Just reading a thread http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2012/jan/12/amanda-hocking-self-publishing about a woman who publishes a string of crappy Twilightesque novels on Kindle and has as a result made $2.5M in the last 20 months.....

Her model is to publish the start of the series at 99c then churn up the price to $2.99.

So would anyone here buy an RPG on a kindle/e-book format? woudl you buy it for $1.99?

I am curious as I have a bunch of unfinished stuff that could just do with a polish.

Remember that Twilight fanfic has a large customer base .

I think when you make 2.5 million you graduate from fanfic to pastiche. Of course such distinctions are perhaps lost on the author who is likely laughing her ass off.

Worked for J.K. Rowling.

To answer the original question, in general I am skeptical of RPG e-books that are that cheap; I generally trust the market to tell me whether something is worth buying.

Quote from: daniel_ream;504496Worked for J.K. Rowling.

Christ, you're stupid.

We're talking about:

(1) Twilight fan-fiction.
(2) E-Books.

Which of these, exactly, do you think "worked" for J.K. Rowling?

Quote from: Rincewind1;504447Remember that Twilight fanfic has a large customer base .

Yeah totally aware of that

What I am really thinking is woudl anyone buy am rgp on e-book format

Just turn your rpg material into twilight-esque novels and make 2.5 million bucks

I'm kind of surprised that the RPG industry hasn't taken up Kindle/Nook/smartphone publishing. It's not that the buyers love printed books, because pdf's are common. And I would have thought RPG players would tend to be 'early adopters' of technology.

Quote from: Rincewind1;504447Remember that Twilight fanfic has a large customer base .

It's quite amazing how much 'paranormal romance' is out there. There seem to be at least as many people writing it and blogging about it than for 'normal' fantasy. The definition of 'urban fantasy', which used to mean 'fantasy in a modern city', seems to be gradually changing to imply 'stuff like Twlight'.

Also a lot of people seem to have thought to themselves 'Twilight was great, but I wish it was more pornographic'.

Quote from: jibbajibba;504621Yeah totally aware of that

What I am really thinking is woudl anyone buy am rgp on e-book format

I pretty much buy all my RPGs lately in PDF format, so my answer is - once I treat myself to Kindle, most likely yes.

Quote from: Age of Fable;504643It's quite amazing how much 'paranormal romance' is out there. There seem to be at least as many people writing it and blogging about it than for 'normal' fantasy. The definition of 'urban fantasy', which used to mean 'fantasy in a modern city', seems to be gradually changing to imply 'stuff like Twlight'.

Oh have no fear, that's just "writers" using an opportunity to sell to people of shit taste being phillistines. Vampires will return one day, in all their glory, alongside a good urban fantasy book. Then again, I don't know any good writers in that genre besides Gaiman and Holt.

1.  Organize several people from the community to write crappy knock-offs of popular book series and publish as e-books.
2.  Buy the D&D franchise.
3.
4.  Profit!  Or lose money (more likely).

(Yeah, I added an extra step.)

On-topic, I think that reference books require a little more work.  The PDF and Kindle formats aren't really designed for the type of referencing you do in gaming, although hyperlinking helps.  I'd really like to see something more interactive and that actually makes the electronic versions of RPG books more useful than a physical book -- interactive charts, templates, etc.

Of course that requires a little more technical expertise than most people publishing RPG books as PDFs have on-hand, although it's not difficult in the grand scheme of tech-related ventures.

Quote from: Peregrin;5047391.  Organize several people from the community to write crappy knock-offs of popular book series and publish as e-books.
2.  Buy the D&D franchise.
3.
4.  Profit!  Or lose money (more likely).

(Yeah, I added an extra step.)

On-topic, I think that reference books require a little more work.  The PDF and Kindle formats aren't really designed for the type of referencing you do in gaming, although hyperlinking helps.  I'd really like to see something more interactive and that actually makes the electronic versions of RPG books more useful than a physical book -- interactive charts, templates, etc.

Of course that requires a little more technical expertise than most people publishing RPG books as PDFs have on-hand, although it's not difficult in the grand scheme of tech-related ventures.

Yeah you could just do that as a set of html docs you download with webzip or with near ubiquitous internet penetration  just run a site that is an interactive rule set.

Quote from: Age of Fable;504640I'm kind of surprised that the RPG industry hasn't taken up Kindle/Nook/smartphone publishing. It's not that the buyers love printed books, because pdf's are common. And I would have thought RPG players would tend to be 'early adopters' of technology.

That's because the format(s) suck for those of us lumbered with the layout!

Quote from: jibbajibba;504805Yeah you could just do that as a set of html docs you download with webzip or with near ubiquitous internet penetration  just run a site that is an interactive rule set.

HTML is okay, but it's getting pretty ancient, and I don't think it can do the more advanced stuff.  I was thinking more along the lines of a straight android/iOS app.  There are a few good reference apps for Pathfinder, but they're still pretty limited in scope.

Quote from: jibbajibba;504435So would anyone here buy an RPG on a kindle/e-book format? woudl you buy it for $1.99?

I am curious as I have a bunch of unfinished stuff that could just do with a polish.

You should go for it. Kindle books are all about impulse buys and I am sure you can sell RPG stuff for .99 to 2.99.

How much stuff? Who knows? The costs of attempting are so low, there is no reason not to go for it.