Is it possible to have too many ideas?

[Michael Hopcroft]

If you're an e-publisher who doesn;t have to spend $1,000 to publish each book, is it possible to have too many game and/or supplement ideas, especially when you don't know enough writers to write them all off the top of your head?

Would it also be possible to have too many books on the market at any given time?

[jdagna]

It's definitely possible to have too many ideas if you want to see them fleshed out in a quality product.  Time and resources are limited for everyone

I also think you can have too many products, though I guess it depends on how you look at things.  The more products you offer, the more likely you have something that a particular person wants.  However, if the one items he wants is buried in a list of 1000 others, the odds that he finds it are rather slim.  Additionally, if you release dozens of items at once, each one receives less attention (in terms of press releases, reviews, or whatever).

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

Raw numbers is not the issue.

Ideas: ideas are vapor. Never too many, never too few. The question is whether you're working on something in a professional fashion. I keep on ongoing notebook of ideas at all times. The correspondence between its contents and what ends up being a professional product is ... not high.

Products: the limit is not some ceiling of how many, but rather one's ability to organize and manage their production and sales.

I'm dubious as to whether this thread topic has the substance to sustain a worthwhile discussion. Both of my points seem like way too much typing for their potential utility.

Michael, if you want the thread to continue, please provide a concrete example and a concrete problem to address, not a vague "what if" musing-type topic.

Best,
Ron

[Thomas Tamblyn]

Assume I have the resources (writers/money/time) to do 3 supplements.

Situation A.  I have 6 good ideas for possible suplements.  I have to pick 3 of them.

Situation B.  I have 60 good ideas for possible supplements.  I have to pick 3 of them.

Since I'd be fool not to pick the best 3 ideas for use, having more ideas just increases the likely quality of your eventual output in either case.  Having spare ideas loating about can hardly be considered a bad thing, and nobody's forcing you to turn each and every one of them into something concrete.

If you don't have enough resources to produce something (which seems to be your issue here) surely you don't have a choice of whether to make all 60 ideas into something?

As far as too many books on sale at once goes, I'd say yes.  Consolodate them into fewer, larger books.  One book can cover multiple subjects after all, and having to choose from umpteen differtent supplements (especially if they're small) is fiddly.  I've only ever seen White Wolf with their 'splat' books get away with this, and only because you don't necessarily want all of the books.

My gut reaction is that if you expect people to be able to get mileage out of all of them, make it easy to get all of them.

Of course this is from someone who hasn't published himself, but consider this a consumer's point of view.[/i]

[pete_darby]

I think the too many ideas "problem" has been dealt with (as in there' no such thing, just too little time, resources, etc to do them justice), but as for too many products, the question I'd be asking (in my position as uninformed kibbitzer) is "How much do they occupy the same market space?"

Are you talking about 15 supplements for HeartQuest, or a couple for HeartQuest, a couple for for Fuzz, a couple of new games..? The latter seems less of a problem, in that you're more likely to sell more diverse stuff.

For a long term view, you could take the risk of developing more now than you plan to publish immediately, allowing a drip feed of a supplement or two a month with a guaranteed "Coming Next Month!" in each publication.

But, I'm just rambling. I've no business experience, so I'm probably talking through my hat.

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

This thread is closed unless Michael wants to provide a more specific and concrete inquiry.

Best,
Ron