D&D 4E Who plans to publish 4e stuff? I do!

[vagabundo]

I'm quite surprised by the number of replies for publishing a setting. Particularly if you intend to sell it.

I think publishing settings has got to be the hardest thing to sell, and the hardest thing to gain from. Getting a setting right, publishing it with art, etc. and getting it to look right is very difficult. There are a lot of settings out there, but I can bet that only a tiny fraction of them actually sell well. I'm not doubting the collective writing abilities of ENWorld members, but settings are a pain to publish or to get published. I strongly doubt that unless you have something truly original, with fantastic production value, you'll be able to make it as a publisher selling a 200 page setting.

Pinotage

I think there might be a market for Micro Settings, highly detailed, compatible with POL.

I've been itchin' to do something for years, even if I make free-to-air PDFs, 3e crunch was too time consuming. I'm hoping 4e crunch is a little more forgiving.

 

[Pinotage]

I think there might be a market for Micro Settings, highly detailed, compatible with POL.

I've been itchin' to do something for years, even if I make free-to-air PDFs, 3e crunch was too time consuming. I'm hoping 4e crunch is a little more forgiving.

Sure. There's always a market for settings. But you won't make money off it. The initial overlay in product design, writing, layout and art is substantial for a good 200 page setting. And settings, from what I've seen, don't sell very well. Because of the high overlay, you'll likely not make money unless you actually sell loads. And in the hey-day of the 3e market, selling 50-100 of a pdf for a small publisher was good going. I think you'd need to sell more than that to make good money on a setting book.

Pinotage

 

[vagabundo]

Sure. There's always a market for settings. But you won't make money off it. The initial overlay in product design, writing, layout and art is substantial for a good 200 page setting. And settings, from what I've seen, don't sell very well. Because of the high overlay, you'll likely not make money unless you actually sell loads. And in the hey-day of the 3e market, selling 50-100 of a pdf for a small publisher was good going. I think you'd need to sell more than that to make good money on a setting book.

Pinotage

I'd agree, you would really have to have a high quality product to compete on the setting front, people want quality if they are paying 40 quid for a book.

I was thinking more small scale settings (sold as PDF) with some linked modules loosely hanging from it for my, soon to be, loyal fan base to sink their teeth into.
Myself and my brother will do the art.

I was put off designing for 3e because of fiddly crunch, so far I really like what I have see for 4e. Time to get my brain juice flowing.

 

[Pinotage]

I was thinking more small scale settings (sold as PDF) with some linked modules loosely hanging from it for my, soon to be, loyal fan base to sink their teeth into.
Myself and my brother will do the art.

The same really applies to pdfs as well. Take a look at some examples. Red Moon Games' setting The Kyngdoms has sold 50-100 copies, and that's been around for years now. A more recent one from Dog Soul Publishing (Kitsonumari) has also sold 50-100 copies. Reality Deviant's Blood Throne setting has sold 100+ but that won the Green Ronin True20 runner up award and so got a lot of press. Plus it's a brilliant setting. Other Dog Soul Publishing Settings haven't even sold 50 copies yet, and most of these aren't even 200 pages - they're more like setting primers than settings.

Silver Oak Studios released the Argyle Lorebook, also a good setting. Hasn't sold 50 copies yet. Final Redoubt Press released Echoes of Heaven. Their OGL version sold 50-100 copies.

I'm not trying to discourage you by any means. It's great to see creativity in settings, but from what I've seen, even if you do your own art, it's very difficult to make money. I suppose if your only reward is to see it published, then that's another matter, but time and effort rarely equite to making money for settings.

Pinotage

 

[vagabundo]

The same really applies to pdfs as well. Take a look at some examples. Red Moon Games' setting The Kyngdoms has sold 50-100 copies, and that's been around for years now. A more recent one from Dog Soul Publishing (Kitsonumari) has also sold 50-100 copies. Reality Deviant's Blood Throne setting has sold 100+ but that won the Green Ronin True20 runner up award and so got a lot of press. Plus it's a brilliant setting. Other Dog Soul Publishing Settings haven't even sold 50 copies yet, and most of these aren't even 200 pages - they're more like setting primers than settings.

Silver Oak Studios released the Argyle Lorebook, also a good setting. Hasn't sold 50 copies yet. Final Redoubt Press released Echoes of Heaven. Their OGL version sold 50-100 copies.

I'm not trying to discourage you by any means. It's great to see creativity in settings, but from what I've seen, even if you do your own art, it's very difficult to make money. I suppose if your only reward is to see it published, then that's another matter, but time and effort rarely equite to making money for settings.

Pinotage

I completely agree. Historically the smaller published settings have not sold well. (Although if I did publish something and sold 50-100 I would be happy)

I'm just wondering if this will change slightly if DMs embrace the POL implied setting concept. They might shop around for small POLs to insert into their campaign. A couple of small purchases to mix and match with the implied setting. But I think the market will definitely stay the same for the larger-to-huge settings.

I've not sold myself on the idea, but I will probably plough ahead anyway. Just for the fun, maybe splat books would sell a lot more or genre books. At the moment I know I wouldn't stick with designing something like that.

 

[Khuxan]

I completely agree. Historically the smaller published settings have not sold well. (Although if I did publish something and sold 50-100 I would be happy)

I'm just wondering if this will change slightly if DMs embrace the POL implied setting concept. They might shop around for small POLs to insert into their campaign. A couple of small purchases to mix and match with the implied setting. But I think the market will definitely stay the same for the larger-to-huge settings.

I've not sold myself on the idea, but I will probably plough ahead anyway. Just for the fun, maybe splat books would sell a lot more or genre books. At the moment I know I wouldn't stick with designing something like that.

I think you're onto something here - short pdfs detailing a single point of light (plus a couple of monsters, NPCs, adventure ideas) will, I suspect, sell much better than a single 200-page campaign setting.

Just speaking as a consumer here.

 

[Carnivorous_Bean]

Ah, if only I had time ....

 

[m25]

I think you're onto something here - short pdfs detailing a single point of light (plus a couple of monsters, NPCs, adventure ideas) will, I suspect, sell much better than a single 200-page campaign setting.

Just speaking as a consumer here.

I'll second this. It should be much easier to buy into a small self-contained location (with some sort of hook or twist) than an entire world.

 

[Storminator]

I'd love to write some stuff for 4th Edition but I have a feeling the market is going to explode once anyone can use the GSL. I'll look into it later in the year I think.

Where can I preorder a copy?

PS

 

[jgbrowning]

We at Expeditious Retreat Press will be publishing 4e material pending review of the GSL. After reviewing the GSL we'll be able to say what material will be published with more confidence.

Joseph Browning
Expeditious Retreat Press