Irda Ranger
First Post
Could be worse. He could have been the 17th EN Worlder to earn that distinction ....diaglo said:
A Technical Look at D&D Insider Applications
- Thread starter Scholar & Brutalman
- Start date
Glyfair
Explorer
IanArgent
First Post
Scott_Rouse said:
Now that one I can show you an example of. Baen books gives away a CD with a LOT of ebooks in many first-printing hardbacks. The CD contains rather more than just the one ebook (it typically contains the entire series that the book is part of, is free to distribute, and they also sell the ebooks online (for roughly $5/ebook). So they eat the cost of inserting the CD, allow people to redistribute the ebooks legally for free (and people do), and still manage to make a profit on selling the ebooks.
Seriously, take a look at Baen's Webscriptions and Free Library. I know the markets aren't totally analogous; but they are making quite a bit of money now on it. No DRM, no watermarks. Giving away selected parts of their back catalog. And making money at it. (www.baen.com, www.webscription.net and www.baen.com/library). In particular, read Eric Flint's letters posted at the library.
I know you've said the Magic Online team is experienced with this kind of thing; but the physical tokens that you can redeem online are hidden in the Magic starter packs, and no-one expects to be able to open them up and thumb through them.
I would say just drop the one-activation-per-code thing. You're essentially going to be doing that anyway for legitimate customers, only with more hassle and time wasted (interaction with customer service and assumption of innocence on the part of the customer). You're still requiring personally identifiable information. Keep the watermarks. Keep the fee with credit card and address. Just allow multiple activations. It'll get you $2 per copy that you would otherwise lose to P2P/Bittorrent; and save you the cost of the customer service interaction.
Alos, please allow people to buy a standalone ebook for a significant fraction of the price of the hardcopy; no more than $10. Same privileges and file as the copy that comes with the hardcover. Again, you get $$ that you would otherwise lose to the underground distribution.
IanArgent
First Post
Multi-posting becase I don't feel like editing large chunks of my previous post to rebut some of the arguments against Baen. first, Baen is a top-tier speculative-fiction publishing house, with numerous NYTimes bestselling authors, not a fly-by-night outfit.
Secondly, they have claimed that the availablility of cheap ebooks (cost less than a paperback) has increased the sales of the hardback books they sell - to the point that they publish a much larger chunk of their books as hardback first.
Third, webscriptions is not semi-random; it's the releases for that month in hardback and paperback, plus round-out if that was a short month.
The Webscriptions format gets them several bonuses.
First, they sell more copies of books on launch because they sell ebooks to people who would otherwise wait for paperback. While this doesn't get them onto the NYTimes best-sellers list quicker (since ebook ssales aren't recorded, I don't think), it does make back the up-front costs quicker.
Second, they sell more books to people who wouldn't othersie have picked up the book in question if it wasn't bundled with ones they did want. This got me into at least 2 series I wouldn't otherwise have started, and therefore got me to buy more books.
Third, they end up selling multiple copies of the same book to people. I have been known to buy the ARC, the ebook, and the hardback of the same book - that's right around $50 for one book if I buy the ARC, the webscription of the book, and the hardback at launch; of which Baen directly keeps $30 (I have no idea how much of what a book sells for at B&N ends up in Baen's bank accounts). Finally, they sell books topeople who wouldn't buy paper books at all in that volume. I rarely buy paper books any more because I have to find places to store them and time to read them. Ebooks are much more portable for me than a paper book because I have a PDA. I have my entire ebook library in my pants pocket; but the paper copied take up most of a bookshelf.
I don't think that the exact style that Baen uses for their ebook strategy is necessarily a good idea for RPG books. But I think a decent go could be made with:
Non-unique activation codes in books with a nominal cost to get the ebook. ($5-$10)
Allowing a DDI activation on another account for a very nominal sum ($1-$2)
"Pure"e-books for 1/3 to 1/2 of cover ($10-$20)
An electronic bundle of the month's releases as ebooks for a discount (10%-20%)
I would be willing to pay the larger price for activations in lieu of unique activations. I still spend more every time I go to a restaurant for dinner, or out to a theater for a movie, or order in chinese food. At the lower end I pay more for a burger, drink, and fries at a fast food joint. And too cheap and it reduces the sales of pure ebooks; which I want for some products. I won't buy the FR books in dead tree - I have little use for them, less shelf space, and no room in my budget for another full-price gaming book. I would be interested in getting them for a reduced price; though.
At the same time, I won't be buying 2 copies of the paper book, or one copy of the paper book and one "pure" ebook for both my wife and I. You've already essentially said we can share the ebook. If I can't activate it again against the DDI multiple times, I probably won't be paying for a second DDI subscription for her...
Secondly, they have claimed that the availablility of cheap ebooks (cost less than a paperback) has increased the sales of the hardback books they sell - to the point that they publish a much larger chunk of their books as hardback first.
Third, webscriptions is not semi-random; it's the releases for that month in hardback and paperback, plus round-out if that was a short month.
The Webscriptions format gets them several bonuses.
First, they sell more copies of books on launch because they sell ebooks to people who would otherwise wait for paperback. While this doesn't get them onto the NYTimes best-sellers list quicker (since ebook ssales aren't recorded, I don't think), it does make back the up-front costs quicker.
Second, they sell more books to people who wouldn't othersie have picked up the book in question if it wasn't bundled with ones they did want. This got me into at least 2 series I wouldn't otherwise have started, and therefore got me to buy more books.
Third, they end up selling multiple copies of the same book to people. I have been known to buy the ARC, the ebook, and the hardback of the same book - that's right around $50 for one book if I buy the ARC, the webscription of the book, and the hardback at launch; of which Baen directly keeps $30 (I have no idea how much of what a book sells for at B&N ends up in Baen's bank accounts). Finally, they sell books topeople who wouldn't buy paper books at all in that volume. I rarely buy paper books any more because I have to find places to store them and time to read them. Ebooks are much more portable for me than a paper book because I have a PDA. I have my entire ebook library in my pants pocket; but the paper copied take up most of a bookshelf.
I don't think that the exact style that Baen uses for their ebook strategy is necessarily a good idea for RPG books. But I think a decent go could be made with:
Non-unique activation codes in books with a nominal cost to get the ebook. ($5-$10)
Allowing a DDI activation on another account for a very nominal sum ($1-$2)
"Pure"e-books for 1/3 to 1/2 of cover ($10-$20)
An electronic bundle of the month's releases as ebooks for a discount (10%-20%)
I would be willing to pay the larger price for activations in lieu of unique activations. I still spend more every time I go to a restaurant for dinner, or out to a theater for a movie, or order in chinese food. At the lower end I pay more for a burger, drink, and fries at a fast food joint. And too cheap and it reduces the sales of pure ebooks; which I want for some products. I won't buy the FR books in dead tree - I have little use for them, less shelf space, and no room in my budget for another full-price gaming book. I would be interested in getting them for a reduced price; though.
At the same time, I won't be buying 2 copies of the paper book, or one copy of the paper book and one "pure" ebook for both my wife and I. You've already essentially said we can share the ebook. If I can't activate it again against the DDI multiple times, I probably won't be paying for a second DDI subscription for her...
Lonely Tylenol
Explorer
I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this, but man, do I hate reading PDFs. I use them because it's convenient to do so for reference, but I'd always rather be looking at something that wasn't backlit. I'm certain the reason why my eyesight is shot is because I've spent 25 years reading off cathode ray tubes.
I love having PDFs. They mean I can just take my laptop to the game and not need to have the 20 kg of books I'd need to bring. However, I hate using them.
Also, my feature request: Robust Bookmarks and Searchable Index. Nothing's more annoying than being unable to find something in a PDF in the same amount time as it takes me to leaf through the hardcover.
I love having PDFs. They mean I can just take my laptop to the game and not need to have the 20 kg of books I'd need to bring. However, I hate using them.
Also, my feature request: Robust Bookmarks and Searchable Index. Nothing's more annoying than being unable to find something in a PDF in the same amount time as it takes me to leaf through the hardcover.
Intrope
First Post
If reading from a screen is hard on your eyes, I'd recommend getting an LCD monitor and putting a lamp behind it; I backlight my flat panels with 90W-equivalent CFL lamps, and it makes them far easier on the eyes.Dr. Awkward said:
Also, Adobe Reader's full screen mode is much clearer than the regular mode; whenever I actually read documents in pdf, that's how I do it.
Eventually, someone will either get e-Paper or OLED displays on the market, which should really fix this. Come on, future!
Amen! For that matter, everything really ought to hot-link: all conditions, spell names, class names, etc. If it was important enough to italicize, bold, or capitalize it ought to hot-link.Dr. Awkward said:
Groups and Watermarking
A decent watermark will allow a non-DRM PDF to be shared within a family. I'm not going to bat an eyelid at sharing a PDF that prominently and frequently features my D&D account name (or, at the extreme, even my credit card details) with wife. There's no way I'm going to share it more generally, though.
This technique wont work as well for paid-DDI integration. One way to handle this would be to allow a small (2? 3? 5?) number of paid-DDI accounts to access the database from a single book code, but all secondary codes must be paid for by the secondary user and verified manually from the main account within 15 minutes of being registered. Secondary codes would not give access to the PDF (you get that directly from the primary user), merely the database integration. Easy to allow a small number of registered users, but any misuse can easily be handled by clicking the 'report as suspicious' rather than 'accept' button. The main user should also be able to deregister any secondary accounts.
As for sample copies, the SRD actually fulfils that role rather well. I returned to D&D at the time of the 3.0 -> 3.5 switch, and did so because I was able to read the SRD rules and think "hey, they've made some serious improvements here".
As for printed book + PDF vs PDF, you need to ask yourself whether what you want is the convenience of having the book as a PDF and don't care about the hard copy (in which case just buy the whole package and leave the book in a box somewhere) or whether you actually want the book at a significant discount by just buying the PDF. The reality of the latter situation is that most IP business picks a target price for their product and then ensures that the creation cost + manufacturing and shipping cost fits within that guide. The hard copy of a book is not "the product", merely a common and convenient mechanism for shipping it. Thus, while shipping as a PDF is certainly cheaper, it's naive and unreasonable to expect more than a token discount.
Thus, it's quite consistent (and friendly) for WotC to offer to provide a PDF along with the book for only a token fee, and the rationale for providing that fee makes sense. A token fee and a broad electronic "paper-trail" will discourage casual piracy and misuse. And there's nothing stopping them integrating a PDF-only option (at something close to full retail price) as well.
A decent watermark will allow a non-DRM PDF to be shared within a family. I'm not going to bat an eyelid at sharing a PDF that prominently and frequently features my D&D account name (or, at the extreme, even my credit card details) with wife. There's no way I'm going to share it more generally, though.
This technique wont work as well for paid-DDI integration. One way to handle this would be to allow a small (2? 3? 5?) number of paid-DDI accounts to access the database from a single book code, but all secondary codes must be paid for by the secondary user and verified manually from the main account within 15 minutes of being registered. Secondary codes would not give access to the PDF (you get that directly from the primary user), merely the database integration. Easy to allow a small number of registered users, but any misuse can easily be handled by clicking the 'report as suspicious' rather than 'accept' button. The main user should also be able to deregister any secondary accounts.
As for sample copies, the SRD actually fulfils that role rather well. I returned to D&D at the time of the 3.0 -> 3.5 switch, and did so because I was able to read the SRD rules and think "hey, they've made some serious improvements here".
As for printed book + PDF vs PDF, you need to ask yourself whether what you want is the convenience of having the book as a PDF and don't care about the hard copy (in which case just buy the whole package and leave the book in a box somewhere) or whether you actually want the book at a significant discount by just buying the PDF. The reality of the latter situation is that most IP business picks a target price for their product and then ensures that the creation cost + manufacturing and shipping cost fits within that guide. The hard copy of a book is not "the product", merely a common and convenient mechanism for shipping it. Thus, while shipping as a PDF is certainly cheaper, it's naive and unreasonable to expect more than a token discount.
Thus, it's quite consistent (and friendly) for WotC to offer to provide a PDF along with the book for only a token fee, and the rationale for providing that fee makes sense. A token fee and a broad electronic "paper-trail" will discourage casual piracy and misuse. And there's nothing stopping them integrating a PDF-only option (at something close to full retail price) as well.
Raven Crowking
First Post
Nom said:
Tell me it's fine when you print off a map for Sunday's game, and it goes missing, and someone has your name and credit card details!
Name is one thing, credit card is another.
RC
Recent & Upcoming Releases
-
June 16 2026 -
June 16 2026 -
September 16 2026 
Arcana Unleashed(Dungeons & Dragons)
Rulebook featuring "high magic" options, including a host of new spells.
Replies (151) -
September 16 2026 -
October 1 2026 -
October 6 2026 -
January 1 2027
