Should Ronin Arts Submit to Monte Cook's "Year's Best?"

[C. Baize]

You don't need a Monte pat, Phil.
Remember... it's only one person's idea of what the best D20 of the year is.

I can honestly say I've never bought a single product based on Monte's thumbs up or thumbs down. At the end of the day... he's just another gamer. Not some god or guru.
I say just keep putting out your own stuff.

 

[C. Baize]

Edited for diplomacy.

So I failed the Diplomacy check on the first try...

Took 10 on the second.

 

[Jaws]

If you have to ask...

Seems like you made up your mind.


Peace and smiles

j.

 

[philreed]

Thanks for the input, guys. For the record, I think the project is a good idea. I was just trying to determine if any of the material we've released is something that could be considered "the year's best."

I'll poke through the releases from this year and try to see what I think is worth sending in.

 

[Crothian]

I'd go for it. It is a neat idea and will only be successful if publishers participate. And anything that can potentially get your name out to more p[eople is a good thing.

 

[fafhrd]

It may be naive, but I don't think Monte would do anything to mess with those who go along with the program. He seems like a reasonable guy and I'm sure he doesn't want the flak that might result from being a meanie. I'd guess that those stipulations are CYA. We've got a good thing going here. Someone could compile all the OGL stuff and release it on the cheap, but it hasn't happened(to my knowledge) because we are living in what I believe will be viewed as the golden times of this industry.

Anyway back on topic, I think Phil should submit. You can never have too much publicity and Phil, ya got good stuff. I'm not sure what you've published this year that I own but its all been pretty even.

 

[GMSkarka]

It may be naive, but I don't think Monte would do anything to mess with those who go along with the program.

Apart from not paying contributors, you mean.

That's a deal-breaker for me. (Even if I thought I had something out there that had a shot, which I honestly don't, even though Corsair has been a top seller last month and this one)

You should be paid for your content. He will be.

Plus, whereas I can see Monte's fans buying the book, I doubt that it will cause many of them to go outside of the box and check out other products from the publishers represented (especially the PDF publishers).

Lastly, I don't think that the top PDF publisher in the biz is lacking in exposure, Phil.

 

[Arcane Runes Press]

Lastly, I don't think that the top PDF publisher in the biz is lacking in exposure, Phil.

Speaking of exposure, I just noticed that Eyebeamz wrote Posthuman. That's cool, as I suspect he has some interesting ideas on what "posthuman" themes mean.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

Apart from not paying contributors, you mean.

That's a deal-breaker for me.

There are two kinds of collections. One is a collection of works from known masters, where each of the contributors names has draw to add to the sales of the book. The "Legends" book anthologies, for instance, are comprised of the short stories of several best-selling authors. Each author's fans will be enticed into buying the anthology, and possibly be exposed to other best-selling authors' works in the process.

The second type is an anthology comprised of the works of authors who are relatively unknown and unacclaimed. There are a billion poetry books out like this, as well as compilation novels. When contributors to these kinds of books are paid (which is not always) it's a token fee. Not the meat-and-potatoes kind of money the above best-sellers will demand for contributing to their books.

So really, whether the lack of a fee is a deal-breaker should depend on where you an author sees himself in the industry right now. If you see yourself as a name in your own right, you can reasonably be expected to be paid in something other than exposure. If not, not.

If Monte were doing a book with contributions from Sean K. Reynolds, Bruce Cordell, Chris Pramas, and Gary Gygax, no doubt they'd all be getting paid for their work. They don't need any exposure. Whether you do is up to you.

 

[GMSkarka]

I'm sorry, but you're wrong.

The only compilations which do not pay the contributors are vanity publishers, and those are well-known scams.

Any writer, regardless of stature, who writes material for inclusion for a release in this industry, especially a release from a well-known publisher, should be paid for his or her work. That is STANDARD, for this industry and other publishing industries as well.

It stuns me that people aren't aware of this.