RPGnow's new POD system

[Clinton R. Nixon]

Awesomizer,

It's the same agreement as with their PDF sales: you can sell your game anywhere else you like, but if you do so, they will not provide a link back to your site. (I think this policy is spurious at best, but they claim it stops them from losing sales, which I understand, even if I think it's wrong.)

[quozl]

If you'd like to look it over, their contract is here:

http://www.rpgnow.com/legal/RPGNow_Service_Contract.pdf

[Michael Hopcroft]

I am sorely tempted but don;t know how much RPGnow would charge for the one book of mine currently on their site I would be interested in seeing them do -- Musical Mistresses, my new supplement for HeartQuest. I don;t know for sure how much it would cost and how much I would be able to charge for it. I don;t know whether it will have a decent enough print quality that people will buy it. I don't know when I will make back my costs.

THis is, of course, the usual state of affairs for yours truly. I don't even know if the pdf I submitted is adequate for their purposes.

[rpghost]

Sorry I'm a bit late coming here to clear some things up... but better late then never :)

One of the largest complaints about PDF products we've had is that people don't like to read through them all on the screen and they don't want to spend the money printing it on their own printer. This POD processes is to offer a solution to help us gain markeshare into the traditional RPG marketplace.

First of all, we take a 20% cut (not 30). You can get the pricing for printing your books here: http://www.rpgnow.com/POD_Worksheet.zip

As a customer, I'm interested.  Let's say I ordered the Donjon pdf and also wanted a hardcopy.  How much would RPGNow charge me?

We've considered ways of handling this but nothing really came up other then a manual effort. In short, we'll allow you to trade up but you have to deal with us manually.

Also, has anyone actually seen a sample book from RPGNow so as to see the actual quality?

The print quality is very good. The interiers are pretty much identical to print versions with the exception of a few forms of art that may not come out quite as crisp. The covers are about 80-90% the quality of a real printer (again, veries on the cover art) and lack any lamination. You can get your own example by ordering this product as a POD:
http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=326

Holy crap that's cheap! For such short runs, I doubt you can beat that. I suppose that they are willing to charge less so that they can make their profit on the sales. Still, it seems like a pretty big gamble to me on thier part.

Actually there isn't that much gamble for us (RPGNow). We cover our costs up front by making the vendors pre-pay for all books. If they don't sell they just use some space (as we're talking small quantities, not much space) in our warehouse and nothing more. If they sell we make 20% off the increased price mark of the POD.

So can you get books made cheap and then distribute them through Wizard's Attic to get them in stores or is there some exlusive arrangement?

No you can't. We only offer this service to RPGNow vendors and we do not supply large quantities for your personal distribution. We can talk about supply larger quantities for a convention you may attend, but that will probably cost you a bit more.

What sort of contractural obligation are you in with RPGnow when you sign up for this?  Do you have to deal exclusively with them, or can you have them POD your book while you run your own print runs for other distributors?

We in no way before or now contractually bind you from selling your product elsewhere. That includes POD. We only retain "control" over the copies you have ordered through us or in our warehouse. We'll let you get at your "left overs" if you leave our service. It's not our goal to get in your way but to rather help our customers find printed versions of these indie products.

I don't even know if the pdf I submitted is adequate for their purposes.

We need a updated PDF for this process to work. You need to make your PDF as high of resolution as you can. That means 600dpi at least. These files are very large when you do that - but it's needed for your book to look good. I think you submitted a 150dpi one (not sure as one of my employees did the posting for you) and that's really not good enough. It's your choice in the end, but I'd recommend creating a higher resolution PDF.

Hope that helps
James

[Clinton R. Nixon]

James,

One question I need answered before I use this service (which I'm planning to - it's very exciting): what percentage of our order can we get at for our personal use? I actually sell quite a few copies of Donjon by hand and local printing is crazy expensive. If I could get 2 or 3 out of every 10 for personal use, I'd be on this train in a heartbeat.

(Also: sorry about messing up the 30% thing. I mis-typed.)

[rpghost]

The pricing that we have setup is not designed to handle regular or mass distribution other then through RPGNow. So, I'm sure I could come up with a reasonable quote, but sending 2 or 3 out of every 10 your way would add up handling costs on my end and shipping costs on your end that just really wouldn't make it worth the bother.

There is no set limit right now. I'm going to play it by ear right now. If you need 5 and order 15 right off that bat, that's fine. But ordering some every time we order some isn't something I want to get into at this pricing level. It doesn't pay for my employees at the price we're charging.

If more people are wanting larger volumes of their books for their own to do with what they want, I'm certainly able to work up a new model and pricing schedule for such a service. My very rough guess would be around $1 per book more.

James

[rpghost]

You can get the pricing for printing your books here: http://www.rpgnow.com/POD_Worksheet.zip

There was a slight bug in the worksheet that made the total a buck or two more then it should be. Make sure you use the current one as of today.

James

[quozl]

Is there or will there be a way to search for all products with the POD option?

[rpghost]

Is there or will there be a way to search for all products with the POD option?

That's a good question. Soon as we get more of them I will do something about that.

James

[Nathan]

I think this is an exciting development. I am stoked.

Of course, what else needs to be changed to the PDF other than resolution? Do I need to set the PDF up on tabloid pages (one left and right page)? Do I need to do the odd numbering (last page/first page/second page/2nd to last page/etc)? Or is fine just to change the resolution and keep the file setup as a normal PDF?

Good stuff...

Thanks,
Nathan Hill
nathanh@cameron.edu

[rpghost]

Just make the normal PDF at the highest resolution you can and you're fine. No special numbering.

James

[Matt Machell]

James,

as somebody who has used print ready PDFs, are you sure that's all? Most printers don't accept truetype fonts as part of a PDF, for example, and require type 1 fonts instead.

Sounds like a great servcie though. I'm impressed.

-Matt

[rpghost]

Yeah, I'm sure that's all. The cover needs to be seperated out, but I thought that was mentioned. The printer can use either font style but true type is by far better/easier to work with. PDF's can include the fonts in them, so if you're not already doing that you should.

James

[quozl]

Is there or will there be a way to search for all products with the POD option?

I see there is a P.O.D. button on the main page now that points here: http://www.rpgnow.com/pod.php.  So far, there is only The Complete Guide to Drow available.  Is anyone else going to be using this P.O.D. option soon?

[rpghost]

So far, there is only The Complete Guide to Drow available.  Is anyone else going to be using this P.O.D. option soon?

I have no control over how cheap people are :)  There are 2 other POD products in the process coming soon. But even though a lot of people requested this, and even though we supplied excellent pricing for it, doesn't seem to be a lot of people willing to put their money where their mouth is. I donno why as the average cost is only about $35.

James