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<blockquote data-quote="Orcus" data-source="post: 426146" data-attributes="member: 1254"><p>I sure hope so. Not to mention the fact that it is all OGC and I give examples of how to reuse the content in the back of the book to help other publishers.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I dont know much about the industry as far as pricing goes. I am a newbie at this, so maybe I make newbie mistakes. I just go by what I would want as a gamer, and I have to say I hate paying over 30 for a product. I know (believe me, I know) that we SHOULD be able to charge more and that the people involved DESERVE more. But if I--as a pretty well off guy thanks to the old day job--have qualms about spending 30, I dont see Johnny college student spending it. Maybe I am wrong.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Actually, I do this as a hobby not as a primary source of income, so actually I dont always make bottom line decisions. That is definately a luxury I have, but it is a bit of a curse too. I have acquired properties that might not always make the best bottom line sense just because, frankly, I can, and because I love this game and I feel an obligation to bring stuff like Judges Guild to 3E. Goofy, I know. But I am sort of an idealist. </p><p></p><p>So I would say in fact that "delivering the gaming goods to as many people as possible" is one of our goals. Doing things at cost is just impossible, my wife would kill me <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> but we try to keep our margins as tight as possible. Maybe thats bad business. Maybe I am screwing things up. I dont know. I just try to price things at what I would pay for them. </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Nope. I am not "doing this for the money." There are publishers that are and I think it shows. I dont want that to be me. I definately do not make "bottom line first" decisions. </p><p></p><p>But I will confess it isnt all altruistic either. There is a very real worry about cost vs. sales. Making $2 per unit and selling 10,000 units is better than making $5 per unit and selling 3000 units. I dont know about you guys but the hardest thing is balancing those ideas. I tend to go with my gut.</p><p></p><p>Let me give you an example, the one product we "overpriced" (or, perhaps, "properly priced") was our Kuntz stuff. That didnt sell for crap. Perhaps there were other reasons there (I know there were so this is a bad example), but the sales were the worst for those modules of anything we have done by far. They were also overpriced to offset other costs involved in that deal. So I am a bit gunshy about trying to ofset my costs with a higher cover price. I'm not sure it works. On the flip side, Crucible of Freya (underpriced at 7.99) and Tomb of Abysthor (underpriced at 12.99) sell great. I released Crucible almost 2 years ago and I still get reorders on it. So there is evidence that underpriced products do move more units. </p><p></p><p>But it is really so hard to predict for me. Maybe people smarter than me have figured it out, but I suck at this stuff. </p><p></p><p>I think people recognize value and that drives sales, at least for some products. Its hard to say what people WOULD have bought, particularly given the d20 market and how it has changed. For example, I am pretty confident that Tome will sell very well. But there is no way it even approaches half of what the Creature Collection sold, just because CC came out real early before the MM and before the d20 glut. I hope I am wrong.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>You are assuming away the very problem. You are saying that I can both (1) charge more for my products, AND (2) realize more profit. I am not sure that is true. Making more money per unit is not good if the higher cover price means fewer sales. Higher per unit profit doesnt mean greater net profit.</p><p></p><p>Actaully, I'll tell you the best way for me to be able to pay my guys more: if sales numbers picked up for d20 in general <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Granted, with WW distribution my distribution numbers are good, but "thangs aint what they usta was." My margins are tight these days. And I refuse to cut back on production stuff. For example, I just secured two Frank Frazetta covers for our upcoming Wilderlands stuff for Judges Guild. Why? Cause I thought it would totally rule to do it. So I did it. Will that impact my bottom line? BIG TIME. But I dont want to go on the cheap just to maximize my profit. Does that mean there is less wealth for me to spread around to my guys? Yep. </p><p></p><p>I'm not sure I want to do it differently. But I really like this discussion. I really want to hear how other people strike the balance between per unit profitability and eventual sales numbers and thus net profit.</p><p></p><p>Clark</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Orcus, post: 426146, member: 1254"] I sure hope so. Not to mention the fact that it is all OGC and I give examples of how to reuse the content in the back of the book to help other publishers. I dont know much about the industry as far as pricing goes. I am a newbie at this, so maybe I make newbie mistakes. I just go by what I would want as a gamer, and I have to say I hate paying over 30 for a product. I know (believe me, I know) that we SHOULD be able to charge more and that the people involved DESERVE more. But if I--as a pretty well off guy thanks to the old day job--have qualms about spending 30, I dont see Johnny college student spending it. Maybe I am wrong. Actually, I do this as a hobby not as a primary source of income, so actually I dont always make bottom line decisions. That is definately a luxury I have, but it is a bit of a curse too. I have acquired properties that might not always make the best bottom line sense just because, frankly, I can, and because I love this game and I feel an obligation to bring stuff like Judges Guild to 3E. Goofy, I know. But I am sort of an idealist. So I would say in fact that "delivering the gaming goods to as many people as possible" is one of our goals. Doing things at cost is just impossible, my wife would kill me :) but we try to keep our margins as tight as possible. Maybe thats bad business. Maybe I am screwing things up. I dont know. I just try to price things at what I would pay for them. Nope. I am not "doing this for the money." There are publishers that are and I think it shows. I dont want that to be me. I definately do not make "bottom line first" decisions. But I will confess it isnt all altruistic either. There is a very real worry about cost vs. sales. Making $2 per unit and selling 10,000 units is better than making $5 per unit and selling 3000 units. I dont know about you guys but the hardest thing is balancing those ideas. I tend to go with my gut. Let me give you an example, the one product we "overpriced" (or, perhaps, "properly priced") was our Kuntz stuff. That didnt sell for crap. Perhaps there were other reasons there (I know there were so this is a bad example), but the sales were the worst for those modules of anything we have done by far. They were also overpriced to offset other costs involved in that deal. So I am a bit gunshy about trying to ofset my costs with a higher cover price. I'm not sure it works. On the flip side, Crucible of Freya (underpriced at 7.99) and Tomb of Abysthor (underpriced at 12.99) sell great. I released Crucible almost 2 years ago and I still get reorders on it. So there is evidence that underpriced products do move more units. But it is really so hard to predict for me. Maybe people smarter than me have figured it out, but I suck at this stuff. I think people recognize value and that drives sales, at least for some products. Its hard to say what people WOULD have bought, particularly given the d20 market and how it has changed. For example, I am pretty confident that Tome will sell very well. But there is no way it even approaches half of what the Creature Collection sold, just because CC came out real early before the MM and before the d20 glut. I hope I am wrong. You are assuming away the very problem. You are saying that I can both (1) charge more for my products, AND (2) realize more profit. I am not sure that is true. Making more money per unit is not good if the higher cover price means fewer sales. Higher per unit profit doesnt mean greater net profit. Actaully, I'll tell you the best way for me to be able to pay my guys more: if sales numbers picked up for d20 in general :) Granted, with WW distribution my distribution numbers are good, but "thangs aint what they usta was." My margins are tight these days. And I refuse to cut back on production stuff. For example, I just secured two Frank Frazetta covers for our upcoming Wilderlands stuff for Judges Guild. Why? Cause I thought it would totally rule to do it. So I did it. Will that impact my bottom line? BIG TIME. But I dont want to go on the cheap just to maximize my profit. Does that mean there is less wealth for me to spread around to my guys? Yep. I'm not sure I want to do it differently. But I really like this discussion. I really want to hear how other people strike the balance between per unit profitability and eventual sales numbers and thus net profit. Clark [/QUOTE]
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