FORGE GAMA

[iago]

This is hot stuff.  Thanks for the intel, Luke.

I've been doing what I can to up the ante in terms of IPR's pitch to retailers.  As folks may have seen over on my LJ, I've been putting together a revised "hard sell" document for IPR that specifically targets retailer concerns.

For what it's worth, I think the 42% discount issue can probably be talked around, but we need some strong clarity on what the message needs to be that can get the "wounded beasts" to a point where they are healed enough to be willing to take those risks.  (For those saying "Hey, I thought 42% was pretty standard!" -- I said the same thing to Chris Hanrahan of Endgame Oakland and he said "nah, that's actually one of the smallest discounts in the biz".)  You can read more about this over on my LJ and download a PDF of the "pitch sheet" here: http://drivingblind.livejournal.com/tag/ipr

The shipping issue with IPR is something that I've already seen improvements on since I stepped up to work the customer service queue this past month.  To put it quite simply, Brennan's been overwhelmed addressing both the direct-sales customer service concerns and retailer service concerns (and, heck, publisher service concerns) in the small envelope of time he's had for doing IPR work.  By having someone else on hand to hit the non-retailer stuff, Brennan's already been able to stand on top of the retailer issues more effectively.  Plus, I can nag the crap out of him.  Other folks -- like Nathan Paoletta -- have also stepped up to help with things like setting up new products, etc.  So, there are strides to be made with the retailer relations stuff, and they're *being* made; we're just early into that process.

I also want to comment a little bit on some of the "armflapping" I think I'm seeing over whether or not IPR's business model is sound.  First off, I think it's potentially naive to think that a solely RPG-focused business is something that should be able to pay a salary.  I simply don't expect that to be true unless you're a titan of the industry.  And, being as we're talking small press here, and what with IPR currently working as a "publisher's interests first" sort of alliance of small press publishers, industry titan is not the mode of the day.  IPR *is*, however, profitable, exactly as Brennan says, without paying salaries, and for the time being -- especially just a few years into its existence -- that's actually very good.  Thus I object to the flappery suggesting that it's somehow evidence of failure.  To me, financial success in the small press world is breaking even.  Anything beyond that is gravy -- and IPR has a heapin' helpin' of gravy.

Still, that helpin' could be a lot bigger, and I think it should be IPR's 2007-2008's mission to grow that as large as can be *managably* done.  Luke's intel from the GAMA front is definitely one of our best guides for what we should have in mind as we do so.

[Pelgrane]

I am a shareholder in IPR. I was at Games Expo, another trade show in March with Brennan.

We recently switched to a professional fulfilment agent, also used by ProFantasy and Pelgrane. Before then, orders were shipped out personally by Brennan. Our retail turnaround, as Brennan mentioned is substantially better, and pretty much standard for the industry. There are some problems that obviously need addressing, but we'll deal with those. Up to the beginning of March IPR served a few, very active retailers including Leisure Games who each sold substantial volume of IPR stocked games. In March, at Games Expo and then GTS we began the push to make IPR a player in the distributor market.

The retailers we want are those who are genuinely enthusiastic about indie games, as enthusiastic as the players and publishers. If they aren't they simply won't sell any games. There are hundreds of retailers, and we are aiming for 50 or 60 this year. At this stage, we can be a little selective. We don't want or need retailers for whom our discount is a barrier. It's the revenue stream that's important, not the discount. (I think the rights and wrongs of publisher pricing are for another thread.) That said, we have to provide excellent serivce to retailers if the discount is not what they are used to.

We think that for the right retailer, IPR games will produce an evergreen, growing revenue in an emerging market, with a small shelf space and a highly enthusiatic proselytizing customer base. Indie games don't require other indie games to be played (razor and razor blade model) and each game tends not to be played to the exclusion of other games. All our games are carefully vetted for quality. This model has worked very well for a handful of retailers, and can work for others. It was educational to watch the retailers fall into the two camps at Games Expo; those that said "wow, these games are great, my customers want them, I can't wait to stock them", and the rest.

The absence of a full time employee is not a reflection of the success of the business. Our goal is not to "pay a salary". The fact that Brennan works full time elsewhere is allowing the business to grow, and lets us reinvest in the website, and the new distribution wing. What matters is that each part of the business is run professionally, whether by specialist freelancers or an exceptionally versatile employee.

Simon Rogers
ProFantasy Software Ltd

[AngusA]

Hi guys,

Personally I don't think the 42% is a big deal. In Europe (well, certainly in the UK) 42% disocunt is a good to average discount from distributors. I'm quite happy buying IPR's range at 42% for Leisure Games (obviously I won't turn down greater discounts though and would be mroe than happy with a 'Loyalty Scheme'! :p).

I think any retailer that isn't prepared to test the waters with even a select few titles from IPR at 42% discount is loosing out big time. The minimum carriage paid order isn't too bad at all and it's not like a retailer can't order less than that if they're prepared to pay the shipping costs!

I think the thing that IPR needs to do is try and move the 'buzz' from various Forums and mailing Lists into the stores themselves. Then the stores will want to stock the games because they will see the demand and sales!

In the UK we have been pretty much exclusively a complete stockist of IPR's range plus other Small Press Publishers (such as My Life With Master, Prime Time Adventures, Wild Talents and a number of British based small press companies such as Postmortem Studios, Silver Branch Games and Anglo-Canadian Games to name but three). Through the use of our sales through both the shop front and our mail order department, combined with Convention apperaences (which we're ramping up this year primarily highlighting the Indie range) we've managed to help create a demand for the games over here. To the extent I'm now having other UK retailers ringing us up asking for either stock or details on how to get stock (Hey Brennan, if you need a UK partner to act as a agent or distributor for other stores over here let me know! - that goes for other non-IPR aligned publishers too).

The point is that as stores stock the games they will start seeing the benefits. Not all stores will be complete stockists but pretty much any store will be able to sell top sellers such as Spirit of the Century, Dogs in the Vineyard, etc.

Having a presence at GAMA is something that will certainly help create opportunities. I saw Luke in Vegas and had a brief chat with him (sorry I didn't get to chat longer or hang out at the bar for afterhours drinks - maybe at GenCon though!). The stand was certainly a starting point.

Next year though I'd suggest having a dedicated IPR stand and taking a greater range of titles to the show. There were only a handful of titles on show this year and with a dedicated stand you can really make a better display of what's on offer. The flyers that fred did were very good and hopefully a number of retailers will have taken those away and seen the extent of the range. I'm not sure if running demo's on the stand at GTS for retailers is really a good thing or not. I don't know how much uptake you'd get for that at a trade show.

In regards to IPR itself. Leisure Games is generally very happy with the company. A couple of times orders have been slightly delayed but a few days isn't the end of the world (unless we have a major convention and the stock fails to arrive until the folloiwng week :p). The one thing that I do think could be improved is fulfilment levels.

We get invoiced for our order, pay the invoice and then get shipped the goods. Generally speaking when the order arrives with us it is missing certain items that have eitehr run out of stock or were, for whatever reason, missed from the delivery. This is obviously annoying and causes hassle in the paperwork department with myself and Brennan exchanging emails tryign to find out what's gone on and arranging replacement stock or credit notes against future orders.

If we can find a way to only be invoiced what we're actually being sent that would be great. Hopefully with the new dedicated fulfilment company picking errors will be minimised.

Other than that IPR does a fantastic job and we'll carry on supporting IPR and Indie Games in general as much as we possibly can. I'm already looking at running a dedicated Indie Games Day in London this summer and combined with our Convention Calendar and, obviously, the showing that Indie Games get at Dragonmeet each year it should be a good year for the scene (as well as everything that Simon from ProFantasy and the Collective Endeavour guys are doing over here). We're also toying with setting up a second, dedicated, website for Small Press companies to heighten the range further in Europe (as well as keeping them on our core website).

Here's looking towards the future

Angus Abranson
Leisure Games
London, UK