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Besides good ideas?
Just curious as to what all went into it.
Is it something that can be done part time, or does it require full attention?
How much does it cost to get started (software, artwork, etc.)?
Is it "worth" it (outside of the intangibles)? Does the time you invest have a decent payoff?
PDF publishing or hardcover?
To publish PDFs probably the easiest way to do it is to contact one of smaller publishers rather than try and self publish. Most of them already have ins with Paizo or the other PDF sellers and you can get your stuff out fairly quickly.
Besides good ideas?
Just curious as to what all went into it.
Good ideas are paramount. :D
Is it something that can be done part time, or does it require full attention?
Depends on how often you want to put out a product. We're currently putting out a short PDF every week and will have 3 print books for release this summer. I'm currently doing SGG plus some consulting gigs full time.
How much does it cost to get started (software, artwork, etc.)?
We use Adobe Photoshop and Indesign, which are expensive. I've got kids in school so it was much cheaper and I've been using the same version for awhile now. Without kids the current versions are somewhere north of $1000.
Now, you can replace Photoshop with GIMP, which is free. You can use Word instead of Indesign, and export to PDF using Bullzip PDF, which is also free. You either have Word already, but if not you can buyit for around $75.
Original artwork will set you back anywhere between $20 for a 1/4 page B&W piece to $2000 for a full color cover by a top artist. You'll have to find artists you like and see how much they'll work for.
Is it "worth" it (outside of the intangibles)? Does the time you invest have a decent payoff?
Now that's the rub. :D It doesn't pay as much as I was making before, but the intangibles are definitely worth it. And we're still building SGG up so the upside is good.
Hope that helps!
Hyrum.
Super Genius Games
"We err on the side of awesome."
You can also use Openoffice in place of word. I have not found anything that word does that openoffice doesn't do and openoffice is free.
Doh! Totally forgot about Open Office. Yeah, it does everything Word does.
Hyrum.
Super Genius Games
"We err on the side of awesome."
You can also use Open Office or Word with PDF 995 another free program (that Rite publishing uses).
You don't need just good ideas.
You need to be ready to work, Super Genius puts out a pdf product every week and sometimes twice a week and has done so for the past 36-37 weeks now.
Rite Publishing releases 2-3 products a month sometimes double that, plus managing 4 patronage projects. (I really should write a book about running patronage projects).
It really comes down to you personally. Either you want to do this, or you don't. If you want to do this, nothing will stop you from doing this. If you don't, then you won't.
Besides good ideas?
Just curious as to what all went into it.
Is it something that can be done part time, or does it require full attention?
How much does it cost to get started (software, artwork, etc.)?
Is it "worth" it (outside of the intangibles)? Does the time you invest have a decent payoff?
It's a full time job, but I also have my full-time day job as well. It's also full time for my wife, Connie, who also has a part-time day job. It requires our full attention, even when exhausted, but doesn't pay enough to quite the day jobs. Yet. I believe it will, in time and the way we are growing.
As others have pointed out, you can use open source software to produce your PDFs. We use Adobe Photoshop Elements, InDesign and Acrobat Pro, plus MS Word. None of that is cheap, by any means, but I got some of the software at a discount (if you dig, you'll find discounts on just about all software).
Art is another matter all together. You could just drop by DriveThruRPG and pick up a bunch of stock art packs for very little money and get started that way, or you could find some artists willing to work for the rate you set (set your rates ahead of time and stick to them until you truly can afford to up them). We currently pay $25 for a 1/4 page black-and-white, $35 for a 1/3 page, and $50 for a 1/2 page, and $250.00 for full-color cover art. We also sprinkle some stock art in from time to time as well.
Also, do you plan to design/develop/write everything yourself, or have others help? On a work-for-hire basis, we currently pay .02/word to others. We also pay an editor $1.00 per page to edit our products.
We feel it has a great pay-off, even if it isn't a financial windfall (which we never expected it to be - anyone that gets into the RPG publishing industry to get rich is delusional...). However, 14 months into this thing, we're selling a lot more books and PDFs than we expected we would.
Robert
4 Winds Fantasy Gaming
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It really comes down to you personally. Either you want to do this, or you don't. If you want to do this, nothing will stop you from doing this. If you don't, then you won't.
It's more that I think I have some pretty good ideas. I'd like to give it a shot, but you have to start somewhere. I'm not really expecting to turn this into a full-time job (as much as I would like to), but more like something of a side project.
It's more that I think I have some pretty good ideas. I'd like to give it a shot, but you have to start somewhere. I'm not really expecting to turn this into a full-time job (as much as I would like to), but more like something of a side project.
May I suggest the Creative Imprint Agency for you. It is a service that might be a great first step for you.
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It's more that I think I have some pretty good ideas. I'd like to give it a shot, but you have to start somewhere. I'm not really expecting to turn this into a full-time job (as much as I would like to), but more like something of a side project.May I suggest the Creative Imprint Agency for you. It is a service that might be a great first step for you.
I will check them out thank you!
Besides good ideas?
Just curious as to what all went into it.
Is it something that can be done part time, or does it require full attention?
How much does it cost to get started (software, artwork, etc.)?
Is it "worth" it (outside of the intangibles)? Does the time you invest have a decent payoff?
You can certainly publish in your spare time. In fact, that might be the best way to go in the beginning. Focus on making quality products, one product at a time, one day at a time.
Don't overwhelm yourself with a heavy production schedule that is both unrealistic and potentially expensive. You'll burn yourself out, possibly go broke and alienate your customer base in the process.
Many people have said this in past discussions with others who wanted to jump into the industry, and I'm repeating it here for your benefit.
Don't quit your day job.
You are not going to get filthy rich doing this. That said, you can make yourself a nice, steady revenue stream that will supplement your existing income, if you don't go nuts on spending( Art, writing, editing, etc.).
Will it happen overnight? Nope. But keep at it, be good to the people who are supporting your work with their hard-earned money, and in time you'll see benefits.
Finally,publishing is a labor of love. Don't do it for the money. Do it because you are passionate about the industry.
Just my .02 cents.
PDF publishing:
I use OpenOffice for just about everything. I paid my brother $100 to design a logo for me. I use a free blog site for my product home page. So, simply becoming a viable publisher cost me about $100. As a practical matter, you'll want a laser printer ($150, if you shop around).
If you have a really good product concept, and develop it well, figure your costs and desired profits at around 300 sales in three months, half that for a module or something that is otherwise "single-use." My first and only product was put together on $170 and covered its own expenses in about two months. If your first couple of products don't do that well, trim your budget or produce a better product.
The most expensive thing in the world is bad taste. Don't rush it, don't skimp on paying for something you can't do yourself, and don't confuse lavishness with attractiveness. Just like a job interview, buttoning up and cleaning up is a lot more important than spending money on flashy labels.
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On the other hand, you could end up not putting out anything in more then 2 years after taking people's money... and then give that money to OTHER people to finish the work for you... yes I went there.
Anyone can make a website these days. GoDaddy and Squaresoft have made the internet so easy and so accessible it's ridiculous.
Heck, if you don't want to make your own sight to sell it, and deal with the accounting (understandable) there's the D20 stores selling PDFs; Enworld, drivethrurpg, and rpgnow.
Freeware word processing and pdf conversion (as soon above) is simple.
It's just a matter of putting in the time to write, get the art, and make it sound good enough for people to give it a try and hopefully be good enough for them to come back.
On the other hand, you could end up not putting out anything in more then 2 years after taking people's money... and then give that money to OTHER people to finish the work for you... yes I went there.
This is NOT the norm and really it could have happened to anyone, but real issue is that there are people who write RPGs who want to run RPGs business and don't always realize those are two completely different and separate skills. I am very lucky in this industry because I have roughly 20 years of graphic design and publishing experience at companies like Macy's and Ethan Allen to work from. There are a lot of moving parts and piece to a business and when you first start off you don't see them all, so things do happen. Including not getting out a product that was paid over 2 years ago. It takes a lot to publish a RPG and most of it has nothing to do with writing.