Struggling in the industry - one more try

[Jdvn1]

If I could gather interest in the genre among my players, I'd buy it and run a game with it. I'm sorry, but I wish you the absolute best of luck. Looks really cool.

 

[Starglim]

It's a nifty setting. If you put the flavour text sans rules in a PDF and got someone to proofread it, I'd probably spend some cash on it.

 

[Del]

Um, dude.

The first response you get asks the simple question any customer would. "Why would I buy you product as opposed to another one?" Your answer was "Your reply sums up the difficulty of the market."

Absolutely not. Thats the REALITY of any business. Nobody is just gonna give you money for a product because YOU think its well made.

The Dark Soviet ad is very poorly written and when a poster comments on it you want to chalk it up to "canadian english" (what?) and your "state of exhaustion"? That doesn't fly. If you want to try to make money, you have to be professional.

I also went and googled the Wetwar product.
First, I only found it being sold on a European site. Sounds like a problem.Most PDF-buyers use RPGNow.
Second, its a PDF board-game, which is going to attract less interest as most board-game buyers want a pretty board and pieces, not paper. RPGs were the perfect thing to use a PDF distribution system as they are just words and pictures, but a board game? no.
Third, the writing in the Wetwar blurb was even worse. There is no way anyone would buy a product from someone with so little a command of the language. One would assume that the rules will be impossible to understand.

You seem to want to lay the blame at the foot of the consumers, or the industry, or even videogames (what?) instead of where it belongs. With you.

Note when instigating flame-wars.

Lay accusations of poor grammar in a properly constructed fasion.

As well I consider your conclusion to the above to be a personal attack, when in good humour I was mulling about how to succeed and you say I'm like what? Defective? Go away.

 

[Del]

If I could gather interest in the genre among my players, I'd buy it and run a game with it. I'm sorry, but I wish you the absolute best of luck. Looks really cool.

Thanks! Ya I got my little paws on "Neuromancer" in '90 and never looked back. I was 14.

I wish more people shared the enthusiasm.

 

[Del]

Wycen said:

"That post at Gaming Report got a response from Tavis Allison and Steve Creech, two people who I'd say any interest in your product is a good thing."

Hey! Send me an email and I will ship off 3 copies for you guys on the house!

webmaster@esprawl.com

edit: added addy

 

[JustKim]

So you're 28, 29? I'd say the lack of real world experience you mentioned shows in your unwillingness to take constructive criticism. The harsh truths people like stevelabny have to offer are worth so much more than the empty fawning of indie RPG adulators. If you tell all your detractors to "go away", you can't hope to grow as a writer.

 

[wocky]

Note when instigating flame-wars.

Lay accusations of poor grammar in a properly constructed fasion.

Actually, you don't need good grammar to point out someone else's bad one. If you want to know why you are not able to sell your product while others are able to sell theirs, you should pay more attention to criticism. What you got was harsh, yes, flame? nah!

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Lay accusations of poor grammar in a properly constructed fasion.

I write Technical Documents for a living, so I know what I'm talking about.

Your blurb's a good starting point. I'd call it a really good first draft. But, it's clearly that, a draft. It needs to be re-written, and I'm not even talking about grammer/spelling.

Much of the prose is awkward and passive. While informative, it fails to gather any notion of passion about the work being described. I'd have let it rest for a day, gone back to it, re-wrote it. Then let 5-10 people read it & tell me what they thought. I'd re-work it again, leave it for a day. Then, the next day, run it through Word for spelling & grammer.

I sense potential here, but I don not sense a finely tuned product.

However, Cuber-punk had never really interested me, and I rarely buy .PDF's. I'm not your target audience. I can comment on spelling/grammer/form, but not on the underlying ideals, as I just don't care for the underlying ideals presented there.

I learn more from negatives than positives in my writing. Don't let the bashing get to you. Learn from it. Read critizism carefully, and try to judge their critiques inpersonally.

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Others will give you good advice about PDF publishing. But, let's face it, that's not my beat. So here's some "alternative" advice for you.


How To Be A PDF Publisher With A Poor Selling Product

1) Keep At It! Join the Origins Party!

If you look at the Origins signups you'll see that if you publish three games you're an official publisher guy who can get a discount into the Con. Plus, you get invited to the secret publisher's meeting where game designers from around the world indulge in their vile deprivations. No one talks about what happens in there, but some of the booth babes at the con are never seen again.

2) The Product Is Too Profound For The Masses

Yes, you didn't just design a game ... you produced art! Those cattle they call the cutomer base are nothing more than "sheeple". They'll buy any load of crud with pretty colors and simple flavor text for their simple little brains.

Remember: if you're going to go this route you'll have to use the following phrase: "Monte Cooke? Yes, I'm aware of his 'work'". Remember to sniff dissmissively after you've said that. The sniff is very important. Practice it in the mirror until you get it right.

3) It's WotC's Fault

Just tell people that WotC had a similar product come out a couple of weeks after yours was released. Imply that they stole the idea off of you. Most gamers don't read the product release schedule, so they'll never know. If any one does catch you, just say "Oh, so they've revised it now have they? Good. I didn't want to have to take legal action". Note that this is technically the truth. Product schedules get revised all the time and you really don't want to take legal action because you're completely in the wrong.

4) It's Erik Mona's Fault

I don't know how you'll pull this one off, but we've had two threads on the topic this week alone, so why not make it a trifecta?

5) Start A Political Blog

Flip a coin and let that determine if you're going to start out in the left or right. Now just cut-n-paste from the wackiest most insane sites you can find. It doesn't even have to pertain to your own country. Bonus points if you pass off a work of satire as an impecible source. Keep this up for about six months while you gain a reputation. Now pretend to "see the light" and switch sides. You'll gain so much attention you'll have to increase your bandwidth.

6) Be Like Phil Reed

I'm sure you're aware that there is no such person as "Phil Reed". They just plugged the SRD into a giant supercomputer that's based in a secret location outside of Xenia, Ohio. Sure, they get some bad hits. Who can forget "12 Recpies For Unicorn Barbeque"? But they also generate some fine product. You can't afford a giant super computer, and the facility in Xenia is too well guarded to break in. So just pound on the keyboard with your nose and make whatever comes out (of the computer that is, not your nose) as OGC.

Good luck with the publishing and happy gaming!

 

[DaveMage]

BG - lol! I needed that this morning - thank you.