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My brother and I are thinking about making a small 3rd-Party company based on Pathfinder compatible products. We have a few ideas we've been bouncing around and maybe want to implement. I was wondering if anyone out there had any advice for us and that they might answer a few questions:
1. What do you personally think is required to start such a company?
2. What is required to start such a company?
3. What can I legally use from paizo products within our own products as per pathfinder compatible licensing agreement (I have read the licensing agreement, just asking to clarify and make sure I got it right)?
4. How much reasonably can we expect from expenses (We are thinking about making/running a site, selling on the pfsrd/rpg drive thru/etc. and making only pdfs for the time being)?
5. Is there any other questions I should be asking you guys or myself about this?
Thanks for your time! ^_^
Nothing?
Ya, maybe that's it. Thanks! ^_^
I did search a few things, but it seems the general internet isn't forthcoming... This way I just might get some advice from people who are already running with it. If not... well I guess we can just go without and see where it takes us.
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Check Liz Courts profile for links to threads. I'll find some more in a bit.
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My brother and I are thinking about making a small 3rd-Party company based on Pathfinder compatible products. We have a few ideas we've been bouncing around and maybe want to implement. I was wondering if anyone out there had any advice for us and that they might answer a few questions:
1. What do you personally think is required to start such a company?
2. What is required to start such a company?
3. What can I legally use from paizo products within our own products as per pathfinder compatible licensing agreement (I have read the licensing agreement, just asking to clarify and make sure I got it right)?
4. How much reasonably can we expect from expenses (We are thinking about making/running a site, selling on the pfsrd/rpg drive thru/etc. and making only pdfs for the time being)?
5. Is there any other questions I should be asking you guys or myself about this?
Thanks for your time! ^_^
1/2-- A basic idea of how the OGL works, a computer, and some ideas at an absolute minimum.
Then either cash to pay to get those ideas written, drawn, and laid out or the writing, art, and layout skills to create them.
Then, the willingness to devote long hours of work and or vast sums of cash without ever seeing a dime of it back (potentially to most likely depending how optimistic you are.)
Also, if you are going to operate as a company you will need to decide what kind of company and go through the legal process to create that company- LLC can be registered through online services such as legal zoom, but there's as cost associated. The simplest is a "Doing Business As" the rules for registering of which vary by state.
3. Anything designated open content per the OGL as long as properly attributed. In most paizo products this is most of the rules information but absolutely NOTHING that references Golarian, any characters, or deities, ect.
4. A lot. Lets just say you want to do a 24 page PDF product-- depending what you can do yourself your expenses could look like--
writing
24 pages x 750 words/page x .01/word= $180
editing
24 pages x 750 words/page x .01/word=$180
Art
6 1/4 page illustrations x $50= $300
Layout
$200-300 dollars
Total
860-960 dollars
Keep in mind-- those are minimum amounts. Paying a penny per word and 50 dollar per quarter page illustration is what you can get for less experienced writers/artists willing to take jobs they can do in conjunction with days jobs.
For professional writing the industry standard is 5 cents a word, and artists will charge different rates but for the quality/size/color of stuff in paizo books your looking at a lot more 200+ per illustration.
5. What do you really want to accomplish? Is it important that this be self published/your own company or could we be pitching these ideas to other companies to do as freelance writing?
Could we just publish this stuff on a blog/website where we can use creative commons for art and not spend all this money to put this out there?
Just how much money am I willing to sink into something that will sell for a few dollars?
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Or - you could do the writing, editing and layout yourself, and find stock art or royalty free images. If you do get freelancers to write your content, think about paying more than .01 a word also...
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also follow this LINK to a few other posts that contain more links to other posts. All good stuff on the ins and outs of 3PPs.
Good luck!
Or - you could do the writing, editing and layout yourself, and find stock art or royalty free images. If you do get freelancers to write your content, think about paying more than .01 a word also...
Like I said, I was giving the absolute bare minimum for work you aren't doing yourself.
Thanks guys for your responses. ^_^ I've got a lot to think about and discuss with my brother.
The thread is still open for comments and other opinions/info, but I've think my questions have been answered thoroughly.
1. What do you personally think is required to start such a company?
Arrogance, obsession, love.
2. What is required to start such a company?
A computer with LibreOffice. Basic OGL knowledge. Understanding the rules for citing Pathfinder products.
3. What can I legally use from paizo products within our own products as per pathfinder compatible licensing agreement (I have read the licensing agreement, just asking to clarify and make sure I got it right)?
The parts you can use. :) Essentially, the Open Game Content, plus the properly stated names of a certain subset of Pathfinder products listed in the license. Nothing Golarion.
4. How much reasonably can we expect from expenses (We are thinking about making/running a site, selling on the pfsrd/rpg drive thru/etc. and making only pdfs for the time being)?
I wouldn't worry about a paid site right away, just use a free wordpress/blogging site. If you do almost everything yourself, you can probably get a small product out the door for $100.
5. Is there any other questions I should be asking you guys or myself about this?
"Why am I doing this? What outcome will make me happy?"