Adept Press and conventions

[Ron Edwards]

Hello,

I think that Luke's proposal in the Forge East thread is being badly overlooked. I also want to emphasize that I agreed to this forum not because we needed a "conventions announcement" forum, but because it affords a venue for mutually-supportive action.

Here's my action.

1. A person who will be attending a convention in the continental U.S. as an exhibitor can consider himself or herself a potential business partner with me in the following venture.

2. The person can use the Adept Press logo at my website to print out some form of poster or banner for the booth. For cost reasons, I'd expect nothing more than a stand-up or a tack-up at no great production value. I can provide a higher-res file to use as well.

3. I will ship up to five copies each of any of my books (hard copy for Elfs and Trollbabe) to the person. (In Luke's case, that's three copies of whatever games he requests.) As a general rule, I suggest picking and choosing titles carefully, not just getting a blanket all-titles shipment. Talking points as Luke describes are also included.

4. I will pay the person an agreed-upon fee. In Luke's case, that's $21; it'll get negotiated depending on the con, booth costs, etc. This fee is not expected to be recouped in any formal way.

5. Whatever Adept Press stuff they sell at the booth, goes into a fund. That fund's first goal is to pay for the shipping cost. Everything else goes to me (notice, again, that the booth fee contribution is not an issue). I am contemplating as well that the exhibitor might also get a commission for books sold.

So get in touch, or organize it here in this forum. Who's with me in making sure that every convention with a Forge member as an exhibitor has a shelf of our games there?

Best,
Ron

[ethan_greer]

Well, I'm with you.  Unfortunately, I have no product yet and no plans to get my own booth at any conventions until such time as I do have a product.  Once that happens, I'll most likely be contacting Luke, or you, or whoever else makes noise about this sort of thing.  I'd be a fool not to, wouldn't I?

[Paul Czege]

Hey Ron,

Who's with me in making sure that every convention with a Forge member as an exhibitor has a shelf of our games there?

Well, I'm with you on this. But, to be honest, I'm not sold on Luke's particular implementation of it. I posted my "http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=7687">imagining Brigadoon" thread as an alternative implementation, hoping to provoke some comparative discussion, but I guess I was too subtle. So here's direct:

The main issue, as I see it, is that the profit I make selling three copies of My Life with Master, minus the postage to ship them, and minus the $21 fee, is only a couple of dollars. So, basically, in thinking about doing this, I have to consider it a promotional venture. Essentially, I'm spending money on promotion. And that's fine. But what happens when I see pictures from the convention, and my books are nowhere on the display unit? Or they're nigh invisible behind three copies of Sorcerer? Do I have a legitimate issue? What happens if water gets spilled on my books? What happens if none of them sold?

See, were I doing the booth, I wouldn't want to be in this position relative to Vincent, you, Luke, Ralph, Jake, Matt Gwinn, Matt Snyder, etc. I'd want to display things how I see fit, without being answerable for my decisions. And I wouldn't want the stress of being responsible to others for something they entrusted me with...maybe even to someone for selling their game that I've never even read! If I do things the way I suggested in the "imagining Brigadoon" thread, all that goes away. I can display the books as I see fit. The onus is upon me to choose the ones I think I can sell well enough to cover my booth costs. And if I damage them, well, they're my inventory that I've paid for.

Paul

[Matt Snyder]

Hey Ron,
The main issue, as I see it, is that the profit I make selling three copies of <EM>My Life with Master</Em>, minus the postage to ship them, and minus the $21 fee, is only a couple of dollars.

Precisely my concern as well. If I sell 3 copies of Dust Devils, here's how it plays out:

Cost to produce the books: $12 (roughly)
Cost to ship the books: $5 (roughly, considering priority mail, perhaps less)
Cost to be able to sell the books: $21

Total costs: $38

Total revenue if all three books sell: $36

Clearly, this math ain't desirable. Let's assume I find cheaper shipping, and that my costs estimates are a bit high. So, I'm either breaking even or making, say, less than $5-$6. I'm breaking even to get three books out there in the world. This isn't very attractive, even as promotion. Sure, other non-buyers might see it, might even head to my site. But I have no way of knowing. Hence, my lack of interest in Luke's specific idea.

Don't get me wrong, I think it's really cool that he's doing this, being a VERY proactive Forger. That's awesome. Promotion is awesome, too. This specific plan, however, isn't my cup of tea.

[Luke]

These responses should be in the Forge East thread.

I will respond there so we can have a coherent discussion.

http://www.indie-rpgs.com/viewtopic.php?t=7674

[M. J. Young]

Ron--this is rather short notice, given that it's Tuesday night and I'll be gone Friday morning; but I'm on the featured guest list for ShoreCon this weekend, and expect to be there all three days. We don't know any details of what we're doing or where we'll be, but we're taking our books and a couple of display posters and some gaming supplies, and if there's any way I can help promote Sorcerer while I'm there I'd be glad to do so gratis.

It is probably quicker to reply to me by e-mail MJYoung@mjyoung.net or MarkJYoung@aol.com, as I will check both of those boxes tomorrow before I get here. I can download or print something (not more than a hundred pages, I think, as I have a lot of printing to do between now and then for our stuff), or give you a mailing address if you want to send something.

Sorry I didn't think of it sooner; I was thinking more in terms of Abzu's Forge East ideas, and how we could coordinate with and support them, and he's not going to be at ShoreCon so I'd pretty much written that off.

--M. J. Young

[Ron Edwards]

Hi M.J.,

Sorry about not seeing this earlier. Unfortunately, I'm still far from my home and it seems unlikely that any books can get to you in time, this time.

Next con.

Best,
Ron