From its release to the end of 2007, The Esoterrorists has sold just over 1000 copies. I'm really pleased with this - it's our best selling game (just) since The Dying Earth RPG. Nearly 20% of the sales are PDFs, and thirty-five in GUMSHOE bundles. 70% of print sales are through traditional distribution to retail channels via Impressions Advertising. 66% of the PDF sales are through One Book Shelf, that is DTRPG and rpgnow.com.
<Follow link for charts>
I make about three times as much on a print mail order sale as a retail sale, and there is a good chance I'd make more money if I didn't sell this book through distribution at all. So why do I do it? First, I could be wrong; I might not sell enough to make up for the shortfall. I also want to do my little bit to help retailers, which I do think helps the industry. But, it's mainly because I'd rather risk making a little less money and have more people playing the game. This is partly non-commercial, but also, the more people playing GUMSHOE games, the more they are likely to buy new ones. For example, through GUMSHOE brand recognition, it might help Trail of Cthulhu sell the much greater volume it needs to pay for my first offset litho print run for five years. Trail has had good pre-order levels in the main thanks to IPR, and these has really helped make the print run possible. I'm printing 2000 off, which I hope I can sell through in a year, although with 4e round the corner, who knows what will happen?
It's interesting that some indie designers I've spoken to (Paul Czege for example) would rather maximize their return per book, and not sell so many copies. Some (not sure about Paul) think the whole three/four tier structure is broken altogether, or there is even a whiff that it is somehow morally dubious. To be honest, unless you are selling thousands of copies and using offset litho, the economics of selling through distribution are marginal, but it's only through distribution that you can sell huge numbers. Perhaps I'm just nostalgically hoping for an enormous 5000-book hit with ToC.
