Small Indie looking for help

[Mystique]

Hi All,

I was hoping to learn of any Online or Brick & Mortar RPG/Book Stores that fellow Small Indie publishers have been able to use in the past (exceptions being RPGNow, RPGMall and SVGames) without having to go through a distributor to get the stores to carry your product. It seems to me that the profit margin on PDF (and esp. POD) products is already small, and taking huge discounts for distributors, who in turn pass along the product to merchants at a discount gobbles up what little profit there is. Have any of you found any stores willing to buy direct from the small publisher, and if so, would you be willing to share who/when/how??? Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike

Mike Clifford
Mystique Enterprises
www.mystiqueenterprises.com

 

[lmpjr007]

Hi All,

I was hoping to learn of any Online or Brick & Mortar RPG/Book Stores that fellow Small Indie publishers have been able to use in the past (exceptions being RPGNow, RPGMall and SVGames) without having to go through a distributor to get the stores to carry your product. It seems to me that the profit margin on PDF (and esp. POD) products is already small, and taking huge discounts for distributors, who in turn pass along the product to merchants at a discount gobbles up what little profit there is. Have any of you found any stores willing to buy direct from the small publisher, and if so, would you be willing to share who/when/how??? Thanks in advance for any help.

Mike

Mike Clifford
Mystique Enterprises
www.mystiqueenterprises.com

To be bluntly honest, the majority of retailers will not buy direct. It is extra work for them and many of them will think, "Well if my distributor won't carry these guys, how could it be any good?" What you might is release it as a PDF at RPGNow.com first and then build up a fan base. Is this tougher? Yes. Well it helps bring money in while you are saving money to go to print? Yes.

Oh and I must say you can make a good deal of money using RPGNow.com. There are several of companies who make hundreds and even thousands of dollars there. Selling stuff on RPGNow.com is worth its weight in gold. If you are not doing it you are missing out on tons of money and tons of potential fans.

 

[Mark]

Go here - http://www.indie-rpgs.com/

Register and post the same question in the publisher forum (if you can't find a related thread that meets your needs.)

If Mike Holmes is around, listen to him closely. Many others also know their stuff but I have met Mike and trust that he knows what he is discussing.

Best of luck!

 

[mroberon1972]

Dead link.

Goggled it, and it's the right site. Just seems to be down...

 

[Flyspeck23]

Dead link.

Goggled it, and it's the right site. Just seems to be down...

It's up, at least from here.
Hey - it's a message board. Those go down from time to time, as anyone on this board knows

 

[Mystique]

Mark,

Thanks for the suggestion about the Forge. Posted same question there.

Mike

 

[Mark]

Mark,

Thanks for the suggestion about the Forge. Posted same question there.

Mike

You're quite welcome. Add links to your posts (from there and anywhere else you happen to post) so we can all keep track of your progress. This would be a good thread to keep alive or archived for that information.

 

[Mystique]

Mark,

Just and update, here is the first response I received back, and the thread.
Sure it would be helpful for all.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=10444

Mike