[Rant] Attitude towards reviewers

[matthijs]

I love to review games. So I often get in touch with companies that produce good stuff, or games that I'm just curious about. I've written a huge amount of Norwegian reviews (for Imagonem, a gaming fanzine), and just recently one for RPG.net - hopefully the first of many.

Now, when I write to big companies, they usually either send a bunch of stuff, or no reply at all. Straight enough.

But with indie publishers, I get these weird reactions. One person wrote me after the rpg.net review asking if I'd like to write about his game - which I would. Then he never got in touch again. Another one (I wrote him) said sure, I could buy his game, then review it if I liked. A strange attitude, I think; more on that later. A third one said he'd send a game, never did, and when I asked him why some time later, he said he was running short and wanted to keep it for sales.

I wonder - do they treat customers the same way? I mean, I'm a gamer; obviously they know that. I'm also eager to try their product, which they also know. Still, they just... don't get back to me. Like it's a burden to send me an e-mail.

I don't get it. For cost of production plus postage for one book, a publisher can reach - let's see - 1416 interested customers, in the case of my DitV review. These are people who actually click on the link to check out the review, not just people who don't see your ad on the bottom of some magazine page while leafing through it. Even if it's been reviewed before, each new review will attract potential customers. (There were two DitV reviews before mine, which have been read 1720 and 1570 times).

To me, that sounds like good business. Then why are some indie publishers so weird about it?

And if a reviewer likes the game, or the publisher, or both, that's a great opportunity for future coverage. For Imagonem, I've done interviews with Jonathan Tweet, Greg Porter and Ron Edwards, because I like their games, and they're nice guys when I mail them. That's pretty good promotion for their games.

[Bankuei]

Hi,

I think many different publishers are in different positions, hence, different reactions- seems vague enough, right?

But look at it this way- if a publisher is happy with their current sales, they don't need to send out a free review copy.  They're doing just fine, and they count on the happy customers to put out their own reviews or spread it via word of mouth.  Others might want to send out review copies but then didn't think about the costs of shipping, etc.  And then, there's folks who just forget, run out of time, or flake out.

But it would be important to remember that publishers are only beholden to serve paying customers.  Though you might be providing a service that might lead to further sales or not, and it might make sense in the long run to work with you for that publicity- there is no obligation on their part to do so.  Just as they're not obligated to hire a marketing or advertising firm, but just rely on word of mouth or their own methods, in the same sense they are not required to use your services either.

Chris

[matthijs]

Oh, I definitely agree that there's no obligation whatsoever to use a reviewer. I hope I didn't come across as saying that; people have to run their business however way they think is best.

Wrt sales going well enough: I'm no expert on business, but even if sales are going well, why not try to boost them if a cheap opportunity arises?

Do publishers usually get a lot of requests for review copies, btw?

[DevP]

It does depend on the publisher. Lxndr was very happy to pass a free PDF of Fastlane in exchange for a review, which is kinda a standard practice. (I can understand not giving out free print copies - I mean, it's nice, but someone might not quite see their business margins that way.)

I ended up buying the print version of Fastlane; I'm trying to figure out what kind of policy I want for reviews (because I like saving money, but I'm not sure if I want free-copies for reviews, and also becuse there is greater respect out there for reviews that have the sting of spent-cash involved).

[TonyLB]

Yeah, there's a difference between giving someone a PDF file (no overhead, to within a fairly tight tolerance) and mailing someone a physical book (known, measurable overhead).  

I'm interested to know... are you asking specifically for the book when both PDF and book are available?  And if so, why?

[matthijs]

TonyLB: Yeah, I am, for three reasons.

1. Collector's greed. Obvious, but still needs to be mentioned.
2. Practical. I often read games on the train, or while waiting somewhere, and much prefer having a book with me than a bunch of sheets that I've first had to print out.
3. Payment. While on the one hand I'm a greedy fanboy, on the other hand I'm also providing a service. I think that's worth something tangible.

I realize that, as Dev said, "someone might not quite see their business margins that way". That's a fair business decision, and while I don't agree with it, I in no way challenge anybody's right to make it.

[matthijs]

Oops. This is just plain wrong, from my first post:

But with indie publishers, I get these weird reactions.

...should be "some indie publishers". Most people I've been in touch with from this end of the business have been both straightforward and courteous.

[TonyLB]

I think what you may be missing, about the margins, is that people are also wondering about what it costs them (in money and effort) to get a review from you versus what it costs with some other potential reviewer.  

If I see two guys selling identical newspapers, and one's selling his for a shilling, and another guy's selling his for two shillings, who am I going to shop with?  Particularly if (as with all internet contact) they're both standing on the same street corner?  You're the guy selling the same thing for more.

Now none of this matters in a logical analysis, because you're not selling newspapers (for which the satiation point is one to a customer) you're selling cheap press.  There is no practical satiation point for cheap press to most indie publishers.  So yeah, you'll be getting a PM from me, and all that.  But most consumers are not geared to consider whether, given a choice between buying something for one shilling and buying it for two, they should do both.  You're working hard against the ingrained buying habits of a lifetime.  

And that's why I think you see some wierd reactions.  People know intellectually that they ought to be working with you, but emotionally they feel wierd about it.  You're not getting a view of all of their decision process, because they aren't aware of it all.

[matthijs]

Well, I kind of see your point there... though in two of the three examples I gave, the publisher had already agreed to send a print version, then backed out or stopped replying to mail. (I'm glad to read your replies, Tony; I'm not just asking rhetorical questions, I'm really trying to understand how publishers might think about these things).

[daMoose_Neo]

I will say this:
I have a nasty tendency of forgetting, pure and simple. A lot of things mind you, not just this, but I have contacted people (or folks have contacted me) and its slipped the mind- a PM falling by the wayside, an e-mail burried under another stack, a packet on my desk burried by papers. Sometimes, some folks like myself just forget~

[jdagna]

I think it's also important to remember that reviews do not automatically lead to sales.  A reviewer has no commitment to write something positive - you could easily take a free book and then rip the thing to pieces in your review.   I posted a while back talking about how even a negative review can still, but it's still a risky proposition to send something out for review.

Also, I've had lots of experiences with reviewers who take the book, never write a review, and then stop responding to my e-mails and most of those were people I knew by reputation and not just random folks off the street.  This is one reason I've become more hesitant to send out free review copies.

Some of my other interesting review experiences:
- one book I sent off took three months before it came back as undeliverable because the person had messed up a digit in their own address.  I'm sure they assumed I had just forgotten about them because I didn't send any followup e-mails over those three months to make sure it arrived safely.
- I sent an e-mail replying to one interested review, but somehow it got caught by his spam filter.  We still got in touch later when I sent a second one, but if I hadn't, it would have looked like I was just ignoring him.

So it's possible that there are extenuating circumstances to explain at least some of the publishers who go silent on you.

[clehrich]

May I ask how you go about approaching the companies?  A lot of the comments on all sides seem to me to come down to this question.

Now I don't actually sell my game -- you can have it if you want, but I don't bind it -- but I do write a lot of reviews for academic journals.  That works rather differently, but some concepts are similar.

If I were a publisher with a reasonably tight profit-margin, the question I ask myself when you contact me is, "Is getting a review from this guy worth the cost of the book?"  Now how do I go about answering that?

My first question to you -- and it sounds like nobody, big company or little, is asking this -- would be this: what have you reviewed, for whom, where, and can I see the reviews?

If you've written 500 reviews, and they're getting lots of hits, and you seem sane and reasonable and a good writer, I'm definitely going to send you my book right away.

If you've written one review, which nobody read, and it was misspelt and incoherent and just a basic hatchet-job sort of rant, then I'm most certainly not going to send you my book, ever.

Now I suspect you're somewhere in the middle, like anyone who reviews games.  But where?  And if I don't know, why should I take a chance?  As I say, my profit margin is awfully tight.

If you send me a brief resume of reviews, maybe one with full text and a whole bunch of weblinks, and ask me in a very professional sort of tone if you can have a copy to review, that sounds good.

My second question would be, "Where will the review appear, and when?"  Do you tell publishers this?  Because I would want to know that in advance.

If you do this sort of thing, i.e. provide a review resume and explain where and when the review will appear, and your reviews are indeed sane, solidly written, and in a fairly well-known venue, then I cannot imagine why someone wouldn't send you a copy.  That is genuinely stupid.  But if you don't do this, you're asking them to take a risk, and I don't know why they would do this.

[matthijs]

Valid questions, Chris.

Addressing the companies: I've done this in various ways.

The first reviews I did some ten or twelve years ago were for Imagonem, which was just starting out. We didn't even have any sample issues, just wrote a nice semi-formal letter to several big companies asking whether they could send us stuff to review. Early nineties, so I guess things were pretty good for them; both TSR and R. Talsorian sent us a big box of games - between 10 and 20 products each, to a completely unknown foreign fanzine that hadn't even started publishing yet.

These days I mostly send a more informal mail to companies that have products I think are interesting. I tell them that I review for Imagonem, and (very recently) RPG.net. I link to the Imagonem site, and sometimes (when I think of it) to the RPG.net review.

You're spot on when you say that nobody's asked me what I've reviewed. I'm not very professional in tone these days either. I do, however, tell publishers when they can expect to see the review (usually "issue so-and-so which will appear this spring").

Here's what I wrote in my most recent mail:

Hi, <first name of company president>!

I've seen a lot of buzz about <game> lately, and was wondering whether you'd like a review in Imagonem, the Norwegian gaming fanzine? We've reviewed "My Life with Master" and "Sorcerer" (along with its supplements) there; for more info, see our web page http://imagonem.rollespill.no/ - click on the PDF option on the right-hand side to see some sample issues).

I could probably send one to rpg.net too (I recently reviewed "Dogs in the
Vineyard" there - check out http://www.rpg.net/reviews/archive/10/10795.phtml).

- Matthijs Holter

Now, the reason I don't write very formal mails is that I don't write very formal reviews. I have a subjective tone, I know what I like, and I'm very up front about it. So I want publishers to know that right away. That said, these days I never bother approaching publishers if I know I won't like their game. It would be pointless for me in every way I can think of.