That was the E-Year that was

[The Sigil]

Okay Will, here's some numbers for you. I thought I'd already postsed this, but it seems to have disappeared.

Let's have a look at two very similar products from the Malladin's Gate catalogue. Forgotten Heroes: Paladin was released on 23-Sep-2002, Forgotten Heroes: Sorcerer was released on 21-Jun-2003. Whilst both have a similar content and similar reviews (ENWorld ave: Pal=4.33, Sor=4.50; RPGNow Ave: Pal=4.71, Sor=4.33) they have very different sales for the first two months.

In the first 10 days the sales are similar: Pal=54, Sor=50.

However, over 2 calendar months the differences are staggering: Pal=124, Sor=80. Thats 2/3 the sales for Sorcerer.

It's also worthwile pointing out here that Sorcerers, according to arecent D20Zinerack poll, are more than twice as popular as Paladins (3.35% vs 7.66%) and that the presentation on FH Sorcerer is much better than Paladin, which has absolutely no artwork, not even a front cover! Also, as Paladin was our first product, we did absolutely no marketing for it, whereas for sorcerer we posted messages and press releases, sent out review copies and all sorts of other free advertising.

Cheerio,

Ben

*shrugs*
I make no claims that I know how to compare the "types" of products I have with one another, but just for the sake of my own amusement, I pulled the numbers. I will compare them by month.

Enchiridion of Mystic Music (hereafter MM) - Released March 2002
Enchiridion of Treasures and Objects d'art (hereafter TO) - Released Jan 2003
Enchiridion of Elided Enduements of the Expanse (hereafter EE) - Released Aug 2003

Month 1
MM - 48
TO - 40
EE - 12

Month 2
MM - 15
TO - 32
EE - 19

Month 3
MM - 37 (I got a TON of pimping during this month, though - ENworld posts, reviews, and Mortality Radio)
TO - 15
EE - 4

Month 4
MM - 18
TO - 8
EE - 2

Totals through Month 4
MM - 118
TO - 95
EE - 37

After that, the "tapering off" effect appears, where I see 1-5 sales per month (except the MM, whish saw 15 sales as late as month 13).

Now, maybe Ranger books just aren't what people want. But the TO book was a "whopping $10" while the others were $5 and still sold almost as well as the MM book a year later! I guess it's just trying to figure out what people want (either that, or I had a lot of return customers - haven't tried to analyze that in detail).

--The Sigil

 

[Vigilance]

I can only speak from my own experience here.

RPGObjects' back list sales are very strong and represent a substantial portion of our monthly sales at rpgnow. We don't lose huge amounts of momentum when we leave the front list.

Sure sales decline somewhat, but we continue to sell products as far back as the catalogue goes. Blood and Space, my first product for rpgobjects, continues to sell well.

One thing I think people need is a sound marketing plan. For us, we do a lot of work at branding.

Blood and Space, Blood and Relics, Blood and Fists etc for our Modern product line. For our newly started fantasy product line, we are using Legends of... Legends of Excalibur being the first.

I think this branding has a very positive effect on our backlist sales. When people buy one Blood and... product, they tend to buy more.

We also work really hard, through the website, and through yahoo groups, and our frequent contributions to the ENWorld community boards, being here to answer questions and such, to connect with our fans as much as we can.

In short, I think getting backlist sales is all about work. We can't expect James to do it for us. He does enough for us already.

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

Double.

 

[Vigilance]

Triple. Yeah baby. so nice he had to say it thrice.

 

[PosterBoy]

The entire problem with RPGnow is the effort to establish front-end driven sales with the splash page. When you hit your example of amazon.com, you don't see thumbnails of the covers of the latest 12 books/cds/electronic device/whatever released. You see only what a brief ad leading to the new releases section, a listing for a major sale, and everything else amounts to a series of RPGnow's Product MOTDs. Even when you get into the latest release section, everything is broken down into lists according to category.

I doubt Amazon could do a list of the 12 newest books/cds/electronic as they must add a ton each day. What’s wrong with establishing front-end driven sales? Every click someone has to make before seeing products increase the chance you lose them. If those new books were taken from the homepage vendors would lose some sales. Everyone complains when they get bumped of the homepage their sales decrease. Removing everyone but a few motds would have the same effect.

I think the improve that could help is somehow highlighting the categories better on the homepage, so people use them more.

I'll note that it’s good, at least initially, to put a variety of stuff on the homepage. That way you get people to notice and possible purchase stuff they don’t normally.

As for combining sites, that is going to make the problems with the existing design even worse. There are a lot of same day releases every month, to the extent that some of the new items on a given day can easily be expected to scroll off the front page before all the new items for that day are activated for sale.

I think if (and it would be a long way off) rpgnow and rpgshop were merger, you’d have two separate home pages (like Amazon) for ebook and print. But the main goal would be to group the sites under on domain so people can checkout in one place.

 

[PosterBoy]

The way you guys are bitching (which sounds EXACTLY like the bitching of print publishers about the "d20 company glut", by the way), you'd think sales are pretty far off the numbers you guys were getting 6 months ago.

So how about it...cough up the numbers so we can compare to the other thread.

I don’t’ really like to quote sales numbers, but I can give you some info you want.

Been a lot of talk of dwindling sales, but it hasn’t happen to RPGObjects. 2003 was better than 2002. We had some of our biggest hits, like Blood and Fists and Darwin’s World 2.

I’ve never top DW1’s overall sales. But that was a 2001 release actually (a way different time). GM Mastery was the biggest opening month (2002) and has not been topped since either. However, overall sales have been way up. But we’ve produce more so it’s hard to compare.

So initial sales might have decrease some (not significantly), but backlists grown considerably. For example, this month, only 30% of my sales where from new releases (of which I had 3). 70% was from blacklisted items!

In print, I’m seeing the reverse. Actually, it’s much worse. It’s 90% front list and 10% backlist. Those are hard numbers and not guesses.

This is why I consider myself a PDF publisher first and print second. I feel I have a much better chance at succeed in the PDF market.

I think PDF publisher who see dwindling sales need to do some marketing. Banner ads are cheap. There’s a few free ezine that take trade for tads. I see people just release books and do a few press releases. That won’t cut it. You need to build a brand and reputation, and that takes effort.

 

[rpghost]

By my count there are 807 WotC products on RPGNow. That means the number of releases in 2003 are at least double the number of releases in 2002, not 10-25%.

Chris (posterboy) is right... though our product_id is at about 2330 right now, there are a little under 2000 active products at RPGNow. You'll have to dig through some old posts to see product counts from earlier this year, I'm sure I posted them.

Just an FYI - gross sales at RPGNow have doubled in 2003 over 2002.

Out of print product DOES bring new customers to RPGNow. Guardians of Order is a good example of that. Same with Pinnicle Ent. ... they both have large followings of people now heading our way thanks to their mailing lists and such.

As for new products being added to RPGNow more quickly then before, here is a count for all of 2003:

MONTH/COUNT
01 62
02 60
03 64
04 57
05 85
06 52
07 67
08 67
09 60
10 76
11 77
12 68

As you can see there are some spikes and some lows, but over all pretty steady at about 60-70 new products a month. That does make for 3+ a day. Yikes. Where as in 2002 it was more like 20-30 a month.

Sales volume ($) have kind of been flat the last quarter of 2003 though and that bugs me. We were growing pretty steady before then. I hope to get that back on track - maybe it was the fact that my attentions where focused elsewhere (opening the new Game Universe store http://www.Game-Universe.com ) and the hacker attack didn't help. Plus Xmas tends to be a time to give OTHERS a gift and PDF's are not very givable, so we don't see much of a spike for holidays like that.

The problem seems to be that most customers on RPGnow only see the stuff on the front page. My guess is that a significantly smaller number of people see the sub-pages. Perhaps the answer is for RPGnow to promote those sub-pages more, rather than the whole site... but then it is not really their job to advertise for us. It is their job to advertise for themselves, which means promoting the whole site....

Actually, just recently I placed our vistor tracking code into all pages instead of just the front page. What did I see? Our daily unique vistor count went from around 950 to over 3200. That means that a significant (over 2/3rds of our traffic) is already viewing sub-pages as their first page. This means that people are following links to products or categories or publisher pages on RPGNow more then they are just going to the front page of RPGNow. Granted that for many of them the second page they hit may well be the front page. Still, the point that the front page exposure is the holy grail at RPGNow has isn't as much truth as you may think. It may just be that sales for any one product are lower now since you are sharing the pie with so many other products. It also could simply mean we have a lot of regular shoppers that buy stuff the first week they come out. That can just be a simple point of fact and have nothing to do with front page exposure. News and review sites are going to play a much higher part in sales of PDFs in the future. Too many publishers rely on RPGNow to promote their product. You need to get out there and promote/sell your own products and stop relying on RPGNow's front page as your marketing plan.

I think the improve that could help is somehow highlighting the categories better on the homepage, so people use them more.

I have to totally agree with Chris here. Less space for product highlight and more highlighting of the actual sub-categories would get people into a list of thumbnails that would be a much more specific interest to them.

One other option would be to allow a user to choose a couple categories they'd want to see on the front page. But the problem with that is that RPGNow doesn't auto-login anyone. So you'd have to login and then return to the front page. Probably wouldn't work.

I think a pdf magazine of pdf products would be a great idea! BUT who would run the magazine (publisher, site or independant individual), would it be pay or free, how often would it be available?

So what's wrong with the Downloader Monthly we put out? What can we do to make it better? Gain exposure? The point of the magazine was to help people spot the gems in the pond. Is it not serving you in that regard? If not, we need to change gears.


What does 2004 hold for RPGNow? I have no crystal ball but I see product releases continuing at a steady/strong pace. I see $ volume being spent growing slower then we'd like to see (eg slower then the amount of new products to spend it on) but still steady. I see more enhancements to RPGNow to keep us miles ahead of the eventual competition. I see more sales of backlisted products then anyone will expect and thus happy steady income for those who've been in this for the long haul. I see more out of print products from many more well known publishers hitting RPGNow which will help increase our customer base.

Best of luck to everyone and enjoy the new year!

James Mathe
http://www.RPGNow.com

 

[Bloodstone Press]

So what's wrong with the Downloader Monthly we put out?

Not high enough profile, I think. Now that you mention it, I am aware of the Downloader monthly, and I've even downloaded it once or twice, but I didn't even think of it when we were discussing such an idea further up this thread.

It's not in my "evoked set," as marketers like to say.

It also could simply mean we have a lot of regular shoppers that buy stuff the first week they come out.

I think there is a lot of validity in that. I know when you re-release a title, you don't sell as many as you did with the original release, even though you are getting the same "front page" exposure. Witness the recent re-release of the Hero's Handbook. It only sold about half as many copies in the first month of re-release as it did when it was originally released.

In fact, I suspect that many of the people who shop on RPGnow are not only regulars, but are often publishers, editors, artists, and reviewers, themselves and are therefore very active in the community. So they are likely to buy something they want as soon as it comes out.

Sales volume ($) have kind of been flat the last quarter of 2003 though and that bugs me

Is that similar to last year? I seem to remember seeing a chart showing RPGnow sales for last year. I don't remember if it was on these boards or in the Publisher's guide you put out, but I seem to remember seeing a bit of a dip in the November, December, January range.

Personally, my sales were very strong the last quarter of 2003. I made almost as much in November and December as I had in the previous 10 months combined. That's largely due to many new releases on my part, though.

Also, when you consider sales volume on RPGnow, is it possible that the trend toward smaller, cheaper products (the chunk-o-book that Dana talks about), is influencing the numbers? Although the overall average price of a product on RPGnow might not change much, the fact that many sales come from new releases, and that there is a trend to do smaller titles (I think there is such a trend anyway), could cause a dip in revenue, despite increasing traffic and number of units sold.

Has there been a flattening of units sold or just a flattening of revenue? What about traffic?

 

[rpghost]

Not high enough profile, I think. Now that you mention it, I am aware of the Downloader monthly, and I've even downloaded it once or twice, but I didn't even think of it when we were discussing such an idea further up this thread.

Good point. We'll need to work on that for 2004.

In fact, I suspect that many of the people who shop on RPGnow are not only regulars, but are often publishers, editors, artists, and reviewers, themselves and are therefore very active in the community. So they are likely to buy something they want as soon as it comes out.

Which is actually why I'm considering allowing vendors to spend their earnings online. Saves us the trasaction fees and we can cut less checks.

Is that similar to last year? I seem to remember seeing a chart showing RPGnow sales for last year. I don't remember if it was on these boards or in the Publisher's guide you put out, but I seem to remember seeing a bit of a dip in the November, December, January range.

Might be. I have to look them over. Don't have the time right now. But I think it was soft for DEC/JAN 2002.

Has there been a flattening of units sold or just a flattening of revenue? What about traffic?

I was speaking in regards to monthly revenue totals. Nothing more.

When I get some time I'll try to come up with some average product costs.

James

 

[Bloodstone Press]

Just to elaborate on the "evoked set" thing:

The reason I and others didn't think of it is because they don't mentally associate Downloader Monthly with PDF reviews.

The point of the magazine was to help people spot the gems in the pond.

I think I knew that, but for some reason I still didn't think of it... Perhaps its because I haven't seen it enough.

Also, is it really monthly? I don't seem to see it on the front page that frequently? Maybe I'm not paying enough attention.

[looks through the RPGnow site for a while]

Ok. so you aren't showing the Downloader monthly on the front page because it is a free download, right? Perhaps you should make an exception for the DM? or Instead of putting it in one of the 12 slots, leave a permanent prominent link to a DM section on the home page.

Also, perhaps you should more of an effort to position the DM as an introduction to the PDF market, rather than targeting people that already visit the site, and know to click on the E-BOOKS & SUBS link to get to it.

I would also stress the fact that it has reviews in it and perhaps list all the titles reviewed in each issue, rather than just the main one.

See, I think the way reviews work is, someone wants a book. Before buying it, they read reviews. Sometimes, a customers first exposure to a new title is through a review, but other times (more often, I think) a customer that is already aware of the title seeks out reviews before making the purchase. That's what I do anyway. That seems to be the closer model to the "buying process" that you study in marketing classes, too.

For example, if I knew that the upcoming DM had a review of Legends of Excalibur in it, I would be a lot more likely to download it, since I am already aware of and interested in that book. However, if you just tell me "it has dozens of reviews in it!" I tend to think, "Yeah, and what is the chance of any of those reviews being relevant to my interests."