Selling "Simple" Games?

[MatrixGamer]

This is a perfect example of how technology is changing business practices even as we speak. I developed the nub of the business model I'm using now in 1995, when the sales routes your talking about did were not that important. The world has definitely changed.

I've always been leery of the distribution system. Early on I heard too many horror stories about distributors lying to stores about small companies going out of business just because they didn't want to reorder! So on the one hand I've seen them as the route to a mass market and at the same time the potential enemy. One good thing I can say for distributors is they have given me a lot of feedback on how to make books better (ie more sellable). It has spurred me on to do a better job. I don't hold it against them that they only want to carry products that will sell quickly - they are in business after all.

I must admit that preparing to jump through distribution hoops has been a major driving factor in my work of the last five years. I'd like to learn more about these newer approaches to see how I can use them.

I certainly don't regret building the capacity to do my own printing. I am a craftsman at heart. It is very satisfying to make something that will last a hundred years. Since I set this up all my fear about putting out new titles has gone away. I like that. Terri and I also have ambitions to publish small niche books (on puppetry, and other odd topics). I'f I can print a thousand of those books in a year that would be something. I know I reveal my old thinking here. Paper - in books - still seems more real to me that spinning electrons. I don't think the book is dead. Though the book business is changing radically.

Chris Engle
Hamster Press