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Message: <blockquote data-quote="invokethehojo" data-source="post: 5448645" data-attributes="member: 62525">I'm breaking into the industry and this is one of my chief concerns.  As I've worked on my project I've come to realize that what looks like my biggest barrier is this: if I'm releasing my own RPG, I have to have new products that live up to the quality of my initial rule book to keep generating money, but I can't sell customers those products without them buying the rulebook first.  It makes managing your production resources hard to do, having to plan several moves ahead, allocating money you won't be sure you get a return on till it's too late.My family has a small concrete business, which is going the way of the dinosaur.  I have always wanted to go into the RPG business, but never thought it was that profitable.  When I saw that my families business was not a viable option for my future I took a harder look at it.  Sure, the chances of me making a full time living off it are not high, but when compared to other business ideas I was interested in it required much less start up cost. I don't see many people mentioning the upsides to this industry, specifically how easy it is to get into.  The OGL drastically opened up the market to small upstarts.  The subsequent fracturing of the D20 system (from just D&D to many others like Paizo and Green Ronin) expanded the market quite a bit.  Combine that with the constant evolution and innovation, usually in favor of the little guy.  Try being a smaller-end concrete producer in this economy, where: your customers (small time contractors) almost never have any business sense and don't/can't pay their bills, big time competitors can sell their product for cost in a small market area to squeeze out the little guy, oil dependency and govt regulations make costs of materials skyrocket, and your subject to unrelenting labor union policies.  There are no options, other than to hold out until the economy improves, then sell and move on.  The RPG industry looks pretty good to someone like me: an educated and loyal customer base, multiple ways to print books for lower costs then ever before, digital distribution via the internet, evolving methods of producing a product in cheaper ways, the ability to do all this from your home and with very little staff or overhead.  Sure, I could buy a Subway franchise and have a much better chance of making a living off of it... but I gotta pump in $100,000 up front.  For $10,000 I can start my own RPG company in my basement, and if I only sell half my very small initial print run, I can go out of business short around $5,000, the cost of a new ATV.  Do the same thing online with no print run, and you can cut those figures by 75%.  With a little luck and business acumen I can turn a few grand into becoming a published author, entrepreneur and game designer.  And if it fails, well I tried my dream, and my friends and I at least have an RPG we are totally happy with and never have to look up rules clarifications for.What a great industry.</blockquote>

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