# of copies a d20 product can expect to sell...

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

I think I remember reading a few days ago about the Buffy RPG selling out it's initial print run of 1000 copies ( great job! )

I was thinking that this seemed awful low to me. I scanned the publisher boards here to see if I there might be something I missed, but I was wondering if some of the publishers could let us know what they consider a great selling product to be.

Without anything ( like accurate market research to support me ) I would think that the CORE WotC books would have to have sold
in the hundreds of thousands of copies by now.

I would expect a wildly successful d20 product like SSS Creature Collections to have sold well into the tens of thousands of copies.

So I was thinking that a business plan goal for non WoTC d20 books to be about 10,000 copies. ( Oathbound / Necropolis etc... )

So -- am I in the right neighborhood/close? Hearing that Buffy news is causing me to think I may have been WAY off base - of course that is not d20...

 

[Lizard]

Re: 1000 Copies of Buffy RPG

So -- am I in the right neighborhood/close? Hearing that Buffy news is causing me to think I may have been WAY off base - of course that is not d20...

A *very* successful RPG might sell 5 to 10 thousand copies of the core book, and some fraction of that for supplements. Most RPGs will be lucky to sell 1000 copies. A lot sell in the low hundreds.

Supplements, modules, etc, all sell worse than core rules.

 

[2WS-Steve]

Buffy's a pretty popular property; they had two versions of the book on sale so perhaps the collector's version is what sold out.

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

I think the 1,000 print run was on the Limited Edition copy. However I could be wrong.

 

[Crothian]

I hope it just the limited version, becasue I'd like to get a copy but ut has yet to even appear in my local store.

 

[Psychotic Dreamer]

I was checking over on the Eden Boards and it was the limited edition:

http://pub51.ezboard.com/fedenstudiosdiscussionboardsfrm12.showMessage?topicID=162.topic

If you are going to DragonCon or GenCOn UK you can still get a copy from their or maybe your local store.

As for the regular version it should be appearing in stores this week or next. It shipped to distributors last week around the 14th. My pre-ordered copy should arrive tomorrow. I have been waiting for this game since it was announced in the begining of the year.

 

[Crothian]

I was checking over on the Eden Boards and it was the limited edition.

Thanks for confirming that. I too have been eagerly waiting for this to get here.

 

[BigFreekinGoblinoid]

Yeah -- dreamer beat me to the clarification that it was the limited
edition that sold out, but that was really ancillary to my real question about how many titles a non WotC d20 product can expect to sell. Perhaps I'll change the thread title...

Thanks to Lizard for his response - I'm looking for d20 specific estimates - anyone else?

Thanks in advance...

 

[Orange_Month]

After talking to some publishers at GenCon (and I may not have talked to a correct sample, so take this as a pretty general guideline):

In the current market, a breakout hit will sell 5,000+ copies

A success will sell 2,000+ copies

An average supplement will sell 1,000+ copies

Lower end products will sell 500+ copies.

Disclaimer: These are just some raw guesses I have after talking to some people. I can't really back any of this up with statistics. It should also be noted that the d20 market seems to change rapidly. I do know that earlier stuff put out just as the OGL started would have been bumped up a category or two (ie: I'm sure Creature Collection did sell in the tens of thousands since it came out before the Monster Manual. Nowadays, maybe it would sell half as many...?)

I'd wait for an actual publisher to confirm.

 

[philreed]

PDF Numbers?

Anyone have an average number for a PDF product?