on 2/13/01 10:45 PM, Max Skibinsky at [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> I guess that's the point where I will crawl back under my software stone ;)
> You undoubtedly right.
> Force of habit - used to CD-related numbers. [ Its a bit easier life when you
> can charge 40-50$ for
> 1.5-2$ CD-ROM. But just a bit. ]
In games in book format, my rule of thumb is minimum retail = 10 x
manufacturing cost. Your printer charges you 90 cents; you should charge at
least $9 retail. And with something like D20 you need to consider what
you'll need to charge when print runs are much smaller in a couple of months
because of how many competing products are on the market. ;)
> Correct me if I'm wrong:
OK. ;)
> IMHO for first timer with 0-experience to get a
> distributor is 10% chance
> at best.
I don't think so. There are several dozen game distributors out there; the
RPG industry is *remarkably* easy to start in, right out of the blue.
You're not going to get all of them on board right away, if ever, but you
can start with a few and work your way up. Get copies to stores; if they
want it, they'll bug their distributors to make it available to them because
they don't want to have to deal with individual manufacturers. The "three
tier system" of the RPG industry, with many decentralized nodes of
purchasing decisions, is really kind of unusual -- especially if you are
used to industries like software.
> ( Apparently Clark rolled a natural 20 on this one. )
He did--but by plugging into one of the top publishers, which already has
solid relationships with most of the game distributors (not as many as they
used to, since they trimmed their distribution list a year or two ago) as
well as the book trade (which is a whole different kettle of fish).
> Therefore until
> new product line will
> get some reputation direct sells is really the only way.
It depends on what you mean by "direct." I think it would be best to attack
on all fronts: sell to consumers, to stores, to distributors. In the long
run, you're best off selling to distributors, for a whole range of reasons.
Working with the other levels helps generate familiarity with your product
and word of mouth--the "pull" to get higher levels in the chain to take a
chance on it.
> And that's where web
> comes in, big time...
> Perhaps I'm clinically optimistic, but I do believe if product is really
> really good you can sell
> 1000 and 5000 and 10 000 directly from the web in a year.
Maybe. It's a lot easier to sell such quantities through distributors and
retailers -- both in the sense of "easier for it to happen" and "easier on
you if it does happen." (For one thing, I'd rather be sending out 100
shipments of 100 copies each, rather than 10,000 individual shipments.)
------------------------------------------------------
John Nephew voice (651) 638-0077 fax (651) 638-0084
President, Atlas Games www.atlas-games.com
