Swag

[Michael Hopcroft]

As long as I'm going to GenCon, a lot of people are going to ask me for free copies of my game for review or in return for their games. Some are worthy of the consideration. Some are not.

The question is how to tell the difference without going wonky on them.

[Dav]

In my experience, there are two ways to play this game.

The first, and largely the one that does not endear you to the reviewer ("but screw them!" I say with gusto) is to say, "no freebies, but you can buy at cost if you show me credentials".

The second, and probably the method that is most often employed (at least by small press, which really feels those free copies) is to say, "Where is your company/zine located?... is there a PO BOX or other official address that is registered to the zine/company?"  If so, tell them to write the info down, and you'll send a copy post-GenCon.

The latter is the method I am most comfortable with (of course, a few people who you may know by name may skate by), though the first is certainly viable, and not without merit.

Dav

[Jared A. Sorensen]

This is what I did at Origins.

"Hey! You seem cool. Have a copy of InSpectres."
"Hey! That's cool! Thanks, here's a copy of my game!"

This happened with Joe Goodman of Goodman Games (nice feller...does Broncosaurus Rex). I just plum liked the guy so I gave him a copy of my game...I didn't expect him to do the same, but he did. It's a punk love thing.

Reviewers? Not so much. If someone I've worked with before wants a review copy, I'm okay with that. If someone I haven't worked with but who is a "name" wants to review my book, cool. If Joe Gamer wants a free copy because he has a website, uh no.

The question to answer when folks ask for free copies is this, "Will giving this guy a free copy be worth the $10 (or whatever) that I'd normally get for the game?"

PDF's are easy -- no cost to send out free copies. All in all, that's my preferred method.

Postscrypt: use PDF (even of a printed book) as a format to send to reviewers. Good idea?

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

Damn, this is a good question to be asking here. So many publishers are bamboozled into crippling their stock because someone looks at them expectantly and demands it free. There are even some individuals who have made kind of a personal business of doing this, stalking the cons and convincing people to give them their "industry swag," because they have some marginal history with role-playing publishing (e.g. contributed to a GURPS supplement, wrote a review for Dragon Magazine once, etc).

One of the nice things about working with a fulfilment house, like Tundra or Wizards Attic or any of the few others, is that the person in charge of that concern can help with the "real reviewer" list. Michael, you can work with your contact about that. And don't give with any "but I'm not sure about him" worries. If you're working with him, you're working with him. Ask for a legitimate reviewer-list, and for him to send a copy to each of the people that you approve.

After that, I suggest Jared's punk-love approach; if there's anyone who you just wanna have own your book, send it to them or give it to them at the con. Y'all can probably guess some of the people who I gave Sorcerer to.

A lot of people propose "swaps" - which is ... well, all right. I do it sometimes, but I try to keep it minimal. It seems to make the most sense between companies at the same "level" of ownership and size. For instance, the difference between me coughing up a free copy of Sorcerer, which means a significant loss of revenue, and (say) a White Wolf employee handing over a copy of Adventure (a copy whose production was budgeted for promotion anyway) is pretty huge, such that it's not really a "swap" at all.

Best,
Ron

P.S. to Jared's P.S. I suspect that most print-based reviewers, and even some web-based ones, hate PDFs. They exist primarily in the book-legitimate-only industry, and a big part of being a reviewer in that realm at all is the easy acquisition of books.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I've had my banker ask me for a copy of my book.

I've had my Office Depot clerk inquire about a copy of the book.

And I'm trying to find out how to send a copy to greg Evans -- you may know him as the author/artist of the newspaper comic "Luann", the closest thing to a shoujo manga running in the American papers.

Will I have any copies left to sell when all this is over?

[Jason L Blair]

Your banker? An Office Depot clerk? In the words of Alexander the Great, "Fuck 'em."

With a print run of 1100, be very very frugal about who gets a copy, Michael. If Ken Hite says, "Hey, I'm Ken Hite," you give him a copy. If Ken Hite's landlord says, "Hey, I know Ken Hite," you say (wait for it), "Fuck 'em."

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Michael,

Fuck'em indeed. The real support anyone can show a small-press publisher is to buy the book.

That said, OK, we all have our favorite people we want to give the book too. Jonathan Tweet and Greg Stafford were probably a bit bemused when I, sweaty-palmed and tight-lipped, pressed copies of Sorcerer into their hands. I confess I sent a cover letter to Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa's agent, telling him about the game and asking him if it was OK to send him a free copy. (It was returned unopened.) Various reviewers should get copies; I mentioned elsewhere that your fulfilment house can help you with that.

But aside from those specific people, What Jason Said.

Best,
Ron

[Jürgen Mayer]

A somewhat related question: what's the common number of free copies for contributors to a book?

IIRC John Wick wrote in his Orkworld column that it's common to give away 2 free copies to everybody who worked on the book... 2 for the editor, 2 for the layout guy, 2 for the freelance artist who did ten illustrations and so on...

[Jason L Blair]

Juergen,

I gave out one copy per artist and editor.

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

One copy to each artist if they want it, one to the layout guy. Granted, I was very late about doing this.

Best,
Ron

[Adam]

Of course, that number goes up for larger companies - I get 5 copies of each Shadowrun release, and that's the FanPro and formerly FASAs standard for comp copies for authors [Not sure about artists...] Of couse, I'm sure this policy bit FASA in the ass a few times, as some of their books had so many authors that they were giving out 50-100 comps.

[BTW, if anyone wants Shadowrun books at GenCon, hit me up for them. Booth 953. ;-)]

[Michael Hopcroft]

After reading the first reviews, I don't think I have to worry about people coming up and asking me for a copy of my game unless they want kindling.

[Adam]

You know, I realize this is going right off topic, and that I'll probably look like a bit of an ass here, but I don't much care: Michael, you have this continual "Doom! Woe is me! I'm a victim!" attitude - or so it seems. And I understand that you've just sunk a bunch of money into your game and you're nervous about whether you'll make it back and if you'll have money to fund future releases and all that, but your attitude is not selling your game or your company to me in any way.

I'm not a huge participant at The Forge; I don't have a library of titles like Jared, a success story like Ron, or a child-abusing legacy like Jason [ ;-) ]. I'm just another guy with some ideas that's helped out with a few of the games you see bumping around The Forge, and I'm happy to call some of the people here my friend. Everyone here loves gaming. They may not love the industry as it stands, but most everyone here wants to interact with it in some manner, and negative attitudes simply do not help.

I realize that The Forge isn't RPG.net, and many of the people here aren't customers in the traditional sense; people here are already aware of "the cause," while many others don't care and just want to find games they like.

But for heck's sake, put on a smiley face, talk about some of the things you like, and learn from mistakes. Don't just keep being dragged down into this continual pit of woe. It doesn't sell. If you're not confident in your game line, why should anyone else be?

And I don't know if you've checked the weather reports for the Milwaukee area lately, but I don't think anyone is going to be lighting any fires to keep warm over the GenCon weekend. It's plenty hot already.

[Michael Hopcroft]

NO, I haven;t checked the weather reports to Milwaukee. I was thinking more along the line of barbecues for roast gull.

Still, I admit I shouldn;t have been so dismissive after that first bad review. I've been assured by several people that you get a lot of bad reviews before you get a good one, and I wonder what kind ofreviews the actual book will get once I give out those copies as -- you guessed it -- swag.

On the other hand, I want some games myself and don;t know where I'm going to get them.

[Clay]

I want some games myself and don't know where I'm going to get them.

What you're going to do is suck it up, put a brave face on it, and go out and talk to people.  Ask them about their game, or their gaming interests. Ask them what they'd like to see in games that they aren't seeing now.  Ask them what they are seeing that's good.  What would they like to see more of?  You'll find points where interest matches product, and you can talk about that.

If I can help CEOs deal with problem employees and straighten their financial management out (something I had neither qualifications for nor interest in when I was doing it for my living), you can certainly sell people on the game that you made and have pride in. You have an advantage which I didn't: you give a damn.  I only had a mortgage riding me.