What does an employee at a large RPG company make compared to a successful small publisher/owner?

[Waller]

By successful, I mean with a handful of successful Kickstarters under their belt, or something similar.

I remember Sean K Reynolds talking about salaries.

Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.

Are these typical?

www.enworld.org

So $40K at WotC a decade ago as a designer, $50K as a contractor later. Mid $30s at Paizo.

The Mearls and Crawfords get, what, twice that? Three times? We can only guess.

But then you see small publishers make a million bucks on Kickstarter every month. And small businesses can be more profitable per capita than large ones a thousand times their size.

So what's the score here? Anybody in the know?

 

[Sacrosanct]

There thousands of small rpg publishers. Hardly any break that million dollar Kickstarter. I wouldn’t even factor those into average profits for small publishers in general. There is a reason most of us small time publishers, even with successful kickstarters under our belt, have day jobs

 

[IvyDragons]

By successful, I mean with a handful of successful Kickstarters under their belt, or something similar.

I remember Sean K Reynolds talking about salaries.

Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.

Are these typical?

www.enworld.org

So $40K at WotC a decade ago as a designer, $50K as a contractor later. Mid $30s at Paizo.

The Mearls and Crawfords get, what, twice that? Three times? We can only guess.

But then you see small publishers make a million bucks on Kickstarter every month. And small businesses can be more profitable per capita than large ones a thousand times their size.

So what's the score here? Anybody in the know?

Not really sure the point of your question. Software developers make $60k to $200k, designers make $30k to $150k.
Not many publishers make $1M per month on kickstarter.
Most publishers have regular jobs, which means publishing is really just a hobby.

 

[Cadence]

By successful, I mean with a handful of successful Kickstarters under their belt, or something similar.

I remember Sean K Reynolds talking about salaries.

Sean K. Reynolds talks RPG salaries, puts his on record.

Are these typical?

www.enworld.org

So $40K at WotC a decade ago as a designer, $50K as a contractor later. Mid $30s at Paizo.

The Mearls and Crawfords get, what, twice that? Three times? We can only guess.

But then you see small publishers make a million bucks on Kickstarter every month. And small businesses can be more profitable per capita than large ones a thousand times their size.

So what's the score here? Anybody in the know?

Is glassdoor usually accurate? (requires sign up)

How Much Does Wizards of the Coast Pay in 2023? (407 Salaries)

A free inside look at Wizards of the Coast salary trends based on 407 salaries wages for 198 jobs at Wizards of the Coast. Salaries posted anonymously by Wizards of the Coast employees.

www.glassdoor.com

 

[Waller]

Is glassdoor usually accurate? (requires sign up)

How Much Does Wizards of the Coast Pay in 2023? (407 Salaries)

A free inside look at Wizards of the Coast salary trends based on 407 salaries wages for 198 jobs at Wizards of the Coast. Salaries posted anonymously by Wizards of the Coast employees.

www.glassdoor.com

So looks like about $100K for the higher level people at WotC.

 

[Waller]

Not really sure the point of your question.

Sorry to hear that.

 

[Waller]

There thousands of small rpg publishers. Hardly any break that million dollar Kickstarter. I wouldn’t even factor those into average profits for small publishers in general. There is a reason most of us small time publishers, even with successful kickstarters under our belt, have day jobs

Yeah, I'm talking about the few small publishers that are doing really well, not the ones doing it as a second job. As in, is it better to have a job at a large company or be a successful entrepeneur?

 

[Sacrosanct]

Yeah, I'm talking about the few small publishers that are doing really well, not the ones doing it as a second job. As in, is it better to have a job at a large company or be a successful entrepeneur?

That's the thing though. You don't just become a successful small-time publisher by working full time hours at it. there is a lot of overlap, and a ton of factors that are unique to each individual as to whether they can do it full time, or need to keep another job. You have to define what "doing really well" actually means first. You said in your OP "have a few successful kickstarters under their belt." Well, by that standard, I qualify. So do a lot of folks. but 99% of us with that criteria also have other income, I'd bet.

I'm willing to bet if you told game designers, "You can either make $40,000 a year working for WotC, or quit your job with a 0.5% of making more than that doing it yourself as your full-time job." What do you think most people are going to choose? I'm not trying to be dismissive, but it's a really hard question to try to answer.

 

[Morrus]

To answer the OP, it’s a risk/reward thing. Sure there aren’t many high earning small publishers, but there also aren’t that many WotC lead designers.

 

[thirdkingdom]

To my knowledge, one of the most successful one-person publishers is Kevin Crawford, and last I heard he was just doing rpg work as a side thing.