AEG is selling PDF's at last throught http://www.drivethrurpg.com/

Although all the Spycraft stuff that was up there has already come down, although checking the forums it is planned for later.

There is L5R (including the new Four Winds book), Swashbuckling and their D20 books, and Farscape.

Interesting. Having a pdf of Toolbox could be useful.

WTF!!!  The price for some of those damn pdf's is as much as it is for the real book.  What happened to $5-8 for a pdf of a product.  :mad:

They can't undercut the brick and mortar stores.

Quote from: PookaThey can't undercut the brick and mortar stores.

They can't as in "they cannot reduce their price points below those of the brick and mortars?" or as in "they won't screw over the brick and mortar stores that carry their print products?"

I'm assuming you meant the latter as the former seems a bit difficult to believe.

Quote from: PookaThey can't undercut the brick and mortar stores.

It seems to me you used to get the pdf version first and it would be anywhers from $4-$10 depending on size and publisher and then later you'd get the print version and that would be more expensive.

Quote from: KnightcrawlerIt seems to me you used to get the pdf version first and it would be anywhers from $4-$10 depending on size and publisher and then later you'd get the print version and that would be more expensive.

I think the only way publishers would ever consider this would be if they could count on enough additional sales at the reduced price to compensate for the initial lost sales on print books.

Otherwise, as Pooka seemed to suggest, they are just cutting the feet of their brick and mortar distributers out from under them.

Quote from: Maximum FuThey can't as in "they cannot reduce their price points below those of the brick and mortars?" or as in "they won't screw over the brick and mortar stores that carry their print products?"

I'm assuming you meant the latter as the former seems a bit difficult to believe.

Yes.

Do you remember what you were told about pookas btw?

Quote from: PookaYes.

Do you remember what you were told about pookas btw?

I seem to recall something to the effect that every statement made by a pooka contains within itself both truth and untruth.  Correct?

No - Pookas always tell the truth.

Quote from: PookaNo - Pookas always tell the truth.

Hrm...I think I'll stick with my version of events for the time being...

If one looks at the Baen Free Library (Baen Books), they have an interesting attitude toward e-books.

They sell e-books of their stuff - even serialize some books in progress. But, if certain books form a series, after a while they put the first 1-2 books in the series in the Free Library, knowing that if you REALLY like the series, you'll not only buy a dead tree version of the books you downloaded, but also by the later books in paper or elctronic form - maybe even both.

The alternative is, after all, that the casual reader will read the book from a copy in a local library, or buy the book and resell it if they don't like it - both of which will have worse financial repercussions to the author and publisher than not having the series' intro books free on the site after they've been paperbacks for a year.

For RPGs, this would best translate as putting the core rulesets (not the whole books, just the rules engine) free (example - the GURPS Lite ruleset), and dividing the non-core books up into two categories-
1. "continuing relevance" items = those that would have a long-term market in paper form, as copy-protected, pay downloads,
2. "timed obselescence" products = ones that will be eclipsed/subsumed into later products, or never be reprinted after the initial paper print runs, that will be pay products originally, but changed over to discounted or free downloads as the supply of printed copies disappears from stock.

Quote from: KnightcrawlerWTF!!!  The price for some of those damn pdf's is as much as it is for the real book.  What happened to $5-8 for a pdf of a product.  :mad:

Apart from the band new stuff it's all 50% off RRP. And it all qualifies for the extra 20% gmday discount this weekend.

Wouldn't recommend them though as the files sizes are massive (being scans of books not produced from the document), and the one I bought (4 Winds) had no OCR (although I believe other do) and no bookmarks.

Quote from: BagpussApart from the band new stuff it's all 50% off RRP. And it all qualifies for the extra 20% gmday discount this weekend.

Wouldn't recommend them though as the files sizes are massive (being scans of books not produced from the document), and the one I bought (4 Winds) had no OCR (although I believe other do) and no bookmarks.

Yeah if I paid for a pdf I'd definitely want it OCR and bookmarked.

Switching from PDFs, does anyone know when Crafty Games will publish another Spycraft book ?