What is your view of EN Publishing?

[Morrus]

Please forgive the cheap-ass version of market research, but this year end is a good time for us to take stock.

One of our problems is that despite selling well in various manners, we don't get any feedback. People subscribe to, download, purchase our stuff in very pleasant numbers, and I've no complaint there! But it tends to be in a vacuum of silence - we get no reviews, comments, or discussion. So we really don't know how we're doing!

So, please use this thread to let us know. If you haven't seen our stuff, don't worry - that's a different subject entirely; it's not a thread about why you haven't looked at it. This thread is about those who have accessed our adventure paths, and what view of our little company that they have engendered in you.

As with such threads - telling us what we're doing right is just as valuable as what we're doing wrong! We need to know what we're doing that works!

 

[Dice4Hire]

Well, I subbed for the first half of this year (or so) and I got most of the WotBS adventure path at that time. I think I only missed the last module.

As for Zeitgeist, I support putting it in the silver subscription area, but my impression is that it is running quite a bit behind. I know #2 came out, but shouldn't #3 be out already? And be near #4? If you are tying the adventure paths to subscriptions, I think they modules need to come out a bit more timely.

I think that the premise for the Zeitgeist AP is excellent and the first module is interesting. I am not a fan of APs, but reading the Player's and DM's guides gave me a good idea of the whole series and it sounds good. I especially like how the ending will go. Nice epic feel without just plain plane-hopping.

Also Santiago seems dead in the water? I saw the engineer preview a while ago (Summer?) but have heard nothing since then.

A couple of impressions from the EnPub forum is that I think there is a bit too much focus on making the Zeitgeist perfect rather than getting it out the door. I saw a thread on changing the themes around so they are not 'underpowered' but with the modules coming out slower than initially promised, is that a good use of time?

It also seems like several groups are caught between modules now, waiting for the new one to come out. I think with a 2 month cycle faster groups will have that in any case, but with the current 3 1/2 month cycle(as it appears to me) that will be a lot more groups.

All of this is form someone who mostly spends his time in General, 4E, and Meta, with an occasional foray into the EnPublishing forum.

I am glad Enworld is doing some good APS, especially doing them in different systems. That is really needed at the moment.

 

[Alzrius]

EN Publishing strikes me as a company that doesn't go out of its way to draw attention to itself.

Most people only offer feedback as the whim strikes them; they'll leave a few sentences on a thread on a message board in response to a publisher, but they won't sit down to write a review. Hence, companies that want feedback need to be continually working to draw eyeballs towards them - getting people to think about your is half the battle in getting them to talk to you. EN Publishing doesn't seem to do that.

The other half is persistence. You need to be out there a lot. You need to keep threads in noticeable spots on forums, answering questions, making posts so that your threads stay current, and making announcements about new products. That's somewhat hard for EN Publishing, I imagine, since as Dice4Hire noted, you guys tend to do big products that take time to put together, and in between them things tend to fall into silence.

I also think of EN Publishing as being largely confined to EN World. I was shocked when you posted on the Paizo forums, Morrus, and it's been quite a while since I last saw you there, or anyone else from EN Publishing, promoting your works.

You guys make good stuff, but you keep it too much of a secret!

 

[Morrus]

Well, I subbed for the first half of this year (or so) and I got most of the WotBS adventure path at that time. I think I only missed the last module.

I'll interpret that as "excellent value for money!" - 11 adventures for $18!

Also Santiago seems dead in the water? I saw the engineer preview a while ago (Summer?) but have heard nothing since then.

There's an entire 4E Player's Guide preview available! Check the forum! And the Pathfinder version is nearly ready and had expanded to be - quite literally - Pathfinder Future.

couple of impressions from the EnPub forum is that I think there is a bit too much focus on making the Zeitgeist perfect rather than getting it out the door. I saw a thread on changing the themes around so they are not 'underpowered' but with the modules coming out slower than initially promised, is that a good use of time?

Nah, that's higher level theme powers for later adventures. Advance planning. We're not changing prior stuff, if that's the impression you've gotten.

 

[Ahnehnois]

I've bought a few pdfs (monsters and elements of magic I think) on sale from ENP.

The upside is that I know and like the "brand name", that it supports multiple systems and continues to have excellent 3.X/OGL stuff available, and that the prices are reasonable.

I think it's the most (or one of the most) significant company that focuses on rpg pdfs. It's obviously not competing with the big rpg companies, but it seems to produce good quality niche products.

I am aware of the campaign and see a WotBS reference on the boards every now and then, but I have no interest in published adventures so I'm not attracted by that.

 

[Morrus]

EN Publishing strikes me as a company that doesn't go out of its way to draw attention to itself.

Most people only offer feedback as the whim strikes them; they'll leave a few sentences on a thread on a message board in response to a publisher, but they won't sit down to write a review. Hence, companies that want feedback need to be continually working to draw eyeballs towards them - getting people to think about your is half the battle in getting them to talk to you. EN Publishing doesn't seem to do that.

The other half is persistence. You need to be out there a lot. You need to keep threads in noticeable spots on forums, answering questions, making posts so that your threads stay current, and making announcements about new products. That's somewhat hard for EN Publishing, I imagine, since as Dice4Hire noted, you guys tend to do big products that take time to put together, and in between them things tend to fall into silence.

I also think of EN Publishing as being largely confined to EN World. I was shocked when you posted on the Paizo forums, Morrus, and it's been quite a while since I last saw you there, or anyone else from EN Publishing, promoting your works.

You guys make good stuff, but you keep it too much of a secret!

Part of the problem is that when you own one of the largest RPG info platforms in the world is that you become paranoid about appearing like you use it to spam people with your own stuff. So I restrain myself immensely. And even then people still complain about "self serving news ad spam". It's a hard line to tread. I could choose to deluge you with info about ENP stuff, but I opt not to for fear it will drive you away. Perhaps a mistake.

As for a Paizo - I started posting about our stuff there the second we had Pathfinder material. We didn't have any to post about before!

 

[kitsune9]

I've bought some single products in the past (Arcane Strife and Crimson Contacts). Thought they were okay. I didn't get into WotBS as I was already running a campaign with a war going on. Zeitgeist is a really cool-looking AP and I would like to play it, but my gaming group isn't into steampunk at all. I think if you choose a "Forgotten Realmsyish" kind of AP for the next one, I could pick that up for my next AP that I'll run since I'm doing the Carrion Crown AP which is Call of Cthulu meets Ravenloft kind of AP.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

Hard for me to give feedback here...

I bought WotBS in b+w hardcover. That's more or less it apart from a few pdfs.

Generally I consider ENpublishing in the niche above Goodman, but not quite up to Necromancer/Green Ronin/Open Design.

I consider EN around the level of Monkeygod (back in the day) and some other excellent niche publishers (dragonsfoot? was that the name?).




I find the "sell" underwhelming, but the product quite good...but never really "grab me" good.

In fact, being brutally honest, I might just have to look harder at the authors and the schtick of the latest adventures. I guess, my real feedback is that I think there's never been anything to grab me....and I'm easily grabbed when there is something to notice.


I'm going to say, from what little I know....put more effort into exposing your product (not necessarily more advertising, but maybe better advertising, so I know WHY I should buy it).

I probably will eventually buy Zeitgeist in print (as I eventually did with WotBS). But I'll be honest that I never cared about it until it came out in a full volume. In part, that's my own print>pdf bias. However, I'm a subscriber to Slumbering Tsar, haven't even downloaded the last 3 pdf installments, and am still drooling at the potentiality of the print book.



Hope that helps. I do think ENpublishing does quality work and wish I were more excited about it....and I'll probably get it anyway....but if you could help my build that excitement, it'd be a fine thing.

 

[jaerdaph]

No News is Good News?

Unfortunately in the Internet age, the only time you ever hear about anything is when you've done something wrong.

 

[tuxgeo]

My own terribly uninformed opinion (having played neither any WotBS nor any Zeitgeist) is that EN Publishing is a fantasy dream story come true: good and well-written cross-platform adventures, with a licensed computer game coming out in the not-too-distant future. If other game-content providers were as successful, we would have a slightly lessened impoverishment problem among game developers.

But, as I said, that's an uninformed opinion. You're more than welcome to disregard any or all of it to the extent that you see fit.