Sales #'s

[Treves]

Hey there folks,

This is about publishing a CD rather than music - I'm investigating the possibility of selling a CD of background music for horror gaming.  I plan to take orders online but ship it as a physical product (ie, not mp3's).  Since the target audience is the same, I'm assuming that it's (somewhat kinda sorta) logical to apply some data from pdf sales to CD sales.

Basically, I'm trying to get a rough estimate for potential sales in two parts:

1) after the initial "launch" of the product (about a month after after various initial promotional efforts)
2) the rest of the time

Have you noticed any sales trends for your games?  I'm remembering a post from John Nephew on rpg.net about how almost all sales for a product happen in the first 30 days after it's been released.  But, the product in question was an Ars Magica supplement, which is a "well-known" gameline.  What's it like for indie publishers?  Have you been able to link increased sales to ads or good reviews?


Thanks,
Treves

[Mike Holmes]

Hmm. You might ask the guys who put out The Darkest of the Hillside Thickets. Sounds very similar to their product in that it's an audio CD for horror RPGs.

Other than that, I'd say, think small. Is the advantage of largescale production worth the potential losses that you'd incur if the product doesn't sell? In today's just-in-time economy, often you can be profitable at smaller volumes and much safer.

Mike

[Jared A. Sorensen]

There's a company that does this -- damned if I can remember the name. I met them at GenCon last year -- nice guys. Hold on, I'll try to find the link...

Bam! http://www.midnightsyndicate.com/main.htm

[Treves]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses.

I'm planning on a small run initially.  It seems that most pdf's sell 50-100, depending on various factors.

I thought the Thickers were mostly rock songs *about* Cthulhu themes, but I'll double-check.  As for Midnight Syndicate, thanks for the link!  I had found their CD on RpgShop.com, but it didn't offer audio samples and it didn't list the name of the actual artist.

I'm going for a much more modern sound than they are, but from looking at their web page it looks like they really have their act together.

But back to my main question: Have you advertised your games anywhere?  Did it get any results?

[Mike Holmes]

Yep, the Thickets are music. I suggested it because they would have the exact same marketing demographic as you: people interested in a Horror RPG, who have CD players. :-)

Perhaps you have a slightly smaller market as non-GMs won't buying your product as much. But I'd hazard a guess that most Thickets customers are GMs. Also, you're product is appropriate for more than just CoC, so that ought to balance out some.

Mike

[GMSkarka]

When I was with Synister, we did a CD of background music for my UNDERWORLD rpg.   We sold BUNCHES at conventions, but almost none via retail.   Retailers just didn't know what to do with it, even after we GAVE AWAY copies at GTS.

We sold it at two major shows before I left SCS---Origins and Gencon 2001.  At each show, we moved 100+ copies.    Even at smaller shows (ShoreCon in New Jersey, for example), we moved 40-50 copies.

So, expect to move it from your website, or via shows, but also expect retailers to shrug their shoulders and move on.

GMS

[Matt Gwinn]

I have never understood why gaming stores don't set aside a rack for background music.  It's not like the stuff is going to go out of style like pop music or something.  They could break it up into genre.  But then again, maybe peoples taste in music varies too much.  Do people generally agree about what kind of music is scary?  suspenceful?  romantic?

,Matt G.

[Jared A. Sorensen]

Have you noticed any sales trends for your games?  I'm remembering a post from John Nephew on rpg.net about how almost all sales for a product happen in the first 30 days after it's been released.  But, the product in question was an Ars Magica supplement, which is a "well-known" gameline.  What's it like for indie publishers?  Have you been able to link increased sales to ads or good reviews?

Oh yeah. To answer the question, my sales have been steady since I started selling stuff online. It spikes here and there (mostly after a lot of web chatter at RPG.net) but it's pretty constant. Some kind folks have mentioned by work in their own games, which is a form of advertising, but I haven't noticed any effect (other than warm feelings). I do link to reviews from my site.

[Treves]

Thanks Matt & GMS & Jared.

That's great info, GMS, thanks.  The Underworld soundtrack was on my list of stuff to research, actually.  I'm sort of surprised to hear that you sold a lot at conventions and not many via retailers - I expected the opposite.  Though I guess they sell well at Conventions because people are in buying mode, it's cool & unique, and it's something they can listen to in the car on the way home...

Matt - sounds good to me.  It seems like just a small rack of soundtracks would work.  I know soundtracks often show up in the cheapy bins at record stores - maybe a FLGS could buy them from the same source!