ever hope to be.

http://www.ancient-awakenings.com

Evan

 

[Chaos Drake]

Thanks for posting that. We've just had our first month and it was decent. I guess it should send out

As for Mesopotamia, I really doubt if it'll change the poor sales of settings. Atlas' Nyambe and Green Ronin's Mindshadows, both setting-based books, haven't done very well at all in sales.