GAMA Trade Show 2002

[GMSkarka]

OK...So, now we've had the discussion about who's going to be at GenCon '02 (not me, I'm skipping this year and taking a real, non-working vacation for the first time in over a decade).

Which Forge folks are going to be hittin' Vegas for GTS02?  Adamant Entertainment, in the form of myself and T.S. Luikart, will be there, although not exhibiting (no product yet, since we've sold out of the original print run of UnderWorld).  I'll also be pimping myself for freelance gigs and publisher-consultancy contracts.

So, who else?  Vegas, baby, Vegas!  

GMS

[Jason L Blair]

Wish I could be there, mi'o, but alas... I cannot.

Not gonna be at GenCon, eh? Damn, man. What about Origins?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Gareth,

I'll be there. That said ...

Frankly, the GTS is a highly dubious investment from a publishing standpoint, as I found "the industry" (so-called) to be notably uninterested in talking about the games or even how to sell them. There were exceptions, but not many.

Of all the retailers who came to the booth last year, only half even wanted to know the basic premise of the game at ALL, and TWO people total wanted to know how the system worked or anything similar (I suspect these latter were the usual "gamer right-hand-man employee" sorts who didn't handle ordering anyway).

I have also encountered retailers since then who've said "Never heard of it" regarding Sorcerer, and I know damn well they picked up a folder and listened to my spiel during GTS. I have encountered those who've said, "The guy you talked to [from the store] doesn't have any ordering authority."

One of the key points about RPG publishing is that pre-orders do not, functionally exist. No one pre-orders in the sense of six months ahead of release - they've learned the hard way that it's an untenable drain of cash. A retailer cannot do good business by investing heavily ahead of time for a product that might not appear, and a manufacturer cannot gauge potential success by pre-orders. Thus "generating pre-orders" via the presence at GAMA is not the idea - the idea is to generate contacts, maneuver in the rep/power structure, and to show one's presence.

None of this makes me mad. GTS is specifically about cementing bonds between retailers, distributors, and those publishers who are milking the myth of the "Next Big Thing." It helps to demonstrate to them that you have the money to make it there, but beyond that initial demonstration, I'm not sure what value can be added. Sort of an "advertise because you can, and you better, because if you don't, you'll look like you can't." Some publishers understand this very well and use GTS as a venue to show how much cash/promo they command with a lot of bells and whistles. I prefer to go under the top rather than over, and stick to high-impact conversation. (This turned out to work well in certain directions.)

It's also an excellent learning and information-gathering place. I found many folks to be very, very open about publishing tactics, and although some of them I disagreed with (e.g. high price-pointers, criticisms of the Sorcerer cover image, and the continual insistence that the retailer is the essential golden goose of the industry), they all helped me a lot. I especially learned about print costs and tactics for finding the right printer - again, I came to my own conclusions (take the second-lowest bid), but the information was crucial.

Best,
Ron

[GMSkarka]

Not gonna be at GenCon, eh? Damn, man. What about Origins?

Nope.   No point.   Skull & Bones is going to be published by a third-party publisher, we've just sold out of the initial print run of UnderWorld, and we're not releasing the Second Edition until Fall 2002.

So, without product, the return-on-investment isn't that great.  Plus, it opens up valuable family-vacation time that I've been unable to use for over a decade.  

Things might change around Origins....maybe I'll show for a couple of days, but I won't know until closer to the actual dates.  GenCon is a total no-go, though.  I've already made other plans.  :)

GMS[/i]

[GMSkarka]

Frankly, the GTS is a highly dubious investment from a publishing standpoint

I couldn't disagree more.  (There's a shock, right?)

GTS is the single most effective direct-to-vendor marketing tool for publishers, in my experience.  Anecdotal, so take it as you will, but in the month immediately following GTS 1997, sales of Hong Kong Action Theatre! spiked high enough to push it into the Top 30 according to Comics Retailer (now Comics & Games Retailer...and yes, I'm aware of the problems with their modeling methods).  Last year, immediately following GTS, pre-orders for Synister's The Last Exodus doubled, and orders for UnderWorld spiked around 40% over the pre-GTS figures.  The fact remains that nearly every distributor in the business attends, and those retailers that attend (over 300 last year) represent some of the most successful stores in the country.  Getting name recognition with those people, not to mention potential friendships, can be critical.

Then, there is also the added value that you mention here:
 

It's also an excellent learning and information-gathering place.

I complete agree with this.  GTS gives a total view of how the industry actually works, as opposed to nice theories about how it should work.

In fact, I would go so far as to say that if more new publishers attended GTS to learn about this business, I would have fewer opportunities to offer my consultancy services!  :)  

I especially recommend going to the seminars that are intended for retailers and distributors...it will give valuable insight into the needs and concerns of "the other side".

I'll look forward to seeing you there, Ron.

GMS

[Ron Edwards]

Hey Gareth,

When it comes to promoting a new game, I do agree with you. Please take my "dubious" comment in the context I put it in - questionable, problematic, risky - not useless. If I didn't think GAMA was worth attending at all, I wouldn't have gone.

I'll stand by all my comments regarding its features, and the attitudes of many retailers - you know as well as I do, better even, that it's the distributors that one must hit at GAMA. I didn't discuss that in my post at all, but in this one, I'll say that it's a pretty big deal and that GTS is the only way to do it directly. I'm willing to bet good money that your success in promotion was realized primarily through them.

Oh, remember that essay I was talking about? I should have a readable draft ready at the show for you.

Best,
Ron

[GMSkarka]

When it comes to promoting a new game, I do agree with you. Please take my "dubious" comment in the context I put it in - questionable, problematic, risky - not useless. If I didn't think GAMA was worth attending at all, I wouldn't have gone.

Ah.   OK...sorry about that.  I'm not used to people in this industry actually using words in their correct context.  :)

Oh, remember that essay I was talking about? I should have a readable draft ready at the show for you.

Excellent.  I look forward to it.  See you there.

GMS