I would like to see the RPG designers, the RPG distributors, and the RPG customers each form an Association or Guild that operates via contractual pre-purchase and shared risk. The RPG designers, distributors, and customers would no longer be at the mercy of sheer supply and demand. The customers would get the product they want, including both mainline RPG products and specialty RPG items. And the RPG writers and artists would be working in creative freedom -- the managers of their Association would be RPG writers and artists with managerial talent, rather than non-gamer corporate types. All the workers -- both designers and retailers -- would receive a full livelihood.
**snipped**
Often, like communism, good ideas don't translate well into good realities.
The first problem with this is that of the Distributors, the middlemen between the publishers and the retailer. As a game store owner, I rely on them greatly, primarily because they give me terms. I order something; I don't actually pay for it until 30 days afterwards (this is one of the reasons Wizards isn't my direct distributor, because they insist on COD). If product A that I bought doesn't sell, I can usually make up the cost I paid for it by selling product B, thus allowing me to pay my bills. Ordering up front, on the other hand, is a problem.
Now this is what distributors do for me, and they have drawbacks as well--one distribution house, Alliance/Diamond, has made monopolistic deals with certain manufacturers (Days of Wonder, the makers of Ticket to Ride, stands out)--I can't buy their products from anyone BUT Alliance. Moreover, I am restricted by what my distributor chooses to carry. But the 30 day terms more than make up for that. My distributor also tells me what sells and what doesn't in other stores; they're a clearinghouse for such information; and they're positively motivated not to lie to me just to make a sale, because they rely on my repeat business.
More than that, though, there's a big difference between creative works and agricultural produce. If there's a larger demand for X (say, WOTC products) than there is for Y (say, Savage Worlds products), as it stands now, Y simply won't be produced or distributed. Moreover, you are presuming a desire on the part of the purchasers of this product en masse to be involved. One of the reasons Community Supported Agriculture works is as a widespread backlash against agribusiness and a perceptive belief that organic/local/fresh = GOOD/BETTER than picking up some apples at a Pathmark or A&P. The same motivation on the part of RPG consumers isn't the case, nor is it likely to be anytime soon.