Alpha Blue PDF
pickin_grinnin
Explorer
No more than $4.99 for something that is at least 100 pages long. I could see a couple of dollars more for something that has a ton of very good, professional art.
Since there is no ongoing cost of printing and distribution for an electronic product and you can take advantage of the "long tail," a lot gets down to how much you can make in total sales over time at various price points. $4.99 is still in the "what the hell, I'll give it a shot" range. Much more than that and you are in the "do I buy this or that" range, and sales will be lower. Determining the magic price point for maximum profit in the long run can be tricky. If you make more money at the level you're charging than you would selling more at a lower price point, good for you, but it's definitely not something I would pay for any PDF.
VengerSatanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing
The PDF is currently priced at $14.
Earlier today the softcover ($18) was made available. Details here: http://vengersatanis.blogspot.com/2015/12/createspace-alpha-blue.html
VengerSatanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing
That's a different kind of market, so to speak. Only in a one-day-per-year type sale would I ever price a 100+ PDF for under $5. But yeah, I do alright.
Thanks for the feedback!
Ouch! I'm assuming you've not bought any from EN Publishing, then? Most of our ZEITGEIST adventures are in the $8-$9 range for the PDF (more for the softcover, obviously). I don't think we could survive selling 100-page PDFs for under $5.
pickin_grinnin
Explorer
You're right, I haven't bought any of them.
I have no problem with people paying print prices for PDFs. I'm just not going to do it. When you cut out publisher middlemen, distribution costs, printing costs, bookstore return costs, and the other costs that go into print publishing, then add on the ability for PDFs to take advantage of long-tail sales, I just can't justify paying that much for them, particularly when I can go down to the local Half Price Books and pick up a used gaming book for under $10.
I have happily paid $30+ for 100-page (or less) POD game books. I can hang onto those through various technology changes and even sell them to someone else down the line. I have game books that I have owned for 35+ years on my shelves, and still get to enjoy them. If I sold them, it would be at a profit, in most cases. I can't do any of that with electronic files.
There's also the issue of not being able to see what I'm buying. Most PDFs (on RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, etc.) don't have previews that are extensive enough for me to know if I will like them. After being burned by a series of Kickstarters like "Socerers of Ur-Turuk" I won't even buy print game books sight unseen anymore, unless there are some extensive reviews available on them. When I say "burned" by Kickstarters I mean getting a product that falls far below the hype that was associated with it.
Ultimately, though, there are people who will pay that much for a PDF, so I understand why authors and publishers sometimes charge that much for them. I assume that they have found the optimal price point for their products (price vs. volume of purchases).
VengerSatanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing
VengerSatanis
High Priest of Kort'thalis Publishing
There's a full Alpha Blue session (complete with character creation) live-streamed on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Fqok76WMuo
The "Space Dungeon Master" is a KS backer named Ian. Here's his DTRPG review of Alpha Blue: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_reviews_info.php?&reviews_id=136303&products_id=168961
The "Space Dungeon Master" is a KS backer named Ian. Here's his DTRPG review of Alpha Blue: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product_reviews_info.php?&reviews_id=136303&products_id=168961
RangerWickett
Legend
I'm late to this thread, but I think you misunderstand the economies of scale. Sure, we have fewer expenses and middle-man costs, but our volume is much lower than a mainstream D&D release. If we were selling 10,000 copies of our adventures, yes, we could price them at $5. But our sales are not quite at that level, so to afford layout, art, editing, and paying writers, charging $10 might not even break even. The RPG market is not very large.
Buying a large publisher's books is like getting something from Bed Bath and Beyond. High quality, usually, but mainstream. A third-party publisher's products are more like a hand-crafted boutique line that might only appeal to a smaller audience, and thus have a higher price point. When you buy from EN Publishing, it's something you can't get elsewhere.
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pickin_grinnin
Explorer
I do understand economies of scale, particularly when it comes to large vs. small vs. micro publishers. As a librarian, I deal with publishers all the time, and as a horror fanatic, I have given more of my share of money to micro-micro publishers.
As a consumer, though, I do a cost-benefit analysis on most purchases. For me, the cost of more expensive PDFs do not give me the benefit that makes them worth purchasing to me. Others (particularly people who like to read on iPads and such) evaluate the costs and benefits differently. That's true of any product.
If the market will support the price point for the product well enough to pay all the production costs and give everyone the profit they want, that's great. That doesn't mean that I'm going to buy it, but if enough people do, good for them.
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