So why don't reviews work? (as a marketing tool)

[Vigilance]

Lead in time? It takes about 2 weeks at the earliest to write a review of the product, probably a month, then at RPG.net at least, a week or two to get it posted. But if the first month is when most sales come, then obviously it's too late. (On a few occasions, I have been sent manuscripts of products, so I could get the review done around release date),

To me, this is the biggie, along with something you didn't mention that impacts print products tremendously: the majority of RPG gamers don't seem to spend a lot of time using the net to scope out potential RPG buys.

The cover of a book matters more. Either a customer sees the cover and is intrigued by the product idea (after a flip through) or it's a discerning customer who follows a certain company or author.

Now RPG reviews DO help electronic products quite a bit. This seems to be because obviously, if you're buying PDFs, you're savvy with electronic game resources. Also, since you typically can't flip through the book, a review helps a customer get a sense of the approach of a PDF.

But again, typically PDF reviews arrive much too late to do a product a huge amount of good in my experience. Though I have seen bumps from reviews in the past if they were A) by a well-known reviewer and B) at a high traffic site.

Psion's review of Blood and Fists, for example, seems to have done that book a fair amount of good.

On the other hand, it's almost impossible to get PDFs reviewed these days, so there you go.

 

[Dragon-Slayer]

First of all it's fairly ridiculous to complain about companies blowing out dead stock in relation to review copies. What you're seeing now is a once in a decade event because a whole lot of back stock is going to be unsellable a year from now. That is not business as usual and it really has nothing to do with whether a company is willing to provide review copies or not.

I was somewhat hoping that the original poster realized that, but the point of how reviews affect buyers was a good side topic.

 

[ZombieButch]

It may be worth considering that GamingReport isn't the wonderful site it once was. I get about 10% or less of the impressions there that I do at RPG.net.

Yeah. It's unfortunate, really. If it were up to me, I'd start up a couple of GamingReport podcasts - one for news and interviews, one for reviews - and push the heck out of them at every site I could think of. Between that and putting a tighter editorial leash on the staff reviews, I think you could really bring some interest and respectability back to the site in general and the reviews in particular.

But I'm not really sure how interested the current management is in really beefing the site as it is back up, or if they're just using it as a placeholder for some sort of revamping to come in the future.

 

[The Grumpy Celt]

I've had mostly good reviews on the handful of books I've written and I DO think the "mostly good reviews" helped sales.

 

[Pramas]

Thanks for weighing in, Chris! I find your feedback to be particularly valuable. Would you mind taking a moment to say what your company values most in reviews? Is it a positive 'score', a fair but neutral perspective, timliness, or what?

Scores can be deceiving so we don't get too hung up on those. We've gotten four star reviews that are 90% nitpicks and complaints and then two sentences about how fans ought to pick the book up.

So, what we look for in reviews is:

1) Timeliness. If a review doesn't come out within three months of a book's release, it has little chance to helping to build buzz for it. There's a site in Europe that is still reviewing books we did like three years ago. The kudos are nice but the efficacy of those reviews is small.

2) Accuracy. We want reviews to get the facts straight. Price, page count, format, etc.

3) Fairness. I don't expect that every person is going to like every book, but I do expect a reviewer to at least give it a fair shake. In particular, I want to see a review of the book produced, not the book the reviewer wished was produced.

 

[babomb]

I think there are a lot of people who do not base most of their buying decisions on reviews. My RPG buying decisions are based almost entirely on reviews (whether formal or informal), except for the products I have the opportunity to look through myself in a store. My other buying decisions, whether for videogames or books or computer parts or going to the movies. But I don't think I (or EN World as a whole) reflect the average RPG buyer.

I know for a fact that lots of people buy videogames without looking at reviews. These are mostly the people who DON'T post on videogame websites. For example, lots of parents buy their kids, say, a SpongeBob game regardless of what the metacritic score is. And there are companies who specialize in putting out that kind of game.

Some people buy the latest Madden game every year, and I doubt most of them check the reviews.

Similarly, I think there are people who just walk into a bookstore and buy the latest WoTC book.

 

[scourger]

...I want to see a review of the book produced, not the book the reviewer wished was produced.

But this is the information that is most useful to me as a consumer. I want to read about what is in the book as well as what is not in the book.

 

[roguerouge]

If I'm at a store, I read the module. If I'm online, as I buy most of my material, I read reviews at this site and those that this site links to.

 

[Pinotage]

On the other hand, it's almost impossible to get PDFs reviewed these days, so there you go.

Why do you say that? I've seen a number of your products reviewed recently.

Pinotage

 

[Pinotage]

Unfortunately, more and more "reviews" today, most notably at RPGNow, are not very helpful and some are even of questionable validity.

Would you care to elaborate on this, please? I'll admit that there are a number of reviews there, probably a fair majority, that are not very useful or informative, but there are an equally large number of reviews there that are good and informative, so I'm interested in where you're coming from? Do you think that being able to leave 'comments' on products rather than 'reviews' is a bad idea?

Pinotage