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RPG Evolution: Making It in the RPG Industry
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<blockquote data-quote="dchart" data-source="post: 8036944" data-attributes="member: 6706071"><p>Do I need to link to xkcd's <a href="https://xkcd.com/1827/" target="_blank">Survivorship Bias</a> comic?</p><p></p><p>If you want to answer the question of whether this is a realistic path, rather than one in which you could strike it lucky, you need to look at people other than the big success stories, and see how much time they put into it, how good they are, and what sort of percentage grow to become actually self-supporting. Given the first link in the article, <a href="https://www.patreon.com/OwenKCStephens/" target="_blank">Owen K. C. Stephens's Patreon</a> would be a good place to start. $1,300 per month is not negligible, but it isn't a proper living. And how many people can get to that? Owen spent decades building his brand and honing his skills, after all. <a href="https://www.patreon.com/deanspencerart/" target="_blank">Dean Spencer</a> is also making about $1,300 per month, with stock art rather than words, and he has been building that up for about five years now. I don't know how much they make through DTRPG (and Open Gaming, in Owen's case) on top of that, from the same material.</p><p></p><p>This article answers the question "can you make a living this way?". The answer is "Yes", which is worth knowing. However, the more interesting question, I think, is "how much money are you likely to make this way if you are talented and hardworking?", and to answer that you need to look at a broader range of people. You can become a billionaire by writing children's fiction (just ask J. K. Rowling), but you are unlikely to earn enough to take you over the poverty line, even if you get published. What do the broader numbers look like for RPGs? I don't know.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="dchart, post: 8036944, member: 6706071"] Do I need to link to xkcd's [URL='https://xkcd.com/1827/']Survivorship Bias[/URL] comic? If you want to answer the question of whether this is a realistic path, rather than one in which you could strike it lucky, you need to look at people other than the big success stories, and see how much time they put into it, how good they are, and what sort of percentage grow to become actually self-supporting. Given the first link in the article, [URL='https://www.patreon.com/OwenKCStephens/']Owen K. C. Stephens's Patreon[/URL] would be a good place to start. $1,300 per month is not negligible, but it isn't a proper living. And how many people can get to that? Owen spent decades building his brand and honing his skills, after all. [URL='https://www.patreon.com/deanspencerart/']Dean Spencer[/URL] is also making about $1,300 per month, with stock art rather than words, and he has been building that up for about five years now. I don't know how much they make through DTRPG (and Open Gaming, in Owen's case) on top of that, from the same material. This article answers the question "can you make a living this way?". The answer is "Yes", which is worth knowing. However, the more interesting question, I think, is "how much money are you likely to make this way if you are talented and hardworking?", and to answer that you need to look at a broader range of people. You can become a billionaire by writing children's fiction (just ask J. K. Rowling), but you are unlikely to earn enough to take you over the poverty line, even if you get published. What do the broader numbers look like for RPGs? I don't know. [/QUOTE]
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