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I'm *very* close to releasing a new card game (prints this weekend actually) and I'm looking at a release the end of April. In between now and then, I want to try to get out there and promote the game, but I live in a fairly small area. I don't have that great an access to local shops to even get started. I *was* good friends with the last owner of a card & hobby shop before he retired and I'm taking college courses now with someone starting a new shop this month, but locally I'm really limited.
So, my 'brilliant' idea:
I've collected a number of contact addresses for comic, card and hobby shops and I'm looking into sending out a letter, but via e-mail. I don't have the money for a regular mailing, though I could do a more localized one (send physical within the state at least). What I'm wondering about is, what could I write/send that would set my letter apart from
A) Spam and
B) Everything else out there?

The game has a number of features and perks (especially concerning the profit margin on a direct sale), but anyone have any advice for what actually grabs shop owners attention?

I'm not addressing your question directly, but I'll get there.

If I were marketting your game, I'd go to GenCon and Origins.  I'd take several friends and make sure that cute women, young and old, were among them.  I'd make sure that they were intimately familiar with the game and that they all enjoyed it.  Don't bother with folks who don't, you need honesty here.  And then use them to demo the crap out of it.  Sometimes your friends will be wearing exhibitor badges and running the demo from behind the table.  Sometimes they'll be playing the demo without their exhibitor badge to make your booth look like it's hopping.

Game store owners will see your game there.  The players who like the game will buy it and take it back, all over the continent (and beyond) and show it to their friends.  And if you motivate them with free merchandise in reward for demoing to their local game and comic shops, they'll do that too.

Oh, and you want to have a professional web presence including at least one forum in which people can chat about your game.  These folks who like your game and take it back to demo, can be 'rewarded' with moderator powers.  Building a fan base is going to be important for you.

Now you don't have to worry so much about the letter because your demo-monkeys are going to be out selling the game in person for you.  Make sure they have several of your business cards, including your URL and contact info.  Once a bunch of stores are interested in the game, getting it into distribution, assuming that's your goal, will be easy.

This all assumes that your product doesn't suck.  (And I think most new games do.)

Chris

Hi daMoose,

Christopher's right. And his harshness, if any, is totally based on clear-minded experience.

To put it very bluntly, an email like you describe will probably have no effect on retailers at all, because - despite your sincerity - the email itself is spam. Retailers, probably rightly, have no interest in promotional efforts which are not backed up by money.

Does that sound mean? It shouldn't. To be interested in your game, they would have to accept a lot of if's. If you really have a game at all, if it's playable and fun, if its production value meets the bar which CCG customers expect, if it's going to be reliably produced over the long haul, if they can order it from their regular distributor ...

Most retailers are not going to be interested if there's more than one "if," total.

Also, are you familiar with the term "three-tier distribution?" It's a pretty big deal in the hobby biz. The short point about it, here, is that most retailers are not especially oriented toward communicating directly with the game publisher, but rather with companies called distributors who have already bought the game. So mailing out to retailers directly before you are set up with a distributor may actually have a negative effect.

Best,
Ron

Three steps ahead of you?
Got a booth registered for GenCon, have several friends who are really interested in the title already going, and to address the 'booth babe' phenominon, my girlfriend kicks my butt in MtG and picked this game up in one night.
We also, once we work out our hosting issues, have everthing on the site mentioned; one of my artists put together a really nice website, we already run a forum for our hobby software development which gets a fair amount of traffic, and I'm working on an advertising packet for people to download and share with local stores (jist is get a store owner to place an order, player gets a free pack of cards).
Harsh? Nope. Honest ^_^ Rather have someone do that then try to be all nice and sugary. Thanks ^_^
Part of the fun is I have no way to get this all *started* before GenCon, and thats in August; I'm looking an April release. Also, this is my own blundering mind you, printing ended up running more than expected, so I don't really have anything in the way of "professional" advertising. To counter, I'm looking into the gaming news release services for a release-date press release, some forums that allow open posting of new games/projects, and getting demos off to magazines and internet sites dedicated to games and reviews.
I do lothe the mass-mailed mortgages (I rent, I don't own a home!!) and free-prescription mailings, but with the game starting as small as it is, distibution is out of the question- too costly on my end and I doubt I'd have the stock to sell through them at the moment. I figure if I could send something out direct, I can get a couple stores to bite, order a case or two (which isn't too unreasonable, a case = 12 decks). With that, a web site with a shop, and GenCon I feel I'd be pretty well covered as a beginner.
As for distro'ing, I'm not really keen on that. Tried for a bit to break into the Hobby Shop market, didn't have the money for that (now whats sad is I *was* able to publish my own game, but can't sell anyone elses). Another topic I replied to in "Publishing" here dealt with offering the product at what would be LOWER than a distributors price. In the end, I'd make more, but so would the store owner. Poster had an e-mail from friend who, correctly, broke it down into about 3's: Each party gets roughly a third ideally. Take the distributor out, each remaining party can make a little more  ^_^ And I have more time than money; I can make apperances, I can go store to store, I can make contacts direct.
Looking at your list, I have two of your 'if' concerns, the lifetime and the distributor. Lifetime concern stems from the fact that, like all games, future support depends on a good standing of the first release.
Of course the designer is going to say their game is fun and playable, but I'm usually hesitant on saying stuff about my own games unless someone else says it first, and everyone whos played it loves it and I have people asking when they can pre-order, so~ The company I'm using (PrintMasters) has several indie card games I recognized in their portfolio and product seems of excellent quality.

Personally, I wouldn't waste my time, money or printer ink with a mass mailing.

How often do you respond to mass mailings?

If you're serious about your game. Go personally to all the retailers in the area and offer to run demos of your game for free. Promote the hell out of it. Do ALL the work yourself. Be a nice guy, bring a few of your friends along.

On the day of the event, split any sales with the retailer.

And if, on the day of the event, no one shows, you and a friend should each buy something from the store, politely thank them, and tell them how it will go better next time.

Being personable, enthusiastic and actually having a product to sell and make a little cash with increases your chances dramatically.

There's a long time between now and GenCon. Get out there and promote your product! Local cons are great for this, too. Get a table and play the game until you drop. Even if you're just playing with your girlfriend. Even if no one comes over to your table, you've started to make your presence known. Slowly but surely you'll win them over.

I truly believe you can make your ideas work with nothing but your own personal effort. You just have to be prepared to do a lot of work yourself.
good luck.
-Luke

Quote from: abzuPersonally, I wouldn't waste my time, money or printer ink with a mass mailing.

Was going to do it via the web to web sites/retailers actually, hence the concern about it being spam and ignored.

As for local cons and shops, I live in the middle of nowhere(Mid-west Michigan to be vaugly exact). Nearest card shops are, I think, an offbeat shack about a good half hour drive north and there might still be one in one of the larger cities about an hours drive south. Otherwise its Wal*Mart and Meijer who provide the area's ccg/rpg needs.
Do have a local bookstore I'm going to speak to about doing a demo event, and as I mentioned my college classmate whos opening a new shop as well.
Am prepared for the work ^_^ Needing to find avenues for someone living in the thicket though.

a half hour or an hour drive seems like small potatoes to me. but i got to great lengths to push my shit, so take it all with a grain of salt.

-Luke

I don't even think the place is open anymore though~ Last I was through the town it was rather like a ghost town...anyone know Bear Lake, Michigan? Tis owned by 2 people I do believe...
Other than that, nearest shops are an hour to several hours away at the moment. Working full time and college full time make it a little more difficult to get away for that kind of thing, otherwise I'd be plugging it at shops every free hour I could ^_^

Hello,

I think you guys are getting a little sidetracked by the drive-to-store issue. What matters for purposes of this thread is talking about how to establish good relationships with stores, period.

1. If you're not going to use a national distributor such as Alliance, then you are already cutting yourself out of most stores. Period. You could go and clean those retailers' windows and nanny their kids, and they still won't carry your game.

2. However, this is not all bad. A certain number of retailers are very supportive of small-press, non-distributed games. Most of them work in part through recommendations by publishers of such games - such as Luke and myself. Many of them are open to hearing from small publishers one-on-one, if the publisher can demonstrate actual product.

So it seems to me what you need is a list of such retailers, to follow up on after GenCon. Contacting them via a cover letter and a phone call, highly personalized to their particular store, seems far more effective to me than any mass emailing could hope to be.

Best,
Ron

Idea's not fixed, so its not big issue. I just need a way to reach stores thats within my own reach (mailings and dozens of shop visits are not).
Distro's take a chunk that, at the moment, I can't afford~ Eventually, if I have the stock and the sales to support/justify a distributor, then yes I will.
I can send some mailings out in-state, and even around Indiana/Illinois/Ohio before GenCon, try to get some awareness out there that we WILL be there and what not. That can be a powerful tool as well as catching peoples eyes who are there.
I'd be greatly appreciative of any contacts you might have later. I understand not having anything to show at the moment, but I will have something up, online and out there before much longer ^_^
Thanks though everyone ^_^

Finally got everything back up and online for our host ^_^
I placed a link back to the site, as well as a simple banner, in my signiture (if the image is a problem, let me know).
The site has news updates for the past two months or so this version of the site has been online, a link to a mailing list for updates, downloads including a quick version of the rule book and some sample card sheets. Also linked is the back-story of Final Twilight: Trinity, or at least the first part of it.
Its been a while since I've updated the story (October), but when I was it recieved a Moderators Pick from the Elfwood Admins and some attention there.

http://www.neoproductions.net/final-twilight/

daMoose,

If you can't afford a distributor's cut, are you sure you can afford a retailer's?  Most distributors want 60% off MSRP, while most retailers want 50%.  If your margins can't accomodate the distributors, then your profit per unit has got to be tiny with retailers - enough that I'd recommend you look at alternative printing methods (or electronic sales) or focus on selling direct to consumer.  You really don't want a printing cost over 25% of the MSRP, and 10% is the advice you'll hear from established publishers.

When it comes to meeting stores, personal contact is always the best way.  Conventions are a good way to meet many retailers, but you have to remember that they're meeting a lot of other sellers as well.  My direct postcard mailings have generated enough interest to be worthwhile and aren't terribly expensive.  Phone sales are supposed to have worked for some publishers, but they're not my thing.   E-mail and web efforts are essentially worthless with stores unless you've met them personally in the past.  In fact, I think unsolicited e-mail to store owners will do more damage than good.

Still, I don't think any amount of effort with a retailer will be as effective as getting in with their distributors (which requires a fair amount of work in itself).  In my experience, most stores won't even special order from me even when they have a customer who's willing to pre-pay for the game (three stores so far have inquired about distributors and not purchased the book in just such a situation).  Eventually the customer finds me directly so I don't lose the sale, but it should show you how resistant stores are to ordering from publishers.

Revisiting the personal angle... encouraging local demo groups (such as clubs or just fans) is a great way to encourage both distributors and retailers to pick you up.  I know my success in the UK stems largely from a few related groups of fanatical Irish gamers.  A few well-placed freebies have paid themselves off quickly over there.

I'm working with some unique things here (I think at least, compared to most experiances here).
Thanking your advice, my printing already falls at about 20% SRP. I can drop that more if I were able to afford a higher print run, but alas I cannot. Either I bite the bullet and pay a little more per unit for a smaller run or I don't do it~ Thems the breaks~ Art is the biggest expence, won't really see that drop per-unit until I'm making/selling much more.
As for the SRP and margins, I feel pretty comfortable swinging a 50% cut for retailers. I am doing something that might be a little odd though- I am intentionally keeping the SRP lower.
CCG's are a touch different from RPGs in that we don't buy one set of books and make up adventures and materials ourselves. CCGs are like the crack of gaming- once you start playing, to keep playing you have to buy more. You can just buy one deck, but that gets old after a while. Because of this, a lot of players (myself included) are a little leary of new CCGs, as are store owners. They don't want to be saddled with cases of decks (granted, the last part is true of all games). So, I'm trying to do a couple things to combat this:
1) I'm offering the rules and demo cards on my site
2) I'm *going* to start a 'street team' type campaign in which members would take fliers to stores, try to get a shopkeeper interested and submit an order. The member would recieve a 2 player Demo Deck as a freebie for getting an order (verified by a reference on the order or such).
3) I'm keeping the SRP as close to $8 as possible ($7.95 USD direct sale through my site).
Typically, a 60 card deck for a given CCG can run between $10 and $12, depends on the store (I know MtG 75 Tourny packs sell about the same right now). A Preconstructed FT Starter Deck (54 Cards, 1 die) would run the shopkeepers about $4, $48 for a case of 12. SRP is always the shop keepers call (MtG and others usually list theirs around $9.99 or $10), but at $8 they're still making money and its not a huge investment, especially if only one case was ordered (and those few daring shopkeeps usually only order 1 case to see how it sells), which is all I'd need at this moment.
On the player end, the $8 SRP encourages something of an "Eh, why not?" approach. Players who are looking for something new are more likely to pick something up with the smaller price tag, which is Economics 101. In my own local "studies" with my playtesters, I'd ask first if they'd pick up a deck, and the general responce was "Maybe." When asked how much they thought a deck would cost, they figured the above, $10. When I asked if they'd pick up a deck for $8 the responce was "When can I order it from you?" or "When will they be ready?". Fun part is, several of them hate CCGs (FT also incorperates some RP elements, which drew a couple of them to the playtesting, to see if integrating ccgs and rps could be done).
Again, on distros, I don't have the stock. I'm going to have about 135 of said 12 deck cases and some 2 player demo decks (the result of a neccesary re-pack to accomodate my budget). Maybe I'm over-guessing what a distributor would order, but to me that seems really small for a distributor(s). Also have site sales and some direct sales.
As for shops and direct contact, that is acknowleged. I'm no stranger to business, just to publishing and original material on this kind of scale. Rule number one, aside from having a good, detailed plan of what you're doing is have the right contacts~ Learned that from my parents, antique dealers, and that has never failed to be true ^_^
As I also said, I live in BFE. Wal*Mart and Meijer carry cards and games here, no one else. Local gamers get them there or the internet.
Not to sound obnoxious or anything, but the point in the post is I'm trying to reach out because of this fact: I have nothing in my area to even begin to support this. I do appreciate the help ^_^ But locally I have few options, and working 40 hours (nights and weekends) and full time college leave little time for travel. Thus, I'm looking for avenues alternative to appearances half the state away or trying to lead a local revolution. We've ruled out mass-web mailing, contacts are important but travel is not to be at this time. So, imagine I live in a cave with only the internet at my disposal- any ideas on how I can reach some people?
(sorry for the mammoth post!!)

Hi DaMoose,

Please remove the banner from your sig. Images aren't allowed in the forums I moderate here.

No blood, no foul, so don't feel smacked or scolded. New folks here are expected to discover the limits, and that's OK. Furthermore, it is a very nice banner. But folks who want to see it can check it out at your site.

Best,
Ron

Understood~
Thats my sig for just about all the forums I'm on, so I just pasted it in. Did notice no other images, hence the note in the first with it and I do believe this is the only thread I've posted in with it~ Understood though ^_^