Is this the right kind of popularity?

[Michael Hopcroft]

I've been running into a very bizarre situation ever since GenCon -- about once every two days I'm approached by someone who wants to write for me. And that doesn't count artists.

This would actually be great if I could translate it into worthwhile products. But managing writers has been one of the more stressful parts of my job as a publisher -- collaborators are always backing out, missing firm deadlines, and otherwise causing massive annoyances. I sometimes wish I could just do everything myself. Still, I'm always friendly with writers and encouraging fan crerativity is one of my goals.

Have I done my job too well?

[Clinton R. Nixon]

I sometimes wish I could just do everything myself.

Michael, you can do everything yourself - that is, you can write what you want and publish it. If other people are causing you problems, look at Ron's Sorcerer mini-supplement program and the Fudge license for your solution - allow people to write whatever they want for HeartQuest as long as they show it to you before they publish it.

[Michael Hopcroft]

I COULD do evverything myself, I suppose -- if there were 36 hours in a day and sleep were no longer a biological imperative. As it is, I really want the input of others. I just get frustarted at times, though, and have trouble telling people enough is enough.

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Michael,

There was four minutes between the time I posted and the time that you did.

Do you think that was long enough to evaluate what your long-term goals as a RPG publisher are? Because if it isn't, maybe you should drink some tea and sit down and ask yourself what goals require 36 hours of work a day by you.

[Michael Hopcroft]

It is against my religion to drink tea.

The first RPG publisher I ever worked with had a day job, a family and a game company. He later got an Amway distributorship. He slept four hours a day and got very little creative actually done. Nontheless, he was  working constantly.

I'm trying to avoid that, but my goals as an RPG publisher include putting product out on a regular basis, something that does require energy and creative work. Help doesn;t hurt if it's dependable and does its thing on time and on budget.

I'm sort of sorry I started this whole thread now. I should be very proud of my achievements, and now I'm thinking all sorts of things about what to do next. I should start over and talk about something else.

No, really. I should. Something britghter, more colorful, and above all more POSITIVE. I just published a game, for crying out loud! I fulfilled a lifeling dream! I have no right to complain!

[Adam]

You have a mailing list or message boards for the game, don't you?

Get these people on them. Get them talking. Get them to work on some fan pages for HQ. See if one of them will start a HQ magazine or net.book project or an unofficial FAQ or appropriate conversion notes for playing in already existing anime series or other things those lines. Just because you don't want to involve these people in the official HQ products doesn't mean they can't get involved and support the game.

This will do several things:

* It will make HQ look better, by having an active fan base.
* It will show to you which people are putting out the most effort and the most quality material.
* It will take some of the load off of your hands, because people won't have to turn to you as the only source of support.

Then, down the road, if you need or want the help of these people, you won't have severed ties to them, and you'll have reasonable means of evaluating what they can and can't do. Plus, they'll probably be loyal customers, which never hurts.

[Michael Hopcroft]

It just so happens that I do have a mailing list for Heart Quest:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/heartquest2/

We have a Seraphim Gaurd ezBoard that nobody ever uses and only three people are registered for. I'd like to see Seraphim Guard represented on the Forge BBS site, but that's not my decision to make.

Oh, and by the way, we have a new mailing list for our new HeartQuest Online project:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/heartquestonline/

[Clay]

I'd like to see Seraphim Guard represented on the Forge BBS site, but that's not my decision to make.

Michael,

I don't want to get involved in the whole issue of a forge forum or not, since it doesn't concern me, but I personally think that a mailing list is the way to go, especially for a game that's just generating its fan base.

The principle benefit is that e-mail is always waiting right there for them, in their mailbox.  A forum is something they have to come to.  As much as I love these forums, I'm probably a more avid reader of chaosium's strange-aeons mailing list, because it comes to me in my mailbox.

Yahoo Groups isn't my favorite mailing list manager, for a variety of reasons, but lots of people seem to make good use of them.  If you don't like the way they work, your web hosting company might be willing to set up a majordomo list for you (the manager I've had the best luck with), and if they won't Clinton Nixon is a fairly resourceful fellow when it comes to internet stuff.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

This thread got kind of weird for some reason, so let me back up to its original question.

The answer is, "Yes, this is the right kind of popularity." It means people are willing to work with you, and to hitch their success to something that they perceive as successful.

The next question is whether you want to make use of their services, and if so, how.

1) You don't have to hire the people who offer to write for you. I don't, for instance. I use the Adept Press mini-supplement program instead.

2) If you do decide to work with one of the people, I suggest letting the project set the pace, not the "demand" of the hirelings.All the work done at Seraphim Guard should be set at your pace, not at the pace of people who want to work for it.

3) And furthermore, I suggest considering very carefully the difference between literal "work for hire" (which is to say, you provide an outline and expect them to fill in the gaps, as with a typical industry setting-book) and the somewhat grayer "create for hire" (which is to say, they want to write a game that you will publish).

Hope that helps!

Best,
Ron

[Michael Hopcroft]

Hello,

The answer is, "Yes, this is the right kind of popularity." It means people are willing to work with you, and to hitch their success to something that they perceive as successful.

The next question is whether you want to make use of their services, and if so, how.

1) You don't have to hire the people who offer to write for you. I don't, for instance. I use the Adept Press mini-supplement program instead.

2) If you do decide to work with one of the people, I suggest letting the project set the pace, not the "demand" of the hirelings.All the work done at Seraphim Guard should be set at your pace, not at the pace of people who want to work for it.

3) And furthermore, I suggest considering very carefully the difference between literal "work for hire" (which is to say, you provide an outline and expect them to fill in the gaps, as with a typical industry setting-book) and the somewhat grayer "create for hire" (which is to say, they want to write a game that you will publish).

Hope that helps!

Best,
Ron

Believe it or not, it does.

My next sourcebook, musical Mistreresses, is definitely a 'create for hire" project. Doug  larke had this idea and decided to run with it. It's gonna be a small book, but it looks like it'll be fuin.

Some of my projects are collaborative based on outlines I or someone else have provided. These are proving more difficult to organize. That seem to be the way it is, and I'll just cope.