What's the appeal of digest-sized products?

[Ath'kethin]

Seriously.

I just backed a Kickstarter for an adventure module that I thought looked great. It has an interesting plot, great artwork, and promised to be a bucket of fun.

But then I noticed that the book was digest-sized, or at least not full-size, and I pulled out. I just don't understand the appeal of these tiny supplements - they don't fit properly on the bookshelf, and especially as my eyes get older they're harder and harder to actually read and use. They cost more or less the same as a full-size (8.5x11 or A4) book, but there's just less to them.

So clue me in, folks: what do you like about these small-format books?

 

[Morrus]

Easier to transport.

 

[Ath'kethin]

Easier to transport.

I guess I can see that on some level.

Though for my part the one digest sized book I have (which I didn't realize was going to be tiny before I ordered it, especially since the previous book by the same author/publisher was full size) tends to just make any stack of books tip over if it isn't placed on top.

 

[Umbran]

Though for my part the one digest sized book I have (which I didn't realize was going to be tiny before I ordered it, especially since the previous book by the same author/publisher was full size) tends to just make any stack of books tip over if it isn't placed on top.

That seems like a great marketing move - their books cannot be relegated to the bottom of the stack where they are less likely to be used

 

[Morrus]

I guess I can see that on some level.

Though for my part the one digest sized book I have (which I didn't realize was going to be tiny before I ordered it, especially since the previous book by the same author/publisher was full size) tends to just make any stack of books tip over if it isn't placed on top.

Yes, if you must stack things, place smaller things on top of larger things. It’s a good rule for life!

 

[Ath'kethin]

Yes, if you must stack things, place smaller things on top of larger things. It’s a good rule for life!

But then they're all out of order!

I think the simpler solution is to simply not buy stuff that will cause such issues.

 

[Ath'kethin]

That seems like a great marketing move - their books cannot be relegated to the bottom of the stack where they are less likely to be used

It might SEEM like a good marketing move, but for my part it simply means I won't buy any of them. Which is a bit of a shame, in a way, but I seriously do not understand the appeal of a product that takes up essentially the same horizontal space on a shelf but contains half the content of others.

My own failing vision issues aside.

They ARE cute, I'll give them that.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

Depends on the use case. I’d rather have a smaller book to take on a trip, for instance.

I would run 4e with just character sheets and the rules compendium or cyclopedia or whatever it was called. I’d love to be able to do that with 5e.

I certainly plan on publishing in that size when I’m done rewriting and playtesting version 3 of my game, because it’s a game that only needs one book and your character sheets.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

But then they're all out of order!

I think the simpler solution is to simply not buy stuff that will cause such issues.

Just as well to only get digest sized and to only get bigger books.

 

[John Dallman]

Easier to transport.

The extreme case of that was the reprinting of AD&D1e books in a tiny format in the late 1990s. I added a few of them to my everyday bag, because carrying them was no burden at all, and it meant I could look up ideas when I had them. That's practical for a one-book game in digest format, for people who object to PDFs.