Does it pay to publish?

Janx · Aug 3, 2004

So the real question to these short PDFs and the like, is are they making money?

Does it pay a reasonable amount?

Phil's got a plan. It seems to work out. he's paying the rent.

Some might get squeamish talking about money. Some might suggest the point isn't to get rich.

Some people might argue what's reasonable.

Consider I live in TX (same as Phil), the land of cheap houses and no income tax.

Can I afford a house on a single income? Insurance? Etc.

I've heard numbers like $35,000 bandied about in the past for annual income.

Are people getting this much? More, less? Is it "enough?"

Just curious,
Janx

Arnix · Aug 3, 2004

I won't get into specific numbers, but I haven't quit my dayjob selling pdf's.

I would be suprised to see more than a handfull of pdf sellers make 35k profit per year. I have seen the prices on pdf sales, I have checked on costs for art, layout, writers, RPGNow's cut, etc and it would take a LOT of pdf sales to bring that number in.

Assume $5 pdf. That is 7000 pdf's before any expenses. Figure $300 for art (that isn't much) which adds another 60 copies. Figure $200 for a writer, also cheap for a decent sized book, which is another 40 copies. Add 25% to the number sold because most vendors that I know are gold members. So, 7100 * 1.25 = 8875 copies. We still haven't figured the cost of layout or any expenses for equipment or software.

When you start looking at $2 pdfs, the writer costs go away since the author is usually the publisher, and the art is usually minimal so it is negligible. Lets look at $35,000 @ $2 per copy that comes to 17,500 copies * 1.25 for RPGNow's cut and we are looking at 21,875 copies. Still no cost in there for hardware/software, incusrance, etc.

Either of those number would probably put you at the #1 spot for products sold.

As I said, I still have my day job.

DaveStebbins · Aug 4, 2004

And, given that most PDFs are more likely to sell in the dozens than in the hundreds...

HellHound · Aug 4, 2004

Notice that Phil is not restricted to just the one gig either - he still does layout for other companies (such as Paradigm Concepts most recently) to keep the bills paid.

Currently, 100 sales puts you on the top 100 d20 products of all time list @ RPGnow.

Krug · Aug 4, 2004

Janx said:
So the real question to these short PDFs and the like, is are they making money?

Does it pay a reasonable amount?

Phil's got a plan. It seems to work out. he's paying the rent.

Some might get squeamish talking about money. Some might suggest the point isn't to get rich.

Some people might argue what's reasonable.

Consider I live in TX (same as Phil), the land of cheap houses and no income tax.

Can I afford a house on a single income? Insurance? Etc.

I've heard numbers like $35,000 bandied about in the past for annual income.

Are people getting this much? More, less? Is it "enough?"

Just curious,
Janx

I would advise.. don't count on it. Short PDFs do 'all right', but don't expect it to pay for your house; a toy car for your kid maybe. Also, the market is in danger of super saturation. More publishers are going to jump on the short PDF bandwagon, and there'll be increased competition for the same consumer dollar.

I doubt if most publishers are hitting $35k. WAY... WAY beneath that probably.

BiggusGeekus · Aug 4, 2004

As a guideline, Mongoose Publishing recently put out a want ad for a full time game designer. The pay? $18,000/year.

I wish you nothing but sucess and fortune. Good luck!

Krug · Aug 4, 2004

BiggusGeekus said:
As a guideline, Mongoose Publishing recently put out a want ad for a full time game designer. The pay? $18,000/year.

I wish you nothing but sucess and fortune. Good luck!

Is that British pounds or US dollars?

D_Sinclair · Aug 4, 2004

HellHound said:
Currently, 100 sales puts you on the top 100 d20 products of all time list @ RPGnow.

Actually, this isn't quite correct. ARP has 4 titles that have sold in excess of 100 copies at RPGNow. The only one on the best seller lists is the one that has sold in excess of 200 copies.

Fate Lawson · Aug 4, 2004

Arnix said:
Add 25% to the number sold because most vendors that I know are gold members. So, 7100 * 1.25 = 8875 copies. Lets look at $35,000 @ $2 per copy that comes to 17,500 copies * 1.25 for RPGNow's cut and we are looking at 21,875 copies.

Hey Arnix,
You've made a miscalculation there. Your mixing up Margin vs. Markup. I see this confusion all the time. RPGNow takes 25% of the Selling Price (that's Margin), which equals a 1/3 of Cost (that's a 33% Markup). So as a publisher if you want to see a net of $5 from each unit, and the Seller wants a 25% Margin of Profit, you have to take a 33% Markup.

So that would be 7100 * 1.333 = 9487 (rounded up) copies

or 17,500 * 1.333 = 23,333 copies (rounded up)

BiggusGeekus · Aug 4, 2004

Krug said:
Is that British pounds or US dollars?

At 18,000 they could be gold kugarands and I'd still be better off tending bar!

Does it pay to publish?

Janx

Hero

Arnix

First Post

DaveStebbins

First Post

HellHound

ENnies winner and NOT Scrappy Doo

Krug

Newshound

BiggusGeekus

That's Latin for "cool"

Krug

Newshound

D_Sinclair

Banned

Fate Lawson

First Post

BiggusGeekus

That's Latin for "cool"

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