Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Piratecat said:
That's almost one view per word!
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ATTENTION: Story Hour in Print? (Authors and Readers, come in!)
- Thread starter Wulf Ratbane
- Start date
That's almost one view per word!
carpedavid
First Post
Mmmm...leather... As a bibliophile, I'd gladly pay a premium for a nice, leatherbound, archive-quality volume that can proudly sit on my bookshelf. I'm also easily tempted by gold leaf in nearly any form.Wulf Ratbane said:
I'd rather pay $50 for a leatherbound volume than $20 for a print-on-demand paperback, but I have a feeling that I'm in the minority in that regard.
As an aside, my own incomplete, poorly-written story hour currently weighs in at ~28,000 words, which, at 800 words/page, is just about 35 pages (interestingly, this means that, in Word, at 10 pt Times New Roman, I seem to write at an average of 800 words/page).
Radiating Gnome
Adventurer
I'm just tossing in another voice here -- I have already spent hours printing out story hours so I could read them on paper over the past year and a half or so. It would be worth a lot to have them in book form. No doubt about it.
I think I'd really encourage the authors to think about including more than nominal game content. A detailed appendix, with campaign world notes, new monsters, NPCs, PCs, House Rules, etc. Many of you are doing that already in the rogues gallery. There may be some copyright issues for some campaigns, but in most cases the material is original enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Some may need less (Wulf's endlessly entertaining story hour was based on pretty much out-of-the-box D&D and the adventure sequence, so there would be far less need for appendix details that there are for campaigns that take place in entirely new worlds)
I'm not sure I'm a fan of the serialization idea works for me, though. It would allow many SH authors to get something in print right away, and it would take any sort of competition out of the enterprise, but it will be a less-cohesive whole. I'd rather see a story hour that has a real narrative shape to it -- a campaign from beginning to end -- with support materials.
BTW, what method will you use to select the story hours to be published? I have no personal interest -- it's been more than a year since I updated my own POS story hour, but beyound an interest in being published, what other critieria will make a story hour a good candidate for publication in whatever the final format may be.
-rg
I think I'd really encourage the authors to think about including more than nominal game content. A detailed appendix, with campaign world notes, new monsters, NPCs, PCs, House Rules, etc. Many of you are doing that already in the rogues gallery. There may be some copyright issues for some campaigns, but in most cases the material is original enough that it shouldn't be a problem. Some may need less (Wulf's endlessly entertaining story hour was based on pretty much out-of-the-box D&D and the adventure sequence, so there would be far less need for appendix details that there are for campaigns that take place in entirely new worlds)
I'm not sure I'm a fan of the serialization idea works for me, though. It would allow many SH authors to get something in print right away, and it would take any sort of competition out of the enterprise, but it will be a less-cohesive whole. I'd rather see a story hour that has a real narrative shape to it -- a campaign from beginning to end -- with support materials.
BTW, what method will you use to select the story hours to be published? I have no personal interest -- it's been more than a year since I updated my own POS story hour, but beyound an interest in being published, what other critieria will make a story hour a good candidate for publication in whatever the final format may be.
-rg
thatdarncat
Overlord of Chat
For a mass market paperback book, I'd be willing to pay standard costs.
For something more... substantial? With illustrations, maps, mechanics and perhaps a little "commentary" I'd be willing to pay more
For something more... substantial? With illustrations, maps, mechanics and perhaps a little "commentary" I'd be willing to pay more
Kugar
First Post
As a reader of story hours here is my take:
1) Single author story hours - as much as I like PC, if I have already read the story hour I can't see paying more than the giong rate for a trade paperback or some similar format. (That being said, if it actually goes on sale the odds of me having a moment of weakness over the first week are pretty high)
2) Anthologies - I love short form. I like compelations, and the editior adds lots of value by picking the story hours and maybe even splitting story hours over volumes. I would pay more than the going rate for this. And you could do a series of books with a set number of pages per story hour. Like DoD Part 1 as 100 pages, then a whole buch of others at 50 pages each. The next book in the series could pick up where the last left off.
3) Special editions - As long as the cost does not get too out of hand and the production quality was high, I could see spending more money. At that point it would be a cool coffetable book and needs to display well.
Just the opinions floating through my consumer side processor.
I really like the idea and wish you guys well.
Kugar
1) Single author story hours - as much as I like PC, if I have already read the story hour I can't see paying more than the giong rate for a trade paperback or some similar format. (That being said, if it actually goes on sale the odds of me having a moment of weakness over the first week are pretty high)
2) Anthologies - I love short form. I like compelations, and the editior adds lots of value by picking the story hours and maybe even splitting story hours over volumes. I would pay more than the going rate for this. And you could do a series of books with a set number of pages per story hour. Like DoD Part 1 as 100 pages, then a whole buch of others at 50 pages each. The next book in the series could pick up where the last left off.
3) Special editions - As long as the cost does not get too out of hand and the production quality was high, I could see spending more money. At that point it would be a cool coffetable book and needs to display well.
Just the opinions floating through my consumer side processor.
I really like the idea and wish you guys well.
Kugar
Last edited:
el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
Suldulin said:for a chance to have Sepulchrave's story hour published. . .
Speaking of which, not to hijack - but does someone have a compiled version of this zipped they can send me?
I'd really appreciate it - as the last version i had got purged before i had a chance to print it out - but I have been reading it online and loving it.
/end hijack
Wulf Ratbane
Adventurer
Radiating Gnome said:
That still depends entirely on what kind of response I get overall, because that will dictate my printing and distribution methods. There are ups and downs to game content-- I wouldn't include game content if I wasn't planning to market this to hobby stores, for example. I think that's still a big open question. The number of folks here who say yay or nay on game content, realistically, has little bearing on that decision.
It's pretty much either, "This is a game supplement for gamers, so it should include game content and be marketed to hobby stores," or, "This is a work of fiction, for sale to the book trade, and game content is not appropriate."
That's an excellent question. It depends on several things. Motivation is a primary driver. The author needs to be willing to, at the very least, give his own work at least one pass for editing to save time and effort on my end. After that (now that the author has shown a committment to it) quality comes into play. And I'd say quality is about tied with general popularity (convenient, since the most popular stories tend to be higher quality, natch).
The final format (whether one book or several) would also come into play.
Though ultimately, if the format is "several books" and I get the kinks worked out of the POD process, then I think any author willing to pony up the costs to prep his digital file (~$100 bucks for a 300 page work) can make his own decisions as to whether he'd like to be in print or not.
I would hope that, even given this last scenario, we all stick together with a common publisher imprint (whether or not it is Bad Axe) and a common "line look" in terms of cover, spine design, etc.
Wulf
evildmguy
Explorer
A few coppers worth.
I would be interested in this but I think I would be picky, perhaps too picky.
I would prefer an annotated version of the Story Hours in a narrative format. For me, that means the stories need to have a beginning, middle and end. I would like to see notations on the game player, perhaps house rules and maybe the occassional statting of the characters.
I don't want to see serializations. (I am already sick of Jordan! No flames! Please!) I would rather see a full Story Hour in one volume or a definite story from a Story Hour done, even if across two or three books. This goes with my beginning, middle and end requirement above.
Finally, again with the above, I would rather have a novel, rather than a conversion of the Story Hour. In other words, I would rather have something that perhaps does foreshadowing with the bad guys and other things that the GM might not be willing to do here, if their players read it. I don't want this to be something that I could read here, for free, with the hassle taken out of it. I would want these stories fully developed.
However, I am probably asking too much. I did say I would be willing to pay more than normal but the reason is because I would want something more than is already here. I am asking for this because without some changes, there is no incentive for me to get any that I have read here. While it might increase my interest in some Story Hours that I haven't read, and for that reason the anthology idea would be good, and to read more Story Hours, something like this won't hold my interest if I already know or have read, verbatim, the story.
I am probably in the minority but I thought I would add my own thoughts to this.
edg
I would be interested in this but I think I would be picky, perhaps too picky.
I would prefer an annotated version of the Story Hours in a narrative format. For me, that means the stories need to have a beginning, middle and end. I would like to see notations on the game player, perhaps house rules and maybe the occassional statting of the characters.
I don't want to see serializations. (I am already sick of Jordan!
No flames! Please!) I would rather see a full Story Hour in one volume or a definite story from a Story Hour done, even if across two or three books. This goes with my beginning, middle and end requirement above. Finally, again with the above, I would rather have a novel, rather than a conversion of the Story Hour. In other words, I would rather have something that perhaps does foreshadowing with the bad guys and other things that the GM might not be willing to do here, if their players read it. I don't want this to be something that I could read here, for free, with the hassle taken out of it. I would want these stories fully developed.
However, I am probably asking too much. I did say I would be willing to pay more than normal but the reason is because I would want something more than is already here. I am asking for this because without some changes, there is no incentive for me to get any that I have read here. While it might increase my interest in some Story Hours that I haven't read, and for that reason the anthology idea would be good, and to read more Story Hours, something like this won't hold my interest if I already know or have read, verbatim, the story.
I am probably in the minority but I thought I would add my own thoughts to this.
edg
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