Bitpass: Another publishiing model?

[dreamthief]

You can read Scott McCloud's comic here. You pay a quarter for it via Bitpass.

So what do you think? Another potential publishing model for d20 publishers? I can imagine 8 page modules being sold for 50 cents.

http://www.scottmccloud.com/comics/trn/intro.html

http://www.bitpass.com/share/sites

 

[Dana_Jorgensen]

Hmmm...

Bitpass is just the latest incarnation of online micropayment, which has inevitably fallen apart in the past primarily due to CC processing fees, and a lack of perceived value to the content being offered up for a fee. Personally, I think it could be useful for something like a daily newsletter or comic, but not for non-timely products, like game modules. Personally, I'd wait until the "BETA" in their logo goes away. Last thing I want is some financial or e-commerce software potentially full of bugs latching onto my credit card or banking account.

 

[philreed]

You can read Scott McCloud's comic here. You pay a quarter for it via Bitpass.

So what do you think? Another potential publishing model for d20 publishers? I can imagine 8 page modules being sold for 50 cents.

I've often wondered if this would work for RPG sales. I'd take it a step further and apply it directly to game articles of 2,000 words or so each. Maybe with the price being $0.25/2000 words.

My biggest concern is you'd get the same 100 people spending $0.25 that would have spent $2.50. Meaning that you wouldn't see an increase in sales no matter how low you priced the item in question.

 

[Vigilance]

Interesting Phil. And hi btw

I wonder if that sort of thinking (which I think is probably right) has anything to do with prices creeping up in the rpg industry generally.

If someone is willing to pay 30 dollars for a hardcover, they'll pay 40, but if they werent willing to buy it for 30, pricing it at 20, or even 10 dollars won't get them to buy it either.

I guess games are "disposable" income, no one *needs* them, so interest is the main determining factor more than price.

Chuck

 

[philreed]

Interesting Phil. And hi btw

I wonder if that sort of thinking (which I think is probably right) has anything to do with prices creeping up in the rpg industry generally.

If someone is willing to pay 30 dollars for a hardcover, they'll pay 40, but if they werent willing to buy it for 30, pricing it at 20, or even 10 dollars won't get them to buy it either.

I guess games are "disposable" income, no one *needs* them, so interest is the main determining factor more than price.

Chuck

Hi. We should talk.

Maybe you're right about the way that I'm thinking. But I do feel that once you get out of the $5 price range people do start thinking a little more about pricing. I'll be anxious to see how high the price of game books will rise in the next year.

I tried an experiment with one of my PDFs and priced it at $0.25 for about a week. It had no effect on sales at all. This same PDF has sold more copies at about $4 than it ever did at $3 or even $2. It could have something to do with perceived quality vs. price.

 

[Morrus]

I tried an experiment with one of my PDFs and priced it at $0.25 for about a week. It had no effect on sales at all. This same PDF has sold more copies at about $4 than it ever did at $3 or even $2. It could have something to do with perceived quality vs. price.

Natural 20 Press has a $2 sale for GM's Day. We sold nearly 1,500 PDFs in just one week.

 

[philreed]

Natural 20 Press has a $2 sale for GM's Day. We sold nearly 1,500 PDFs in just one week.

To be fair, your sale was posted on the EnWorld front page for a week. I think if I did a similar $2 sale that was advertisted on the EnWorld front page I'd probably get similar results.

Do you think it was the price or your position as EnWorld that sold those PDFs?

NOTE: This post sounds a lot more like an assault/attack that I intended. You guys deserve to get the benefits of the EnWorld front page since you do all of the work. Sorry that it doesn't quite sound right.

 

[tensen]

To be fair, your sale was posted on the EnWorld front page for a week. I think if I did a similar $2 sale that was advertisted on the EnWorld front page I'd probably get similar results.

Do you think it was the price or your position as EnWorld that sold those PDFs?

NOTE: This post sounds a lot more like an assault/attack that I intended. You guys deserve to get the benefits of the EnWorld front page since you do all of the work. Sorry that it doesn't quite sound right.

I don't think the position of ENWorld sold the PDFs...
The fact that it was a highly advertised sale was what helped the sales.
It was a combination of the ENWorld ads on the front page, and various other publishers making it a highly valid sale period. The GM Day sale.

So.. in my opinion. Yes, if you particularlly did a $2 sale avertised on the front page, you'd probably get similar results. Good products, good name, known quality products, large number of products, with a highly public ad for the sale... why wouldn't you?

Couple the same ad in that position, with a not so known publisher, without a lot of available products, and I doubt they would do as well.
You have to figure, with a $2 sale, the customer generally bought 2-3 products.

 

[jmucchiello]

To be fair, your sale was posted on the EnWorld front page for a week. I think if I did a similar $2 sale that was advertisted on the EnWorld front page I'd probably get similar results.

I did a half off sale of Joe's Book of Enchantment on its 1st anniversary release day (8/13). I advertised it in the d20 forum and on the front page here and it sold a bunch of copies. (Like 20, I think, in 36 hours.) OTOH, sales of JBoE are relatively flat otherwise, selling 6-8 per month, at $6.95.

As for micro-payments, I don't think they're really worth it. I would expect poor starting sales and then fewer sales as the fad-ness of it fades.

And what do you pay the author of a $0.25/2000 word article? Heck most of my two-pagers are 2000 words. But how many people would have paid even 25 cents compared to how many actually downloaded them?

 

[Krug]

I don't know about fadness. I think micropayments will inevitably be a part of the web SOMETIME. It's probably one of the last internet e-commerce frontiers.

And yes, I would pay 25 cents for something like the Tuesday Two Pagers. Each.