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What's a Freelance RPG Writer Worth?
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<blockquote data-quote="CardinalXimenes" data-source="post: 7659171" data-attributes="member: 58259"><p>Opportunity cost is a factor when choosing between multiple alternative uses for your time and resources. If you have your heart set on writing RPG materials, then your time is a sunk cost- you will be spending your time writing RPG materials come Hell or high water. The only question is which way you can do so such that you make the most money for your effort.</p><p></p><p>Your posts are full of so many statements that I disagree with or find difficult to support that I can't really enumerate all of them. Still, I'll try to address what seem to be the main thrusts of your argument. You insist that self-pub is a terrible idea for most writers because the returns on it are less certain than even penny-a-word freelancing and that such freelancing opportunities can be expected to be available to them. It is also a terrible idea because most writers lack the requisite business and layout talents to ever do so "professionally", and it is a terrible idea because many writers want to write for IP that is not commercially available to them. To which I say,</p><p></p><p>A) Freelance work even at a penny a word is not often available on demand, let alone a majority of aspiring writers. The choice is not between a penny a word and self-pub for these people, it's between nothing and self-pub.</p><p></p><p>B) Vanishingly few freelancers ever seriously expect to make a living at it, let alone to do so "professionally". What almost all of them want is to maximize the return on the amount of time and effort they are inclined to put toward the work. Again, self-pub has a very low bar to exceed to win a comparison with penny-a-word-if-you-can-get-it.</p><p></p><p>C) It's true. If you desperately want to write licensed IP you have no choice but to freelance for the IP owners. Self-pub can't help you there. I know very few RPG writers who are only willing to spend time writing for one IP, however, and most others need something to do with their quiet hours.</p><p></p><p>Self-pub at an entry level is dirt cheap. It requires nothing but an investment of time and effort. If you have already sunk the cost of your time in committing to write RPG materials, then it is effectively free. Freelance writers who are not satisfied with penny-a-word and the paucity of paying jobs are well-advised to consider their options in self-pub. It's my intention with Sine Nomine to make as many tools and resources as possible to help them get there. I want to see as many small publishers as possible out there, each one writing their own weird, wild stuff and expressing their own esoteric ideas. I want shy talents and frustrated writers to be able to take their material directly to the public. Sure, Sturgeon's Law is not mocked, and 90% of it will be crap, but I'd rather have 10% gold from a mountain than a molehill. It's not like we're going to run out of shelf space at DTRPG any time soon.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="CardinalXimenes, post: 7659171, member: 58259"] Opportunity cost is a factor when choosing between multiple alternative uses for your time and resources. If you have your heart set on writing RPG materials, then your time is a sunk cost- you will be spending your time writing RPG materials come Hell or high water. The only question is which way you can do so such that you make the most money for your effort. Your posts are full of so many statements that I disagree with or find difficult to support that I can't really enumerate all of them. Still, I'll try to address what seem to be the main thrusts of your argument. You insist that self-pub is a terrible idea for most writers because the returns on it are less certain than even penny-a-word freelancing and that such freelancing opportunities can be expected to be available to them. It is also a terrible idea because most writers lack the requisite business and layout talents to ever do so "professionally", and it is a terrible idea because many writers want to write for IP that is not commercially available to them. To which I say, A) Freelance work even at a penny a word is not often available on demand, let alone a majority of aspiring writers. The choice is not between a penny a word and self-pub for these people, it's between nothing and self-pub. B) Vanishingly few freelancers ever seriously expect to make a living at it, let alone to do so "professionally". What almost all of them want is to maximize the return on the amount of time and effort they are inclined to put toward the work. Again, self-pub has a very low bar to exceed to win a comparison with penny-a-word-if-you-can-get-it. C) It's true. If you desperately want to write licensed IP you have no choice but to freelance for the IP owners. Self-pub can't help you there. I know very few RPG writers who are only willing to spend time writing for one IP, however, and most others need something to do with their quiet hours. Self-pub at an entry level is dirt cheap. It requires nothing but an investment of time and effort. If you have already sunk the cost of your time in committing to write RPG materials, then it is effectively free. Freelance writers who are not satisfied with penny-a-word and the paucity of paying jobs are well-advised to consider their options in self-pub. It's my intention with Sine Nomine to make as many tools and resources as possible to help them get there. I want to see as many small publishers as possible out there, each one writing their own weird, wild stuff and expressing their own esoteric ideas. I want shy talents and frustrated writers to be able to take their material directly to the public. Sure, Sturgeon's Law is not mocked, and 90% of it will be crap, but I'd rather have 10% gold from a mountain than a molehill. It's not like we're going to run out of shelf space at DTRPG any time soon. [/QUOTE]
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