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<blockquote data-quote="Staffan" data-source="post: 8854785" data-attributes="member: 907"><p>That's why I said it was the death blow, not the sole cause.</p><p></p><p>Random House had a contract with TSR that allowed them (and book stores) to pulp unsold books and get reimbursed for them. This, I believe, is fairly standard for mass market books. For a long time, they allowed that reimbursement to be in the form of credit toward new books, but eventually they said "No, we don't want more of your unsellable books, we want actual money, thank you." And that left TSR unable to service any of its other debts, such as paying their printer.</p><p></p><p>Now, had TSR been in better financial shape to begin with, e.g. by not churning out dozens of unsellable sourcebooks each month and splitting their customer base over a dozen settings, they could probably have weathered that blow. But they weren't, and so they didn't.</p><p></p><p>It's like if you're fighting a giant with a hundred hp, and the fighter and rogue together deal it like 85 points of damage. If you then <em>magic missile</em> it for 15, that's still your death blow.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Staffan, post: 8854785, member: 907"] That's why I said it was the death blow, not the sole cause. Random House had a contract with TSR that allowed them (and book stores) to pulp unsold books and get reimbursed for them. This, I believe, is fairly standard for mass market books. For a long time, they allowed that reimbursement to be in the form of credit toward new books, but eventually they said "No, we don't want more of your unsellable books, we want actual money, thank you." And that left TSR unable to service any of its other debts, such as paying their printer. Now, had TSR been in better financial shape to begin with, e.g. by not churning out dozens of unsellable sourcebooks each month and splitting their customer base over a dozen settings, they could probably have weathered that blow. But they weren't, and so they didn't. It's like if you're fighting a giant with a hundred hp, and the fighter and rogue together deal it like 85 points of damage. If you then [I]magic missile[/I] it for 15, that's still your death blow. [/QUOTE]
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