Fantasy D20 -- PDF Sales Continue to Slow . . .

[Crothian]

third ---(and this is the reason I seldom play) you are the DM's mercey as too whats allowed. Many DM's have a defualt NO on 3rd party stuff -- this means unless you don't care about playing it and just want to read it, most books are of no use use to you

get a new DM then

#5 There is not a lot of uncovered ground.

THere is a lot of uncovered ground, its just the no one is rushing to produice it. WE do get a lot of the same stuff over and over, but that isn't becasue that's all that's left. Its that's what they think the people want.

 

[Turjan]

If I understood this right, a good percentage of the pdf buyers sit here on EN World. Most of us have been buying d20 fantasy books for years now. I can only speak for me, but I don't buy many d20 rulebooks anymore. I hardly buy any WotC rulebooks anymore, because most of them are about topics that have been covered in my library several times by now. This means that my buying shifted mostly to setting-specific stuff (e.g., FR) and some books with a bit more radically different rules (like Grim Tales, Conan, AE and the likes) or to other game systems outside of d20, but I don't buy anything that adds only slightly to existing classes, races and the likes.

For my pdf buys this means that they nearly reached zero. There are hardly any products that fall into the categories that I still buy, those few inside the categories often have print runs that I prefer, and I'm no target for d20 modern or d20 future. I'm certainly part of the observed downtrend, because I bought quite a lot of d20 fantasy pdf's before. I'm aware of the fact that this is only an anecdotal reference .

 

[MonsterMash]

I wouldn't be surprised if individual product sales slowed down as there are a lot more pdfs out there every year, and of course unlike printed materials they don't go OOP and become unavailable. If sales as a whole decline then it could be due to market saturation after there being 4-5 years worth of D20 and 3e material released.

 

[Vertaxis]

Annecdotal Evidence

At the Comic Book Warehouse in Brampton (a suburb of Toronto) they have a five dollar table with product changing all the time.

There are multiple copies of about 100 individual titles on the five dollar tables. I picked up 12 on my last visit.

For the benefit to those of us in the Greater Toronto Area, could you provide us with an address for the Comic Book Warehouse please?

Thanks,

 

[Ace]

get a new DM then

HMMPH -- easier said than done. Other groups in my area don't advertise or except new members --

Be that as it may I am getting plenty of Angel and if I wanted it Streetfighter -- thats good enough

THere is a lot of uncovered ground, its just the no one is rushing to produice it. WE do get a lot of the same stuff over and over, but that isn't becasue that's all that's left. Its that's what they think the people want.

or whats easy to write.

As an example Mythic Polynesia s untouched but its a lot of work for a very little gain. I doubt it would sell 100 copies. There is no way I am going to write and edit 128 pages on a topic (a couple of months work) and than maybe sell 50 copies when I could write 14 Spetums in a weekend and make almost as much

At less than 3c US per word challenging products just aren't worth the time ,with rare exceptions anyway (Northern Crown FREX which went to print), unless it is a labor of love.

 

[Greatwyrm]

As an example Mythic Polynesia s untouched but its a lot of work for a very little gain. I doubt it would sell 100 copies. There is no way I am going to write and edit 128 pages on a topic (a couple of months work) and than maybe sell 50 copies when I could write 14 Spetums in a weekend and make almost as much

If I may be so bold, I think you pose both the problem and the solution.

Don't write a single, 128 page book on Mythic Polynesia. Write a 14 pager on how the warrior classes would fit in the setting. Then write 14 on the divine casters. Then the arcane casters. Then 14 or 28 on the monsters. Then write a couple of adventures. At the end of it all, combine them into one big book and sell it as a collection and individually.

Eventually, you end up writing all the same content as your 128 page book. You still get the same end result. However, your sales may actually be higher. People looking for new wizard options may buy just that one at the lower price. People looking for new monsters may do the same. You might have only gotten 50 purchases for a 128 page, $12 pdf (total $600). Instead, if you can get 20 people to buy each of 14 smaller supplements at $3 (total $840) you may end up in better shape overall.

Further, your original products are making you money while you finish up the later ones. That way, you don't have to wait until all 128 pages are done before you get your first buck.

I don't think it's any industry secret that there are already people doing this. Take a look at Louis Porter Jr.'s Mutants and Masterminds stuff or some of the Ronin Arts pdfs over on RPGnow. Most are available both individually and then later as collections.