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Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Marius Delphus" data-source="post: 1627223" data-attributes="member: 447">Personally? $5. I have no extrinsic justification for this, only a "gut feeling." (Is there a "big grain of salt" smilie?) I agree with Prest0's "as good as possible" comment wholeheartedly: I can't even permit my *own* stuff (personal consumption only type of thing) to look as though I hadn't put at least a *modicum* of effort into it. (It's a compulsion I've learned to live with; I have *almost* 10 years of DTP experience. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> ) With that in mind, imagine my dismay when I purchased a product I've had my eye on for a while (I won't say which) and discovered I thought the layout was vastly poorer than I've turned out in my *spare* time. Of course, not every consumer is a longtime fastidious professional desktop publisher, to be sure. But if you go to the library and check out a couple books on page design (I especially recommend "The Non-Designer's Design Book" by Robin Williams -- no, not the actor) you might be surprised how many "simple rules" you need to keep in mind for a *professional looking* layout... and how many times you can see those rules violated once you've learned them. (cough, AD&D2E BLACK BOOKS, cough) On the original topic, the best software costs money for a reason. I hate trying to cope without my Adobe Suite anymore... the options it gives me are just *that* superior to any less-expensive solutions I've tried. Though you can get a long way with Microsoft Publisher if you cancel/turn off/slay all the silly wizards and stuff. (Shhhhhh!) It's the same with art. Good art you have to pay well for. I've never taken an RPG publication from "gestation" to "coming out party" myself, so on this one I am just repeating what I've heard. But it's basically this: decide what you're comfortable paying and then have a look around to find the quality/price tradeoff you're willing to make. Consider there's a significant chance you'll sell less than 100 units. It seems to me that one of the beautiful things about PDF publishing is that there is no page count limit! Though to start, I'd suggest (again, based on nothing other than my "gut feeling" and what I read while lurking extensively 'round these here parts) shooting for something 96 pages or less that you're comfortable selling for $10 or less. Less than $10 is an impulse buy; more than that has to be worked into the ol' gaming budget. It's all about perception, you know. Anyway, give your customers a chance to *find out* how succinct yet evocative your writing is and how unique yet useful your rules material is, and they'll come back for more, right? <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Once you build "name cred" you might be able to sell some of your longer missives at higher prices. And if you get better advice from someone who knows what they're talking about, take that instead! <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /></blockquote>

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