There *is* a problem: PoD distro into retail

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

No one at this site has ever claimed that selling independent RPGs is going to save game stores.

All we can offer are the tendencies toward more sustainable sales over the long run, per core book, and more fun per unit of use. They may not make much money for the retailer, but it'll typically be reliable money.

To some retailers, these features are attractive enough to include our games as part of their business model in a more proactive way, rather than being slush orders. These retailers are welcome to carry the games, and avenues exist for them to pursue - better avenues than just "deal with us one by one," too.

To others, they don't mean anything, and therefore those retailers should not order our games. That's been my line all along.

Best,
Ron

[Luke]

Lloyd,

So you seem to be going down a path I've seen before: Gaming stores only carry RPGs in general out of some misbegotten love. Because true business sense would force them to carry profit-making items like card and miniature games.

In the apparent financial wasteland that is RPG sales: Sorcerer may sell one or two copies a month, but that's often more than most other "big name" lines. Not WotC, but some of the Green Ronin, Mongoose, Eden, Palladium, SJE, etc. How many copies of Stargate do you think still sell? Sorcerer's margin may be lower per book than those lines, but it's going to sell more copies over time. And it's likely that a product with is evocative and challenging is going to bring a customer back to the store for more of the same. So that stocking similar items and being reasonably informed about them, is a profitable venture. Whereas an overpriced book-of-the-line more often leaves the sour taste when it doth suck.

On a related note, have you run a retail store? If so for how long? Where? What was your prime mover?

-Luke

[LloydBrown]

Lloyd,
So you seem to be going down a path I've seen before: Gaming stores only carry RPGs in general out of some misbegotten love. Because true business sense would force them to carry profit-making items like card and miniature games.

Many of the independent retailers--myself included--began as RPG players.  I'm not saying that RPGs are a waste of time.  I am saying that RPGs alone do not generate the sales necessary to maintain *most* rents.  Have you seen an RPG-only store in the past 10 years?  I have seen CCG-only stores, and GW-stores do just fine. 

RPGs CAN add volume at a good margin at an acceptable turn rate.  As such, carrying RPGs is not inherently a bad idea for a game store.

In the apparent financial wasteland that is RPG sales: Sorcerer may sell one or two copies a month, but that's often more than most other "big name" lines. ....So that stocking similar items and being reasonably informed about them, is a profitable venture.

Again, it's a question of product lines and the worth of a customer.  A customer who buys a GURPS core book will spend about $300.  A customer who buys Sorcerer spends...the price of Sorcerer.  Also, multiple stores are running a 12-24x turn rate for Sorcerer, I'd be very impressed.  For many stores, that would be their 3rd-4th best RPG title, after the D&D core books.

Whereas an overpriced book-of-the-line more often leaves the sour taste when it doth suck.

You may have your opinion of what is overpriced.  I used to think the same until I saw how much money I made selling them.

On a related note, have you run a retail store? If so for how long? Where? What was your prime mover?

I ran War Dogs Game Center in Jacksonville, Florida, from May 1999 until December 2004.  I sold it to write full time. Both sales and margins increased every year--until we moved the store because the landlord decided to expand into our space instead of leasing it out.  That threw a wrench into sales for a while, but 2004 was still the best year for me personally in terms of income. 

Notice that I increased sales every year.  That means that I was up against Pokemon-level sales after Pokemon had died down.  Few retailers can say that.

At the old location (which was until the end of 2003), I at one point had the mix broken into 29.1% RPGs & accessories, 29.1% minis & accessories, and 29.1% CCGs & accessories--a perfectly even mix.  Board games were about 5%, historicals were almost nothing at that point and our little LAN and snacks rounded out the rest.

For a while, the RPG mix was artificially stimulated by the sale of books I contributed largely to (or wrote entirely), the Kingdoms of Kalamar Player's Guide and the Kingdoms of Kalamar Campaign Sourcebook.  The KCS was probably the second-best selling title during my ownership of War Dogs due to that fact, outselling everything but the D&D PH.  The KPG was probably 4th or 5th, after some of the other D&D titles, but still above all non-D&D titles.