Mearls' Latest Thought on the Industry

[Belen]

You're just staggeringly uninformed.


GameBuyer magazine continues to report Goodman Games' Dungeon Crawl classics outselling anything WOTC releases, month after month.

http://www.goodmangames.com/DCCpreview.php


Necromancer Games is also still publishing adventure modules by the cartload.

Dungeon Magazine catches the rest.

How am I staggerinly uninformed, Wulf? It just may be possible that I own all those "multitude" of adventures and still need more. Whatever you may like to think..there have been very few adventures created in contrast to the large pile of crunchy poo that we have on hand.

 

[BryonD]

It just may be possible that I own all those "multitude" of adventures and still need more.

Do you?

 

[Belen]

I'm done here, folks. The "discussion" is not worth the heartburn. If I have offended anyone, then I apologize, but the only future I see for this thread is insults and flames.

 

[Belen]

Do you?

Yup.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

But doesn't it matter how many are sold? Its great if you are making more per unit sold, but if the print gives you twice as many sales isn't that better? Now, I have no idea how sales of PDFs compaire to print books.

I would love to know how many PDF copies of M&M2 GR sold. I don't know. (Perhaps Phil would be willing to benchmark their sales against his best-selling PDF in the same month, assuming they out-sold him, which I assume they did.)

However, I have noticed that GR typically releases their new products these days as a vanguard to the print version. (As does Monte.) There's no doubt in my mind that, at least in the immediate aftermath of the Osseum Implosion, GR had no choice but to do this in order to shore up their cash flow.

That they continue to do this speaks volumes to the wisdom of the practice.

To answer your question, yes, GR will sell more print copies than they do PDF-- by an order of magnitude, I imagine. But the difference is that the PDF version can be released without the huge up-front costs and risks of a print run, which not only allows them to test the market ("Wow! Folks still really love M&M! Who'da thunk?") but it also allows them to generate much-needed cash flow.

 

[philreed]

To answer your question, yes, GR will sell more print copies than they do PDF-- by an order of magnitude, I imagine. But the difference is that the PDF version can be released without the huge up-front costs and risks of a print run, which not only allows them to test the market ("Wow! Folks still really love M&M! Who'da thunk?") but it also allows them to generate much-needed cash flow.

And without the risk of distributors keeping the cash. So far PDF sales sites have been excellent about paying me.

I still have a print distributor that owes me money.

 

[JVisgaitis]

....but Denizens of Avadu isn't innovative (or at least it's less innovative) because it wasn't created under a certain paradigm. Had the same exact product been created by a group of people working for free out of a sense of "community" it would qualify for Mike's definition of "innovation."

Well, if that is what he's trying to say I just don't agree whatsoever. It makes no sense at all. Innovation is determined by the final result and not the process of creation.

 

[philreed]

Yup.

I assume you've already used them all, then.

Are you going to answer my earlier question?

 

[JoeGKushner]

Profit per unit for Denizens of Avadnu was around $14 through distribution which included art, writing, editing and everything else. It was 224 pages and full color. Our numbers won't be the same for most publishers as we had a lot of inhouse designers working for us so art and layout were basically free for the most part.

It retrospect, profit on Legends of Avadnu is money in the bank now. I don't know what the per unit profit was, but after we paid for writing and editing (after we sold our first 40 PDFs), every unit I sell now is pure profit.

With the distribution system as it is now, there certainly is no question in my mind what the safer route to take is. I can't wait for the day when its economical to do full color Print on Demand.

Is this because of the "30 day" mentaliity so common to the distributors these days that in essence block reorders with misinformation?

 

[Vigilance]

But doesn't it matter how many are sold? Its great if you are making more per unit sold, but if the print gives you twice as many sales isn't that better? Now, I have no idea how sales of PDFs compaire to print books.

Sure it does, but if you look at trends, you see two things: PDF sales trending upward and print sales trending downward.

Its not hard to see a point where those lines intersect and its not far in the future.

When you factor in that the distribution chain requires a much larger upfront expenditure and frequently doesnt pay you when the books sell... well, if it were your money, what would you do?