Self / ePublishing Handbook

[rpghost]

We'll be writing a ePublisher Primer for sale at RPGNow.com and we're interested in input from all the people in the industry. This site is host to many non-d20 and non-RPGNow members, so now is your time to be heard :)  Please send us (or post) your thoughts on the following topics that will be covered:

ePublishing Primer
==================

PREPERATION
 - Best selling topics (d20, sourcebooks, etc)
 - Love of it (don't quit your day job)
 - Do the research (Legal, D20/OGL, Customer Demand, ...)
 - Format (PDF, Ebook, HTML, CDROM, PRINT, POD, ...)
 - Content & Page Counts (too large- split up)
 - Budgeting (estimating margins, Flat Fee vs Royalty, ...)
 - Expected Costs (Cover, Interior Art, Writers, Editors, Processors, Malls, ...)
 - Funding (PDF to Print)


LEGAL
 - Your Company (LLC, Sole-Proprietor, Corp, Partnership, None...)
 - Copyrights & Trademarks
 - Anti-Piracy Techniques (locking PDFs, Usenet alt.binaries.e-book.rpg)
 - D20 System and OGL Licensee (Common mistakes, References, Glossary...)
 - ISBN


DESIGN & LAYOUT
 - Choosing a Title (search engines, trademarks, ...)
 - Cover Art (what should be on it, style, value)
 - Interier Art (how much, where, what, quality, ...)
 - Review of Publishing Software (Indesign, Quirk, ...)
 - Table of Contents
 - Bookmarks and comments


PRODUCTION
 - Editing (Worth the money)
 - Freelancers (What to pay, Where to find, ...)
 - Creating the PDF (Free links, Software, Size Reduction, Printer Friendly, Filenames, Tips, ...)


PRINT
 - Print on Demand (Options, Format, Costs, ...)
 - Offset Printing (Quotes, Shipping, Taxes, Setup, Formats, ...)


MARKETING
 - Your website (Domain, Easy to nav, To the point, Products Index, Sales)
 - Importance of a Demo
 - The art of pre-press hype (demos, upcoming schedule, ... )
 - Review (the importance of reviews & comment entries)
 - Online Ads (effective banner ads, bid links, e-mail, yahoo groups, ...)
 - Per-per-click Search Engines
 - Advertising Tips (Stay focused, offer something special, less is more, ... )
 - Print Ads (Dungeon, Dragon, Campaign Magazine, Games Unplugged, ...)
 - Conventions
 - Forums & Community
 - Directories, Top Sites, WebRings (RPGGateway, RPGTopSites, d20 Publishing Companies WebRing, ...)
 - Banner Exchanges (RPGHost, ...)
 - News Releases (Announcements, Cover, Previews, Demos, Mortality Radio)
 - Specials (discounts, bundles, sales, ...)
 - e-Malls (RPGnow.com, mall.rpg.net, svgames.com, swreg.org, ...)
 - Freebies (Add-ons, Character Sheets, RPGSheets.com, ...)
 - e-zines ( get featured, sneek peeks/previews, ... )
 - UseNet Posting (Avoiding backlash, Edicate...)
 - Deleting (out of print) Stock (1 year or < 5 dl a month)
 - Teaming with Publishers & Branding
 - RPGNow (Customer Base, Gold Vendor, Vendor Reports, ...)


SALES & COSTS
 - Royalties vs Flat Fees (When to pay, How to pay, What to pay)
 - Potential Sales (Monthly Units, Longevity, ...)
    (http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=30179)
 - Product Pricing (Don't undervalue, $1 / 10 pages above the first 10 pages)
 - Processing (Paypal, Credit Card, Checks, Costs, Delivery, Bandwidth)
   (limitations of only using paypal)


RESOURCES
 - Website Links (review sites, publisher sites, freelancer sites, ...)
 - Forums & Websites
 - RPG Freelancers
 - GPA / GAMMA


VENDOR SURVEY
 - Results of ePublishing vendor survey


Did I miss anything?
James

[stingray20166]

Yes -- where do I go to pre-order?

This is a great idea and I'm ready to buy.

Nick C

[Valamir]

Indeed a fabulous Idea.

Things you'll want to touch on at least to mention and perhaps provide links to some .gov sites.  Registering your business.  Its a requirement if you do business under another name including advertising.  Promoting your "label" or imprint can be seen as advertising so if you start referring to yourself as Troll Fart Press one had best take a trip down to the local county clerks office and file a simple form (that basically says John Doe = Troll Fart Press).  In Illinois anyway the cost is 5$ plus you have to pay to have the announcement run in a local paper for three weeks.

Also sales tax is an issue...one that varies widely from state to state so you probably can't go into too much detail except to strongly advise it not be ignored and provide some .gov links to various sites.

[rpghost]

Should be out in about 2 months. One chapter and a lot of research and a worksheet (form John Nephew) are already done. Monte Cook will be writing the forward. We'll be making this book as the non-d20 (or generic) book mainly. The second book will be d20 centric.

So just keep an eye out.

James
Oh, the new RPG Downloader E-sine is online now!

[jgbrowning]

this will be my first purchase from you guys.

joe b.

[James V. West]

This sounds awesome. I'm particularly interested in the crunchy details of layout, creating pdfs, preparing a book for print...all that stuff. Very cool.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Sounds like a really cool idea for a book, and I plan to buy it. I wonder if it will help me ab\void some of the mistakes I've obviously been making....

[rpghost]

The ePublisher Guide has finally been released!  Thanks to everyone for their help! Hope to see/hear some feedback (good and/or bad) so we can update before the POD version goes to the printer.

The definitive guide to electronic publishing for the RPG/Game Industry.

With over 80 pages packed (no art) of information on how to startup and run your new business from many well known names in the industry. Detailed information on how to be successfully budget, market, create, and sell your product as an ePublishing. Tons of tips and trick to help you along the way as well as recomendations for getting it right the first time.

http://www.rpgnow.com/product_info.php?products_id=1668

Enjoy!
James

[Gold Rush Games]

Having proof read the book (and also being a contributor) I have to say that it is indeed very thorough. I recommend it to anyone considering publishing, whether PDFs or even "real" books. The information presented is often overview (it's difficult to go into much detail in less than 5,000 pages <G>) but it's all critical information that every publisher needs to know.

  Kudos for a great product.