Article on PDF publishing

[Clinton R. Nixon]

There's an article at http://www.rpgnews.com/articles.php">http://www.rpgnews.com/articles.php regarding PDF publishing, with quotes from our own Seth Ben-Ezra.

I warn that the article's pretty poorly written, and asks the wrong question (can PDF's alone support the game industry?), but has some interesting points, especially by Seth.

[Ron Edwards]

I finally got around to checking this out.

Clinton's right about them asking the wrong question - the interviewer seems obsessed with the possibility of one medium replacing the other, and there's the usual confusion between the item supporting the industry vs. the industry making the item available.

I thought the quoted comments were generally excellent (hi Seth!), despite the conceptual tangents embedded in the questions or topics. I'm a pessimist about the CD thing, but maybe it's a matter of finding the right "mode" of what should actually be on the things.

WHINE ON THE SIDE
Odd to see Sorcerer so conspicuously absent from the discussion ... of course, S. John and Seth are both "print-legitimized," so maybe that's the criterion or parameter for their discussion. (But if I'm not mistaken, my li'l game is the first to be sold ONLY as a PDF through direct sales. Not the first PDF or electronic-format game, not the first to be sold off the internet, but the first to be both. Correct me if I'm missing something.)

Best,
Ron

[GreatWolf]

Thanks, guys.  The article was written by my arch-nemesis, which is why I got quotes.  :smile:

Ron, as far as I know, Microtactix publishes only by PDF and sells only by the Internet and has a pretty good reputation, too, but I don't know what other credits Guy McLimore has to his name to attract attention.

I've actually begun to toy with CD publishing.  However, to reference something that Guy mentioned, this will probably only work if there are functions unique to the CD that take advantage of the format.  Just putting a book on CD isn't enough.  Even mainstream CD publishing (e.g. West Group's legal reporters) has a lot of extra features, including hyperlinking, search features, etc. that distiguish themselves from the text.

For myself, I was considering including both support software (e.g. a Moon Die roller that I've created) and/or music on an Alyria CD...if I go that route.  I'm still considering the economics of the situation.

[Dav]

Seth:

If you think the CD route is your best option, check out Cdex.net.  This company does crazy shaped CDs that hold a whole load of info and can be personalized by you.  I ordered their free sample, which is a nifty little package.  

It may not be what you are looking for, but it is something that is kind of nice.  Besides, they have traditional CDs available at bulk rates.

Dav