GamingFrontiersRob
First Post
Due to the nature of Gaming Frontiers we
tend to print more submissions from publishers than freelancer pieces. Yet I
continue to get great proposals from quality talent, like yourself.
Unfortunately we don't have the resources to increase production, expand our
existing product or make another print product to release this work to the
general public. But I have come up with a PDF project that will showcase
freelancers only. We are going to produce a series of themed books under the
Gaming Frontiers name. Freelance writers and artists will supply the
content, we will do the layout and distribution. I realize you or other
freelancers could produce a PDF yourself but it would not have the United
Playtest or Gaming Frontiers name behind it which I would like to
believe would bring in more initial sales. Your cut works out to be less
than what you would get if PRINTED in Gaming Frontiers but at least your
stuff gets out there and its associated with a known d20 publisher.
Everyone contributing would get paid from the revenue. The first check would
come within 30 to 45 days of initial release. The percentage breakdown would
be as follows:
Cover artist 5%
writers 40%
artists 30%
United Playtest 25%
Let's play with some numbers:
The average PDF from a reputable name sells about 200 copies. Each page
contains about 800 to 1000 words. A 5000 word adventure with maps and
illustrations would probably work out to be about 7 or 8 pages. So figure a
50 page document would have 6 contributors. We sell 200 copies at $5 each
that's $1000. Assuming each adventure is about the same size your cut is 1/6
(16.67%) of 40% of the proceeds (I hope you followed that). Which equals
$66.68 which works out to be .0133 cents a word. That's ridiculously low but
bear in mind the book can sell more and with each release of another book,
the previous books would see a small surge of coincidental sales. In time
you could theoretically make as much or more than you would have at the 4
cent rate.
Nobody (including us) gets rich but we get the stuff out there. I may be
wrong, and please tell me otherwise, but I don't believe there's a whole lot
of outlets for freelance writers that actually pay for content unless you're
one of the lucky ones who have gotten their foot in the door with a
publisher or two. There are plenty of e-zines that want stuff but they pay
little if anything at all. The PDF market is no good if you don't have an
artist or the software needed to produce a quality piece. I think my product
could solve those problems and provide a nice platform for freelancers to
launch their gaming careers. Another bonus is with us you retain the rights
to your content. We only ask for first printing rights and that the content
is not reprinted within a year of release. That gives us maximum "shelf"
life. If we should want to print this material in some form later on we
would pay you for it again.
Initial offerings in production are Gaming Frontiers: Adventures (in which
we would place your adventure) and Gaming Frontiers: Monsters (into which
your article would be placed).
Other themes I have thought of:
GM Reinforcements (A collection articles geared towards GM's), Arcane
Secrets (Spells), Prestige Classes, Swords, etc. The possibilities are
endless.
Please let me know if you are interested as soon as possible. I would
welcome your input. Rob@unitedplaytest.com
Sincerely,
Robert J. Williams, President
United Playtest, Inc.
http://www.gamingfrontiers.com
tend to print more submissions from publishers than freelancer pieces. Yet I
continue to get great proposals from quality talent, like yourself.
Unfortunately we don't have the resources to increase production, expand our
existing product or make another print product to release this work to the
general public. But I have come up with a PDF project that will showcase
freelancers only. We are going to produce a series of themed books under the
Gaming Frontiers name. Freelance writers and artists will supply the
content, we will do the layout and distribution. I realize you or other
freelancers could produce a PDF yourself but it would not have the United
Playtest or Gaming Frontiers name behind it which I would like to
believe would bring in more initial sales. Your cut works out to be less
than what you would get if PRINTED in Gaming Frontiers but at least your
stuff gets out there and its associated with a known d20 publisher.
Everyone contributing would get paid from the revenue. The first check would
come within 30 to 45 days of initial release. The percentage breakdown would
be as follows:
Cover artist 5%
writers 40%
artists 30%
United Playtest 25%
Let's play with some numbers:
The average PDF from a reputable name sells about 200 copies. Each page
contains about 800 to 1000 words. A 5000 word adventure with maps and
illustrations would probably work out to be about 7 or 8 pages. So figure a
50 page document would have 6 contributors. We sell 200 copies at $5 each
that's $1000. Assuming each adventure is about the same size your cut is 1/6
(16.67%) of 40% of the proceeds (I hope you followed that). Which equals
$66.68 which works out to be .0133 cents a word. That's ridiculously low but
bear in mind the book can sell more and with each release of another book,
the previous books would see a small surge of coincidental sales. In time
you could theoretically make as much or more than you would have at the 4
cent rate.
Nobody (including us) gets rich but we get the stuff out there. I may be
wrong, and please tell me otherwise, but I don't believe there's a whole lot
of outlets for freelance writers that actually pay for content unless you're
one of the lucky ones who have gotten their foot in the door with a
publisher or two. There are plenty of e-zines that want stuff but they pay
little if anything at all. The PDF market is no good if you don't have an
artist or the software needed to produce a quality piece. I think my product
could solve those problems and provide a nice platform for freelancers to
launch their gaming careers. Another bonus is with us you retain the rights
to your content. We only ask for first printing rights and that the content
is not reprinted within a year of release. That gives us maximum "shelf"
life. If we should want to print this material in some form later on we
would pay you for it again.
Initial offerings in production are Gaming Frontiers: Adventures (in which
we would place your adventure) and Gaming Frontiers: Monsters (into which
your article would be placed).
Other themes I have thought of:
GM Reinforcements (A collection articles geared towards GM's), Arcane
Secrets (Spells), Prestige Classes, Swords, etc. The possibilities are
endless.
Please let me know if you are interested as soon as possible. I would
welcome your input. Rob@unitedplaytest.com
Sincerely,
Robert J. Williams, President
United Playtest, Inc.
http://www.gamingfrontiers.com
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DF themes
