Philip Reed: Phil's First Ransom

[Cergorach]

1. I never thought i would say this, but i agree that the sales pitch sucks. What is this product i'm donating for? What is this bonus product i'm also donating for (the 13 starsystems sounds more interesting then the actual ransomed pdf)?
2. I find $250 a lot for a '10' page product (per page word count generally sucks with Phils products).
3. I like the idea of consumers directing what publishers should release, so i interested in donating, even if i not to interested in the actual product and find $10 a bit expensive for 10 pages of text...
4. I'll donate $10 if and when you have a decent sales pitch (like whatś the actual product about, and details of the second product).

 

[philreed]

4. I'll donate $10 if and when you have a decent sales pitch (like what? the actual product about, and details of the second product).

Don't take this the wrong way but these PDFs aren't the type of things that you would like. Your need for quantity and dislike of my work basically guarantees that there's absolutely nothing here that you would get use out of. Your numerous comments have led me to believe that you don't actually use most game material in games but just read it as if it were fiction. If I'm incorrect then I'm wrong but that's the impression that you give.

Those that use my various PDFs in their games -- and that are familiar with the previous PDFs I've written along these same lines -- are the target audience for this.

Will this fail? Most likely. Would it have failed if I had offered a fantasy release? Most definitely. My expectation is that "ransom model" products will only succeed with either very big name designers or rules lite, independent games. a virtual nobody like me writing "yet another d20 product" is destined for failure. But unless I tried I would never know if I was right or wrong.

 

[Cergorach]

Don't take this the wrong way but these PDFs aren't the type of things that you would like. Your need for quantity and dislike of my work basically guarantees that there's absolutely nothing here that you would get use out of. Your numerous comments have led me to believe that you don't actually use most game material in games but just read it as if it were fiction. If I'm incorrect then I'm wrong but that's the impression that you give.

Those that use my various PDFs in their games -- and that are familiar with the previous PDFs I've written along these same lines -- are the target audience for this.

Will this fail? Most likely. Would it have failed if I had offered a fantasy release? Most definitely. My expectation is that "ransom model" products will only succeed with either very big name designers or rules lite, independent games. a virtual nobody like me writing "yet another d20 product" is destined for failure. But unless I tried I would never know if I was right or wrong.

Erm, where did i say i disliked your work? I'm sure there is stuff you wrote i don't like, but everyone has written stuff i don't like ;-) I have piles of RPG books i have never used and never will, but it's cool stuff to read. I bought just about every pdf in your starship line, i probably won't ever use it, but it's fun to read (or play with in my head, think up variations, etc.). My main problem with most of your line of work is that it's relatively expensive (cost per word), that's critisism that will keep creeping in. I just bought Prolus on preorder, that's a whopping $120 plus another $40 in shipping, but that's still more rpg stuff then me buying 80 $2 pdfs from your imprint. Does that mean i don't like your work? No, it means that i find your stuff expensive. No one's putting a gun to my head and there's no rpg thought police banging on my door, but when it comes up i point out the things i think outhers should know.

Now, the ransom thing is interesting and i find it deserves support (even if i don't really find a use for the pdfs or that i find $10 expensive). You want my $10, give us a sales pitch that makes your average 'american-car-dealer-salesman' green with envy...

 

[philreed]

Erm, where did i say i disliked your work? I'm sure there is stuff you wrote i don't like, but everyone has written stuff i don't like ;-)

As I said, that's the impression I have after reading numerous posts by you.

As to car salesman pitches, that's just not me. While I enjoy coming up with fun promotions and marketing ideas I'm not going to start throwing a lot of hype and hot air out. People either like my work or they don't. I have no interest in putting a lot of energy into a bunch of hollow sales text.

It's also the reason I tend to avoid trying to build my name into a "brand" that I can sell.

 

[Cergorach]

Ok, ok, ok. The car salesmen pitch part was a joke (i hate that, GW had a nasty habit of trying that here), but it would be usefull for potential donators to know how many pages the pdfs are and what's in them (like a TOC or just naming a few of those free cargos or thos star systems).

 

[Starglim]

I don't think 19 items in total would fetch $10 if you had called it a price rather than a ransom. It concerns me that you're getting takers at that figure. I'll watch the results closely.

 

[philreed]

I don't think 19 items in total would fetch $10 if you had called it a price rather than a ransom. It concerns me that you're getting takers at that figure. I'll watch the results closely.

I think people that participate in this sort of thing aren't looking at it as "I'm buying x for y." I think they see it as sponsoring free PDFs for the game community.


If I were to produce these two PDFs and just release them for sale I'd most certainly make more than $250 over time. But that isn't the point of this type of arrangment. The point is giving gamers a chance to take the roll of patron in the creation of new game products.

 

[Bobitron]

I'll keep that in mind.

I hope that didn't come across wrong. I don't mean "Write something good and I'll buy it, you hack", I mean "Don't abandon the idea if this one doesn't do well, try a different product."

 

[philreed]

I hope that didn't come across wrong. I don't mean "Write something good and I'll buy it, you hack", I mean "Don't abandon the idea if this one doesn't do well, try a different product."

Don't worry about it, I understood what you meant.

 

[Pinotage]

Well, I really like the idea of a ransom, and I really hope this goes well for you, Phil. Realistically, at a ransom price/book price ratio of $10/~$2, I don't think this is going to pay very well, and I sincerely hope you don't abandon the idea because of it. Paying $8 to the 'community' is a lot, whereas if it were $10/$7 or $8, I'd be more than happy to fork out an extra $2 for the community. At the current price, it's just to steep, as much as I like the community and wish to support it.

Another idea I'd love to see is perhaps the release of older pdf products under the ransom model. There must be products in publishers' archives that rarely sell, are still 3e, are never going to be updated to 3.5e and people would perhaps buy under a ransom model at a good price and be willing to do the conversion themselves.

All the best with this, Phil!

Pinotage