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<blockquote data-quote="seasong" data-source="post: 3148571" data-attributes="member: 5137"><p>Currently, a fair number of them are approaching me and asking about e23's terms (20% commission, non-exclusive, by the way).</p><p></p><p>With that said, OBS isn't competing with you. OBS is competing with me. If I'm not feeling squeezed, how do they have a monopoly? Regardless of <em>theoretical</em> market advantage - if that was the case, don't you think I would have been just as worried about RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, and ENWorld Game Store?</p><p></p><p>Publishers follow the customers. But publishers also <em>direct</em> the customers. The market pressure is in your hands, not OBS' hands. OBS just has the advantage of being monolithic - it can exert all of its strength in one direction, and a fair number of publishers will tow the line.</p><p></p><p>But so can Dell. And plenty of people <em>don't</em> tow the line for Dell, and plenty of publishers <em>won't</em> tow the line for OBS.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Reading through the various threads here, I've seen a much wider array of comments, including "Which publishers sell from their own site?" and "Four or five sites, doesn't matter, I'm a few clicks and a bookmark away from being a customer."</p><p></p><p>That may be the vocal minority. So might your experience.</p><p></p><p>It's telling, I think, that EN World members have shopped from all of these sites that just merged, and a number of them have shopped from e23. I know that I, personally, have bought products from all of those mentioned except Lulu, and a few that haven't been mentioned. I've never felt a strong desire to have one-stop shopping. Stores that are not malls succeed in the brick-and-mortar world, and arguably there is <em>more</em> effort involved in going to a brick-and-mortar.</p><p></p><p>And something else to consider is: can they <em>find you</em> on OBS? At last count, we were talking about 400 publishers and 9,000 products.</p><p></p><p></p><p>Here, we agree, sort of. I wouldn't suggest anyone drop OBS entirely and shift to e23 (or any single vendor). Well, okay, my greedy, blackened little soul would love it if you did. But I'm not going to suggest it - of the <em>more than two</em> choices available, that isn't one of the reasonable ones.</p><p></p><p>Here's an example.</p><p></p><p>Le Baptiste Games (fictional, I hope) currently makes 200 sales per year at OBS, and all of their products are $10. They match e23's audience pretty well, and based on my current estimates of relative market share, they could conceivably make about 20 sales per year at e23.</p><p></p><p>(This varies by publisher - some publishers make more sales per year at e23 than they do elsewhere, but only a few, and some make less than the tenth implied.)</p><p></p><p>Le Baptiste Games works to promote their sales, and they used to point at RPGNow. An estimated 35% of their sales on RPGNow were a result of publisher-directed purchases. Here are some sample choices:</p><p></p><p>Exclusive contract with OBS and direct their traffic to OBS:</p><p>* (200 sales) $2,000 x 70% = $1,400.</p><p></p><p>Non-exclusive contract with OBS and e23, and direct traffic to e23:</p><p>* (130 sales) $1,300 x 65% = $845.</p><p>* (70 + 20 sales) $900 x 80% = $720.</p><p>* total $1,565.</p><p></p><p>Exclusive to e23 and direct their traffic to e23:</p><p>* (70 + 20 sales) $900 x 80% = $720 this year.</p><p>* If enough publishers did this, the numbers <em>will</em> change. <em>You</em> have the customer power, remember.</p><p></p><p>Now, the nice thing about non-exclusive contracts is that e23 isn't the only one out there. Paizo might be able to add a few more sales. Amazon (if you can get through their "customer service") could add quite a few more. Lulu some more. And so on.</p><p></p><p>But even just having <em>two</em> sites, <em>any</em> two sites, it's worth your while to have a product on both, and to direct traffic to the one that makes you more money per sale.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="seasong, post: 3148571, member: 5137"] Currently, a fair number of them are approaching me and asking about e23's terms (20% commission, non-exclusive, by the way). With that said, OBS isn't competing with you. OBS is competing with me. If I'm not feeling squeezed, how do they have a monopoly? Regardless of [i]theoretical[/i] market advantage - if that was the case, don't you think I would have been just as worried about RPGNow, DriveThruRPG, and ENWorld Game Store? Publishers follow the customers. But publishers also [i]direct[/i] the customers. The market pressure is in your hands, not OBS' hands. OBS just has the advantage of being monolithic - it can exert all of its strength in one direction, and a fair number of publishers will tow the line. But so can Dell. And plenty of people [i]don't[/i] tow the line for Dell, and plenty of publishers [i]won't[/i] tow the line for OBS. Reading through the various threads here, I've seen a much wider array of comments, including "Which publishers sell from their own site?" and "Four or five sites, doesn't matter, I'm a few clicks and a bookmark away from being a customer." That may be the vocal minority. So might your experience. It's telling, I think, that EN World members have shopped from all of these sites that just merged, and a number of them have shopped from e23. I know that I, personally, have bought products from all of those mentioned except Lulu, and a few that haven't been mentioned. I've never felt a strong desire to have one-stop shopping. Stores that are not malls succeed in the brick-and-mortar world, and arguably there is [i]more[/i] effort involved in going to a brick-and-mortar. And something else to consider is: can they [i]find you[/i] on OBS? At last count, we were talking about 400 publishers and 9,000 products. Here, we agree, sort of. I wouldn't suggest anyone drop OBS entirely and shift to e23 (or any single vendor). Well, okay, my greedy, blackened little soul would love it if you did. But I'm not going to suggest it - of the [i]more than two[/i] choices available, that isn't one of the reasonable ones. Here's an example. Le Baptiste Games (fictional, I hope) currently makes 200 sales per year at OBS, and all of their products are $10. They match e23's audience pretty well, and based on my current estimates of relative market share, they could conceivably make about 20 sales per year at e23. (This varies by publisher - some publishers make more sales per year at e23 than they do elsewhere, but only a few, and some make less than the tenth implied.) Le Baptiste Games works to promote their sales, and they used to point at RPGNow. An estimated 35% of their sales on RPGNow were a result of publisher-directed purchases. Here are some sample choices: Exclusive contract with OBS and direct their traffic to OBS: * (200 sales) $2,000 x 70% = $1,400. Non-exclusive contract with OBS and e23, and direct traffic to e23: * (130 sales) $1,300 x 65% = $845. * (70 + 20 sales) $900 x 80% = $720. * total $1,565. Exclusive to e23 and direct their traffic to e23: * (70 + 20 sales) $900 x 80% = $720 this year. * If enough publishers did this, the numbers [i]will[/i] change. [i]You[/i] have the customer power, remember. Now, the nice thing about non-exclusive contracts is that e23 isn't the only one out there. Paizo might be able to add a few more sales. Amazon (if you can get through their "customer service") could add quite a few more. Lulu some more. And so on. But even just having [i]two[/i] sites, [i]any[/i] two sites, it's worth your while to have a product on both, and to direct traffic to the one that makes you more money per sale. [/QUOTE]
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