I don't know if this is the proper forum for this sort of thing, but it's the best place I can really think to put it. So, I'm really curious about the Pathfinder Advantage program that's attached to the Adventure Path series. By subscribing to APs, people can get 15% off of all Paizo products. Seems cool. But I don't really like the APs. Not for their content, I think they're great. But I really like running my own adventures and coming up with my own stories for people to play through within the world of Golarion.
So as a constant DM, I subscribe to the RPG line, the Campaign Setting line, and the Companion line. Seeing the recent post about the next few months worth of Companion and Setting lines being really heavy, it made me do some math. I'm going to be paying $211.89 over the months of May, June and July for the 3 lines I subscribe to. Those who Subscribe to the AP line will end up paying 193.12 for the entire year. So as a subscriber, I'm paying more in 3 months than AP subs do in a year. Why am I not also getting access to that wonderful 15% discount? What is it about the Adventure Paths alone that makes them special?
The AP subscriptions are the way Paizo pay their ongoing bills - the backbone of the business, if you like. They want to incentivise those, so that's what they provide the discount for. It's not a judgement about whose money is more important it's part of the carrot they use to market their flagship product.
If they were to make it some kind of 'bulk order' discount, the market would likely respond by drifting somewhat - some of the AP subscribers would drop their subscriptions and Paizo would end up closer to a model of "lots of very popular products" in place of one "stupendously popular product". Since volume is so integral to print costs, that would hurt their profitability.
Perhaps more worryingly, others might hold off on ordering their goods so as to place one big order later in the year (after all, they might raise the same objection you have). Sales in the future are nice, but never as nice as sales now.
(Maybe this belongs in the Paizo Publishing General Discussion Forum.)
I'm not talking about bulk orders, really. The only reason why I brought up the example I did is because those titles are going out in the span of a very short time, and it got me wondering about the situation. They're using 2 carrots for the AP line already (30% off cover and the 15% elsewhere). Why not dangle a little bit of carrot elsewhere?
That's what the free PDF is for, really. That is a popular carrot.
If the eligibility for receiving the PF advantage was broadened, it would reduce the impact of the incentives currently on offer for the AP subscription. Selling lots of AP instalments is the bedrock on which the rest of the company's success is built.
Things may change of course, but that's the historical reason. The AP subscription is the best overall value because that's the one paizo are most keen for us to pick up.
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Also, if they expanded the offer, they would run into more resistance from brick and motor stores.. But do you realize that the AP is a lot more than just adventure... That's only half, the other half is comparable to the campaign setting line, and with the discouns, you d only be paying like eleven bucks more a month (8 on months that hard cover books come out)?