Bundling CDs and Print Books

[HinterWelt]

Well, the other thread got shut down before any discussion really got going on this and it still strikes me as an interesting subject worthy of some opinions. Here are the original posts and the one response I could find.

Thanks for the candor Phil. This is my thought on the subject as well. To be clear, I also have very little faith that the seller would limit themselves to one sale (or the number they had bought originally).

To bring some good out of it though, have you ever thought of doing something similar but legal? For instance, pair with a print publisher and sell a CD containing your titles? I could see it as a very easy value add. It would not have to be all your titles (you have an impressive catalog) but a subset compatible with the book it is being bundled with. Little risk to you and the ability to tap a wider market for your PDFs.

I have talked with some retailers and they liked the idea.

Anyway, just an idea.

Bill

And the response:

First, Hinterwelt, CD media products have traditionally done very poorly in the physical product market. There was a company about 10 years ago that did a few great CD products, the equivalent of about 1000 pages worth of book per CD in a variety of formats, and they sold it for $17.99. I saw it listed constantly in catalogs and magazines, but the owner of the local game shop couldn't even find a distributor that carried them. Of course, it may have simply been too soon for a CD-based product way back in 1995.

WotC did the Dragon Magazine archive. You'd think that would sell well, considering it was 250 issues of Dragon plus every issue of its predecessor for only $60, right? It ended up being one of their poorest sellers, selling even less than that silver anniversary box set they had, which was at the same price point. However, I think the poor sales were the fault of marketing decisions, rather than the media. Better to sell 6 CDs at $12 each, rather than a set of 6 for $60.

Lastly, ARP has been in business since 1991 and selling RPGs since 1998. In that timeframe, the company has sold 4,938 books, over 15,000 PDFs, and 2 copies of various game lines collected on CD.

Now, I do not think the responder understood what I was proposing. I am not saying take and sell just a collection of PDFs on a CD. I was suggesting that you bundle complimentary PDFs with a print book. Something like (if at all possible) a copy of the 3.5 PHB with supplementary prestige classes and other material. Again, with an eye to marketing making it a value add not just a collection of additional material that would not interest the buyer; i.e. sci-fi material bundled with fantasy or a print d20 book bundled with non-d20 rules.

Cons that I can see include a mixing of print and pdf may turn people off. If someone is buying a print book the may not be interested in PDF. It may be (and possibly could actually) percieved as increasing the MSRP of the book. Finally, additional packaging and manufacturing costs.

Opinions?

Thanks,
Bill

 

[philreed]

Paging Fiery Dragon . . .

Those guys are packaging CDs of bonus material in some of their tins. Maybe they'll stop by and give us their insight on the matter.

I, for one, think it's a good idea.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Just tossing out a data point:

In the print version of my product I include a CD of the PDF and map. I did this because I wanted to include a map, but a color poster sized map is killer expensive. Anything that is not b/w/sepia or larger than 12"x18" is simply not worth it. Hence the CD.

So while I was at it I looked at just selling the CD. I'm still keeping that option on the table, but I'm thinking more in terms of if I'm ever selling at a convention. I could sell the CD at PDF prices. I have no idea if I can toss a few in my backpack and try this at Origins. I'm guessing the answer is "don't even think about it, smart guy".

EDIT: Oh, and just to give props, Hinterwelt are the guys who clued me into printing sepia maps. They are fine people, great game designers, and the last of the red hot lovers.