Reading list What the Industry Needs
Compiled by Vincent Baker
12/7/2001 Zak Arntson: Successful RPG Line
In another thread (http://indie-rpgs.com/forum/viewtopic.php?topic=972&forum=4&4), Ron Edwards sez,
The common plan of releasing supplements which are both (a) setting details and (b) metaplot continuance does NOT, ultimately, serve a given RPG well in terms of long-term sales. What it does do is MAYBE get your core book reordered from stores for about a year. That's a lot of "if's"…
In Publishing
Participants: Zak Arntson, Nathan, Le Joueur, Joe Murphy (Broin), JSDiamond, Ron Edwards, Dav, Paul Czege, mearls, Mike Holmes, Clinton R. Nixon, GMSkarka, Jack Spencer Jr, Ian O'Rourke, Anon LeBlanc, Ryan Ary.
12/18/2001 Dav: Channel conflict with distribution-retailers-manfacturers
Taking the hint from Ron's last post regarding a new thread, here it is.
Without further ado, I would like to throw out a few open questions to the collective (and notably to Gareth & Ron).
In my view, the standard distribution channels (ie. Manuf. to Distrib. to Retail. to Consumer) place an enormous pressure upon the manufacturer to promote…
In Publishing
Participants: Dav, contracycle, Jack Spencer Jr, Ron Edwards, GMSkarka, Jared A. Sorensen, joshua neff, Ian O'Rourke, Ryan Ary.
8/15/2002 Ron Edwards: What the industry needs (by me!)
Hello,
I came to the following conclusions following some very intensive conversations after the Diana Jones ceremony, with two people who Shall Not Be Named but who Know Their Shit.
PART ONE
About six to ten businesses modeled along the lines of Tundra Sales Organization, basically one-man warehouse operations with a small staff. Here's how such a thing works.
-…
In Publishing
Participants: Ron Edwards, Eugene Zee, contracycle, Clay, mattcolville, J B Bell, Tundra, wizardattic, Jack Spencer Jr, Valamir.
3/22/2003 Ron Edwards: Fulfillment houses in the role-playing industry
Hello all,
One of the seminars that I attended at GAMA concerned the growing game-industry phenomenon of fulfillment houses. As many of you know, both Jake and I keep our books warehoused with the Tundra Sales Organization, which also handles all invoicing and shipping and promotes the books to the distributors and retailers.
One way to look at them is…
In Publishing
Participants: Ron Edwards.
12/2/2003 Mike Holmes: State of the Industry Editorial
Here's an interesting article from The Guild Companion, a free eZine that often has some interesting insights. I'm not sure if I agree with all of the analysis of the editorial, but it's definitely food for thought, and confirms some suspicions.
http://www.guildcompanion.com/scrolls/2003/dec/wordsfromthewise58.html
Discussion? What does Nicholas have right, and what do you think is inaccurate? What about Dancey's position?
Mike
In Publishing
Participants: Mike Holmes, greyorm, xiombarg, Jack Spencer Jr, Adam, Valamir, LordSmerf, contracycle, madelf, Ron Edwards, AdAstraGames, Ben Lehman, Paul Czege, RaconteurX, HinterWelt, Christopher Weeks, ryand.
4/28/2004 xiombarg: the "supplement treadmill"
Malcolm (eyebeams), as a freelancer for White Wolf (he can correct me if that's an incorrect way to refer to him in this context), made and interesting comment on another thread...
Vampire's sales never really declined past what's expected for the general annual shrinking of the industry, but it became more and more difficult to write revelant Vampire material. This…
In Publishing
Participants: xiombarg, Pramas, Ron Edwards, Matt Snyder, FFG Greg, Valamir, daMoose_Neo, Ben Lehman, Matt Wilson, quozl, Erick Wujcik, ethan_greer, mearls, Lxndr, ryand, Paul Czege, Matt.
5/5/2004 mearls: D&D specifically (split from Supplement Treadmill)
[quote="Ron Edwards"]All three represent a brief correspondence of role-playing material with a wave of "teen craze" purchasing. That's distinct from fan purchasing or anything else associated with SF or pop subculture - it literally means a ton of people who are buying the game as [i]gear[/i].
It doesn't last long (although it makes a huge impression on retailer re-ordering habits…
In Publishing
Participants: mearls, greyorm, Ron Edwards, Matt Snyder, Jürgen Mayer, xiombarg, Alex Johnson, Tav_Behemoth, ryand, Bankuei.
9/18/2004 GregS: Distributor Questions
Greetings all,
As we near the release of Valherjar I am speaking with more and more retailers and distributors about carrying my product. The problem is, everyone makes ominous references to defining my terms, but no one seems willing to give me a legitimate point of reference as to where is reasonable to start.
After sitting through numerous GTS lectures,…
In Publishing
Participants: GregS, Valamir, Ron Edwards, jdagna, abzu, Ed Cha, Tav_Behemoth, daMoose_Neo, Chris Passeno, Michael S. Miller, madelf, Edward Kann.
11/25/2005 chadu: There *is* a problem: PoD distro into retail
The previous thread was closed before I read it and could comment. As I understand the process, here, I have started a new thread. This may be especially apt, as my point is tangential.
Despite our differences in style and hot-buttons, I am seeing a crucial consensus among Ralph, Luke, Clinton, Keith, me, and others.…
In Publishing
Participants: chadu, Bob Goat, Ron Edwards, Andy Kitkowski, nikola, abzu, rpghost, guildofblades, joshua neff, Polaris, Sydney Freedberg, LloydBrown.
12/1/2005 nikola: Lines vs. Authors
Several times in recent threads, store owners, large publishers, and distributors have pointed out that game lines sell, where single books don't. I'm not going to debate that. I think it's probably true and lack the experience to add anything to the debate.
I suspect we have an opportunity to change something about the business we're in here, and I'd…
In Publishing
Participants: nikola, GreatWolf, John Burdick, Ron Edwards, Joshua BishopRoby, chadu, Blankshield, Adam, timfire, Paul Czege, Jared A. Sorensen, inthisstyle, guildofblades, James Holloway, LloydBrown, Roger, Michael S. Miller, Nathan P., Troy_Costisick, Jonathan Walton.
5/28/2006 abzu: The Truth is Out There
From Ken Hite's latest Out of the Box essay.
http://www.gamingreport.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Sections&file=index&req=viewarticle&artid=190
Now for a little silver lining. One advantage that we have in the RPG market is that our customers -- you wonderful people -- are much more willing to buy electronic books than mainstream book readers are. Something like five to ten percent of the RPG business last year was…
In Publishing
Participants: abzu, Michael S. Miller, Valamir, Ron Edwards, btrc.
7/11/2006 andrew_kenrick: The merits of fulfillment houses
I'm toying with the idea of signing up to Indie Press Revolution, but am wondering if it's worth it? I mean, we already do business with Key20, so would we gain anything by signing up with IPR too? Would I be duplicating my efforts or competing with myself, or do the two fulfill different roles?
In Publishing
Participants: andrew_kenrick, Ron Edwards, Joshua BishopRoby, timfire, Justin D. Jacobson, Thor Olavsrud, Nathan P..
8/26/2007 Arvidos: Definition of Indie RPGs
I suppose this should have been in the RPG theory forum, but my question concerns the name and description of this site, after all, so here goes:
After some confusion on a swedish RPG forum, I'm trying to sort out our RPG terminology once and for all.
What I'm stumped on is what to call these small, focused games with…
In Site Discussion
Participants: Arvidos, Ron Edwards, Eliarhiman6, Eero Tuovinen, Filip Luszczyk, TwoCrows.
9/4/2007 TwoCrows: Poison Pages
Forgites,
Concerning Traditional vs. Indie Publishing Models, and/or ethics, and in reference to this thread:
For the sake of enlightenment, and posterity, I’d be interested to read people’s latest takes on everything that is wrong with the “traditional publishing model” as it relates to RPGs.
Specifically...In a nutshell, what makes traditional publishing poison, or at least something to be avoided…
In Publishing
Participants: TwoCrows, Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, guildofblades, Jonathan Walton, Pelgrane, David Artman, iago, xenopulse, Vulpinoid, MatrixGamer, ryand.
10/17/2008 Ron Edwards: Independence, Adept Press, and Indie Press Revolution
This is a companion thread to The New Thing and The Forge Booth 2009.
Over the years, I've posted about issues of fulfillment and distribution, including The Nuked Apple-Cart, Channel conflict with distribution-retailers-manufacturers, What the industry needs (by me!), Fulfillment houses in the role-playing industry, The merits of fulfillment houses, and Poison pages. It's past time for an updated look…
In Publishing
Participants: Ron Edwards, iago, Jonathan Walton, greyorm, nikola, Valamir, Pelgrane, Meguey, lumpley, inthisstyle.
10/17/2008 Ron Edwards: The Forge Booth 2009
This is a companion thread to Independence, Adept Press, and Indie Press Revolution and The New Thing.
Well, as painlessly perceived and agreed upon during GenCon this year, IPR won't be part of the Forge booth next year. For those of you who don't know the history, the first Forge booth was in 2002, with the possible "first draft" being…
In Conventions
Participants: Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, jag, nikola, Valamir, Darcy Burgess, Paul Czege, Gregor Hutton, RobNJ, Nathan P., JustinB.
10/17/2008 Ron Edwards: The New Thing
This is a companion thread to Independence, Adept Press, and Indie Press Revolution and The Forge Booth 2009.
At GenCon this year, Vincent Baker, Julie Stauffer, Matt Snyder, Paul Czege, Danielle Lewon, and I had a big pow-wow about all of this. It was one of those lightning-fast, multiple-speaker conversations in which parts provided by different people fitted together into…
In Publishing
Participants: Ron Edwards, Eero Tuovinen, Ben Lehman, lumpley, iago, HighmoonMedia, Meguey, nikola, Pelgrane.
10/31/2008 visioNationstudios: On Marketing
Last night I came here intending to ask a few questions about marketing. But I decided to do some searching through the archives here to see what had already been discussed on the subject. I came across a number of decent threads on the topic, but noticed an interesting trend- the majority of the good advice was from at least…
In Publishing
Participants: visioNationstudios, iago, Ron Edwards, Pelgrane, jburneko, Cynthia Celeste Miller, Paraplegic Racehorse.
11/11/2008 lumpley: Announcing: the Indie Rpgs Un-store
Hi everybody.
I'm launching a new service here under the banner of indie-rpgs.com. It's the indie rpgs un-store, and it lives at games.indie-rpgs.com. Go, check it out. Be sure to click through to the creator info page, THAT'S what I'm announcing here.
I'm excited about it.
Let's see, a few informational points:
1. Don't read criterion 2 on the creator…
In Publishing
Participants: lumpley, Ron Edwards, Gregor Hutton, Eero Tuovinen, wunderllama, Artanis, Hituro, guildofblades.
2/23/2009 Hituro: The Indie Rpgs Un-store sales results
So I was wondering, in an anecdotal fashion, after a few months of operation, how people were finding the Un-Store in practice?
I have had a sale through the Un-Store myself, but I have no way of telling if it is a sale I might have had direct through my website or not. I know that there is more to…
In Publishing
Participants: Hituro, lumpley, Darcy Burgess, Graham Walmsley, Ron Edwards, GreatWolf, Eric J. Boyd, Marshall Burns, Jake Richmond, rafael, Clay, iago.
4/15/2010 Motipha: Marketing and the independent RPG
So this is tangentially related to conventions, but less tangentially this than anything else. To make a long story short (and this is probably going to be too long knowing me) I'm trying to figure out the feasability/call for/interest in a regular, local equivalent of the Indie Games explosion, specifically from the point of view of game designers.
Now, on…
In Conventions
Participants: Motipha, Nathan P..
3/12/2012 Eliarhiman6: Distribution, the three-tier system, sales, and poison pages
A friend of mine asked me about some links about the problems and failures of the "traditional" distribution system. Instead of sending the by email I thought that it would be a good thread for the Forge Archives.
This time I didn't have to search the message base, all the work was done by Ron who posted almost all of…
In Welcome to the Archives
Participants: Eliarhiman6.