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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JohnNephew" data-source="post: 170295" data-attributes="member: 2171">You kid, but yes.  In fact, I'm trying to set the print run of Occult Lore as conservatively as possible.  Between actual orders and my estimates of what distributors will order (based on recent sourcebooks), my aim is to sell out Occult Lore in a month or less.  (Naturally, it will take longer to sell out from distributors and retailers; heck, Thieves in the Forest sold out 15 months ago, and I know at least one distributor who still has some copies in stock.)  Assuming demand warrants it, I would arrange a reprint for several months later (at least 2 months, simply for the printing and binding time with the vendor we're using, if I placed a reprint order the day we sold out).  The odds are good that the reprint will be priced at $32.95.  Judging from recent book pricing, I think 240 pp in fairly dense type...including the whole 70ish pages of herb and spell appendixes in 9 point with little artwork...is a good deal at $29.95 or $32.95.  We need to stick with $29.95 on the first run, though, since that's what we announced five months ago or whenever it was that this first went on the schedule.I'm very concerned about inventory.  Part of it is the issue of tying up working capital in too much stock on the shelves; the other part is simply warehousing space, where we are really pinched (and doing all we can to free up more of it; as I mentioned in an earlier thread, for instance, we've had skids full of old games hauled to the recycling center).  It may be very cheap per-unit to print another thousand copies (so much of print cost are fixed set-up expenses) -- but if those thousand copies aren't going to sell right away, they occupy space we need for the NEXT book.  This summer, with three major hardcovers in quick succession, this is really a big concern for me.  Another concern is that so many people are doing big hardcovers now, I worry about saturation and plummeting reorders, the same patterns that hit adventures over the course of 2001.  Retailers too have limited shelf space, and may ask themselves if they should restock one hardcover or instead put a newly released book in the same shelf spot.  Better safe than sorry.On to other things you ask --<a href="http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG3214.html" target="_blank">Occult Lore</a>  is going to be very cool, useful for both players and GMs.  I'm in the midst of working on the layout, and haven't actually read through it closely yet (except incidentally as I lay it out; I will be doing a proofread before it goes to press, as usual).  The "Baird's Botanical" appendix is pretty cool -- a whole bunch of plants, each one illustrated, with description, mundane uses, magical uses, etc.  Both the herbs appendix and the spell appendix are 100% OGC (the text, anyhow).  We'll have to get some PDF preview material up on the website, and excerpting some of the herbs is probably a good candidate.The summer lineup is, essentially, OL (which was scheduled for May, but at this point July looks more realistic, even if I finish the layout this weekend) and <a href="http://www.atlas-games.com/product_tables/AG3700.html" target="_blank">Nyambe: African Adventures</a> .  We had been planning to publish Christina Stiles' adventure, Unhallowed Halls, in June, but recently rescheduled it to September (as we realized how much time the hardcovers are taking us).  There are a lot of other projects brewing (the NPC book, a city/campaign sourcebook by David Chart, many more secret things) -- the biggest of them is the likely release of the Penumbra Bestiary before Christmas.Thanks for asking!</blockquote>

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