[Periodical RPG Model] DL-Quarterly initial reflections

[Seth M. Drebitko]

I would see three advantages in doing this (but then, you would have to split the price by 12, for each monthly paiement)

His subscription period does not have to be broken down in this manor. If Troy wants to he can set a pay pal subscription button up to once per year charge a certain amount. This would make sure he gets his big up front business and secure that less of it would be falling off the books because people forget to re-subscribe.
I would suggest revamping the lifetime membership so that it uses the trial period option to put in effect the one time large charge and then after that charges only the cost to produce the book in this way your not ever losing money and the client is still getting an amazing discount.
Either way I look forward to seeing how this works for you as I have been working something similar to this up.
Regards, Seth

[pells]

Troy, thanks for your answers. It seems I miss a point into your publishing model : this is not really monthly subscription but peridocal model (internet/cell phone provider vs time magazine). My mistake then. But still, I do have a comment.

-Well, the way I work it is similar to the way magazines work their subscriptions.  If I oder a subscription to Time magazine, they send me the next week's issue when it comes out.  They don't send me the old one.  I'm using the way magainzes do their subscriptions as the basis for my model.  Make sense?

Okay, let's take te Time example. With it, you have three options :
1. buy the current issue.
2. subscribe to it starting with the next issue (at a rate per issue lesser than 1).
3. buy back issues (at a rate higher than 1)

Now, you want to follow this model (periodical) and get the benefit from it (upfront money, knowing how many you will sell in advance). That's fine with me.
But, I still do see a problem (but, maybe, it's just me) ...
Revisiting the above model :
1. Cuthroat is the current issue, but you can't buy it as a stand alone (unless, of course, it is available on other sites).
2. You have that, but it is odd. It is like, if you subscribe for Times on monday, the next issue is in fact the current one
3. You have that too. No problem there from my point of view

Now have you thought of offering the current issue as a stand alone (ie without subscription) ?
Have you thought of considering the current issue a back issue as soon as it is released ? Or as soon as the next one is released if you can buy the current one as a stand alone ?
I understand what you're doing, but, as you can see, you're not exactly on the periodical model. Am I right on this ?

My main concern with your management of issues is when do I get a product ?
Anyway, not really a major problem, as I believe you'll soon discover if your sales tend to drop when there are no current issue available (ie customers will have to wait).

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya Graham,

On the subscription model, may I check something? Let's say I buy a subscription in February 2007, too late to get Cutthroat. Do I get all the games which are published between February 2007 and 2008? Or do I get the next four games, regardless of when exactly they're published? The first option might, of course, only give me three games. The second option is how a magazine subscription would work.

(This is something I'm particularly interested in, because the game I want most is Holmes and Watson, and I might just miss that game being published, seeing as I actually subscribed just before Christmas).

Equally, what happens if printing's delayed, and my subscription expires between the intended publication date and the actual one?

-Let me answer your questioins one at a time. :)

1)  If a person orders a subscription in Feb 2007 then they will get the final three books of DL-Quarterly Series #1 (Hierarchy, Standoff, HnW) and the first book of Series #2 (Saviours). It works just like a magazine.  A subscription gets your four games no matter what.

2)  Yes, you will receive Holmes and Watson with our subscription.  It will come out in September of this year.

3)  If there is a delay, everyone who has a subscription will still get their game.  A subscription guarantees you 4 games no matter what.  Hopefully, I have worked out all the problems with my printer so there won't be any delays in the future.

Peace,

-Troy

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

I would see three advantages in doing this (but then, you would have to split the price by 12, for each monthly paiement)

His subscription period does not have to be broken down in this manor. If Troy wants to he can set a pay pal subscription button up to once per year charge a certain amount. This would make sure he gets his big up front business and secure that less of it would be falling off the books because people forget to re-subscribe.

-I saw that option for PayPal, but wasn't completely comfortable with it.  I think that someone who comes after me and wants to follow this method might be very inclined to use that feature.  But, since this is my first time even trying something like this, I wanted to stick with what I knew.  I think you've got a legitimate idea there, but it's not something that I wanted to do on my first go-around :)

Peace,

-Troy