How much would you pay for a PDF?

[Vigilance]

Hey! One of my best friends is a retailer!

If your friend isnt one of these knuckleheads, then apologize to him for me However far too many retailers think like this:

1. We don't care about small press rpgs. If you aren't Green Ronin, Mongoose, S&SS or WOTC, we won't stock you. People have to special order it.

Sure we could learn what's good, but that takes too much time, rpgs in general are such a small portion of our business compared to minis, board games, CCGs and comics to bother with you guys.

2. Despite #1, all rpg companies should run their business with my store in mind. That means never sell direct, never sell PDF and never do anything else I perceive as harmful to my bottom line, even if I have no proof its bad for me.

If you're not sure, assume its bad for me.

If its new, its bad for me.

I know, I don't think of you when I run MY business, but if you dont think of me, then I will order EVEN LESS of your books.

3. You must apply #2 even if the current distribution model is broken and small press rpg companies are frequently not paid by distributors. You small press guys just have to suck it up.

Sure we realize that frequently a distributor will blow all his cash on the hot new minis, use what's left to pay his bigger clients and pay everyone else "next month" and that the most common thing that happens is "next month" never arrives, but you're supposed to be thinking of US, not yourself.

Chuck

 

[Wombat]

Max out price for me would be around 60% of the cover price, and that would only be with someone I really trust on a product I am looking forward to but would not have regular need. If the book is something I intend to use regularly in my game, I would not buy the pdf.

Most pdfs, however, I would not be willing to pay more than 50%, most no more than 35% of the full-print cost.

 

[Mark]

If your friend isnt one of these knuckleheads, then apologize to him for me

It's Curt from Games Plus (who goes by thalmin on EN World) and he's a pip!

He's part owner of one of the best game stores in the country. Great selection, to the extreme. We run a Gameday there three times a year for the last four years. He likes pie. Nuff said.

 

[Wraith Form]

What I'd really like is the ability to pay say 125% of the standard cover price for a paper copy PLUS a PDF of the same book. I like collecting books, but it would also be very useful to have electronic copies of some titles. I would be quite happy to pay a little more for the advantages of both formats.

I voted "under 25%" because I love paper books. You can't read a PDF in bed at night unless you have a laptop or PDA (and I currently don't have either).

The advantages of PDFs are obvious to me, however, and the idea that I might get free updates (in the form of corrected errata, FAQs, etc) is appealing.

So yes, I'd pay 125% for a paper book + CD (with the PDF on it).

 

[ColonelHardisson]

In general, I wouldn't pay more than 25% of the hardcopy price for a pdf. I like pdf's for their convenience, but no way are they worth as much as an actual printed book. I might pay up to 50% for a pdf of a book I really, really want and can't get otherwise, but I can't think of any examples.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

If your friend isnt one of these knuckleheads, then apologize to him for me However far too many retailers think like this:

1. We don't care about small press rpgs. If you aren't Green Ronin, Mongoose, S&SS or WOTC, we won't stock you. People have to special order it.

Sure we could learn what's good, but that takes too much time, rpgs in general are such a small portion of our business compared to minis, board games, CCGs and comics to bother with you guys.

2. Despite #1, all rpg companies should run their business with my store in mind. That means never sell direct, never sell PDF and never do anything else I perceive as harmful to my bottom line, even if I have no proof its bad for me.

If you're not sure, assume its bad for me.

If its new, its bad for me.

I know, I don't think of you when I run MY business, but if you dont think of me, then I will order EVEN LESS of your books.

3. You must apply #2 even if the current distribution model is broken and small press rpg companies are frequently not paid by distributors. You small press guys just have to suck it up.

Sure we realize that frequently a distributor will blow all his cash on the hot new minis, use what's left to pay his bigger clients and pay everyone else "next month" and that the most common thing that happens is "next month" never arrives, but you're supposed to be thinking of US, not yourself.

Chuck

Hey! have you been talking with my local store? And add in:

4. Even if the customer special orders it we put off placing a special order for your stuff and pretend that the distributor didn't have it in stock. By the time we actually get around to placing the order they won't.

5. We will complain when the customer goes online to make purchases because our service sucks, and blame it on lower costs.

And I wonder where Ronin Arts' Campaign Planner Deluxe fits in - $1 more to have both print and PDF, but the PDF is so much more useful...

The Auld Grump, who agrees that Unearthed Arcana would be more useful as a PDF...

 

[diaglo]

It's Curt from Games Plus (who goes by thalmin on EN World) and he's a pip!

if life is a bowl of cherries then why is Curt a pip?

oh, you mean he is spot on a die.

i hope he is on the six sided face so he isn't alone. but he could be the 1

 

[Psion]

if life is a bowl of cherries then why is Curt a pip?

oh, you mean he is spot on a die.

Or he could be a blue-grey alien woman.

 

[blakk]

If the books we purchase were a table or a car, then PDF's are the do it yourself version. now a days we purchase things and have to assemble them ourselves when we get home. this greatly cuts down the price of the purchased item.

you pay less for self service gas than you do for full service, cause your not paying labor costs.

pdf's cut out all of the costs generated after you create your content. What People are forgetting is that the company that creates the PDF only has to create ONE PDF. The consumer is buying a copy of that one book. the consumer has to eat the printing costs over time every time they print the book. they eat the cost of material and time too. In the end this is the best way to go. because the consumer is given much more flexibility when they buy the pdf. Theres no publisher trying to keep its writers "barefoot and pregnant" to deal with. the writer is fully and finally in control of his destiny. On that note. this process will also put a halt to the indentured slavery pervasive in the dnd world. A ton of people who would make good content cant because they cant live off of the pittance offered by publishers.

the writer has to pay his due's in the form of higher levels of theft. More people will have stolen copies of his work than they will legitimate ones.

Im not condoning stealing but I am saying this its inevitable, and may help to minimize a greater evil:crappy content. you all have bought books that have been simply crappy.

this process of stealing from whoever made the book in the first place sucks, but should exponentially accelerate the time it takes for companies who make crappy content to bite the dust.

it sucks for the guy who is making good stuff and still getting ripped off, but i guess that the price to be paid.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

If the books we purchase were a table or a car, then PDF's are the do it yourself version. now a days we purchase things and have to assemble them ourselves when we get home. this greatly cuts down the price of the purchased item.

you pay less for self service gas than you do for full service, cause your not paying labor costs.

pdf's cut out all of the costs generated after you create your content. What People are forgetting is that the company that creates the PDF only has to create ONE PDF. The consumer is buying a copy of that one book. the consumer has to eat the printing costs over time every time they print the book. they eat the cost of material and time too. In the end this is the best way to go. because the consumer is given much more flexibility when they buy the pdf. Theres no publisher trying to keep its writers "barefoot and pregnant" to deal with. the writer is fully and finally in control of his destiny. On that note. this process will also put a halt to the indentured slavery pervasive in the dnd world. A ton of people who would make good content cant because they cant live off of the pittance offered by publishers.

the writer has to pay his due's in the form of higher levels of theft. More people will have stolen copies of his work than they will legitimate ones.

Im not condoning stealing but I am saying this its inevitable, and may help to minimize a greater evil:crappy content. you all have bought books that have been simply crappy.

this process of stealing from whoever made the book in the first place sucks, but should exponentially accelerate the time it takes for companies who make crappy content to bite the dust.

it sucks for the guy who is making good stuff and still getting ripped off, but i guess that the price to be paid.

Ummm, I really disagree with piracy just killing off the publishers with crappy content. The price to be paid is the guy making good stuff goes under too.

The Auld Grump