Marketing through the Internet

[ace pilot]

Hey all,

It has been said many times here and on RPG.net that internet promotion (e.g., forums, email and industry lists, etc.) is probably the most cost-effective and cost-efficient method of marketing for indie RPG publishers (as opposed to, say, paying for advertising).  I was wondering if anyone could point to real world cases using strictly or mainly internet promotion for indie RPGs (published or PDF) and the numbers of units that people were able to sell and collect at full value (50, 100, 200, 500, 1000)?

Cheers

[JSDiamond]

I sold Orbit as a gbc-bound book and sold 200+ via a combination of direct sales and through an online retailer in a single year.  About one-third of those was direct and at full price $20.00

And keep in mind, that was a craptastic comb-bound book.  

"It has been said many times..." and it's true.  You can DIY the whole enchilada.  In a rudimentary way it is the most cost-efficient/effective if you're just crunching raw numbers.  Although some may argue that if you take the long view and look at your goal to sell (let's say) 500 copies of your book, then paying for little distribution and/or advertising may be more efficient/effective.  Paying a little more now might get you to that goal in a few months instead of a whole year.  Surely that's more cost *effective* from a sales standpoint and more *efficient* to getting your game into players' hands.

Of course all of this may be philisophical (advert effectiveness, word of mouth, brand identity, etc.) combined with individual effort.

[ace pilot]

I sold Orbit as a gbc-bound book and sold 200+ via a combination of direct sales and through an online retailer in a single year.  About one-third of those was direct and at full price $20.00

And keep in mind, that was a craptastic comb-bound book.  

Thanks JS.  What marketing efforts did you have to do to get that 200 sales? (e.g., print or online advertsing, reviews here or at rpg.net, email lists, etc.)

I'm trying to figure out what will be the most effective marketing strategy- my current strategy for marketing, when my RPG comes out, relies heavily on internet promotion.  However, I think that my expectations for online marketing are too high and I'm trying to find out how others have fared.

Cheers.