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What's a Freelance RPG Writer Worth?
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<blockquote data-quote="turkeygiant" data-source="post: 7658994" data-attributes="member: 6787083"><p>The fact is there is a lot of super small publisher stuff that is never really going to be significantly profitable for its writers, they simply don't have the numerical demand for their products, and if they tried to raise prices to offset that fact, their books would probably have to be $100 each rather than $8 which would price them right out of the market. Most RPG writers out there will have to live with the fact that they are either going to be writing solely for the enjoyment they get out of the act and sharing their work, or working towards the slim chance they will get picked up by a bigger publisher who sells more books and has bigger margins to pay them from, while accepting that until that time they will make a pittance from their writing.</p><p></p><p>I don't like this fact...but it is simply a reality, the same one that most aspiring athletes, astronauts, and actors face... </p><p></p><p>There simply isn't enough demand or profit in the industry to support more than a handful of writers in a substantial way, and the advent of self publishing has probably made it even worse by flooding the market with a lot of small fish who take nibbles from the big fish...but rarely get big enough themselves and grow the market with them.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="turkeygiant, post: 7658994, member: 6787083"] The fact is there is a lot of super small publisher stuff that is never really going to be significantly profitable for its writers, they simply don't have the numerical demand for their products, and if they tried to raise prices to offset that fact, their books would probably have to be $100 each rather than $8 which would price them right out of the market. Most RPG writers out there will have to live with the fact that they are either going to be writing solely for the enjoyment they get out of the act and sharing their work, or working towards the slim chance they will get picked up by a bigger publisher who sells more books and has bigger margins to pay them from, while accepting that until that time they will make a pittance from their writing. I don't like this fact...but it is simply a reality, the same one that most aspiring athletes, astronauts, and actors face... There simply isn't enough demand or profit in the industry to support more than a handful of writers in a substantial way, and the advent of self publishing has probably made it even worse by flooding the market with a lot of small fish who take nibbles from the big fish...but rarely get big enough themselves and grow the market with them. [/QUOTE]
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