Very nice interior.  Cat approves too! ha  I was pretty confidant from looking at Turanil's game that the interior layout would have the feel of the game.

Check the grey backgrounds in those text boxes to make sure they aren't too dark in the print edition.  Just noticed that from the photos. Couldn't really tell for sure from the small photos, though.

Quote from: Turanil;838140I think it's still an honest dealing. First of all, POD on RPGnow means they get money from the book, when all the royalties get into our pockets (RPGPundit and me) when sold from Amazon/Lulu. So why do that?

Because the OBS sites move a huge number of copies compared to Lulu/Amazon for fringe indie publishers like us. Even for a mature market publisher like Evil Hat, with physical distribution channel access, the OBS sales are comparable to what they move through Amazon. For indie publishers without an independent marketing reach, the unified storefront that OBS provides and the eyeballs you can get from their hottest and newest-sell ribbons are invaluable.

OBS POD is also much cheaper than Lulu. A 275 page b/w hardback book costs $18.90 to print with Lulu, whereas OBS offers it for $11.80, with bulk discounts at 50+ copies. Even if you're just printing a batch of hardcovers for FBA, you can get 50 copies for about $10 apiece at $500 against Lulu doing 50 for $945.

OBS also has excellent marketing tools. The Dark Albion freebies you offer all put their downloaders onto your company's mailing list as long as they haven't opted out of it, allowing you to use it as a base for tapping past buyers when you get new content out. If Amazon or Lulu offer these options, I haven't seen them.

OBS makes royalties much easier. You can set automatic royalty splits on individual products so that the payout automatically is delivered to both of you in the proportions agreed.

For pricing, I would strongly encourage a much higher price point than FH&W on Amazon. If you're selling a hardback for less than $39.99 you're leaving money on the table, especially when it's a comparatively large, 275-page game. If you're pricing for reach with the PDF, that should be $9.99, though it could easily hit $14.99, and if you're optimizing for return over the long run and are going to keep supporting the line, $19.99 is possible. (Side note: why no POD for FH&W on OBS? People love to buy paper+PDF bundles; a quarter of my sales are paper, and other publishers have even higher ratios.) RPGs are luxury goods, and competing on price in a luxury good market is Not Fruitful.

I extend this advice because it wounds me to see any publisher not making as much money as possible from their hard work. OBS is simply where small publishers sell these days. Amazon and Lulu cannot begin to compete with it for a concentrated market of people who want to buy what you sell.

Quote from: SineNomine;838176Because the OBS sites move a huge number of copies compared to Lulu/Amazon for fringe indie publishers like us. Even for a mature market publisher like Evil Hat, with physical distribution channel access, the OBS sales are comparable to what they move through Amazon. For indie publishers without an independent marketing reach, the unified storefront that OBS provides and the eyeballs you can get from their hottest and newest-sell ribbons are invaluable.

OBS POD is also much cheaper than Lulu. A 275 page b/w hardback book costs $18.90 to print with Lulu, whereas OBS offers it for $11.80, with bulk discounts at 50+ copies. Even if you're just printing a batch of hardcovers for FBA, you can get 50 copies for about $10 apiece at $500 against Lulu doing 50 for $945.

OBS also has excellent marketing tools. The Dark Albion freebies you offer all put their downloaders onto your company's mailing list as long as they haven't opted out of it, allowing you to use it as a base for tapping past buyers when you get new content out. If Amazon or Lulu offer these options, I haven't seen them.

...

I extend this advice because it wounds me to see any publisher not making as much money as possible from their hard work. OBS is simply where small publishers sell these days. Amazon and Lulu cannot begin to compete with it for a concentrated market of people who want to buy what you sell.

Like SineNomine said. OBS isn't perfect, but it has your target audience, and can provide views and sales and opportunities that you won't get from Lulu or Amazon. So, yes, you'll lose some $ in royalties, but think of it as getting 65 to 70 cents on the dollar from an OBS sale, versus NO cents on the dollar from lost sales due to a limited audience on Lulu and Amazon.

I've been very happy with how I've been able to sell and manage my own books there.

Quote from: RPGPundit;838071So,  I got my Dark Albion book yesterday, the print proof; and while the cover will be a little different than the one in this version, the interior (barring any typos) will be identical.

I can't speak to the text yet, but the page designs look great!

Quote from: SineNomine;838176I extend this advice <...>

Thanks very much. I will re-read your post again, then look at RPGnow POD. If their POD are cheaper than Lulu, it might be a worthy option to propose. I will look into this carefully.

By the way, can you tell me about the quality of their printed books, both hardcover and softcover?

Quote from: Kuroth;838175Check the gray backgrounds in those text boxes to make sure they aren't too dark in the print edition.

This is the same level of shading as in the FH&W books, where it doesn't hinder anything.

Quote from: Scutter;838141The system used is D&D?

It's a setting book for OSR play, but doesn't have a base system in the book (it does have my "Appendix P" house-rule mods for OSR play, and a conversion chapter for running it with FH&W).

So the book itself is largely system-neutral but aimed at the OSR.

Quote from: Kuroth;838175Very nice interior.  Cat approves too! ha  I was pretty confidant from looking at Turanil's game that the interior layout would have the feel of the game.

Check the grey backgrounds in those text boxes to make sure they aren't too dark in the print edition.  Just noticed that from the photos. Couldn't really tell for sure from the small photos, though.

The grey backgrounds look fine from what I've reviewed so far.  Good tip though.

Quote from: Turanil;838202By the way, can you tell me about the quality of their printed books, both hardcover and softcover?

It's very good, with tight bindings and crisp blacks. The one caveat is large areas of shading on the page- some books can end up with slight unevenness in large shaded areas due to ink issues.

Quote from: SineNomine;838176Because the OBS sites move a huge number of copies compared to Lulu/Amazon for fringe indie publishers like us. Even for a mature market publisher like Evil Hat, with physical distribution channel access, the OBS sales are comparable to what they move through Amazon. For indie publishers without an independent marketing reach, the unified storefront that OBS provides and the eyeballs you can get from their hottest and newest-sell ribbons are invaluable.

OBS POD is also much cheaper than Lulu. A 275 page b/w hardback book costs $18.90 to print with Lulu, whereas OBS offers it for $11.80, with bulk discounts at 50+ copies. Even if you're just printing a batch of hardcovers for FBA, you can get 50 copies for about $10 apiece at $500 against Lulu doing 50 for $945.

OBS also has excellent marketing tools. The Dark Albion freebies you offer all put their downloaders onto your company's mailing list as long as they haven't opted out of it, allowing you to use it as a base for tapping past buyers when you get new content out. If Amazon or Lulu offer these options, I haven't seen them.

OBS makes royalties much easier. You can set automatic royalty splits on individual products so that the payout automatically is delivered to both of you in the proportions agreed.

For pricing, I would strongly encourage a much higher price point than FH&W on Amazon. If you're selling a hardback for less than $39.99 you're leaving money on the table, especially when it's a comparatively large, 275-page game. If you're pricing for reach with the PDF, that should be $9.99, though it could easily hit $14.99, and if you're optimizing for return over the long run and are going to keep supporting the line, $19.99 is possible. (Side note: why no POD for FH&W on OBS? People love to buy paper+PDF bundles; a quarter of my sales are paper, and other publishers have even higher ratios.) RPGs are luxury goods, and competing on price in a luxury good market is Not Fruitful.

I extend this advice because it wounds me to see any publisher not making as much money as possible from their hard work. OBS is simply where small publishers sell these days. Amazon and Lulu cannot begin to compete with it for a concentrated market of people who want to buy what you sell.

This sounds like very helpful advice worthy of consideration.

Of course, I'm not a publisher, and stuff like this is why I would never ever want to be.  I hate that in the gaming scene these days the assumption is that everyone should just be publishing their own stuff; not everyone who's a good game designer is also a good publisher, those skill-sets aren't even remotely related. And of course there are probably people out there who are shitty game-writers/designers but who could potentially make for great small-press publishers if it wasn't that everyone's trying to do it themselves.

Ultimately, Turanil decides on these things. Of course, I do think he should pay a lot of attention and consideration to a guy who is one of the most successful publishers the OSR has.

Quote from: Turanil;838202Thanks very much. I will re-read your post again, then look at RPGnow POD. If their POD are cheaper than Lulu, it might be a worthy option to propose. I will look into this carefully.

By the way, can you tell me about the quality of their printed books, both hardcover and softcover?


This is the same level of shading as in the FH&W books, where it doesn't hinder anything.

RPGNow and Lulu use the same printer.

Quote from: danbuter;838217RPGNow and Lulu use the same printer.

Really? I have had so many bad experiences with Lulu books being poorly bound. Never had that problem with RPGnow books.

Okay, POD books will be also available on RPGNow. However, prices will be reasonable (at least in my opinion), so do not expect discounts later, or for bundles.

Quote from: Turanil;838260Okay, POD books will be also available on RPGNow. However, prices will be reasonable (at least in my opinion), so do not expect discounts later, or for bundles.

I would greatly encourage you to fold the PDF into any paper purchase. It costs you absolutely nothing and a lot of customers get irked if it looks like theya have to pay extra for a PDF. I know it can feel aggravating to have people so loudly disinterested in paying extra for a PDF as well as paper, but there's a joke that's useful to remember at such times.

A salesman is closing a deal with an important client. As it's raining outside when the client is about to leave, the salesman hands over his umbrella with a smile. The client departs, and the salesman drives back to the office and puts in an expense report that includes his umbrella. The company accountant denies it, saying it wasn't a necessary business expense. The salesman argues for an hour over it, but the accountant won't budge.

The next week, the salesman goes out on another trip. When he gets back, he hands over an expense report, leans in, and says "Now find the goddamn umbrella."

TL;DR

Instead of charging $30 for a book and $10 for a PDF, charge $40 for a bundle and only sell the bundle.

This is all being discussed at the moment, I appreciate the advice.  Obviously, all final decisions are the publisher's.

I'm constantly tinkering with a low magic system I've made, and I'm seriously thinking of unleashing it on Dark Albion.

The setting is looks brilliant, and is my favourite style of gaming (dark, gritty, grim etc). Could be interesting