What are the best selling d20 products so far?

[johnsemlak]

I've always understood that 1 unit =1 book, but not being in the publishing business...

 

[Wombat]

What is 20,000 units? Is 1 unit = 1 book? I certainly hope not, as 20,000 books seems like a tiny number to me...

Our hobby, for all I love it, is tiny and fractured.

So, yes, selling 20,000 copies of a game book is a pretty darn good accomplishment.

 

[JoeGKushner]

It's sad to think that there are potentially millions of players and 20K is a huge selling field.

We of EN World have people who buy everything and those that buy nothing so it's a good showcase that even people who love the hobby don't necessarily do all they can to support it.

But that's part of the problem. You really only need one book to play, the GM three. Everything else is options.

 

[Ricochet]

I would think Creature Collection and Relics and Rituals have sold quite well.. Here in Denmark, they were the only books sold along the core books at retailers, so many casual gamers will have picked up a copy!

 

[Greg K]

We of EN World have people who buy everything and those that buy nothing so it's a good showcase that even people who love the hobby don't necessarily do all they can to support it.QUOTE]

The lack of purchases by an individual may simply reflect that an individual finds the majority of products being produced to be either of little use, not to their gaming aesthetics, of poor quality, or of a subject/game/setting in which they have litle or no interest. Or, the individual may simply lack alternative choices, because their FLGS only carries products from a few publishers and, therefore, the individual is not exposed to the products of smaller companies which might be of interest.

 

[Dreaddisease]

I think when people venture away from the standard WOTC products they tend to look for review sites such as Enworld. So to see what sells the best should be how well it is reviewed. I assume this because this is how I made my decisions on what to buy next. Just take the best reviewed books and PDFs on every d20 review site and thats that.

So I would assume (my list of Must buys)
AU
Monsternomicon Vol 1
The Book of the Righteous
Heroes of High Favor:Elves
Heroes of High Favor: Half Orcs
Hammer & Helm
Inns & Taverns
Joe's Book of Enchantments
Legions of Hell
Plot and Poison
Requim for a God
Seafarers Handbook
The Shaman's Handbook
The Book of Taverns

This order is the most likely order of purchasing (AU and HOHF:Elves, already purchased).

Also another consideration of volume can be price. It is really easy to buy a couple Heroes of High Favors because they are cheap, but good. I wouldn't be surprised if Joe's Book of Enchantments sells more than The book of the Righteous, just because it is 1/5th the cost.

 

[trancejeremy]

Well, remember, Creature Collection came out before the Monster Manual did. So a lot of people bought it because they had no other source for monsters other than the dinky insert in the PHB...

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

Heroes of High Favor:Elves
Heroes of High Favor: Half Orcs

I'm flattered, but no. Not even close.

Halflings is actually our "fastest selling" book; it had the best first month sales (which, sadly, is a large chunk of total sales given the "front list" driven buying habits of the retailers).

Half Orcs is our slowest seller, and fewest total units overall.

Dwarves just recently sold out after a year on the market.

It was our first print run, a modest 2000 units, give or take.

Fortunately Bad Axe is in a position to produce high quality books at a safe, low print run like that and still be profitable enough to be worthwhile-- but I wouldn't quit my day job.

I am very interested to see how Grim Tales, our first hardcover and our most "expensive" book ever, at $34.95, is received. I'd love to blow through the whole print run in record time. (hint hint, folks!)


Wulf

 

[Fiery James]

I'm flattered, but no. Not even close.

Halflings is actually our "fastest selling" book; it had the best first month sales (which, sadly, is a large chunk of total sales given the "front list" driven buying habits of the retailers).

Half Orcs is our slowest seller, and fewest total units overall.

Dwarves just recently sold out after a year on the market.

It was our first print run, a modest 2000 units, give or take.

Wulf

Congratulations! Selling out on 2,000 units is a huge accomplishment, especially with the market like it is.

Answering comments above, 1 unit does equal 1 book. If 20,000 units (books) seems small, you'd probably scream if you saw how little most d20 companies are actually selling. There are very few break-out products that will move more than 10,000 units (I'm talking non-WotC, of course). The biggest lines can likely do it (Mutants and Masterminds, etc), but most companies must be happy with anywhere from 500-2000 units total in this market.

Just to throw this out there: Plague of Dreams was an introductory adventure that came out at the same time as Monte Cook's Arcana Unearthed -- and was co-written by Monte himself. We haven't sold 2,000 units of that. Sometimes people ask us why we stopped publishing adventures (for the time being) and focused on counter products -- simple answer: the Counters sold WAY MORE than the adventures.

Creature Collection sold well over 20,000. (Well over 50,000 is a good guess too!) If it came out today, it would probably sell 10,000 or so, as a guess.

Just some things to think about.

- JB

 

[Pramas]

If you wanna know what the best-selling stuff is, look at the earliest releases.

James is correct. For the most part, the best selling books were the ones that came out early, when there was little in the way of competition. How I long for the days when my entire d20 competition consisted of Atlas Games! We sold the heck out of the Freeport Trilogy, with Death in Freeport selling the best. Only two books have outsold Death in Freeport: Legions of Hell and Mutants & Masterminds. Our best selling product though is none of those titles. It's actually the d20 System Character Record Folio, which will be going into its sixth print run in a couple of months. That thing just sells and sells.

I'd also suggest that looking at the top 20 is not the best way to gauge sales. Critical acclaim doesn't always equal sales. Book of the Righteous has been the #1 rated book for going on two years now, and it sold well, but I've got a good dozen books that sold better.