In a message dated 01.02.2001 23:48:40, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
<< This it the minimal amount
of money you should have to start a business. >>
Be prepared to lose every nickel of it. I would truly be surprised if more
than 2 or 3 D20-themed startups live to see the year 2003. This is a harsh
business; it is not all fun and games. If you have to ask questions about
file formats and how to find printers or distributors, you are FAR better off
positioning yourself as a freelance game designer. Make your mistakes on
someone else's dime and learn.
I really don't mean to be cruel, but it's late and I'm tired, causing me to
type honest answers I usually regret later. But here goes: I cringe everytime
I see a posting asking how to find printers, distributors, etc. Asking
questions so basic that I can't even come up with a ridiculous metaphor to
plug in here. Because I know that well-meaning people, true believers chasing
a dream, are about to take thousands of dollars they earned at real jobs, or
got from relatives, or God forbid borrowed, douse them in gasoline and set
them afire. Actually they'd suffer less doing that.
This is where I, our staff and those of our competitors make our living. And
we'll fight to keep it. My company will throw long-service professionals each
with a decade or more of real-world experience (Scripps-Howard, Newhouse,
Hill & Knowlton etc. etc.) and with multiple Origins Awards into this battle,
and we'll be met by at least a dozen outfits with resumes just as long or
longer. Walk into your local game store, heft the products made by Alderac,
by Atlas, by Avalanche or by White Wolf, and ask yourself *with complete and
brutal honesty* "Can I do better than this in EVERY ASPECT?" And if the
answer is no, walk away. Because you will get hurt.
And if you still must do it anyway, plead on your knees before Eric Rowe that
he rep you, and do EVERYTHING he says.
Mike Bennighof
General Manager
Avalanche Press
