Sorry and I might be in the small minority but the more Mike talks about dndbeyond in multiple threads. it’s starting to come off like he’s salty about his stuff not being on there cause he knows it would be a huge revenue stream increase. Have you reached out to other creators that are on it to find out how they got dnd to allow them to be on the platform and would anything you’ve created be a good fit to be on there? Not sure how lazy dm could fit on dnd beyond compared to other class/subclass and adventures. Just my hot take after another reply that made it seem like my first sentence. If I’m off, my apologies.
Where did I come across as salty about D&D Beyond here? The eye-beast comment? My point was that WOTC cared so little about MCDM's eye-beast cover that WOTC worked with MCDM to put Flee Mortals on D&D Beyond. That's not a bash on D&D Beyond or Flee Mortals. I actuall wrote for Flee Mortals so some of my stuff is on D&D Beyond right now including a version of the lazy encounter benchmark and some kickass vampires!
I don't think I've bashed D&D Beyond here. I've bashed the DMs Guild, which I
have published on (and made some good money on back in the early days with some lucky Adventurer's League work that paid
both royalties
and a pay-per-word rate – yay me!). D&D Beyond and the DM's Guild are totally different situations, each worth a hard look but for different reasons.
I have talked to other creators who are working with or have worked with WOTC to put material on D&D Beyond. I can tell you, it's an opaque system and seems to be a "who you know" situation or they come to you. Like a lot of big mainstream publishers, have to "make it" before they'll even consider you. They want to know that the effort of converting your stuff to D&D Beyond pays back their effort. They also almost certainly recognize the value they provide as a platform and don't want to spend all that marketing capital on just anyone. By the time there is a process for
everyone to put their material on D&D Beyond, it will be a lot less valuable for any one creator. The one major benefit D&D Beyond has, though, is
no exclusive contract. You can clearly publish your work elsewhere. That's a
huge benefit of D&D Beyond for those lucky enough to publish their work there.
Given my own take on the risks of D&D Beyond to the RPG hobby, I really struggle with what I would do if they
did offer to put stuff up there. Would it change how I speak about it? I hope not. Would it change how I feel? I don't know. Would I do it? Probably. I am running a business here on top of my EN World ranting.
Regardless of how I feel about it, though, how do
other publishers feel about it? How would
you get a product on there? There's not even an email address to reach out to. It's an opaque system with no clarified rules.
I'm sure it's fun to assume I'm salty because I secretly want to get all my books up DDB but it might be possible
that I believe the things I say. I'm really lucky to have been able to build a nice small business around my love of TTRPGs but I've never been in this for the money.