NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Tark" data-source="post: 7659232" data-attributes="member: 72304">Okie dokie I took the time to read through this so let me air out a few things first.No one should ever enter this industry expecting to make it a full time job. Period. Not just in Pathfinder but in all other games as well. After I write this post I'm going to share it with a long time friend and acquaintance who was amazingly successful in their chosen field but never left his day job.  Yes the market is saturated.  Both ways. Meaning that you not only have a glut of publishers vying to get what little space they can in a very small pond but a downpour of writers with no credits attached happy to take no pay for however much you'll take. So what we have here is a hobby industry.  That is to say very few of us on either the publishing side or the content creating side are even making a living let alone getting wealthy.  So we treat it as a hobby, we operate on nights and weekends quietly building our resumes so we can maybe one day get picked out of the ocean of content by a company who happens to be riding atop that ocean in a boat made of money.From that perspective it's not all that different than trying to get a profitable partnership on YouTube or Twitch.  The difference being while our industry is held up by the dedicated few thousand those particular groups are held up by the billions.On top of this we really don't have a good means to keep consumers really informed.  Their's only one person I know of dedicated to reviewing 3pp stuff.  But, where are the Reddit links?  What about YouTube videos?  What about more reviews on RPGNow and Paizo?  I mean just say something, give some feedback, good, bad or ugly.  That stuff becomes important to giving you more of what you want.  Publishers want to sell you books so tell us what you will buy.So, while we're talking about being exploited.  I have to ask, where's your copies of all 6 books in Way of the Wicked?  Where are your copies of Psionic's Unleashed?  Cerulean Seas?  How many books have you bought on Endzeitgeist's (literally the only dedicated critic and reviewer I've seen for Pathfinder products) recommendation?  Did you know John Wick wrote an rpg about playing a house cat?  When was the last time you got drunk and played Fiasco with some friends?  It is really easy to criticize someone as being exploitative when you have had no investment yourself into seeing that those who put the work in get what they deserve.  And if you do that's great!  Are you willing to do more?  Maybe get more people buying? Because that's just about the simplest way to negotiate better pay rates.So yes, Louis is going to be confrontational and frustrated when presented as the bad guy.  But, being undiplomatic does not make him wrong.  It's a reality in any industry that eagerness can only take you so far.  Employment is not nor ever has been considered an equal relationship outside of those basic human decencies.  You get on the crab boat you get a half share.  You survive a year or two on the crab boat the captain might bump you to full share or just as likely bump you off his damn boat.  You come to MacDonalds with no experience you likely start at minimum wage.  That's just how it is. Until you can prove otherwise you're a pair of hands with a glimmer for potential.So, you work at it.  You build relationships, network, don't just write things, keep an eye on them, see how well they do sales wise and note that for later.  That kind of stuff goes on resumes, fits in forum signatures, slides nicely on to the sidebar of your blog.  Self promotion has been important to writers since before Mark Twain's infamous eccentricities. Heck, Owen doesn't even need to promote himself anymore but I still see him posting everyday on facebook.  Stay professional even in the face of harsh criticisms and understand sometimes the best thing to say is nothing.  Don't quit your day job.So now that that's out of the way let me do a bit of unsolicited defense.I have written a number of things for LPjr Design.  I would be lying to you if I said it was a perfect relationship or if I was not frustrated every once in a while for reasons I choose not to get into.  But, what I was presented with was an opportunity to work in an environment where I was virtually unrestricted. It let me poke out, learn new things, and try out new ways of doing things.  I was given the entire Race's section in Obsidian Apocalypse and went unchallenged as I hammered out new territory in places unexplained up to and including wiping out entire species of subraces to make room for new races and allowing more options from old ones to flourish.  So yes, Louis pays a low rate, but it's in part a mitigation of risk against the fact that some man from Atlanta might arbitrarily decide to kill off all the half elves and turn the human race into xenophobic isolationists which may make things bad for sales.In August of last year I lost my job. So, I mentioned to Louis if he had any projects for me I'd be happy to do them.  I also mentioned some work I had given him as part of a self willed effort to support another product I was a major part of.  He had sat on it mostly because it just wasn't part of his plans yet.  But, about a month after I reminded him of it he kicked it through and <a href="http://paizo.com/products/btpy9alb?NeoExodus-Chronicles-Weapons-of-Machinesmith-Destruction" target="_blank">the results speak for themselves.</a>Could I have gotten better pay?  Maybe.  But I doubt I'd find other publishers who'd take a risk like that consistently.And bear in mind that the definition of "new writer" is not really clear here.  Is this referring to new writer as in no writing credits at all?  Or simply no professional credits such as someone who has purely done fan and homebrew work?  Or does it mean no credits at all?That definition is kind of important.  Paizo pays 0.07 cents a word but I sincerely doubt they'd consider taking in a fresh, untested, writer with open office and a dream.  Perhaps before we pass judgment we should ask about the expectations of those giving the money.In any case I'm rambling.  There is a lot more going on than numbers suggest.</blockquote>

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