When to put a product on sale?

[Jürgen Hubert]

That's not the writer's problem. If you want me to write words, you pay my rate or I don't write (unless there's some other incentive at play).

Then you don't write. It's a simple as that.

There is always a glut of writers in the RPG industry - or at least a glut of people who think they can write. But only a very few can make a living from it - and even they don't earn all that much.

Why should any RPG company hire you at the going rate for a professional RPG writer when they don't know if you can write a professional product on time?

And if you can do that, and have a list of products to back it up, why don't you write for print products in the first place? After all, most publishers of print RPG products have far more money than those who limit themselves to PDF sales.

Really, if you want to start out in the PDF publishing industry as a writer, you have little leverage in demanding higher pay.

And anyway, what are you doing in the RPG industry if you want to earn money?

If we were discussing a manufactured product, you wouldn't be arguing that suppliers should receive less money for raw materials because we manufacture products in a market that values their materials less. The supplier would laugh at such a notion.

Actually, this implies that the supplier can sell his raw materials elsewhere for a higher price, and that there aren't dozens, if not hundreds of other suppliers out there who are willing to sell at lower prices.

As for not being a viable business model, there are PDF publishers that always pay market rate for writing. So it must work for some publishers.

If they indeed exist, you can bet that they pick their writers very carefully. First-timers probably don't need to apply...

 

[jmucchiello]

Then you don't write. It's a simple as that.

That's fine with me.

Really, if you want to start out in the PDF publishing industry as a writer, you have little leverage in demanding higher pay.

And that is why the perception of PDFs is that they suck. You get what you pay for.

Actually, this implies that the supplier can sell his raw materials elsewhere for a higher price, and that there aren't dozens, if not hundreds of other suppliers out there who are willing to sell at lower prices.

And lower quality. Apples and Oranges.

If they indeed exist, you can bet that they pick their writers very carefully. First-timers probably don't need to apply...

I believe tensen of Dark Quest Games pays going rate. I could be wrong.

 

[Jürgen Hubert]

And that is why the perception of PDFs is that they suck. You get what you pay for.

Unless, of course, the author of the PDF is good and (a) uses this to "break into the business", or (b) is motivated by something other than money. Actually, (b) is probably very common in the RPG industry as a whole...

If you were to to pursue a career in writing RPG supplements, writing PDFs is probably a good way to start. Of course, there are others:

- Publish and print them yourself: Only do this if you have lots of spare money.
- Writing articles for RPG magazines, such as Pyramid or Dragon.
- Contribute to group efforts. Some GURPS and Shadowrun books were written that way, with each writer contributing a chapter or sub-chapter. I think some monster collections were also done this way...

I've done the last two - I've written for Pyramid magazine, and I've contributed to several GURPS books (such as GURPS Monsters and Toxic Memes). Through this I've built contacts to some professionals and publishers, and I think if I were to send in a proposal for a full book, it wouldn't be dismissed out of hand.

Still, there's a big difference between writing a few articles or submitting a few contributions to a book (3000+ words in the case of Toxic Memes) and writing an entire book (90,000+ words). And I am trying to do the latter right now (see my sig).

Of course, I could try and submit my work to the various d20 publishers. But I don't know yet if I am up to the challenge - if I can deliver a high-quality book within a deadline (and I simply don't know if I will have the time, period - I am also trying to get a job as a research assistant right now...).

So I've decided to publish my setting as a PDF - this way, the only deadline I have will be the one I set myself, and I won't loose too much money, either. If I manage to pull this through, if the response of the gaming public is positive, and if I still have any energy for writing left... well, then I might approach an actual publisher. But I'm not ready for that yet.

A question: Do you actually want to work as an RPG writer (whether part-time or full-time)? If not, then this argument is academic, anyway...

 

[tensen]

That's fine with me.
And that is why the perception of PDFs is that they suck. You get what you pay for.
And lower quality. Apples and Oranges.
I believe tensen of Dark Quest Games pays going rate. I could be wrong.

Yes, I still do.
Have lost money on some of our projects that way too. So it isn't always the best incentive for me to do so.