Printing and distribution

[teitan]

Hello all. I formed a small company to do D20 materials, mostly the WAHOO!!! Science Adventure Game and Unlimited Power (a supers game that will add to WAHOO!!! as a supplement but designed to be modular and added to any D20 game). I was wondering what kind of investment are we looking at by going with a Hardback book as an example and the distribution of said book? What is the viability of trying to get on with another imprint? Would going with a pdf as the initial release be a more wise decision?

Basically what kind of an investment am I looking at if I want to publish an actual book as opposed to the pdf format? While I am interested in profit I am more interested in not having a loss. Also what can I expect in cost for freelancers like artists and editors? I want this to look professional unlike some products I have seen and while I am a decent artist I don't like the idea of doing up to 80 pieces all by myself. It would take to long especially with our 2nd or 3rd quarter expected release date (some mechanics just entered playtesting for WAHOO!!! think rocket packs, Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, though it could fully support other Genres of cinematic action). Enough babbling from me... your turn... I hope...

thanks in advance,

Jason Carpenter
Director
Warg Rider Studios

 

[2WS-Steve]

Just a quick pointer to a good source of info:

http://www.rpgpublishing.com/

You should also check out the Wizard's Attic website; Eric Rowe has put a lot of useful information up there.

 

[Mystic Eye]

Hello all. I formed a small company to do D20 materials, mostly the WAHOO!!! Science Adventure Game and Unlimited Power (a supers game that will add to WAHOO!!! as a supplement but designed to be modular and added to any D20 game). I was wondering what kind of investment are we looking at by going with a Hardback book as an example and the distribution of said book? What is the viability of trying to get on with another imprint? Would going with a pdf as the initial release be a more wise decision? action). Enough babbling from me... your turn... I hope...

thanks in advance,

Jason Carpenter
Director
Warg Rider Studios

This depends on the page count, the paper stock, how many you plan to print, etc. But if you are going to make a few thousand hard copy books ( I assume a reasonably high page count becuase if the hard cover) you better have at least 7k (real rough guess) for printing and a few grand for the other stuff (like art as an example). Also, you need to set up your distribution channel and business entity first and the first part is not so easy. Distributors are not simple taking everything from d20 like they use too. Being established they take our stuff but I would hate to be starting now.
The best way is to find a wholesale partner. I see Wizard's Attic was noted. Also, get your ISBNs (minimum $250 for 10), your Games Quarterly Catalog listing, your marketing, etc in order immediately.

There is sooo much more, I am being very general but wanted to give you a hint of the "to do's" you need. Most of these need to be done before you commit to a printer and you will need to market the product for four months for the distribution channel to properly solicit retailers.

 

[2WS-Steve]

To follow up on what Doug said...

One fairly big surprise for me was the amount of lead time needed. You should commission your cover art 6 months prior to your target release date (and have it in hand at least 4.5 months prior to release). You'll also want to have the distribution channel set up about that early. Both of those time-frames aren't terribly negotiable either.

 

[JohnNephew]

If you are wanting to do a hardcover game book, I'd say you'll want at least $10,000 on hand to invest in it -- money you can afford to lose. As has been said, a lot depend on the details of the kind of book you want to do, the length, the format, the artists and writers you hire, whether you pay cash or royalties, etc. But I take it you're trying to get a vague conceptual grasp of the financial scale involved, without having committed to all the budgetary details -- thus I suggest $10,000 as a good number to think of at this stage.

If you think that coming up with $10,000 in risk capital (and being prepared not to get it back for a couple of years; even if you do well, you'll be reinvesting the money, not cashing it out) is not a realistic option for you, you probably want to look into something like PDF publishing instead. In fact, even if you do have $10k burning a hole in your pocket, it might be good to try publishing a few PDF products first, just to get familiar with the creation side of the business, before learning all the details of physical production, inventory, distribution, credit management, and the rest.