WotC Should WotC buy a Fantasy Novel Publisher like Tor next?

[Parmandur]

Eldraine is good, I loved it, but it does get WotC were it needs to be.

And War of the Spark is more then just the Ravnica battle porn novel, its the mess with the prequel, its the the bad reviews thar undoubtedly cost War of the Spark sales, but worst will likely cost its sequel a ton of sales, its the head aches thar came with dealing with outside companies.

Do honestly think the current situation is where WotC wanted to be, how much money do you think WotC is actually making off the novels like this?

Its time to bring it all back inside one way or another.

They are making more money by cashing checks than by writing them, certainly.

 

[Parmandur]

They publish books. The only thing you need to make the book a novel is someone who can write the stories - an author.

Sure, they got rid of the people on the novel side because the novels where unprofitable. And they where unprofitable back then before Kindle took off, they would be far more unprofitable now.

Novel editorial work is different than reference book work.

I'm sure they aren't making any money off novels, but at least it is someone else losing the money, not WotC.

See no reason to think anybody is even losing money here.

 

[gyor]

I'm sure they aren't making any money off novels, but at least it is someone else losing the money, not WotC.

They could be making money off of novels, WotC made money off of novels for years and years, and yeah the market took a hit, but folks still make money on fantasy novels, WotC can too.

 

[Parmandur]

They could be making money off of novels, WotC made money off of novels for years and years, and yeah the market took a hit, but folks still make money on fantasy novels, WotC can too.

Return on investment is the key: if the publishers do all the investment, that's a good return for WotC.

 

[Mirtek]

They could be making money off of novels, WotC made money off of novels for years and years, and yeah the market took a hit, but folks still make money on fantasy novels, WotC can too.

But would they make enough money? Why put 100k in business plan A for a potentially 5% ROI when you can spend that money only once and business plan B is a pontentially 10% ROI?

 

[Doc_Klueless]

But would they make enough money? Why put 100k in business plan A for a potentially 5% ROI when you can spend that money only once and business plan B is a potentially 10% ROI?

This right here is the crux. A lot of people in a lot of threads who think WotC would make money doing something they'd like fail to take this into account.

Now, while my MBA is basically wall decoration at this point, this was something that was drummed in. It's fairly trivial (in the grand scheme of things) for a successful company to make money. It's a matter, though, of allocating resources to accrue the greatest amount of earnings with the least amount of effort (so to speak).

So, yes. WotC could make money publishing novels and probably still does. But does the allocation of resources into such an endeavor reap the same amount as putting those resources elsewhere? And the reward does not necessarily mean money in the short term, but also: good will, advertising, expanding market share, etc. Those things can be even more important as they can lead to greater monetary rewards later if properly leveraged.

 

[gyor]

All I know is WotC is still very much interested in novel lines. Maybe WotC can make simular deal with Random House for D&D to the one they just did for post MtG novels.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

They could be making money off of novels, WotC made money off of novels for years and years, and yeah the market took a hit, but folks still make money on fantasy novels, WotC can too.

They made a modest profit at a time when publishing was buoyant, the market wasn't flooded with trashy fantasy novels, and the company needed to scratch for every penny.

These days it makes more sense for WotC to wait for a publisher or writer (i.e. Salvatore) to come to them, and pay them to use the D&D branding.

 

[Mirtek]

All I know is WotC is still very much interested in novel lines. Maybe WotC can make simular deal with Random House for D&D to the one they just did for post MtG novels.

Are they? To me it seems they lost their interest years ago and nowadays are only marginally interested if someone approaches them with a good proposal, but otherwise don't think about it.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Maybe they don't need to buy a new publisher but to hire good writers. Other option can be a mash-up updating works from public domain, for example by Julio Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, Walter Scott, Emilio Salgari or Cervantes. Popular folklore is full of almost forgotten stories.

And the key is a good story. Let's remember for example today there are lots of titles about a zombie post-apocalypse but only a little group will be true smash-hits. The paranormal romance was popular years ago, but now making money with this genre is harder. A famous brand is not enough.

Maybe Hasbro needs to create a new world for Magic: the Gathering like a kid-friendly clone of "Changeling: the Dreaming".