art prices

[sirfrancisdrake]

depending on the size and complexity of the back cover image, it could be anywhere from 100 to 300 dollars. If the cover is a wraparound ala D&D then that would be about 500 dollars. So all told that would be $1100 U.S.

If you wish to contact me, my email is here:

sirfrancisdrake at gmail.com

Mike

 

[jmucchiello]

Release...maybe by the end of the year. It was created and has been in testing and refinement for a decade, but mainly with our gaming groups. I am still considering more extensive beta testing. I still need to do a lot of proofing on the currently 120 page rulebook. I need to find the art. I need to figure out contracts for artists, possibly playtesters, publishers, printers, etc. I am trying to figure out the ins and outs of publishing it ourselves. I have to set-up the marketing, get the website designed (programming is really my area of expertise).

One very important person missing in that list: the editor. Hire one, maybe two, someone who hasn't played the game. You will never find all the errors in your writing by yourself. A fresh, new pair of eyes will always find something you missed.

Looking for playtesters? Post in the freelance forum under the publishers forum.
Looking for artists? Post in the same place and also try the freelancer's forum at rpg.net.

If you are serious about publishing a book as a new publisher, good luck. It's hard to get retailers to order your products when you don't have an established name. You might approach the guys at indiepressrevolution.com about joining their consortium.

Good Luck.

 

[Wystan]

I would be willing and interested in Proof-reading. I will try to look mainly for errors, but I will also try to ease understanding of difficult areas if possible. I will not be able to do this till Mid July, but I work cheap (free)....

 

[Hellefire]

At the moment editing is my big task. I contributed in ideas and refinement, but my friend wrote the rules (and the book), hence I will be editing/proofing somebody else's writing. Though I agree that there should be more than one person looking at it, as even I miss something now and then (except in CDM, I *NEVER* make mistakes there ).

Wystan, I appreciate the offer and will keep you in mind when we get to that point, which should be in another month or two.

Aaron

 

[Prest0]

Out of curiosity, have you even looked into shopping it around to other publishers or is there a particular reason why you're self publishing? There is a lot of overhead involved with setting up a new company and self-publishing. It takes a long time to make back those kinds of initial investments. What's going to happen once you publish your friend's work? Do you have follow-up products in the pipeline or is this a company built around a single product? Having gone the self-publishing route myself, I really recommend shopping your work around to established companies rather than striking out on your own.

 

[jmucchiello]

Having gone the self-publishing route myself, I really recommend shopping your work around to established companies rather than striking out on your own.

[hijack]Having second thoughts about being a pub, prest0?[/hijack]

 

[Hellefire]

Main reasons for self-publishing:
Everything is yours, avoids costs of shopping out services and keeps everything registered in your name (ISBN, etc).

Main reasons for outside publishing:
More of a knowledge base, more of an established market, much less research and work.

We are going to have some other material regarding this game. As far as other games/material, I'm not sure. Leaving that option open. Doing anything yourself is gerenally harder and takes longer, but costs less money (after the start-up) and is more rewarding, if done correctly. I think it might be an area I would like to spend some time in, so I am going to go thorugh the start-up costs and research to allow that if I so choose.

Aaron

 

[Prest0]

[hijack]Having second thoughts about being a pub, prest0?[/hijack]

Heh. Let me be clear--I'm incredibly proud of what we have accomplished and have no plans to stop. If anything we're still looking at ways to grow. But I know when we first started it seemed like the RPG publishing world was this opaque wall. It seemed like self publishing was the only option. Hindsight being what it is, I see that we probably could have gotten into the RPG scene by shopping around as freelancers. That would have saved us hundreds of dollars in setup and artwork costs and we still would "have been published".

I think many new publishers start out just wanting to see their own work "in print". But along the way they find out (as Hellfire has) that self publishing means creating a website, coordinating art, editing, layout, marketing the product, keeping finances in order, and so on. What it leaves little time for is actually writing.

It sounds like Hellfire has already figured out what he's getting into, and that's cool. Welcome aboard, dude. But for anyone else reading this thread who is considering a similar move, just know that there's an easier way. If your stuff is as good as you think it is, then there's bound to be a publisher out there who will publish it for you. Then you can get back to doing what you really want to do--writing.

 

[cgern]

Hi,

you can find a wide variety of artists on http://www.deviantart.com/. In the forum you can offer jobs and read requests. I have made some imaginary book covers there too, you can find them in my gallery. If covers like those would be sufficient for you feel free to contact me I am not a full time artist and so the images would not be more than 100$ including all rights. I could also provide dungeon maps like the one in this preview if you need.

Greetings
Christian

 

[apalmer]

Have you found the answer to your artist problem?