Taking the Publishing Plunge (with some questions)

[sean2099]

Well Folks,

I have actually taken most of the steps to getting Divinity published.  This is probably self-evident to most of you.  It has been an enlightening experience, that's for sure.  As I discovered, it is a lot more than just writing a game and putting out there.  I had to become a project manager and more, which I had never done before.  I worked with a couple of artists and a couple of people who helped me edit, along with other people offering reviews and critiques of Divinity. 

I know I made some mistakes along the way.  It's hard to find the right people to work on your projects and sometimes you have to deal with problems that have come up.  In my case, it has been time.  Things come up that prevent you from doing what you want at any given moment.  For myself, I wish I had more time to advertise but I hope to change that soon.  Other people have their own life issues to deal with.  I respect all of the help given by them and don't blame any of them for anything that came up during the creation of Divinity. 

Where am I at right now?  I just paid for almost everything I needed.  I went the route of using Onebookshelf.com (the merged drivethrurpg and rpgnow.com sites)  Of course, I will also use Lulu.com and look into a couple of other places.  I will continue to talk about my product (read:hype) and allow for time for reviewers to give out official reviews.

I am still thinking about price at this point.  As Divinity is an app. 60 page original (house-based) game with some original art, I was thinking of charging $10.  I feel like this seems a bit low but I have heard the advice of $1 per 10 pages.  I was thinking that $15 would make the breakeven point reached at a reasonable level of success (like just being shy of a copper pick at RPGnow.)  However, with a 50% difference in price, I wonder how many sales I would lose.

You can accuse me of hyping my product if you like but if a brief summary will help in your answer...(I would also like your opinion about this text as "back cover text.")

Enemies are everywhere, allies are necessary and mortals are essential. You are a
Divinity, an entity deemed as Divine by your mortal worshipers. Mortal fuel your
powers and are the source of your status.

The Divinity RPG is over 60 pages of advice/guidelines for any player that desires
to run a "god game." The default basis of the game looks at the anthromorphic approach but it also illustrates how the term "Divinity" is seen in various different contents.

The setting is up to you. Divinity makes very few assumptions about the setting of your game. Since Divinity is suggestion-based, you are given help with running "god-based" games with complete, yet easy to follow guidelines. 

Finally, I posted this here to make my commitment more tangible (at least to me.)  I am almost there now.

Thanks,

Sean

[jerry]

Reading your blurb, I don't know what I'm going to use this book for. Is it a stand-alone game where we play gods? Or is it something I use to add a layer of divine play to an existing game/campaign?

Oh, and I think you have a typo: shouldn't "mortal" be plural when they feed your power?

Jerry

[sean2099]

Hi Jerry,

Thanks for the questions.  I wanted Divinity to be a stand-alone game where the player are gods but I also wanted to give other people some value for their money.  I am using a 1-10 rating system for the skills and powers, with a karmic resolution system.  I also discuss such things as creation myths and the difference between content and component worlds.  (They differ by being created around an idea or a physical quality).  Such areas are of general use to wanting a "god game" and those wanting to add a layer of Divinity to an existing game. 

Some areas might need tweaked.  For instance, my experience system centers around rewarding characters for performing miracles and for staying within their station (while still being able to accomplish their goals).  That may or may suit the game for someone wanting to add to their own game.

As for the typo, you are correct.  In the actual game, it is correct but I must lost the 's' during the cut and paste.

Again, thanks for your interest.  If you have any other questions, feel free to ask me on this forum or to email me at agesgaming@yahoo.com

Sean

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Sean, is this a PDF release, a book release, or both?

Peace,

-Troy

[sean2099]

Hiya Troy,

It's baby steps for me, which means PDF only for now.  I don't want to discount market demand if it tells me to sell POD option but we'll see.

Later,

Sean

[sean2099]

Sorry to double post but I wanted to add that I just put a thumbnail of the Divinity cover on my website.  I am not a graphics designer but the editing (not creation) was more than I thought I could do.

Sean

[Anders Larsen]

Hi

I have some comments on your "back cover text", but first a warning: English is not my first language, so you should not take my advises too seriously.

The first paragraph:

The last "are" in the first sentence is not necessary ("Enemies are everywhere, allies are necessary and mortals essential").

In sentence two i would have used a semicolon instead of a comma: "You are a Divinity; an entity deemed as Divine by your mortal worshipers".

The paragraph should end with some kind of question that hint what you are going to do in the game, like: "But how will you use the power?" or "But can you stand against the force of you enemies?" or whatever that fits to your game.

But let me give you a completely alternative way to structure the paragraph:

Enemies are everywhere. You are a Divinity, an entity deemed as Divine by your mortal worshipers, who fight against incredible odds in a struggle where you should keep your allies close, and where the mortals, who fuel your power, are essential to your success. But how far will you go to claim your right as the leader of men?

This is properly not better, and properly not correct, but it can give you another angle on how it could be written.

Paragraph two:

Instead of calling it a "god game", I think you should call it "a game where you play a god", which are much more direct and understandable.

In the second sentence there should be a comma before "but", and I suggest that you rephrase the last part like this: "The default basis of the game looks at the anthromorphic approach, but it also details how the term "Divinity" is seen in various other contents."

Paragraph three:

The first two sentence does not seem to work very well, I would suggest something like: "The text only makes a few assumptions about the setting, the rests is up to you."

I do not understand the first part of the last sentence: "Since Divinity is suggestion-based". You should properly explain what you mean with "suggestion-based".

- Anders

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Sean,

I only saw one real question in your post, but if there's others, bring them up again.

That question was about price. The price people are willing to pay for a PDF has gone up over time, and $15 is perfectly reasonable for a finished, polished, playtested game. Because of the size of your game and the state of it (that is, a first release), I've found $10 to be a much more accessible price point to a browsing customer.

[Troy_Costisick]

Heya,

Sean,

I only saw one real question in your post, but if there's others, bring them up again.

That question was about price. The price people are willing to pay for a PDF has gone up over time, and $15 is perfectly reasonable for a finished, polished, playtested game. Because of the size of your game and the state of it (that is, a first release), I've found $10 to be a much more accessible price point to a browsing customer.

-I'll echo what Clinton said and add my personal experience.  With my DL-Quarterly back issues, I will be charging $7.00 for them.  My games are playtested and ready to go, but since they are definately basement-punk and not professionally laid out, I'm not charging more than that.  When you do get your game for sale, Sean, post here with your experiences, start to finish, with your game.  I'm sure we'd all be interested in that.

Peace,

-Troy

[sean2099]

Thanks for all of your interest,

Anders Larsen:

Please do not discount your English-speaking abilities.  I actually value your prespective because you are free of the slang and shortcuts most native English speakers use in their daily conversation.  Incorporating your suggestions and my own way of looking at Divinity

Rewrite of the Divinity blurb:

Enemies are everywhere.  You are a Divinity; an entity given 'Divine' status by your mortal worshipers. You cannot watch your flock by yourself; you will need allies in order to protect your flock.  How you will keep your worshipers for being won over by rivals?  How will you keep your Divinity?

The Divinity RPG is designed for those wanting to role-play gods and goddesses.  However, Divinity also seeks to look beyond the anthromorphic approach of viewing them.

Divinity makes very few assumptions about your game.  The rest is up to you. 

I don't know if this is a 'real' question but what do you think now?

Clinton and Troy:

I was wondering what to charge people for this game.  I think I will go with 10 dollars as a starting price.  I think your price is reasonable Troy considering that subscription sacrifice some short term profit in an attempt to gain more dollars over the long run.  However, I wouldn't even have enough games to offer anyone a service like you are doing.  Although perhaps there might be interest in a service where several publishers get together and offer a "game of the month" or something like that where you could offer one-offs or games that been around for a long while. *shrug*

I will definitely post my experiences on here.  In fact, tonight I am sending the contract over for Onebookshelf.com

Sean

[Anders Larsen]

It work better for me now, but I still have a few minor suggestions.

I am not sure that it works well to have two sentences with a semicolon follow each other, in the third sentence you could use "so" instead of semicolon. You use "flock" two times in one sentence - not a big problem, but I think it flows better you use "them" the second time. The fourth sentence you properly mean "How will you ..."  instead of "How you will". The last question could be shorten to "Can you keep your Divinity?" which is more direct.

Here is the paragraph with the suggestions incorporated:

Enemies are everywhere.  You are a Divinity; an entity given 'Divine' status by your mortal worshipers. You cannot watch your flock by yourself, so you will need allies in order to protect them.  How will you keep your worshipers from being won over by rivals? Can you keep your Divinity?

The second paragraph seems a bit unfinished. Maybe you could end it with a couple of examples, or hints, of alternative approaches.

I also think the last paragraph need a stronger ending. Something that says "Now go play it!".

- Anders

[sean2099]

Take 3:  (Thanks Anders)

Here is the paragraph with the suggestions incorporated:

Enemies are everywhere.  You are a Divinity; an entity given 'Divine' status by your mortal worshipers. You cannot watch your flock by yourself, so you will need allies in order to protect them.  How will you keep your worshipers from being won over by rivals? Can you keep your Divinity?

The Divinity RPG is designed for those wanting to role-play gods and goddesses.  However, Divinity also seeks to look beyond the anthromorphic approach of viewing them.  How about becoming a member of a "machine-collective" or the spirit guide for your ancestoral family?

Divinity makes very few assumptions about your game.  Make it happen.  Claim your Divinity.

Thanks again,

Sean

[Anders Larsen]

Very nice.

Just one really minor suggestion: Alternative you could have "You make it happen" instead of just "Make it happen".

I think you now have something that are much stronger and more direct; it seems to demand the reader's attention by telling him things like: "This is the cool things you can do", "are you ready to do this?" and "now go get it!". It is certainly something like this that would spark my interest.

- Anders

[sean2099]

Thanks for the help Anders.  The blurb is a lot stronger and more appealing now.  On other matters, I got hit with a pleasant surprise.  One of the artists for Divinity emailed and told me they went through and did an edit on it.  I actually had a friend who is a writer who has a couple of short stories published help me edit along with a some people who gave me reviews and another who contributed as well.

Anyway, it was unexpected and it affirmed the idea that treating your freelancers well is always a good idea.  I had more thoughts but the hour grows late in my neck of the woods.

Later,

Sean

[Jake Richmond]

I think $10 is a good price for a PDF, but I don't think there's anything wrong woth charging more. Don't be afraid to put a higher price tag on your product. Remember, you can alwys change it later.

For reference, I charge $10 for the Panty Explosion PDF and $20 for the hardcopy. No one has ever complained.