For those following the development of our Third Party Publishing and Distribution program through Gold Rush Games, I've posted a breakdown of the costs associated with POD production and sales.

The spreadsheet includes costs and fees associated with setting up, producing (printing & binding), and shipping of POD books (includes shipping from the printer to the warehouse and then shipping to the distributor), along with showing the wholesale discount, sales commission, our portion (20%) and the net profit per book.

The costs are our real costs. In other words, it's what we have to pay the printer, our sales manager, UPS, etc. The only "arbitrary" figure in the spreadsheet is our percentage of sales, which I put at 20% because of the financial burden we bear up front (in terms of production and shipping) and the service we would be providing (i.e., the ISBN, barcode, access to distribution channels, etc.).

To have a look at the document, you'll need Adobe Acrobat or Acrobat Reader, either version 4 or version 5.0.5 (or later). Then get the file here:

http://www.goldrushgames.com/files/PODcosts&roy.pdf

Comments and discussion are welcome.

Question for you, then, Mark:

Is there any possibility of working under this agreement if I wanted a different style of binding? Say a spiral-bound book (I may be mangling the terminology here)? What if I wanted the book printed landscape instead of standard?

Seems I made a mistake in the spreadsheet. I had listed the Wholesale (i.e., distributor) "Discount" as 40% when it should have been the Wholesale "price." Calculations were based on 60% of SRP as the wholesale price when it should have been entered as 40% of SRP. As a result of the error all of the columns were off.

I've corrected the problem and uploaded a new sheet. On the updated version I listed two tables (one for GRG receiving a 15% cut and the other 10%), and I also added a second page with "Recommended SRP" for both 15% and 10%, respectively.

Same address to download: http://www.goldrushgames.com/files/PODcosts&roy.pdf

anonymouse wrote: Question for you, then, Mark:
Is there any possibility of working under this agreement if I wanted a different style of binding? Say a spiral-bound book (I may be mangling the terminology here)? What if I wanted the book printed landscape instead of standard?

Hi there. It's me again, with another update for those following the development of our third party publishing and distribution program.

I've given the program a name. The program (and imprint) are tentatively named "Eureka!" (as in "I've found gold!"). I'm admittedly really keen on "Eureka!" but I'm willing to hear other peoples' opinions, too.

I've also posted up a PDF of the revised publishing and distribution agreement. You can download it at:

http://www.goldrushgames.com/files/Eurekacontract.pdf

I welcome any feedback on both the agreement and the new name.

After finishing and uploading the publishing agreement, I decided to work on a logo for the new Eureka! imprint. The first draft version is below. This is the logo that would be printed on the back cover of the books. Comments are welcome.

Honestly... it's not something I'd be thrilled about printing on the back of my games. First, there's the gold d20 (which implies certain kinds of mechanics). Secondly, the panner is cool, but he needs to be stylized into a graphic instead of left as the grey-scale picture. Lastly, there's just too much text, arranged in a way that's not very easy to digest. I'd suggest something simple, definitely in a vector-based format so it'll look better when printed. Maybe a layout like:


Gold Rush Games:
Eureka!
[pic of panner]
Indie Game Imprint
goldrushgames.com/eureka


And, if you really want to get people to recognise and come to the website, it's much easier to "sell" a subdomain, as opposed to getting folks to remember slashes ("/"). So if you can manage "eureka.goldrushgames.com" it would be more memorable.

Hey, just a quick thought, perhaps you could put various kinds of gold dice in the panner's pan, to imply a variety of different mechanics. They'd be too small to be really obvious, but attentive customers would notice (or you could point it out on the website or something).

Just my immediate reaction. If you'd be interested in getting some assistance with the logo, I'm sure there are many graphic designers here who'd be willing to donate some work to a worthy cause like this (myself included). But if you'd rather do it yourself, you seem perfectly capable.

Since I'm kind of a traditionalist, I don't think it should be a gold panner, it should be a naked Greek sage leaping up out of a bathtub.

More seriously, the prospector doesn't look like he's just discovered something wonderful that would make him yell "Eureka!" It looks like he's still diligently searching. Not quite the right image for the metaphor.

- Walt

Hello,

I'm less interested in logos than I am in issues of ownership.

Mark, what I don't understand, basically, is why the Publisher (plus shareholders, brothers-in-law, cats, etc, etc) is exempted from any claims by the Client regarding the Publisher's alleged breach of the Agreement. It reads to me like, "Publisher is totally exempt from this entire document. We both signed it, but right here, it says that you the Client can't enforce it."

I'm aware that such clauses are standard in the book trade. I consider them nonsensical. Why have a contract at all if it's only binding on one side? Seems to me only right and fair that I sign a contract with someone, I am literally agreeing that if I break it, he can come after me with the law on his side.

Best,
Ron

I've created a new mailing list for discussion about our new Eureka! Publishing and Distribution Program. Anyone interested in discussing the Eureka! Publishing and Distribution Program is invited to join the new list.

You can join the list by sending an e-mail to eureka_publishing-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
or by pointing your browner to the following URL: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eureka_publishing/join

I'm also working on an informational web page for the program. As soon as it's done I'll post the URL here.

Jonathan Walton wrote: Honestly... it's not something I'd be thrilled about printing on the back of my games.

First, there's the gold d20 (which implies certain kinds of mechanics).

Secondly, the panner is cool, but he needs to be stylized into a graphic instead of left as the grey-scale picture.

Lastly, there's just too much text, arranged in a way that's not very easy to digest. I'd suggest something simple

And, if you really want to get people to recognise and come to the website, it's much easier to "sell" a subdomain, as opposed to getting folks to remember slashes ("/"). So if you can manage "eureka.goldrushgames.com" it would be more memorable.

Hey, just a quick thought, perhaps you could put various kinds of gold dice in the panner's pan, to imply a variety of different mechanics.

If you'd be interested in getting some assistance with the logo, I'm sure there are many graphic designers here who'd be willing to donate some work to a worthy cause like this (myself included). But if you'd rather do it yourself, you seem perfectly capable.

Ron Edwards wrote: Mark, what I don't understand, basically, is why the Publisher (plus shareholders, brothers-in-law, cats, etc, etc) is exempted from any claims by the Client regarding the Publisher's alleged breach of the Agreement.

Why have a contract at all if it's only binding on one side?