Struggling in the industry - one more try
- Thread starter Del
- Start date
RodneyThompson
Explorer
BiggusGeekus said:
BG, the first rule of Publisher's Depravity Club is....you do not talk about Publisher's Depravity Club.
Ogrork the Mighty
Explorer
The last thing I'm going to do is spend my money on some unknown game by some unknown author who comes on EN World with a bunch of attitude. No thanks. I'll pass.
reveal
Adventurer
As a person who buys PDFs from RPGNow, here are some reason I wouldn't buy yours.
1) I only buy from RPGNow and, sometimes, from DriveThruRPG. The site your PDF is on, which is here since a link has not been posted yet, is not one I am familiar with and would never go to unless I stumbled upon it. I had to Google it to find it.
2) The writeup you created, while interesting, is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. To me, this is indicative of the writing of the actual material. While you may not think it's fair that I do that, the only sample of your work is your writeup. If it's poor, chances are the material is as well.
3) There is no demo PDF. Before I spend my money, no matter how minute, I would like to make sure I'm not wasting my money. One page, perhaps an introductory section, would suffice.
1) I only buy from RPGNow and, sometimes, from DriveThruRPG. The site your PDF is on, which is here since a link has not been posted yet, is not one I am familiar with and would never go to unless I stumbled upon it. I had to Google it to find it.
2) The writeup you created, while interesting, is riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. To me, this is indicative of the writing of the actual material. While you may not think it's fair that I do that, the only sample of your work is your writeup. If it's poor, chances are the material is as well.
3) There is no demo PDF. Before I spend my money, no matter how minute, I would like to make sure I'm not wasting my money. One page, perhaps an introductory section, would suffice.
Take your wisdom where you can find it, regardless of the source. Someone may be able to spot your errors better than they can spot their own. That doesn't make their observations any less astute.Del said:
When I first read your post, I thought to my self "what's wetwar?" Basically, I never heard of it. I'm no industry mogul, but I watch the boards and I promote for another company.
As others have said, put your stuff on RPGnow. It's the #1 PDF selling place. Also, cross-post your release announcements to as many sites that ACCEPT news announcements (don't spam). GamingReport.com has a news shelf life of about 3 hours, before a pile of new news pushes yours offscreen. When I post release notices for WorldWorks, I hit 5 sites. Most of which will hold my news on the front page for several days.
Double-checking your text is also a good idea. Having a second set of eyes read it will help spot errors. One typo can be overlooked. Having many typos is generally a bad thing, and will turn many potential buyers away.
The_Universe
First Post
How about this, for starters:
Cripes, man - if you can't even spell well while announcing your own awesome-ocity, perhaps you need to spend some time getting that hammered out before you lay your unfortunate lack of sales on us. Maybe?
You mean fashion? I generally try to make a point of buying written products from people who take the time to spell check their attempts to garner public attention and sales.
Cripes, man - if you can't even spell well while announcing your own awesome-ocity, perhaps you need to spend some time getting that hammered out before you lay your unfortunate lack of sales on us. Maybe?
Henry
Autoexreginated
First of all, I'm moving this to the e-publisher's forum, because though it's not intended to be a press statement, it really is considered one (the writer himself starts the thread about his own product, at or just before the date of release? That's pretty much it).
Second, let's all please forgo any personal insults. I heven't seen any yet, but it could easily become it when tempers get hot.
Lastly, Del:
--I wouldn't take any of the above criticisms as personal, which is what you seem to be doing. You're actually getting some VERY good feedback on what people see as wrong with both the press release and the product. While it's your perogative to decide what to listen to and what not to listen to, it's worth evaluating your work against alll that's been said with a critical eye, and see what may be valid or not.
--I'm not saying you are or aren't, but there are many good DM's and gamers out there who can design good work at the table, but they aren't necessarily strong enough or dedicated enough designers to be effective publishers. People like Mike Mearls started from obscurity, but the way they got good was writing, writing, writing, RE-writing, taking criticisms, and clawing their way up an inch at the time. Mike Mearls as an example (sorry Mike) didn't come from nowhere; he started writing like a demon for every project he could get. If you're writing as a hobby, well and good, as long as it doesn't cost you more money than you're willing to invest then all well and good. If you're doing it for serious work, then there's a LOT involved. Just realizing your dream and trying it now is a step ahead of many other prospective designers out there!
Second, let's all please forgo any personal insults. I heven't seen any yet, but it could easily become it when tempers get hot.
Lastly, Del:
--I wouldn't take any of the above criticisms as personal, which is what you seem to be doing. You're actually getting some VERY good feedback on what people see as wrong with both the press release and the product. While it's your perogative to decide what to listen to and what not to listen to, it's worth evaluating your work against alll that's been said with a critical eye, and see what may be valid or not.
--I'm not saying you are or aren't, but there are many good DM's and gamers out there who can design good work at the table, but they aren't necessarily strong enough or dedicated enough designers to be effective publishers. People like Mike Mearls started from obscurity, but the way they got good was writing, writing, writing, RE-writing, taking criticisms, and clawing their way up an inch at the time. Mike Mearls as an example (sorry Mike) didn't come from nowhere; he started writing like a demon for every project he could get. If you're writing as a hobby, well and good, as long as it doesn't cost you more money than you're willing to invest then all well and good. If you're doing it for serious work, then there's a LOT involved. Just realizing your dream and trying it now is a step ahead of many other prospective designers out there!
stevelabny
Explorer
i was very blunt, and i know that many might consider that harsh, but its better you get the truth from a stranger than hollow praises from friends.
personal attack? I know NOTHING about you personally. Every single one of my comments was directed at your products. Well, actually, some of them were directed at your excuses for your failed product and why they don't work. Not a single comment was directed at you, your family, or your dog. Relax. Of course, this over-reaction explains why you're "banned here, there, and everywhere"
Most importantly, while my comments were definitely written in better english than your advertising, they might not have been written perfectly. But there's a major difference. I'm not selling anything. You are. I am a potential customer. I only need to know what I like and what I don't and why I don't like it.
You started off with a "woe is me" post, I wasn't doing anything at the moment and figured I'd check out your products. I actually spent time googling the first one and reading about both products. That's called a potential customer. Didn't find anything worth buying or recommending, so I thought I'd help you out and tell you what I think is wrong. That's called helpful criticism. If I was the only one telling you the problems, you might have a case to disagree or ignore my advice. Since a whole thread of people are basically agreeing with me you should...
1> Thank us.
2> Apologize.
3> Go back to work.
personal attack? I know NOTHING about you personally. Every single one of my comments was directed at your products. Well, actually, some of them were directed at your excuses for your failed product and why they don't work. Not a single comment was directed at you, your family, or your dog. Relax. Of course, this over-reaction explains why you're "banned here, there, and everywhere"
Most importantly, while my comments were definitely written in better english than your advertising, they might not have been written perfectly. But there's a major difference. I'm not selling anything. You are. I am a potential customer. I only need to know what I like and what I don't and why I don't like it.
You started off with a "woe is me" post, I wasn't doing anything at the moment and figured I'd check out your products. I actually spent time googling the first one and reading about both products. That's called a potential customer. Didn't find anything worth buying or recommending, so I thought I'd help you out and tell you what I think is wrong. That's called helpful criticism. If I was the only one telling you the problems, you might have a case to disagree or ignore my advice. Since a whole thread of people are basically agreeing with me you should...
1> Thank us.
2> Apologize.
3> Go back to work.
stevelabny said:
Just walk away. Del's got a history of behaving like this, as anyone who used to post on RPGNet a couple of years back probably remembers. (He posted as "Delmer Esau" and "GhoestPolice")
His statement in the initial post: "Doesn't help that I'm banned here and there and everywhere. Sorry for having an opinion." is a direct reference to this habit. Given that he appears to have entered the "persecution complex" stage, I'm guessing that history is about to repeat.
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