question: Do I sell my new D20 Source as a PDF or BOOK?

[thele]

I can self-publish and try to sell it as a book for under $20 at online retailers, or I can sell it as a $5 PDF download.

Which would get me more overall sales?

~LE

[Robotron666]

Printing in PDF format is cheap, easy and relatively reliable. And ultimately usecure for product purposes. A PDF can be transferred from user to user for free. That means your 5 dollar sale can be then given to the purchasers 6 friends, losing you 25$ in sales, a loss of 600%.

A physical hard copy book is the way to go. It gives the buyer a sense of ownership, isn't easily distributable (even photocopying costs money), and supports the gamestores and distributors.

Ultimately the book is the way to go. If you don't have the means to go with a book, then perhaps you should revise your business plan and look for financing so you can.

PDF's do not sell well, unless you are Monty Cook. And even Monty has his books printed into hard copy. I bet (cause I don't know) the hardcopy book sales exceed the pdf sales.

PDF is not a fad, it's great for distributing documents, but I personally would want to have a hardcopy marketable product than a web based pdf.

Rob.

[Crayne]

Robotron666:

You're forgetting a few things.

Publishing a book, hardcopy, is a business and it is not to be taken lightly. It is not a matter of dropping a few thousand dollars into the account of the local printer and selling it to distributors, retailers or even customers themselves. Many who try this mythical route find themselves sitting amidst piles and piles of their product, with no one to sell it to. Now, Thele says he would sell through online retailers, but these mostly get their products from the same distributors as shop-based retailers, so the consequences are going to be the same.

If you sell from a webpage, admittedly, you have less of a problem, but you are still going to end up adding more money to the price to cover postage and packaging. Plus, it generates an inordinate amount of work to get things done.

People like Gareth-Michael Skarka, Ron Edwards and several others around here will tell time and time again not to self-publish using normal routes unless you know very well what you're getting into.

Thele:

My advice would be to either A) pay for some counselling on how to publish your book in the RPG industry and take it from there or B) Begin with the PDF solution and slowly work your way up to publishing in print.

You might want to pose this same question at The Forge (http://www.indie-rpgs.com/forum), hwere a lot of issues concerning self-publishing are being discussed.

Crayne

[thele]

Thanks! I will check out those forums now.

My goal is not to make any money. I just want to release a product that will get the most exposure for RPG D20 gamers out there.

As such, I can always offer it for free, which is still an option. However, I have found that gamers prefer to have something in their hands to use, and as such I would prefer to release an actual book. (even if Wizards gave away the PHB for free as a PDF, I honestly believe that they would still make alot of sales on the book version).

The problem is costs. I am considering the PDF route beacause it is relatively cheap. Not to mention there is very little overhead needed.

Of course, if I can find a publisher to bite on my book idea, then all the problems are solved.

But I have to be realistic. Publishers probably get dozens of submission in a given day, and probability says that I am going to get turned down by most if not all of them. (Don't get me wrong, I have faith in my book, but I must be realistic).

This means that I would need to pursue a self-publishing route, which is expensive. Print-on-demand is a good option for this, but even that is going to run several thousands of dollars. Not to mention trying to get distributed to retailers (they barely have space for stuff they get now!), and all the marketing that is involved. They certainly have no desire to carry a book by a noname author like me. You are right -- self-publishing is a very daunting task.

In anycase, thanks for all your info. I will keep all my options open and keep researching this.

~Le

[Chris Aylott]

Originally posted by thele

My goal is not to make any money. I just want to release a product that will get the most exposure for RPG D20 gamers out there.


If that's really your goal, then accomplishing it is actually very easy.

Write your manuscript. Do it up as a PDF and make it available for download on your web site. Put the word out on sites like this an EN World.

Then go to a company like Xlibris.com. They'll happily turn your manuscript into a finished book for a $500 setup fee plus a few dollars per book. Have them send you a few hundred copies and send one to anybody who asks for it.

My guess is that between printing and shipping you can spread your message to just about anyone who's interested for about $2000. Of course, that's money out of your pocket, but you've made it clear above that it's not about the money.

cheers,