We are working on a spiffy retail locator on our site, though it probably won't go live for a couple of months after the release of the Core Rulebook. Sadly we have too many task and too few programmers, but it is a very high priority.
--Erik
Pathfinder 1E Paizo sets price of Pathfinder RPG PDF at $9.99!!!!!
- Thread starter dm4hire
- Start date
We are working on a spiffy retail locator on our site, though it probably won't go live for a couple of months after the release of the Core Rulebook. Sadly we have too many task and too few programmers, but it is a very high priority.
--Erik
mxyzplk
Explorer
I think this is great. I was planning on buying the book of course, and having the PDF as well is nice as a convenience. I didn't want it bad enough to buy the book at full price + shipping from paizo.com to get it for free, but for $10 I'll definitely buy it as an add-on.
To me that's the real value of a PDF - it's a convenient add-on to a print product, so you can quickly search, print out specific bits (like cutting and pasting spells into a cheat sheet for your character), and the like.
To me that's the real value of a PDF - it's a convenient add-on to a print product, so you can quickly search, print out specific bits (like cutting and pasting spells into a cheat sheet for your character), and the like.
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
I didn't say that...
Sorry, had no idea what pfogc.com was - thought it might be a torrent site, since you mentioned illegal PDFs just prior to that - I didn't miss the point, just didn't understand you meant something else. If you'd have said "online rules web sites like Pfogc.com" then I would have understood and not included that in my counter point.
My counter point never mentions that electronic copes do cut into printed work rulesets - I believe the complete opposite (you said that, not me). I don't think there is any compelling evidence to support that.
I was just commenting on your illegal PDFs as being competition in your post.
Still I think a $10 PDF for a $50 book is a great deal.
No reason to even bring up pirates - as they don't count for anything.
GP
Sorry, had no idea what pfogc.com was - thought it might be a torrent site, since you mentioned illegal PDFs just prior to that - I didn't miss the point, just didn't understand you meant something else. If you'd have said "online rules web sites like Pfogc.com" then I would have understood and not included that in my counter point.
My counter point never mentions that electronic copes do cut into printed work rulesets - I believe the complete opposite (you said that, not me). I don't think there is any compelling evidence to support that.
I was just commenting on your illegal PDFs as being competition in your post.
Still I think a $10 PDF for a $50 book is a great deal.
No reason to even bring up pirates - as they don't count for anything.
GP
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dm4hire
Explorer
I have to agree that PDFs of the books are simply an add on for me when it comes to games I play. It's nice when not playing and don't want to drag the books around being able to just pull something up on a computer to answer questions or make a quick plan. That's about all I really use it for as I start getting headaches if I read on screen for too long.
Qualidar
First Post
You should start a poll on that! Personally, I would be surprised if the numbers that actually chose PDF over print would be high at all (although very possibly well over the percentage at rpg.net or WotC).
Have you considered something like a decorative wire rack??
Mark
CreativeMountainGames.com
You should start a poll on that! Personally, I would be surprised if the numbers that actually chose PDF over print would be high at all (although very possibly well over the percentage at rpg.net or WotC).
Have you considered something like a decorative wire rack??
That's what almost got Bigwig. Thank El-ahrairah that Fiver was able to . . .
What?
Now we're getting into the question of how much each part of a print product cost.
How much of a product goes towards paying the editors and layout guys and the artists...
gamerprinter
Mapper/Publisher
How much does it cost?
While I'm no expert, and I can offer suggested costs for the development of a single adventure module - since I'm working on my own publication, I am running face on to these costs for a module.
The module I'm looking to create will probably have 25,000 words in it. Had I been hiring a writer, I could expect to pay anything from 3.5 cents to a nickel a word. At 3.5 cents for 25,000 words, that's $875 for just the written part. (Since the primary author is the publisher I am collaborating with, this "cost" is covered in his participation of the project, a cost I am not incurring.)
Since I'm a pro fantasy cartographer, I understand that side of the publishing business very well. My product will have about 12 maps, had I been paying a cartographer to do this, I could expect to pay at least $50 per map, so the map cost is about $600. (Since I'm a mapper, I'm mapping my own for free.)
I'm also playing the role of art director on my project. Because, this is my first publication, many of the artist's are giving me "deals" on art prices, but they've also told me what they normally charge. Cover art, depending on complexity could be anywhere from $150 to $1000, interior art for full color is anywhere between $100 to $500 for a full page color illustration, smaller pieces of art (quarter page, half page) is anywhere from $50 to $150, and B/W illustrations from $25 to $100 each. Art is a great cost in the production of an RPG product. Looking at the above, I can say, by getting deals, I'll have only $500 invested in art, but in other conditions I could easily have spent $2500 or more.
So looking at writing, cartography and illustration only, I've got a sum upwards to $4,000. And we still haven't even calculated the cost of editing, proof reading, and page-layout, all based on hourly rates and variable cost per hour depending on quality and experience.
This describes the cost of single adventure module. If I were talking splat book, the cost is exponentially higher - more maps, more art, more writing, thus more editing, page-layout, etc.
Once all that is done and calculated, generating a PDF is no cost in of itself, well minimal actually, time to crunch making the file I suppose.
Maybe some of my numbers are off, but this is what I'm encountering and I'm actually working to publish a 3 part campaign arc - the above costs are real, at least in what I'm paying.
GP
While I'm no expert, and I can offer suggested costs for the development of a single adventure module - since I'm working on my own publication, I am running face on to these costs for a module.
The module I'm looking to create will probably have 25,000 words in it. Had I been hiring a writer, I could expect to pay anything from 3.5 cents to a nickel a word. At 3.5 cents for 25,000 words, that's $875 for just the written part. (Since the primary author is the publisher I am collaborating with, this "cost" is covered in his participation of the project, a cost I am not incurring.)
Since I'm a pro fantasy cartographer, I understand that side of the publishing business very well. My product will have about 12 maps, had I been paying a cartographer to do this, I could expect to pay at least $50 per map, so the map cost is about $600. (Since I'm a mapper, I'm mapping my own for free.)
I'm also playing the role of art director on my project. Because, this is my first publication, many of the artist's are giving me "deals" on art prices, but they've also told me what they normally charge. Cover art, depending on complexity could be anywhere from $150 to $1000, interior art for full color is anywhere between $100 to $500 for a full page color illustration, smaller pieces of art (quarter page, half page) is anywhere from $50 to $150, and B/W illustrations from $25 to $100 each. Art is a great cost in the production of an RPG product. Looking at the above, I can say, by getting deals, I'll have only $500 invested in art, but in other conditions I could easily have spent $2500 or more.
So looking at writing, cartography and illustration only, I've got a sum upwards to $4,000. And we still haven't even calculated the cost of editing, proof reading, and page-layout, all based on hourly rates and variable cost per hour depending on quality and experience.
This describes the cost of single adventure module. If I were talking splat book, the cost is exponentially higher - more maps, more art, more writing, thus more editing, page-layout, etc.
Once all that is done and calculated, generating a PDF is no cost in of itself, well minimal actually, time to crunch making the file I suppose.
Maybe some of my numbers are off, but this is what I'm encountering and I'm actually working to publish a 3 part campaign arc - the above costs are real, at least in what I'm paying.
GP
BryonD
Hero
Not really. Actually, not at all.
PDFs are only a loss if they are losing money on the sales.
I think we can very easily assume that they will make a profit on sales of PDFs at $9.99.
Making a profit precludes the idea of a loss leader.
It is certainly interesting to wonder how the profit of a pdf compares to the end profit from a hard back. But that isn't really meaningful to the discussion because the assumption that every pdf equals a lost hardback sell is silly. There will be some instances of that of course. But there will also be people who would have never bought the hardback, but will hand over $10 for the pdf. And even some who will end up buying hardbacks also once they see it.
