Wanted: an indepeent appraisal

[Michael Hopcroft]

I tend to make my publishing decisions for creative reasons rather than due to cold hard marketing. I don;t have access to any research data at all.

And now this is giving me ulcers. I ahve three products that will be comoing out of layout in the next month at Michael Hopcroft Press. A lot of moeny ois going to be spent to promote them. And if they go over like lead balloons I'll never hear the end of it from my associates.

Is there any way I can get indpendent assessments of the sales appeal of indivudual products so I have some idea what i should (or shouldn't) be looking forward to?

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Michael, you are doing it again. "Make my business decisions for me, please." And as usual, you are not referring to a decision that you are about to make, but rather a decision you made quite a while ago.

The answer is No. No, no one here will ever tell you whether what you are doing is right for your company, in a specific instance of this kind.

I tried to rephrase your question for you in order to demonstrate a better way to ask it, so this thread could be useful to you and others. However, it's impossible! You decided to publish these three books already, and now here they are - and now you get all worred about whether they'll sell?

When you say you make business decisions based on creative reasons, that tells me nothing at all. The issue is not whether the reasons are creative or marketing or whatever, the issue is whether they are good reasons. If you weren't sure about that back when you solicited these books in the first place, then there is no way anyone can hold your hand and just tell you, "Oh, it'll be all right." Which is what you're requesting.

There is another, more important snag here, and I hope people read this next part carefully. Michael, you are facing exactly the problem which independent publishing does not have. You are essentially trapped by and subordinated to the people who've given you money, and no matter what happens, you have to please them.

You've defined success as their success, and promised it to them. And this was your choice - you placed yourself in this position. "Lend me some money so I can publish this game, and the game will return your money." You call them "associates," and I call them your bosses.

Let's also reflect on the point that, as of last year, you decided to publish others' games, not your own. Now you're really in the middle, as you have made yourself responsible for author success and investor success without being either one.

The Forge is built to help people who publish their own games. Although all the information here is available for anyone, there is literally nothing here specifically to help people who do not match our definition of independence. I can't help you with the problem of having so many other people to take care of or to satisfy. None of my experience, none of my perspectives, and none of my contacts are geared toward this problem.

If anyone has experience with this or a similar situation and wishes to help Michael with anything to do with his first post, do not do it here. Contact him privately.

Best,
Ron