definiteFreakyFishGuy
Explorer
You are not alone.Also, tangentially on topic, am I the only one who feels conflicted between buying directly from the publisher (WotC, Paizo, Kobold Press, etc) and the FLGS? FLGS needs purchases to stay in business and provide space for the D&D Adventurers Guild and Pathfinder Society, but buying directly from Publisher (the people ACTUALLY making the content for the games we love) should leave more money in their pockets, right?
My partner works in publishing (which is not exactly the same) and they shared some tips. According to them, whoever you are directly purchasing from will receive the most direct financial benefit. So yeah, if your goal is to make sure the bulk of your money makes it to the publisher, you should buy directly from the publisher. If your goal is to support your FLGS, buy from the FLGS.
That said, buying from FLGS can benefit the creator indirectly. FLGS will likely buy more from the creator, and there will be less returns (i.e. unsold copies being returned to the publisher).
Another tip from my partner for supporting the creators: your local library. You don't even have to check anything out. If you see something by a creator you want to support, just pull it out of the shelf and put it somewhere else. The library will interpret that as demand for the item and act accordingly.
Final tip from my partner—please don't buy from Amazon.
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