Before I started typing, I sat staring at the big white box, trying to formulate a response. Lots of interesting suggestions and comments. Here are a few of my responses. Once again, the caveat that these are suggestions only, and do not bear any weight with ENWorld. When I say "we", I do not mean to imply that I have any more say than anyone else here, and it being "we", the people on ENWorld who care about the ENnies (including the publishers).
1. Perceived lack of value of the ENnies.
OK, so the ENnies aren't exactly the Oscars, but even so, the Academy Awards are all about recognizing excellence. Being an award-winning author or publisher bears some weight. Sure, your product cycle is long dead, but being an award-winning publisher has helped some. Even if there were not an additional marketing push put on (which I hope would occur, especially with someone with some PR experience at the helm), winning an ENnie is not a worthless accomplishment.
Sometimes it's not about the money. Let's face it, how many of us are in publishing for the money? Having that trophy on your shelf is a great conversation piece, and a reminder of that year of hard work paying off, and being given its due props. Even having a product nominated, or make honourable mention is a great stroke.
Did you know that as an ENnie award winner, you're a VIP at the following GenCon? This year it meant access to the VIP block of hotel rooms (very nice ones, I might add, at the Hyatt), a free GenCon VIP t-shirt & lanyard, $10 gift certificate for GenCon merch, and a $10 gift certificate towards concession food. If we got additional prizes, would it make the prospects rosier for publishers to participate?
In any case, I really do believe that there should be more attention paid to the promotion of the ENnies
-at GenCon (SoCal, Europe, & Indy)
-at Origins & GTS
-on ENWorld (keep the ENnies site up to date and more prominent, for example)
-in gaming magazines (my partner authored a frickin 2-page spread for Polyhedron last year, what more do we need?)
-to distributors
-to FLGSs
This could be accomplished by ads in trade magazines, encouraging companies to include more visible links to them on their websites, making sure nominated publishers receive a graphic they can use on their future products & advertisements, putting together a promo package to send out to gaming stores & distributors, etc.
I would also like to see, if possible, a marketing survey done of the consumer impact of the awards. Perhaps the Origins Awards already did one, if so, we might be able to beg them nicely to see their results. Or perhaps we could split the expense, and survey both awards. Some cooperation between the awards certainly wouldn't hurt, and the surveying process would also generate some buzz and interest in the ceremonies.
2. Volunteerism and Community
I'd like to politely remind everyone that the ENnies don't benefit ENWorld. It doesn't make any money -in fact, it's been a big money pit- and it certainly doesn't seem to get the judges nor Russ any more sex or higher dice rolls (and what is there else in life, really?). Sure, they get some free product, but hey- these guys have lives, and they have had to take time off work to read through every product submitted: in exchange for which, they keep the books. Heck, most of the judges are reviewers for ENWorld, and in theory, they should be getting free copies to review anyhow, right?
The ENnies are ENWorld community trying to acknowledge excellence in products that came out the previous year, as well as recognize those publishers (and fan sites) who really went above and beyond in quality. They are run by volunteers who take time away from their lives, their families, their jobs, etc. to do perform a fairly thankless task.
I'd like to try and think of a way of making the judges' lives easier, and save some money (or raise some).
Just sayin, is all.
/soap box
3. Major costs involved in the ENnies
Shipping is not the only large expense incurred by the ENnies. Here's a list off the top of my head:
-shipping product to the judges
-creation and shipping of the award trophies
-marketing the ENnies (booth decoration, mailouts to distributors & FLGSs, advertisement)
Less major expenses:
-ENnies awards ceremony
-postage of invitations to nominees, long-distance charges, etc.
This doesn't include the hundreds of volunteer hours donated by the staff and judges.
-I agree that voluntary donations from competitors is inappropriate, hence the concept of a flat fee.
-It should not be the onus of the awards ceremony to worry about shipping product for consideration for nomination.
-I would also like to explore the concept of in-kind donations (for example, Chris Pramas donates a gaming slot for the Thieve's World game he'll be running at GenCon Indy 2004. Chris Gath, being the huge TW fan he is, bids $50 for the privilege of sitting at that table. A portion of that money raised could be used to defray Green Ronin's entry fees).
The Shipping Issue
-it costs me about $7USD in postage and packaging to mail out a single book. Multiply that by six, it's $42. Based on those numbers, here are a few suggestions/options (I'd like to see more judges & publishers wade in on what they think)
1. $50 Entry fee for the first book, $25/subsequent submission. Send all of the copies to one location, the central place will handle the rest, including letting the publisher know when the book has been received, and sending out the individual copies to the judges. Minimal pain in the butt factor for the publishers, but a little more cash outlay, considerable PITA factor for the judges. How
2. Announce the judges WAY early, and let the publishers ship the product to each judge along with a nominal fee ($5 for first product + $2/additional product). Make sure there's a designated Publisher Relations person responsible for letting the publishers know that the products have been received.
3. Still keep the nominal fee, but give the publishers the option of sending PDFs of their products.
The entry fees would be put into an account dedicated for the use of the ENnies for approved expenses such as advertising budget, trophy purchase & shipping, etc. BTW, IIRC, the Indie RPG awards make you pay to enter.
Another possibility includes simply not having a judge-driven nomination process at all, and simply have fan nominations. I personally am not super keen on that one. I can see little merit in it, but it certainly would cut costs, though.
The Trophies
This is the next biggest expense. If people are balking at the concept of entry fees and/or shipping costs, and are convinced about the lack of worth of the awards, maybe we shouldn't even bother with trophies and an awards ceremony? OK, that's being a bit facetious, but if there's zero benefit to anyone, why bother?
As a past winner, I like having a physical representation to collect dust -err, I mean- be prominently displayed on my shelf. But what do other winners and nominees think? Does having the trophy mean much to you? Would a certificate or ribbon mean as much? What about the shape of the award?
This year's GenCon Dude trophies cost around $60 each, iirc. The ENnies d20 were cheaper. Do we want to use the GenCon Dude (and possibly get a bulk discount)? Do we want to continue to use the d20? Should we design a newer award, or find a cheaper one? If we shopped in Indy, at least we could defer the shipping costs! There are plenty of trophy places out there offering trophies that would cost only $20-$30 each... what does it mean to you, the winner, to have an award in the shape of a d20 (especially if it's not for a d20 product)? Or would having an acrylic, engraved award or plaque suffice?
Marketing the ENnies
If we want the publishers to feel more comfortable about spending the time and energy required to submit their product for consideration, as well as to get them to come to the ceremony, we need to try to have the ENnies enjoy a larger impact- at GenCon, on ENWorld, in the FLGSs. This takes money and a lot of time and effort. Hence, the suggested entry fee and/or need for fundraising.
First of all, we need to score some decorations for the ENnies booth. A few banners, some shelving and/or other means of displaying nominated products and a sample trophy, rental of computer equipment and internet connection plus a table and chairs, and printing up posters announcing winners all cost money. Fortunately, the banners should be a one-time expense, as would be the display racks.
Next up, would be a program of some kind. I'd like to see a pamphlet of some kind generated detailing the nominated products and their publishers available to be distributed throughout the convention. Perhaps in the registration package? Or maybe through the ENnies booth and the involved publisher... At least, have them available at the ceremony itself so people could use them as a scorecard. There should be a map to the ceremony from the convention, and any other relevant details. This is where individual publishers could chip in with a little advertising money. The votes would already be in for the products, so it wouldn't matter how much or how little they put in, it wouldn't skew the votes. Publishers could also include coupons, advertise their booth number, etc.
Then it's advertising money. ENP has the staff to design ads, but we'd still need the money to place them. We might be able to beg Peter into letting us have more space in his programs, but even then, we're not reaching the gaming public. We need to get something into the GTS and Origins propaganda packages. Into distributor's hands. Into the FLGSs. This is a multiple-thousand dollar proposition. I propose we start off small, and grass-roots. See how much we can barter, and trust the ENWorld community to do a little legwork: we could assemble a spiffy-looking promotional package that peeps could download, print, and bring to their FLGS. Heck, the publishers might want to get in on this action as well (I'd love to see what Steve Creech did along these lines- I've been thinking of doing something similar for years, but never quite got around to it!)
Finally, getting more media attention for the awards. The ENnies need someone with some PR experience and contacts.
4. Other Fundraising Options
-Gala dinner before the ceremony. Require event tickets to get in, get some celebrities and big name game designers to come in. I like Chris P's suggestion of an auction in advance for seats. Assuming the ENnies'd be doing designated seating next year, how would the various publishers feel about having a couple of raving fanboys & girls at their table during dinner and/or the ceremony all in the name of fundraising?
-Play With The Creator events: lots of potential, so long as the creator types aren't too busy at the Con! Great idea.
-Corporate Sponsors. No, not those competing. But if WotC decided to permanently bow out, perhaps they'd like to sponsor the best d20 Award for a few years, for $100/year? Or Adobe or Quark might sponsor the Best Electronic Product? Microsloth/AOHell for best fan site? Jolt Cola? Mountain Dew? Maybe they may not be willing to donate lots of money, but in-kind contributions go far as well. Perhaps publishers would feel happier knowing that if they won, they'd win a free weekend stay at a hotel? Or dinner for four at The Ram?
-other fundraiser: I've got a brilliant idea for a fundraising product for ENWorld/the ENnies. If I get the job of running these awards, I think you'd be pleasantly surprised. Not going to let that idea out yet until it's ready to rock- I'd hate to get scooped.
And on the subject of me offering to run the ENnies for next year: whether twould be under the aegis of ENPublishing (got the team, and some money, but might create tension with a publisher, even one that can't be nominated, running it), or me as an individual (got the skills, am a freelancer for ENP and a few other companies, won an award in the past, have an eye for detail and throw a good party)... yeah. I'd like the job. It's up to Russ (and Peter) to decide who they can deal with, and who could get the job done, and I suspect an answer will be forthcoming in the next few weeks...
Phew. Everyone else in the family's gone to bed an hour ago. Time for me to hit "Submit Reply" and join them!
