[Ancient Awakenings Publications] VoFT now $5.00 / Observations of PDF prices...

[philreed]

More statistics for the fire:

The product page for Poisoncraft: The Dark Art has gotten 446 hits to date, and we have 21 sales. That's 4.71% for those playing at home.

BTW -- Congrats on a great looking company website and beautiful cover. Your PDF is one I plan on picking up just as soon as I have time to read it.

I do wish my Ronin Arts site looked half as good as your website. Web design and maintenance is a very weak point for me.

 

[mroberon1972]

Take a peek at the Ronin Arts page on the RPGNow site. If you see anything you think we should swap links on feel free to e-mail me and we'll discuss it.

Also, I'm sorry for what I've done to your thread. My intention was to discuss PDFs and publishing and I let myself get drug into something else.

At this point, I think we all know who's the problem. Just try not to bait him in this thread anymore. I personally have nothing left to say to him.

I'll talk to you about the trade later...

 

[Prest0]

No improvment? At All?

Hmnnn... I don't know what to make of this at all...

It does sound like an interesting thing to try...

Well of course there's many other variables to be factored in. Bloodlines is pointed in the opposite direction of the publishing trend-- it's a 121 page adventure (mini-campaign, actually). It's also a $10 pdf. So no matter how good it is (and it is!), it already has two strikes against it.

 

[Crothian]

Well of course there's many other variables to be factored in. Bloodlines is pointed in the opposite direction of the publishing trend-- it's a 121 page adventure (mini-campaign, actually). It's also a $10 pdf. So no matter how good it is (and it is!), it already has two strikes against it.

I liked it

 

[TheAuldGrump]

1.) You really need to work on making your press releases look like press releases, rather than structuring them like an open discussion.

2.) you do not own enworld, and therefore do not have any control over any aspect of the site once you've made a post.

had no trouble telling that it was a press release...

Back on topic, 5 dollars seems a fair price, certainly I have seen much worse pricing in both the PDF and print markets. (Including one $5.00 print project that consisted of a single 8x11 page folded in half, with a seperate sheet containing the D20 license... Fortunately I have deleted both the name of the product and the name of the publisher from my mind - having only seen it once at a gaming/anime convention.)

The Auld Grump, oh, and 1/2 of the front page was illustration...

 

[jgbrowning]

We're hovering around 5-7% purchases to views. I think this is unusually high.

Per Phil's thinking, we're toying with the idea of runing shorter publications that won't cost our normal $10 per file.

I've noticed a slight increase after a review, but not a lot unless it's the first review or if it's a "special" reviewer. Special meaning rgp gaming notable or foreign language review. I tend to pick up an extra copy or two for every foreign language review as long as the review is positive.

joe b.

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

So what you're trying to say is that the success I've had with a release model has destroyed RPGNow? I've actually seen an increase in sales since RPGNow made changes.

And it's not that I ignore posts. It's that I consider posts on message boards, comments on my website, and e-mails sent directly to me. I also share information with other publishers and try to learn as best I can.

You don't ignore posts, that's fine. But it is obvious you are oblivious as to what I'm talking about. The front page redesign of RPGnow was in direct response to widespread vendor complaints about the ridiculously rapid scroll of new product on the new release list. This was directly connected to the literal flood of rapid release short PDFs. You pioneered the concept, LPJ Designs took it to a spam level, and an unforunately large number of other publishers followed suit in an effort to keep their products and company names on the front page for exposure. Had the changes to the site not appeased the majority of publishers lodging the complaints, you probably wouldn't be able to release those short, rapid-cycle projects on RPGnow at this point.

Same thing happened just a few months before that, too. LPJ Designs turned the bulk mail system into his own personal spam engine, with complaints reaching the point that had LPJ not met RPGnow's demands that he stop abusing it, the system stood a chance of either being shut down for modification to allow vendor lockouts or being removed as a feature altogether.

Okay, I've reassessed my observations. The problem is not the short, cheap PDF products in and of themselves. It's the rapid development cycle that seems to inevitably be used to chain an entire line of them together into a rapid release cycle.

But I'd like to say that since you were unaware of the reasons behind the alterations to RPGnow last January, you might want to consider paying a little more attention to what your retail outlets are up to.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Presto - I really like the art-laden link. May not improve sales but it sure does kick allot better.

Blue Devil - Great website. I am envious.

Now on to the "Observation of PDF Prices" --- which is not a press release but an invitation to discussion (or at least I take it that you wanted to talk about it).

This is all IMO.

I think we are just seeing differing attitudes toward the business of publishing reflected in marketing techniques. Ronin Arts and LPJ are going for a smaller investment with multiple products to build a company name. The success or failure of a single product is less important than the broader goal of name recognition and sales. Nothing wrong with that - in fact it is smart business.

The Big Bang books are something unusual in that they own the specialized market that they are in - so I do not think we can use them as a good example. I will use XPR, who up until this point they have been more concerned with producing comprehensive and semi exhaustive books on a chosen subject. A single bad book can break them since the books are expensive (for PDF) and there are not that many of them. If I buy MMS:WE from XPR and it stinks then in 9 months when they have their next release - I am not likely to buy it. Each product is a matter of corporate survival (or at least corporate health).

I am a number two kinda guy myself (and you can take that in any way you want ) I do think that both styles will have similar profit margins in the long run - based solely on hunch here - the real question is what you want to do with your company? I am a one hit wonder. I only want to publish in the Last Dominion Line and that means style number one is right out the door for me since I would need 100 Mr. Smith clones to put out the volume that the RA or LPJ are doing (not to mention big boys dumping back stock into PDF as has been a trend here lately). I just cannot do the volume in 1 single line.

The big issue for style number 2 is having an impeccable reputation and getting that rep very well known. That takes time and effort, not just on ENworld but RPGnet, Gaming Report, and a ton of smaller sites like Silven Crossroads or Community 3E. It also means that you cannot afford to UNDERPRICE your product. You have to let people know before your first product hits the street that you have some good skills and can write a good product. How do you do that? Free stuff, website presence, writing articles for mags like Pyramid or Dragon, writing modules for Dungeon, and generally being around in the community.

I do not have VoFT but my guess is that you made a mistake by lowering the price. You just released it, it has been in the news, you are pimping it like a $2-hooker, and now you drop the price, what is a consumer gonna think? I would think that no one is buying it. Then I would wonder why and go somewhere else with my money.

 

[jgbrowning]

I do not have VoFT but my guess is that you made a mistake by lowering the price. You just released it, it has been in the news, you are pimping it like a $2-hooker, and now you drop the price, what is a consumer gonna think? I would think that no one is buying it. Then I would wonder why and go somewhere else with my money.

This is something we've put quite a bit of thought into. We only lower our prices at announced times for a set period of time. This means that the majority of our sales are at our list price (better profit) and it also means that when we do put on a sale, that sale is a success (in that we generate more profit through greater sales at a lower price) because there is a core-buying group at rpgnow who are price conscious and check the site more than once a week. If they don't want our products at full-price, they're even more tempted when we lower them because they know that we don't do it often.

So far, this has worked well for us for several different sales. It was my initial impulse to put MMS:WE on sale when we hit the first sales slump, but suzi hit me. That tends to cure a lot of, uhem... mental issues.

She'll hit you too if you want. Only $100 an hour. $200 if you want her to use the "Hong Stick." (TM)

joe b.

 

[Eosin the Red]

I think that is a pretty smart strategy. The pre-announced sale for 1 week or the "GMs Day Sale" probably has a positve, rather than a negative impact.


I think I just found my "sales" model Thanks.