OK, we have a problem [please read!]

[Ryltar]

CS account purchased. Here's to ENworld!

 

[SiderisAnon]

My suggestion is to do something akin to Audible, the online book service I'm a member of - a monthly membership fee of say $5 or $10, and that in turns gets you credits - 1 or 2 - which can be used to purchase some of ENWorld's varied and useful publications. Some of that larger publications could be split up into parts, each a credit, etc.

Dremmen's suggestion is a sales model that can work for a business. However, I believe it works best if you have a rather large number of products available for people to choose from and products that people will want to keep buying more of. I used to have a "subscription" like this to DAZ, which sells 3D models for rendering. There was always something I wanted to spend my monthly credit on. I could have kept it up for years. I finally ended that subscription, however, because I realized I was purchasing more products than I had time to use. (In fact, I still have models I've never even unzipped because I haven't had the time.)

I own quite a few of the items on the EN Publishing list. From a quick count, something just over 20% of them, actually. (Maybe a little more, once you eliminate duplicate entries and bundles.) However, there are only a couple of items remaining on their list that interest me. So, the monthly subscription with "credits" would be of little use to me because I'd run out of products within a few months. (Depending on pending release schedule.)

This is not to say that such a monthly "credits" model would not work for other people. I believe it would be best suited for people who are new to EN Publishing products and so would have more choices for things that would suit their personal gaming styles.

However, if you went to such a model, I believe it should be in addition to a Community Supporter Account. I'm willing to shell out the $20 per year to support a site a use daily, where as I wouldn't want to shell out $5 per month to both support the site and get a free PDF that might not be useful to me.



There are an additional suggestion that I think might help generate some extra revenue.

Would it be possible to send out coupons for EN Publishing products specifically to Community Supporter Account holders? Or if you don't want to e-mail them ads, you could post a notice on the boards for CSA holders to check their account page because there would be a special link to a discount. The coupons could change monthly or whatever and would both reward those who support the site and perhaps generate some extra sales of the PDFs.

 

[Dremmen]

Dremmen's suggestion is a sales model that can work for a business. However, I believe it works best if you have a rather large number of products available for people to choose from and products that people will want to keep buying more of. I used to have a "subscription" like this to DAZ, which sells 3D models for rendering. There was always something I wanted to spend my monthly credit on. I could have kept it up for years. I finally ended that subscription, however, because I realized I was purchasing more products than I had time to use. (In fact, I still have models I've never even unzipped because I haven't had the time.).

A very valid point - I believe there will be a number of small publishers who would jump at the chance to get on such a system, and that would balloon up the already generous number of offerings. It means regular review of their product by the subscribers as they look for whatever intrigues them. It also means that, since you have these credits every month, you would be more likely to pick up something that you are not so sure about. Personally I've yet to try any pre-fab adventures and if I were aboard this system I'd probably use one credit for some source material, and the other for a fringe item I'm curious about.

The thing with the Community Supporter Account is that it is a one time deal, not ideal I think for ENWorld, at least not compared to many subscribers paying every month. The other is that the benefits of the Account, to me, are a bit unsubstantial when compared to tangible game material (tangible in a virtual sense anyways).

 

[Thomas Percy]

We (The Forge Studios) have some money at our ENGS Account, and I'll gladly buy Community Supporter Accounts for 1 year, but can someone tell (me idiot) how transfer this (ENGS Acc) money onto Community SA?

 

[Wolf72]

account purchased ... testing custom title

 

[boerngrim]

Hey thanks for this site. I use it nearly every day. I am now a supporter.

 

[Simrion]

Community Supporter Account Purchased...hope it helps!

 

[Nyaricus]

Holy crap, I just checked the front page, and I can buy an EN WORLD MOUSE-PAD!!! Come Thursday, consider one mouse-pad bought

Also: no hoodies? I might've bought one of those, if you had them availiable. As it is, I'll mull buying a t-shirt.

cheers,
--N

 

[Voadam]

War of the Burning Sky, subscribed. I decided to get it on its own merits and did so then found out about the crisis the day after I bought it. So don't think of this supporting purchase as charity but as a fully capitalist earned return for producing a great sounding project.

 

[Nerfwright]

I must be postcognitive - I renewed my CSA within a few hours of Morrus' note, before I even saw this thread.

I'll have to buy a few PDFs this week to help out some more.

Bucky