What kind of Sales can you expect from PDF?

[Pharaun]

WOW!!! This is very insightful. I would never have guessed I would have gotten this kind of response from everyone in the industry. I graciously thank all of you for you input. And who would have thought that such a simple question could even provoke RPGNow to rearrange their website.

Now to provoke even more input along the same lines. Is there some sort of guideline that people should follow when pricing their PDF's? Let's say you have a 120 page PDF, with some amazing artwork. For the example, you also intend on packaging a second book with it for the non-graphic lovers and for those who would like to print without all the color use. Now what would be a good pricing point for this book. Also, what if you include A4 sizing for the Europeans - or more accurately, everyone smart enought to get over the damn American measurement system . Now what are we looking at in price? Actually, I suppose one would have to package the two separately so that the file size didn't exceed a gig . Ok, so maybe it isn't quite a gig.

I would really like to know what kind of pricing people are looking for.

Kent Cramer
Co-Founder of Khan's Press
a soon to be d20 Publisher at large

 

[Alzrius]

I'll take a stab at an answer to that last question, strictly on the view of a consumer.

The first PDF product I bought was Monte Cook's Book of Eldritch Might. I don't recall the exact number of pages, but subsequent products were, iirc, around a hundred pages or so, and the price was a flat five dollars. This seemed about right to me. Using that as a standard, products with less pages should cost less, like two or three dollars for a 64-page product or so. I can deal with the new standard of $6.95 products being sold for what would have been $5 a year or so ago, but anything more and I become leery. Ive seen some products from virtually unknown companies that costed $10, and that price was enough to make me back away from going out on a limb.

Again, these are just average opinions from your average consumer of PDFs.

 

[HellHound]

Kent:

So far, it doesn't appear that providing multiple copies of the same document in the .zip file of a book increases the price at all - whether someone is buying a 120 page PDF, or four 120 page PDFs (one with & without graphics, one A4 sized each with & without graphics), they are still getting the same product in their mind and thus the price remains the same.

The multiple copies is a price we as the publishers have to swallow when making the PDF in exchange for better sales. Mutliple copies made in this manner are NOT a lot of extra work (after all, each one just involves changing the master page template before running it through distiller in my case), so the price really doesn't go up with each one included.

Also remember that the average reader doesn't want a 100+ page PDF product as it is VERY difficult to print at that size (print spools for graphical PDFs on the average printer for a large PDF can be insane) and hard to flip through once printed if it isn't bound also, which is an additional cost to the buyer.

For an Ambient Inc product, I would price that package you described near $6.95, but that also depends on the amount of money spent on artwork.

 

[HellHound]

I don't recall the exact number of pages, but subsequent products were, iirc, around a hundred pages or so, and the price was a flat five dollars.

Actually, Malhavoc increased the price of supplements at the beginning of 2002... If Thoughts Could Kill lists at $7, Book of Eldritch Might II also (and that's on special), and Book of Eldritch Might III lists at $9. The flat $5 supplement was only for Monte's initial PDF release of The Book of Eldritch Might I as far as I know.

 

[Arnix]

Nah, I got ITCK for $5. But that was right around its initial release date.


Arnix (tm)

 

[tensen]

The multiple copies is a price we as the publishers have to swallow when making the PDF in exchange for better sales. Mutliple copies made in this manner are NOT a lot of extra work (after all, each one just involves changing the master page template before running it through distiller in my case), so the price really doesn't go up with each one included.

It depends on how things are done. True if it is just a single master template it is effecting it probably changes little. Although there are other cases, such as changes to artwork on the page and the like that can eat into time. Of course that only matters if the layout person is getting money based on time.

 

[Bagpuss]

Also, what if you include A4 sizing for the Europeans - or more accurately, everyone smart enought to get over the damn American measurement system .

Kent Cramer
Co-Founder of Khan's Press
a soon to be d20 Publisher at large

I doubt anyone would pay extra for that or really be that fussed. Acrobat lets you rescale stuff to fit the printer so it isn't too much of a problem. Be nice but not the greatest of selling points.

 

[philreed]

A4 vs. letter

I doubt anyone would pay extra for that or really be that fussed. Acrobat lets you rescale stuff to fit the printer so it isn't too much of a problem. Be nice but not the greatest of selling points.

One of my PDFs was released in both versions. I've heard no response on this.

 

[Gargoyle]

WOW!!! This is very insightful. I would never have guessed I would have gotten this kind of response from everyone in the industry. I graciously thank all of you for you input. And who would have thought that such a simple question could even provoke RPGNow to rearrange their website.

Now to provoke even more input along the same lines. Is there some sort of guideline that people should follow when pricing their PDF's? Let's say you have a 120 page PDF, with some amazing artwork. For the example, you also intend on packaging a second book with it for the non-graphic lovers and for those who would like to print without all the color use. Now what would be a good pricing point for this book. Also, what if you include A4 sizing for the Europeans - or more accurately, everyone smart enought to get over the damn American measurement system . Now what are we looking at in price? Actually, I suppose one would have to package the two separately so that the file size didn't exceed a gig . Ok, so maybe it isn't quite a gig.

I would really like to know what kind of pricing people are looking for.

Kent Cramer
Co-Founder of Khan's Press
a soon to be d20 Publisher at large

I would use Malhavoc's products (specifically Monte's Books of Eldritch Might) as a guide, since they are consistently bestsellers and have a range of sizes and prices.

Book of Eldritch Might ($5.00 for 36 pages)
Book of Eldritch Might II ($7.00 for 64 pages)
Book of Eldritch Might III ($9.00 for 96 pages)

And yes they are on "special" but it seems they've always been at those prices, so I don't really consider it a sale. And somehow I doubt they will go back up. Maybe Monte can confirm or deny that. In any case, Monte's stuff is the standard du jour. (And I highly recommend it all. The only thing that hurts his sales are the customers like myself who prefer to wait for the printed version)

Page count isn't the only thing, but it's the main thing, since it usually correlates with your costs and will certainly be considered by the consumer when evaluating the price, just like that's one of the main things you look when buying printed books.

I don't know much about your product, but I'd use $11 as a baseline and adjust it as you see fit. Price it too much less and you won't make money, price it too much more and you'll receive less than stunning reviews, and will probably make less money than you could have. (But you will probably still make a profit if your product is good, price doesn't seem to be the primary reason people buy a PDF, it's the perception of quality and usefulness, IMO)

Of course, if this is your premier product, pricing low might be a good idea to generate some buzz. Even if it doesn't make money, the heightened sales and better reviews could be worth the loss of revenue, if you've got some extra capital to pay for the next book.

Edit: Jason has a lot of good points as well. 120 page PDFs are a tough sell. And there is a psychological barrier when pricing things at $10 or above. You may want to split it up into two books, if the subject matter allows it.

Good luck.

 

[Gargoyle]

I doubt anyone would pay extra for that or really be that fussed. Acrobat lets you rescale stuff to fit the printer so it isn't too much of a problem. Be nice but not the greatest of selling points.

I agree on this point. People are much more concerned about whether they can actually use the product in their game without too much revision than such features. Usefulness is the main factor. That's why companies like Natural 20 Press, Ambient, and Malhavoc rock. They create stuff that is instantly useful and solid, ruleswise.