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Worlds of Design: Eight Awful Truths About RPG Marketing
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<blockquote data-quote="GrahamWills" data-source="post: 7766013" data-attributes="member: 75787"><p>Not so sure these are <em>truths</em> as much as <em>consequences</em>.</p><p></p><p>How about we just go with two thoughts on what might be the ground state of the RPG market:</p><p></p><p>1. The market is, at best, growing nicely. It is is not exploding.</p><p>2. It is exceptionally easy, nowadays, for anyone to publish in this market. And people do.</p><p></p><p>I would argue that we have plenty of figures to prove #1 is true, and that numerous on-line sales channels support #2. Then:</p><p></p><p><strong>The number of book (or RPG) titles published has increased immensely.</strong></p><p> - a consequence of #2</p><p></p><p><strong>Book industry overall sales are stagnant despite the explosion of titles published</strong></p><p> - a re-statement of #1</p><p></p><p><strong>Average individual book (RPG) sales are shockingly small and falling fast</strong></p><p> - Given many titles and non-explosive growth, this is a tautology. If you divide a number by a faster-growing number, the average falls</p><p></p><p><strong>A book (RPG) has far less than a 1% chance of being stocked in average bookstore</strong></p><p> - Assuming book stores also are not increasing shelf space explosively, this is a straight consequence of #1 and #2</p><p></p><p><strong>It is getting harder and harder every year to sell books</strong></p><p> - No, it's not. When I published a book a decade ago it took 3 years of writing and a lot of layout, editing and so on. I can sell an ebook in a few days now. What I think you mean is it's harder to make money selling books. That I do not know about, but certainly the average books sells less, because #1 and #2.</p><p></p><p><strong>Most books (RPGs?) today are selling only to the author’s and publisher’s communities. Discoverability is a big problem. </strong></p><p> - a consequence of #2</p><p></p><p><strong>Most book (RPG) marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers</strong></p><p> - a consequence of #2</p><p></p><p><strong>No other industry than books has so many new product introductions</strong></p><p> - Well, quite a few do. Music would be an obvious choice for way more new products per day. </p><p></p><p>So really, this kind of boils down to: Lots of people are producing RPG material, and the market hasn't grown massively, so there is less money per product. I guess ... yes.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="GrahamWills, post: 7766013, member: 75787"] Not so sure these are [I]truths[/I] as much as [I]consequences[/I]. How about we just go with two thoughts on what might be the ground state of the RPG market: 1. The market is, at best, growing nicely. It is is not exploding. 2. It is exceptionally easy, nowadays, for anyone to publish in this market. And people do. I would argue that we have plenty of figures to prove #1 is true, and that numerous on-line sales channels support #2. Then: [B]The number of book (or RPG) titles published has increased immensely.[/B] - a consequence of #2 [B]Book industry overall sales are stagnant despite the explosion of titles published[/B] - a re-statement of #1 [B]Average individual book (RPG) sales are shockingly small and falling fast[/B] - Given many titles and non-explosive growth, this is a tautology. If you divide a number by a faster-growing number, the average falls [B]A book (RPG) has far less than a 1% chance of being stocked in average bookstore[/B] - Assuming book stores also are not increasing shelf space explosively, this is a straight consequence of #1 and #2 [B]It is getting harder and harder every year to sell books[/B] - No, it's not. When I published a book a decade ago it took 3 years of writing and a lot of layout, editing and so on. I can sell an ebook in a few days now. What I think you mean is it's harder to make money selling books. That I do not know about, but certainly the average books sells less, because #1 and #2. [B]Most books (RPGs?) today are selling only to the author’s and publisher’s communities. Discoverability is a big problem. [/B] - a consequence of #2 [B]Most book (RPG) marketing today is done by authors, not by publishers[/B] - a consequence of #2 [B]No other industry than books has so many new product introductions[/B] - Well, quite a few do. Music would be an obvious choice for way more new products per day. So really, this kind of boils down to: Lots of people are producing RPG material, and the market hasn't grown massively, so there is less money per product. I guess ... yes. [/QUOTE]
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