Does a printed option make you more likely to buy?

[Tom+J]

I havn't voted as of yet. I like print products, but is the print version of say Steam and steel any better than the version I printed out and bound myself? (before it was availible in print might I add. $2 off just doesn't seem like a worthwhile discount to buy it agian in print)

I'm toying with buying mechamacy in print, but again, the lack of knowledge on the quaility of the print is swaying me toward the pdf verison.

tj -x-

 

[Tom+J]

Just for the record I bought just mechamacy on Pdf instead of print. This was due to high shipping costs to the uk, which I know you can't help.

tj -x-

 

[Cheiromancer]

the RPGNow coupon system doesn't work with PoD products, unfortunately.

The front page ad for the Ceramic DM fundraiser offers $4 off if you subsequently decide to buy the printed version.

How did they do it?

 

[Morrus]

I've no idea, to be honest. However, there's also a pricing issue. The print versions are priced at "cost" so that they make us exactly the same amount of money as the PDF. We don't charge any extra for them other than our costs. By selling a reduced cost version, we're therefore effectively paying out for the privilege of you having our book. In the long run, if we were doing that, it would be more to our advantage if you didn't buy our book - it would save us money!

On the other hand, giving away a free PDF with the print copy costs us nothing at all, so there's no reason not to do it.

The basic problem comes with a fixed per-unit cost to produce one (the print version) and no cost to produce the other. So we can play around all we like with the PDF version, but reduce the print version by even a penny and we're losing money. It's already priced exactly as cheaply as we possibly can.

My guess (and I don't know for sure as I wasn't involved) is that the Ceramic DM book, being a zero-cost product in terms of production, allows for a lot of fiddling with the numbers.

At least that's how I understand it. I'm not actually directly involved in this sort of thing, so Hellhound can feel free to correct me or tell me I'm talkng rubbish!

 

[Cheiromancer]

Well, I am willing to pay for a printed version up front. But I don't want it printed and shipped immediately. Maybe I'll like EoMR so much that I'll want it as soon as I read it. Maybe I'll wait six months until final revisions are incorporated (minor tinkering with the cost of teleport, say). Maybe I'll forget about it, and never get it printed.

The point is, most people want fast service; they want the printed copy yesterday, if possible. I want slow service. But this seems to be impossible. Maybe it could be a possible new slogan: "We're so good, slow service is impossible!"

Speaking of which... thanks, Morrus, for responding so quickly. It was a pleasant surprise. Based on prior experience in this forum I had expected it to take days or weeks to get a response.