What Clark said, plus:
> Here is a piece of advice you didnt ask for but was
> probably the VERY BEST THING I DID AS A NEW COMPANY:
> Contact Eric Rowe at The Wizard's Attic. Check out his
> website. Those guys are awesome with new game
> companies. I started with them. I know Atlas, Green
> Ronin and Fiery Dragon are with Wizard's Attic also.
> More than anyone else in the industry, I have Eric to
> thank for helping me get started.
I wanted to note that Eric can do a lot for a company even if you don't have
him as your warehouse and fulfillment house. Atlas Games, for example, has
its own warehouse and works directly with the adventure game distributors
worldwide. (If Wizard's Attic were doing what it does today back when I
started Atlas, in 1990, this would probably not be the case.) But we also
team up with Wizard's Attic for a couple of things, such as west coast
conventions (where they carry our stuff), and some distribution into the
book trade (a whole can of worms I'm not really eager to work on; I'm
perfectly happy when Eric can place some stuff into the book channels on our
behalf, however.) If I were starting out a new company, I would absolutely
look to work with Wizard's Attic or otherwise form an alliance with a
company that has an existing structure of distribution (as Necromancer has
done with White Wolf). The learning curve for handling distribution
yourself can be quite a pain.
-John Nephew
President, Atlas Games
