What is more important author or company and would you pay more????

[Arcane Runes Press]

The Mongoose product line (cyclopean beast that it is) is a great example. Mongoose has done a good job getting good writers like Sam Witt, Mike Mearls, Alejandro Melchor, and now Patrick Younts to do its writing and the books those guys have written have always received at least solid reviews if not great reviews. The books without those writers have been more of a mixed bag.

Currently you can put Monte's name on a book and that will sell it. I don't think you can sell it for more but the customer-base isn't used to paying more for a book by Stephen King either. The advantage of using a good author is selling copies. I think Matt Forbeck and Robin Laws will also help sell books but less so in the d20 market since much of their fame comes from non-D&Dish books.

I'll make no comment on the first paragraph, save to say that I now have to take a needle to my ego lest its awkward, swelling bulbosity pull me backwards from my chair.

As to the second, I agree. Monte is in the unique position of being a brand name unto himself. I suspect sales wouldn't drop noticably if every book he wrote appeared unannounced in a celophane sealed, white covered tome with only the words MONTE COOK written on the cover.


As for myself, I won't pay more just because of a specific author's name, but I WILL buy a book based just on the author's name. That, as 2WS-Steve said, is the strength of a "name" author - the name doesn't command higher prices, but it does command higher sales.

For example: Bruce Cordell wrote the Return to the Tomb of Horrors mega-module. I'd buy ANY module he wrote sight unseen, just on the strength of that work. Hell, I'd buy it if it was entitled "This book is written in contact poison ink. See you in hell."

Patrick Y.

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Well, I picked the last option ("author & company mean nothing to me"), but that's only because the other choices seemed so "absolute."

I don't buy automatically based on company or author, but one of those two things will often get me to look at a product.

And I probably would not pay extra just because a certain person's name was on a product. The content would have to be worth the extra cost.

 

[Eosin the Red]

Generally both are important to me. If I know that your stuff is good 85% of the time, I don't feel like I am taking a ride on the lotto train. 1 bad burn by an author (not rules wise but writing wise) and I am usually done but I tend to give companies a little more leeway if they have consistantly put out what I consider good product. Poor art turns me off also.

 

[Sir Edgar]

It depends on the particular author and company, but I would have to lean more towards company. This is because I've seen products by the same author written for different companies and you can see the difference in style, packaging, and editing in terms of quality and presentation. Some companies are just better organized and more professional or they just spend more time on the details. Or they just have a knack for what they do.

 

[Sir Edgar]

But of course, I'm more likely to take a look at something written by someone I like than someone I don't recognize. That doesn't mean I'll necessarily buy it however. But I will give it a closer look! So, authors DO matter...

 

[roytheodd]

I buy on a few criteria:
I buy if it's written by Gary Gygax
I buy if it's written by Monte Cook
I buy if it's got WotC's D&D logo on it (though not Forgotten Realms stuff - ptooey)
I buy if it's Kingdoms of Kalamar

After that I go for neat ideas. I'm not into crunchy bits, but I will buy books of monsters. I pretty much like to get books that look like creative resources (e.g. Seven Strongholds).

 

[jmucchiello]

I didn't vote because nothing seemed appropriate. First, topic is paramount in the decision to consider buying the book. Certain authors might get me to look outside my usually topics. And while I don't go for any particular company "just because" there are a small few that I just back away slowly from when seen.

My real criteria though is reading (or hard skimming) of 20-25% of the book in the store. If I find stuff that isn't balanced or stuff that bothers me or just bad writing, I pass on the book. The artwork might annoy me enough to stop me from buying.

I cannot imagine knowingly paying more for a book based on the author.

OTOH, That is for Books. For PDFs, author is much more important and company is much more important. Afterall, you can only go by reviews since they are purchased sight unseen.

And some levity:

As to the second, I agree. Monte is in the unique position of being a brand name unto himself. I suspect sales wouldn't drop noticably if every book he wrote appeared unannounced in a celophane sealed, white covered tome with only the words MONTE COOK written on the cover.

This would be bad marketting for Monte. He should at least number them "Book 1", "Book 2", etc. Otherwise, how will you know if you have that one already or not?

 

[buzz]

Playtesters, too!

Getting a little off topic here, but, hey...

I really like to see playtesters credited in a product, since it implies that the product actually got playtested.

I also look to see *how many* authors were involved in a project. Once the number of authors gets to a certain amount, I get suspicious.

R&R2, for example, failed both the above tests for me. It didn't credit any playtesters (iirc), and it listed about 57 different contributors. Despite the ringing endorsement from Monte Cook in the book's foreword, I simply couldn't bring myself to buy it. Granted, it would have been my first SL book, so it wasn't like I was desperate to buy it. Still, these two factors moved it from my "take a chance" list to my "maybe someday on eBay, if it gets a lot of good reviews" list.

And speaking of reviews, I pay a lot of attention to them as well. You have to take them with a grain of salt, seeing as there aren't really any "professional" reviewers, but they honestly can have a big effect on me. Psion is the whole reason I bought the Alternity PHB.

Anyway, while I do keep track of certain authors (Monte Cook and Steve S. Long being at the top of my list), I tend to stick with lines that I enjoy and products that simply intrigue me. If a product is for a game line or setting I don't care for (e.g., Kalamar or Star Wars), I'm probably not going to buy it no matter who's name is on the cover.

 

[Ghostwind]

Certain authors have my immediate attention. This will always make me take a closer look at the product. There are only a couple authors that I will by sight unseen primarily because of their track record. Likewise, certain publishers are also a guaranteed buy because their standards of quality tend to be higher than other companies.

Would I pay $5 more for a specific author? Yes, if it came from a publisher that was on my short list. Otherwise, I would look it over real well first.

(Personally, I like 2WS-Steve's suggestions. But that's only because I'm an author too.)

 

[der_kluge]

I like primarily at company, and then go from there.

I typically like Bastion Press' products. I typically DO NOT like Fiery Dragon Press' products. Avalanche's products, likewise do not impress me. I like Monte Cook, and I like Rich Baker, and Skip Williams, and Wolfgang Baur. But, if any of these guys wrote for any of the companies that I didn't care for, it would make little difference. S&SS make good products, but their stuff is very campaign-centric, which does not appeal to me, and thus despite how good any of it may be, it will never work IMC. I do not automatically buy WoTC stuff, since some of it sucks, just as much as some of it is awesome.

But, I don't automatically buy Monte Cook's stuff just because he's Monte Cook. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that I thought BoEM was mediocre.

Mongoose is a mixed bag. They typically let whatever author wants to write for them, write for them. Sometimes the author is good, and sometimes they are not so good. So, some Mongoose stuff is great, and some of it is blech. Hence, I evaluate their stuff on a case by case basis.

MEG and TG stuff is all good as far as I'm concerned, but I'm probably biased.