No a complaint, but a question. Since it is off to the printer we know the Beta is done, why not put the PDF out there now? Is it fear that the PDF might reduce sales of the print edition? While I can't speak for everyone, I've never found that to be the case for me; hard copy and PDF are complementary. And since hardcopy of the beta seems to be priced at the bare minimum with an eye toward promotion, it doesn't seem like _beta_ hard copy sales numbers would be that important anyway.
Have any Paizo folks addressed this, or are they playing their cards (understandably) close to their chests?
No a complaint, but a question. Since it is off to the printer we know the Beta is done, why not put the PDF out there now? Is it fear that the PDF might reduce sales of the print edition? While I can't speak for everyone, I've never found that to be the case for me; hard copy and PDF are complementary. And since hardcopy of the beta seems to be priced at the bare minimum with an eye toward promotion, it doesn't seem like _beta_ hard copy sales numbers would be that important anyway.
Have any Paizo folks addressed this, or are they playing their cards (understandably) close to their chests?
I have a duplex color laser printer... if the PDF was available first, I'd get that rather than the print version... if the print version comes out first, or even on the same day, I'll buy the print.
Since color lasers are now relatively inexpensive, I'm sure that releasing the PDF first will have at least some detectable impact on sales... and we do want Paizo to be able to adequately finance the final release. :)
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In my own experience if we were distributing software for download and in boxes simultaneously we always held off until the boxes were available. It does impact sales.
The other factor is basic "Marketing". Whatever your industry might be, you always want to have your big Kahuna events at the big Kahuna show. GenCon is *the* big Kahuna show. Anything that diminishes the buzz (such as "oh, that came out in pdf weeks ago") can diminish the impact. This is a pretty big tent pole product so they want to generate plenty of anticipation. Anticipation makes getting the prize even better. :-)
I can't speak for Paizo, but I understand both of these things to be true for any industry.
-Pete
I can't speak for Paizo, but I understand both of these things to be true for any industry.
True! The variety of clients the company I work for deals with proves this time and again.
Big Tent Pole.
As in.. the big pole holding up a big tent.
Big tents holding main attractions at fairs and bizarre's and circus's and such.
Oi.
-S
I have a duplex color laser printer... if the PDF was available first, I'd get that rather than the print version... if the print version comes out first, or even on the same day, I'll buy the print.Since color lasers are now relatively inexpensive, I'm sure that releasing the PDF first will have at least some detectable impact on sales... and we do want Paizo to be able to adequately finance the final release. :)
I also have a clp (not duplex, I have to do that by hand - not that it's a problem, and both acrobat and the printer software have tools to help), and I know that I couldn't print the thing and save money. In fact, I'd probly pay half again as much - and we're talking about international shipping here. Of course, i could print it out in black and white, but that's not the same. And all this doesn't include binding, either...
As for sales: They told us that they won't make much with that book, and I believe them. Look at it: It costs just five bucks more than a Pathfinder AP book, and four times as big.
I do get the desire to present it at GenCon, though.
