Advertising

[moonflovver]

Hello all, I am new to this so I hope I am going about things the right way.  I have written two RPG's at this point a small RPG for new, young gamers and an even smaller RPG for small children.  I have an extended version of the small RPG in the works, two new RPG's and a card game.  My group has been to a less than successful convention and we have just put our game up for purchase on our website.......So the question is how do we advertise?  How do we get the game out there for others to enjoy and hopefully purchase? Our website is http://www.pinchegames.com/ //and we are thinking maybe put the game to disk and sell it at a comic shop as well.  Any thoughts or ideas about this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks

[MatrixGamer]

A good rule of thumb I learned about advertising (and business in general) is that the more you know about business the more money you can afford to spend on it. If you don't know much don't spend much because you won't know how to spend it effectively.

I view all my game work as a learning process. I'm still learning. There is a lot out there.

Chris Engle

[C.W.Richeson]

I actually hear about a lot of small press games through LiveJournal these days.  In fact, I tend to hear about the games there before anywhere else.

Cultivating a blog and exchanging promotion with other authors might be one excellent cost-effective means of marketing your game.  Encouraging fans to talk about the game by participating in said conversations in a positive way on messageboards also works well, at least from the perspective of a consumer.

[xenopulse]

Welcome to the Forge!  I'm Christian.

Chris' advice is a good start.  He also reviews games, so he should be one of the people you send a free copy to.  You should find a couple of respected reviewers like him (Kenneth Hite is another one, for example) who not only look at the big companies but at indie games as well and provide them with a free review copy.

Having people write about their experiences with the game also helps.  There are actual play boards here, on rpg.net, and in other places.  Encourage people you know are playing the game to share through threads in those places what they like about the game, but make sure it's not just complete shilling; it should be honest pro-and-con play reporting.

Good luck!