Louis Porter, Jr. Design is looking for freelance adventures writers

[lmpjr007]

Louis Porter, Jr. Design is looking for freelance adventures writers for their upcoming Haven: Living Violence campaign, Haven: Living Violence. Haven: Living Violence is a Coordinated Shared Campaign (CSC) is a mechanism for enabling players around the world to participate in the same campaign, with characters who may be played anywhere the campaign is played, at conventions or in local groups. If you attend conventions, you sometimes must wish you could play a cherished character, rather than one you are handed, and who you will play for a few hours. This is based off of the idea of the RPGA “Living” campaign worlds. The adventures will be in length from 8,000 to 15,000 words and will work in conjunction with our Haven: Living Violence campaign. Louis Porter, Jr. Design will pay a flat rate of $100 for each written adventure. All interested writers should look at the Louis Porter, Jr. Design website at www.lpjdesign.com or contact us directly at LMPjr007@aol.com for additional info.

 

[lmpjr007]

We would like to thank all of the people that have submitted ideas for writing for us. We would likt to inform everyone that we are looking for even more writers to contact us. We need nearly 25 different adventures that neede to be done. If you are looking for your first written work, now is the chance.

 

[Cergorach]

I find it very supprising that you have any response at all. Your offering less then 0.75ct per word (on average your proposing 13,5k word long documents), that's so far below average that i can all but doubt the quality of the work being submitted. First timers usually get 2ct/word, acceptable average payment was 4ct/word last time i checked, the really popular writers will probably cost a lot more...

 

[lmpjr007]

I find it very supprising that you have any response at all. Your offering less then 0.75ct per word (on average your proposing 13,5k word long documents), that's so far below average that i can all but doubt the quality of the work being submitted. First timers usually get 2ct/word, acceptable average payment was 4ct/word last time i checked, the really popular writers will probably cost a lot more...

Well since anyone will tell you it is amazing hard to break in because there are some "many good" writers. My feeling on this topic is simple; people want to write and they have to start somewhere. Too many people in this industry have place artificial value of what this industry can support. When a 100 PDF sold on RPGNow.com is considered a BIG SUCCESS, how much can you afford to pay people? Let's do some math...

32 page sourcebook = 16,000 words = $320 at 2 cents.

32 page sourcebook = 8 full pages of art (industry standard rate of $100 per full page) $800

OR

32 page sourcebook = 8 full pages of art (Using Image Portfolio from RPGNow.com - 20 half page of art) $20

32 page sourcebook = Cover artwork $250 (V.Shane rates)

32 page sourcebook = editing work $100 (Real editors charge ALOT MORE than this)

32 page sourcebook = graphic design & layout $50 (Real graphic designers charge ALOT MORE than this)

Total for 32 Page sourcebook Production Cost: between $650 or $1430

Now a 32-page sourcebook on RPGNow.com selling for $5 (REMEMBER: RPGNow.com takes either 20% or 25% of the product cost for their services) but you get either $4 or $3.75 per book sold.

How many books do you have to sell to break even?
$4 a book = 163 or 358 copies
$3.75 a book = 173 or 381 copies

And a BIG SUCCESS is 100 copies. How many people do you think are selling 100 copies at RPGNow.com when they have nearly 2,000 products available for sale?

Now after all this you think writers aren't making enough? Try being a publisher.

Oh did I mention that the adventures we are looking to get written, we are GIVING THEM AWAY FOR FREE. That means I will not generating any money from this. NO MONEY AT ALL. So I will never recoup that money paid off for these adventures.

Welcome to the world of a RPG Publisher. BOHICA! (Bend Over Here It Comes Again!)

 

[Cergorach]

If you want to publish profesionaly on RPGNow i think that accepting anything less than 100 sales is not worth publishing. Everything over a 100 is profit, maybe not very realistic according to some, but if you can't produce something people will want, why publish in the first place?

If you want to use paper publishing standards i don't think you'll come very far.

100 sales @ $5 with RPGNow taking 20% => $400

If your budget is only $400 your insane to spend $200 (Vshane was recently in a good mood ;-) on only a cover. Either don't use a cover or take something in B&W or greys at $75 (or somewhere abouts).

Internal art, someone is selling portfolios for $5 on RPGNow, use those *chuckles*

Layout is of course very important, but on such a low budget a publisher better do it himself. Same goes for editing...

Here we're talking about an average document of 13.5k words.

Yeah, i know there's no profit to be made as a publisher on RPGNow unless you come with some very high quality stuff. Alla Monte Cook, EnWorld, Magical Medieval folks, etc.

Most of the people that sell stuff on RPGNow either have subpap stuff or are doing it for the love of it. Some of the folks that do it for love do the writing, layout and editing themselves (or let a friend edit) and spend some cash on art that's done by other people that do it for the love of it...

 

[lmpjr007]

If you want to publish profesionaly on RPGNow i think that accepting anything less than 100 sales is not worth publishing. Everything over a 100 is profit, maybe not very realistic according to some, but if you can't produce something people will want, why publish in the first place?

Do you really think Cry Havoc would have sold the same amount it did if it didn't have Monte Cook's name on it? In the first two days Monte Cook sold over 190 copies of Cry Havoc. Do you really think some no name publisher would get this same response if they did as Monte Cook and Cry Havoc?

Why don't you try producing your own books and then get back to me what we should be paying people and how much money you will make.

 

[Teneb]

OK, I'll bite. I'm not a publisher, though I can comprehend how difficult publishing can be. I'm just getting on the freelance wagon and so I frequent this board a fair amount. I read your first post Louis and, quite frankly, never once thought about sending you something. I have to agree with Cergorach that the rate, even for the low end of 8000 words, isn't worth my time.

I'm glad you've gotten a response, maybe I'm just being too mercenary giving the money aspect so much weight. I certainly wish you the best of luck. The only other comment I have is that your reply posts sound awfully defensive. I think Cergorach was just trying to be helpful (as am I), not snotty. Again, if you can get quality writers for the amount of money you're paying, I think that's really great.

 

[Cergorach]

Do you really think Cry Havoc would have sold the same amount it did if it didn't have Monte Cook's name on it? In the first two days Monte Cook sold over 190 copies of Cry Havoc. Do you really think some no name publisher would get this same response if they did as Monte Cook and Cry Havoc?

No offense, but the stuff that Malhalvoc Press produces IS top notch! That it has the name attached to it of some of the best known writers in D&D history is sure to be a boost in sales, but the products quality is what's keeping the sales high. I agree that Malhalcov press is an anomaly in pdf publishing, but with an attitude like that you'll never get anywhere near the quality Malhavoc is producing.

Why don't you try producing your own books and then get back to me what we should be paying people and how much money you will make.

I think that's the difference between you and me, i'm not in this business to make much money. I'm aiming to recouperate my investments ($500 in a year) and everything i get more i'll invest in quality art, quality writers, and quality editors. And maybe, just maybe i can compare to a company like Malhavoc is now in 10 or 15 years. For the moment i'll hold on to my regualry paying dayjob.

 

[MarauderX]

Seems the market is too saturated with everyone's imagination.

I just want to write ideas down and work with them in a campaign, and don't really care to publish a darned thing since I can't be there to experience the final product as it occurs as an event. Perhaps I will throw together some of my things and see what my role-playing peers have to say, but I would never expect to make a profit from writing for a living.

And you have to start somewhere as a writer; publish or die.