[Rant] Do editing/proofreading errors drive you mad, too?

[Ghostwind]

Where'd these numbers come from? Also, how do pre-orders and re-orders affect the profit margin? I thought the margin was set by cogs and distribution and shipping costs. I'm not being critical here, just curious. This is like, the most interesting thread I've read on ENWorld in years.

The numbers come from my weekly sales reports that I get from my warehouse. Preorders determine the amount of product that is printed. The larger the preorders, the larger the print run and therefore the less per unit it costs to print (within a certain margin). When orders drop to less than 350 copies, print costs actually go up which affects your margin because you've already solicited the book at a certain cost approx. 90 days prior. Print too many books and you're sitting on product that won't sell. To give you an idea, I'm sitting on several hundred copies of various Bastion titles that were overprinted because the bubble burst on sales about the time that they came out resulting in a net loss overall. Too many copies affect my margin because of the costs of development (especially layout which runs about $4-$6 per page).

 

[helium3]

The numbers come from my weekly sales reports that I get from my warehouse. Preorders determine the amount of product that is printed. The larger the preorders, the larger the print run and therefore the less per unit it costs to print (within a certain margin). When orders drop to less than 350 copies, print costs actually go up which affects your margin because you've already solicited the book at a certain cost approx. 90 days prior. Print too many books and you're sitting on product that won't sell. To give you an idea, I'm sitting on several hundred copies of various Bastion titles that were overprinted because the bubble burst on sales about the time that they came out resulting in a net loss overall. Too many copies affect my margin because of the costs of development (especially layout which runs about $4-$6 per page).

Is it common for publishers to use pre-orders to determine how much to print?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I expect professionalism and competence from a business.

RPG publishers aren't really like most other businesses.

For one thing, most other businesses actually have the goal of making a profit.

And there's little profit to be made in gaming. The bosses of WotC, White Wolf, Steve Jackson Games and a very few others might actually be able to make a living from what they do. But precious few other people in the RPG industry manage that. The market just isn't big enough for that.

The excuse of "but it was like hard and stuff" is pretty thin.

The don't wanna put in the effort or expense, find a new line of work.

No, no, no - you have it all backwards.

If they want to earn a living wage, they should find a new line of work.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

The problem though is such shoddy quality is largely INEXCUSABLE for any sort of publisher. I worked for a very small publishing company, maybe 20 employees if they were lucky (the production department was myself and one other person, and this person left my first week on the job so it was only me). We had a full-time person with a Master's degree in English who would proofread each and every thing we did before we sent it the the printers for publishing.

This company had 20 full-time employees? Then it would have been a giant in the RPG industry! There are exactly two RPG companies that have 20 or more employees: White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast. That's it.

Really, the number of RPG companies that have more than one full-time employee is pretty small.

 

[Seonaid]

There are a lot of posts in this thread that I wanted to quote because I agreed with what they were saying. However, I'll just leave it at this:

I am a freelance editor, specializing in proofing (but I also commonly do copy-editing and substantive editing, as well as writing). Because I am new and don't have a lot of experience and because it's not my full-time job (I wish!), I am happy to proof any document for little or no money provided that I 1) get credit for it (in the form of some sort of by line) and 2) can use excerpts from what I edit in my portfolio. It would also be nice to get a comp copy of whatever I'm working on, but that's not necessary.

That being said, why don't more publishers/writers put out an open call for editors? I'm not the only one who'd be willing to look things over (as noted by various posters above). I understand the need to ensure quality control in people you don't know, but surely a short (1 or 2 pages) standard editing test would be good enough? And the successful completion of one product would give you an editor in the stable.

I don't know; maybe I'm completely clueless. I mainly do work outside of gaming, but I do have some editing credits in the field.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I so agree with Ourph on everything he says. Seriously. The problem isn't "can/can't I afford it". The problem is the hierarchy of priorities. If you want a quality product, you have to afford it. No "ifs" or "buts".

And then you have to charge much more for the book than your competitors, and no one is going to buy it.

So, to all those who demand high-quality proofreading: How much more are you willing to pay for books with it? 10% more? 20%? 50%?

An enquiring would-be publisher would like to know...

 

[Odhanan]

This company had 20 full-time employees? Then it would have been a giant in the RPG industry! There are exactly two RPG companies that have 20 or more employees: White Wolf and Wizards of the Coast. That's it.

Really, the number of RPG companies that have more than one full-time employee is pretty small.

I'm sure that will be a controversial question, but I'm also certain some people involved in this discussion think about it: what if these companies got involved in a business they cannot manage properly, then? What if these companies who can't put the resources into such things as editing and proofreading of texts made the mistake of getting in the business in the first place?

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

I'm sure that will be a controversial question, but I'm also certain some people involved in this discussion think about it: what if these companies got involved in a business they cannot manage properly, then? What if these companies who can't put the resources into such things as editing and proofreading of texts made the mistake of getting in the business in the first place?

What if these companies did take a long, hard look at their priorities, and then decided on a level of proofreading they could actually afford instead of a level of proofreading that might have made all their readers happy but the company broke?

 

[Ghostwind]

Is it common for publishers to use pre-orders to determine how much to print?

It's more common today than it was three years ago.

 

[helium3]

It's more common today than it was three years ago.

Well, that explains the consensus that an RPG product needs to be flashy and good looking on the outside and generate lot's of pre-release buzz in order to be succesful.