Midnight 2.0 PDF on sale now...for $50!!!!

[Bagpuss]

FFG is one of a handful of publishers that sell their PDF's at the same price (-$1) as their RRP for their print books. Why they do it is because they can. Most publishers don't charge that much for a PDF version.

 

[reveal]

Although the prices generally rose, this statement isn't correct as written. In this case the reason lies also in the fact that the new book claims to be more than 40,000 words longer, how ever this translates into additional pages (the actual page count seems to be some kind of secret; at least I didn't find any number wherever I looked).

Product Details

* Hardcover: 400 pages
* Publisher: Fantasy Flight Games; 2nd edition (June 30, 2005)
* Language: English
* ISBN: 1589942167
* Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 1.1 inches

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/t...102-9284668-2952953?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

 

[Turjan]

Actually, my question was how much it costs, on average, for a company to print hardcover copies of their books and distribute them and how much does that add to the final cost of the book.

I heard that the distributor normally takes 30% of the MSRP. The production of the physical book somewhere abroad (mostly Canada or China) and the transport are less than that. Nevertheless, both these costs don't apply in the case of pdf's.

 

[Turjan]

Hardcover: 400 pages

Ah, thanks. Okay, that's a rise from 256 pages to 400 pages, which will account for most of the price rise, as I suggested.

 

[reveal]

I heard that the distributor normally takes 30% of the MSRP. The production of the physical book somewhere abroad (mostly Canada or China) and the transport are less than that. Nevertheless, both these costs don't apply in the case of pdf's.

I know. That's why I'm trying to clarify how much it costs, on average. I want to support the RPG industry as much as possible. I would rather not make blanket statements like "This sucks and the company is just trying to rip us off" because, to me, that does nothing to promote the genre but, rather, detracts from it because it comes off as nothing more than bitching.

What I would like to say is something like this: "$50 is too high because, on average, printing and distributing make up X% of the MSRP. In this case, the PDF is not being printed or distributed. I can see marking it up by 5% over cost because of the extra work needed to put in things like bookmarks, so I would say that $X would be a more fair price."

Hopefully, that would help the publishers who visit this board know there's a market out there and there are people who really want to buy their products but, as educated consumers, can't justify the cost.

 

[Voadam]

I don't suppose that, in everyone's rush to be scandalized, anybody's asked whether or not this is a mistake?

DTRPG had the same problem with A Game of Thrones. Until they finish putting the .pdf price into the system the MSRP is used as a placeholder.

Given that this is in line with over 95% of FFG's pdf pricing and 100% in line with their pricing for 3.5 products I'd say it is unlikely to be a mistake.

If so the mistake has been going on for all but three of their products since they've been on dtrpg.com. And until the mistake is corrected or there is some indication that it will be corrected it is the situation that they are only offering the pdf for sale at the sale price of $49.00 reduced down from $49.95.

Here is the link to the "sale", http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36_42&products_id=2718&affiliate_id=17596

Now compare that to FFG's midnight 1st edition http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=36_42&products_id=477&affiliate_id=17596 on sale for $34.00 marked down from $34.95

Now compare to Iron Heroes http://www.drivethrurpg.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=2371&affiliate_id=17596

$14.00 marked down from $37.99

 

[Turjan]

I guess that's one way to fight piracy. Price the book so high that not a single person will buy it. That way, there isn't anyone to actually put it on the net.

Doesn't work that way. Every book that has followers will be pirated. Only stuff that interests nobody doesn't end up in the p2p channels.

FFG, and every other publisher, has two choices: They can make the PDF available for a reasonable price, and make a few bucks, or they can set back and watch it get downloaded for free. They stand to make money one way, but not the other.
Either they can create the PDF, or wait for a pirate to scan it himself and disperse it to the masses.

That's probably true. I doubt that Monte sees his pdf business as some kind of charity. Given that he started out as a pdf business, I guess he knows how to make money of it. I bought the Arcana Evolved pdf although I had the hardcover before that. I thought it was a good price, and having the pdf will save me from having to use my scanner if I need a handout of a page.

I'd never buy a $49 pdf, though. And definitely not when the print version costs me a third less.

 

[Voadam]

I know. That's why I'm trying to clarify how much it costs, on average. I want to support the RPG industry as much as possible. I would rather not make blanket statements like "This sucks and the company is just trying to rip us off" because, to me, that does nothing to promote the genre but, rather, detracts from it because it comes off as nothing more than bitching.

What I would like to say is something like this: "$50 is too high because, on average, printing and distributing make up X% of the MSRP. In this case, the PDF is not being printed or distributed. I can see marking it up by 5% over cost because of the extra work needed to put in things like bookmarks, so I would say that $X would be a more fair price."

Hopefully, that would help the publishers who visit this board know there's a market out there and there are people who really want to buy their products but, as educated consumers, can't justify the cost.

My understanding from when they started up is that dtrpg.com was offering to turn the publishing companies' print products or electronic publishing files into the pdfs so it would not be extra work for the publishing companies.

I don't know if they charged for that or if it is part of the current arrangement though.

dtrpg gets a cut of the pdf sales though.

 

[Wystan]

Sadly, I am interested in Midnight, would buy the PDF, but would not pay more than 50% of cover price for a PDF...

I NEED TO PAY FOR THE PRINTING COSTS AS WELL?

 

[reveal]

My understanding from when they started up is that dtrpg.com was offering to turn the publishing companies' print products or electronic publishing files into the pdfs so it would not be extra work for the publishing companies.

I don't know if they charged for that or if it is part of the current arrangement though.

dtrpg gets a cut of the pdf sales though.

I assume that FLGS' get a cut of the hardcover book sales as well, so that shouldn't really contribute that much to the high PDF cost, unless DTRPG is taking a very large cut.