Publishing Costs

[Kilor Di]

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this particular topic, but here goes.

I'm going to try to save up enough money from my job so that I can get a government loan to start my own game company.  Most of these government loan programs require you to have at least 25% of the money you need for the business (and a business plan, but I'll worry about that myself).  So my question is, how much does it cost for the various methods of self-publishing?

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

John Wick did an excellent write up on Gaming Outpost a few years ago that I recomend you go read if it is still up on their site.  He goes into great detail about what he did to self publish his game Orkworld.

For my game, it cost us about $15,000 to produce 2 different books each having a run of 1200 hardbacks.  That included art, software, printing and proofing, convention booth, and so on.  

Peace,

-Troy Costisick

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

The What do you pay for X? thread offers a few points that might help, although probably not the hard-and-fast values you're looking for.

Lump sums might be useful to you, though, just as Troy posted. So for Adept Press, getting Sorcerer into book form and promoting it cost about $6,000.

Best,
Ron

[Erick Wujcik]

...my question is, how much does it cost for the various methods of self-publishing?

When creating your business plan you'll want to get estimates from commercial printers, something that is getting easier and easier to do on-line.

For example, if you visit http://www.bookprinters.com/ you can get an estimate from McNaughton & Gunn (my long-time printers for Amber Diceless and Amberzine).

Other major printers include (I'm only including those I've dealt with personally):

http://www.thomson-shore.com/ (highly recommended for both their outstanding reputation, and their free publication, "Printer's Ink," available by mail or on-line).
http://www.malloy.com/ (excellent hardcover printer).
http://www.quebecor.com/ (I believe they are the biggest printer in Canada).
http://www.bookmasters.com/ (lots of 'extra' services).

While you should definitely check with local printers, you are apt to get the best value from nationally known printers (in Michigan, fortunately, I'm close by several of the world's largest).

When you get a quote, bear in mind that page counts divisible by 64 (128, 192, 256, etc.) are the most economical. Likewise, the larger the production run, the cheaper the cost per copy.

Erick

[smokewolf]

I feel like the wierdo now. I spent a grand total of about $300 to get started. I used about $40 to buy clip art and then the other $250 to buy me first POD print run. I use RPGMALL for the POD service which does not require a service fee only printing cost.

I have used the first print run and PDF sales from RPGNOW to keep the ball rolling. Right now I just finished my 3rd such print run and if all goes well at GenCon, I will be doing a 4th right afterwards.

Not the easiest way I admit, but it keeps me from borrowing money from my wife or the bank. I did everything myself, writing, editing (btw do not do, get someone else) and art. Saved alot of money (which I did not have) but it was tiring and long. It took two years to get out once I started writing.

I would love to get into traditional print and distribution but I am a ways from that point financially. Although I do have friends who want to invest, I am not sure I want to go down that route just yet.