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Message: <blockquote data-quote="JLowder" data-source="post: 8008997" data-attributes="member: 28003">There are some ways in. Kickstarters are one. How much you raised with the campaign is not the primary metric here, though. Once you deliver the promised product, the Kickstarter becomes an audition set--especially if you delivered on time (hugely important) and the backers are happy with the project in its final form. Having more than one Kickstarter with a quality product, an on-time delivery record, and happy customers is a very attractive line on your creative resume.So, too, with getting a popular product on the DMs Guild or, for Chaosium, the Miskatonic Repository. Many RPG companies are developing these programs. The Call of Cthulhu line editor has hired people because of their Repository publications. In a lot of ways, these community content programs have taken the place of magazines in the freelancer ecosystem. At one time, getting an interesting, well-written, well-received article in Dragon about a TSR game could help you get the company's attention. But magazines are no longer a thriving part of the market. This is the closest equivalent.Publishers post guidelines for submissions on their websites and many do panels at cons about how to break in. The issue with the latter is that you often have to be at the show to take advantage, which means those seminars can inadvertently reinforce the "old boy's network." So look for podcasts or other public posts of "breaking in" presentations. If you go to conventions, many offer some kind of professional advice seminar or even a freelancer/creator track.With the Internet, you would think that it should be easier to break into publishing with a specific company, because communication is much more open. But it's actually much harder, because the freelancer market is much more competitive. Anyone can publish on the community content sites. Anyone can create a Kickstarter (though delivering on what's promised is another matter). And the pool of freelancers is now consistently international, so you are competing against a lot more people at every turn.The upside of this is that you still have options to get your work out there, even if don't break in with the company you want. The downside is that getting attention for your work, whether from a publisher or from the audience, is harder with all the competing voices.Cheers,Jim Lowder</blockquote>

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