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Message: <blockquote data-quote="nogrod" data-source="post: 6780986" data-attributes="member: 6806863">My experience I am not much of a industry insider but I have made a couple of box sets and been nominated and failed to win some industry awards, so I figure I can chime in. This. Even with a significant amount of Kickstarter funding the flexibility of regular income can make huge differences in the quality of inputs. From better printing options to better art to better layout, you name it. There are many games being made and sometimes a little extra money spent to stand out can go a long way. Yep. RPG creators can save a ton of money on accountants.I do feel that if you are expecting to get rich you should re-think your motives. The truth of the industry, no one can seriously deny it, is the number of individuals making "mortgage money" is very small. The market has very low barriers to entry and, for most first time products, competes at price points that are unsustainable. Not a formula for a predictable income. This I have not done, at least not since I started. Spending time on forums and blogs takes time directly away from working on the product. I am trying to change that somewhat because I have different needs now than I did for the first 2 years. Conventions are the reason any 'success' I have had happened. The most important part, before ever having a booth or getting space for your product at someone elses stand, is simply networking. I never attended a convention before 2012 and I have attended over 10 since then. Every important step from advice to recognition to sales has happened because of my attendance. I am so busy networking and running a booth now that I often play zero games but spend a great deal of time in the bar- odd for a non-drinker but you go where the crowd goes. I talk to everyone I can, hand out swag and self-promote as much as possible, which winds up being less than you think since I did not want to be 'that guy' who would not shut up about my game/idea. It is a hard balance but nothing replaces face time.  I waffle on this one. If you look at the list of companies on RPG now and want to stand out in anyway then starting small may not be the way to think about it. Building quality might be a better outlook. Small releases that are well produced and retain their value quickly become your catalog, even (maybe, especially) if initially they are free. I think we are a hobby built by obsessed amateurs turning their passion into a moderate income stream.</blockquote>I would add two things that have helped me immensely are recognizing what I can't do and for the things I have to do invest time in REALLY learning the tools needed. For me the primary tools that I use are Word, Photoshop and InDesign. I spent countless hours watching tutorials and then reading forums to take advantage of them. I, only just recently, feel reasonably confident that I am using them effectively to create my adventures. Not that you can't go a long way on a ambition, you can (I did I was nominated for an ENnie in production values for what was essentially my first layout project), but the time spent fighting the tools versus using them is as immense as it frustrating.The second thing helped the process was knowing when to ask for, pay for, and recognize advice. Almost all advice I have received was valuable in context and useful when applicable.[/QUOTE]

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