Going it alone or look for friends

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

This may seem a little...stupid but hey. I’m interested in dipping my toes into the world of d20 publishing. I've come up with a few items, unique Npcs and even have some campaign setting ideas. So I was wondering would it be best to submit to someone else or just try and go it alone?

 

[malladin]

We tried submitting to someone else and were rejected late on. We only really went alone because we had got the product pretty much finished by that point and didn't want the work to be wasted.

The product was so much more successful than we had dreamed it would be (particularly since it was rejected by a publisher not known for a regular high standard) so we have stuck at it.

PDF publishing is a great entry to writing and checking your ideas out, but don't expect to make any money from it. We're just looking now into getting something done in print (not decided what yet) and it's going to cost us a lot more than we've made from 3 products since september.

I think it depends what you want to do. If you've got good ideas that fit into existing publisher's portfolios you might stand a chance, but if you find the hard to fit in you might be better going alone and then seeing what happens.

Hell, who am I to give advice, anyway. I've only been doing this since spetember ...?

hope that helps,

Ben, Malladin's Gate

 

[MEG Hal]

Depends on what you want out of it....pdf publishing, going it alone or with Nat20 or Ambient etc would be fine.

Print is a whole other matter--more $, more time and layout etc... if you need help and want to do it alone click on our cover to cover services in my sig. But to get into print alone at this time may not be a easy thing, you may not find any distributor who will take on your product.

And IMHO listen to Malladin he is new (like yourself) and has had some lumps and learned so he sounds like a good person to get advice from as a new pdf publisher. Ambient is another, Phil Reed, Spencer Cooley etc... as far as print we might be able to help you but be ready to put some money down and be patient, you have to plan ahead for months for all of the channels to become aware of your upcoming products.

Hope that helps.

 

[tensen]

The question I want you to ask yourself:

1) Is this a business to you, or just a game?
2) Are you prepared to spend more time advertising, posts responces to forums, and responding to emails, working on layout? Deadlines with other people missing their deadlines. Getting all the art done? And basically wearing many more hats than just a writer, and spending 10% of the time writing and the rest pulling your hair out?
3) Is your style of work different from all the rest of the publishers?
4) Do you have a goal in mind?

Your answers should tell you which direction you want to go.

 

[jmucchiello]

1) Is this a business to you, or just a game?
2) Are you prepared to spend more time advertising, posts responces to forums, and responding to emails, working on layout? Deadlines with other people missing their deadlines. Getting all the art done? And basically wearing many more hats than just a writer, and spending 10% of the time writing and the rest pulling your hair out?

What he said, but #2 far outweighs #1. Like any other business, getting sales is not a passive action. You don't just put your PDF on RPGNow or just ship a book to distributors. You have to get people to want it. This legwork easily eats into what little time you have "creating" when you go it alone.

 

[malladin]

Personally I really like doing the promnotional stuff. I really like getting involved in the forums. Before I had Malladin's Gate I rarely had anything to post about .

I think I'll add another one to Tensen's list: Can you take criticism?
If you're going it alone all negative points in any review or comment comes down to your responsibility. It's important that this firstly that this doesn't get to you, but more importantly that you can take it on board and improve your product next time round. (plus, if you publish in pdf you can correct it in that draft )

Cheerio,

Ben, Malladin's Gate

 

[Dareoon Dalandrove]

1) Is this a business to you, or just a game?

Would I like to strike it rich? I play the lottery sometimes. Do I expect to make any real money? No. I just feel the need to do something. Too many times in the past I've sat on my hands and watched other people do things with ideas I've for quite a while.

2) Are you prepared to spend more time advertising, posts responces to forums, and responding to emails, working on layout? Deadlines with other people missing their deadlines. Getting all the art done? And basically wearing many more hats than just a writer, and spending 10% of the time writing and the rest pulling your hair out?

I think that I may be better at that than the writing. That's what my future holds for me (marketing major)

3) Is your style of work different from all the rest of the publishers?

I can't say that it is.

4) Do you have a goal in mind?

Have some fun


5) can I take critism

Hahahaha. Right now I work with the general public and after putting up with the insanity that I deal with everyday I work I think I could handle it.


Overall i think that i may just post everything on the boards and people can have at it.

 

[tensen]

Personally I really like doing the promnotional stuff. I really like getting involved in the forums. Before I had Malladin's Gate I rarely had anything to post about .

Ben, want a job?