What's the buzz on FFE?

[trancejeremy]

Heh, this is almost funny. A marketing company.

This, from the company that refused to go to various website to make announcements about products.

Or when I inquired about review copies , never replied, but does sell his books that don't sell for cheap on ebay (at $1-2 a pop). You'll sell them to me for $1-2 each 3 months after they come out, but won't send one in exchange for a review, and maybe sell a copy or two based on that?

Oh my.

 

[JoeGKushner]

Heh, this is almost funny. A marketing company.

This, from the company that refused to go to various website to make announcements about products.

Or when I inquired about review copies , never replied, but does sell his books that don't sell for cheap on ebay (at $1-2 a pop). You'll sell them to me for $1-2 each 3 months after they come out, but won't send one in exchange for a review, and maybe sell a copy or two based on that?

Oh my.

On the review front, it's a double edged sword. I've had a few publishers tell me that online reviews do nothing. I don't agree with them 100% but I can see where they're coming from.

From FFE, they didn't like the fact that I thought several of their products were in essence, jokes and treated them as such when I reviewed them, despite giving positive reviews to other products.

Many publishers feel that they are providing product and that you'd best minimize your negative tone if there's something in a product you don't like. To hell with them. The product is free, the time I invest in it is not and I'm not getting paid to review it so I'll shoot from the hip occassionally and if someone is pissed off, well, be pissed off and get over it.

 

[D_Sinclair]

I'm actually glad to hear its not a new game company, but a marketing company. Marketing definatley seemed to be one of FFE's shortcomings.
*Sheridan

Hmmm... I half expect Studio 2 to be an eventual failure as well, considering it is helmed by the marketing VP of a company that did a lousy job of marketing to begin with...

 

[HalWhitewyrm]

Studio 2... That was brilliant. This way, they can dismiss all the money owed to freelancers by FFG since Studio 2 is a completely different company.

Guess I should just resign myself to not getting paid... :\

 

[Sir Trent]

I disagree

Marketing was not the key to Fast Forward's failure, it was the size of thier print runs. They were doing first print run of thousands of copies on books that, despite reasonable sales numbers, never came close to making a profit. Some of their earlier quality issues were certainly an issue as well, although they truly seemed to have fixed a lot of that towards the end.

John Danovich had nothing to do with the big decisions at Fast Forward, he was just an employee. If he can resurrect some of their titles with a new company, well I for one am in complete support of him. After all; how much money do you suppose he was never paid?

 

[HellHound]

Marketing was not the key to Fast Forward's failure, it was the size of thier print runs. They were doing first print run of thousands of copies on books that, despite reasonable sales numbers, never came close to making a profit. Some of their earlier quality issues were certainly an issue as well, although they truly seemed to have fixed a lot of that towards the end.

And how is this not marketing?

Marketing STARTS with figuring out what kind of product is needed / wanted, how to make it, how to differentiate it, and then how much of it to make in order to help set a price... Saying that they were fine with marketing, but unable to get the first part of the marketing mix (product) together seems a little silly.

If a product never turns a profit, the blame lands SQUARELY on the marketing effort, as the whole point of marketing is to produce and exchange something in a manner that produces a mutually beneficial exchange. (ie: making an RPG book that you want to buy, at a price and quantity that will recoup the costs of production and development, thus making me money and giving you the book you want).

---

Mind you, I am not saying that this is what happened nor that they do or don't have a marketing problem, I am just stating that that marketing means a LOT more than advertising or promoting, but is the full marketing mix of Product, Price, Place and Promotion.

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

Hellhound hit it in one -- a wise business starts with a well-researched plan involving finances and market sustainability. That is the proper way to begin with marketing. In other words, know how much you have to spend, know how much things will cost, and know how much of the market you can rely upon. Without that, advertising, reviews, and all the like aren't worth squat -- they are the second (or even third) step of marketing, not the first or only.

I'm incredibly sorry for all the freelancers who ended up getting burned and find it odd, however, that this publisher goes down and slides right into a company that claims it can properly market my products for me. I mean, honestly, having your previous gaming company come crashing down around your ears is not exactly the biggest confidence builder for Studio 2 -- printing, wharehousing, and other mundane tasks sure, why not, but MARKETING? Personally, I'm of the opinion that Studio 2's start-up cash would have been better spent paying off previous debts first. Legally Studio 2 may not be required to as a separate entity, but it would have been the classy thing to do.

 

[tonym]

Personally, I'm of the opinion that Studio 2's start-up cash would have been better spent paying off previous debts first. Legally Studio 2 may not be required to as a separate entity, but it would have been the classy thing to do.

Reminds me of Iron Crown and how they went bankrupt, leaving a lot of freelancers unpaid for their work. Then several former ICE-employees gathered into the Pheonix LLC and started making products using ICE's old intellectual property.

Legally the former-ICE/present-Pheonix guys don't have to pay those old unpaid freelancers. And, from what I hear, they won't.

Tony M

 

[FoolishFrost]

Dang... It's kinda scary how many feelancers don't get paid...

How do you guys eat?

 

[Steve Conan Trustrum]

Dang... It's kinda scary how many feelancers don't get paid...

How do you guys eat?

We ...

a) maintain full-time jobs
and
b) try not to rely on the freelancing money, but rather consider it bonus cash