Quick Survey Question: Where do you purchase your pathfinder compatible books/PDFs? I'm not asking about Paizo's books but just Pathfinder compatible books and PDFs.
Obvious Answers:
If you purchase them somewhere else, please share that as well. If you purchase them at more than one location, list them all but also mention where you buy the majority of them.
Thanks in advance.
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Same here.
Most of what I get for PF1 is through Kickstarters.
Really? So if a company doesn't do much/anything with Kickstarter, does that mean you pay them less attention?
Just making sure: I'm just trying to understand the market and customer behavior, not accusing.
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I have friends who work at the Local Gaming Store and I've been going to the same one for a long time, so I figure paying a bit extra to help keep those kinds of places in business is worth it. Plus, I like dead tree books; I am used to dead tree books (and I hate flipping back and forth in PDFs.)
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I try to use the publisher's website when possible, though I have used Amazon for a few of them because the shipping was free and faster.
Organized Play Developer
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I primarily use DriveThruRPG because as a 3pp content-creator myself, it's a lot easier to roll my credit from product sales and referrals into checking out new products on the same marketplace. It's also just easier to have all my 3pp digital content in one place, and most of the time review copies, Kickstarter digital copies, etc. are granted through DriveThruRPG.
For physical copies, if they're available at one of the local gaming stores I'll buy them there first, though often if I end up enjoying them I'll still go and buy them on DriveThruRPG so that I own the digital assets and can post a review if I want to.
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The order in which I go looking:
1. Paizo.com
2. A local game store (though this never works - I’m in Australia and barely any 3PP books make it to our shelves)
3. Noble Knight Games
4. The publisher directly
5. Drivethrurpg (most of my POD books come from here)
6. Amazon
I don’t buy PDFs (and select the print only option when I can, even if the PDF is a free add-on) so the above is solely hardcopy books.
Kickstarter is a big source of 3PP books for me, but it’s really hit and miss (I don’t go looking for projects there, so it’s not useful as a marketing tool for me). If I hear about a cool project though, I’m very likely to back it.
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PDFs:
DriveThru
Open Gaming Store
Paizo
Publisher stores (some, like those that don't charge VAT)
Books:
Amazon
Book Depository
AbeBooks
Paizo
Paizo is last because I don't remember when it was last time they gave a discount for 3pp pdfs or books. For physical books, the most important part for me is shipping (I live in Croatia) hence those stores. I used to take more stuff on Kickstarter but now my wishlist is just too large and I don't have the patience to wait for a book if I can buy one now. Also if it will be available on Amazon/Bookdepository, I can get discounts.
Basically, I buy things where there are discounts and affordable shipping.
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Most of what I get for PF1 is through Kickstarters.Really? So if a company doesn't do much/anything with Kickstarter, does that mean you pay them less attention?
Just making sure: I'm just trying to understand the market and customer behavior, not accusing.
For the most part, I've moved towards larger compilations for PF1 and not picking off smaller works like in years' past. I'm more likely to consider a bundle of shorter related pieces than one by itself.
Part of it is looking towards PF2, and part of it is a shift in what we play for d&d (more 5e and more old school). Aside from the larger KS stuff, most of my PF1 purchases tend to be things that are useful in an almost system neutral fashion.
(Also a lot more Call of Cthulhu as compared to PF/d&d, though that's not really relevant to what you were asking)
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It's also just easier to have all my 3pp digital content in one place
And that's why if it's not here, it's (mostly) dead to me. I do realize that Paizo takes a larger cut than other distribution sites do, and I'd be willing to pay for that, but yeah, I'm really big on "don't like my collection in multiple places".
The fracturing TV/movie streaming situation just underlines what I don't like. But anyway...
1} The fewer places I need to have an account, the fewer places there are to inevitably have a data breech and leak my personal information.
2} The fewer small places things are distributed in, the less likely I'll lose access to (some) downloads due to them going out of business. Or some weird licensing change causing them to lose rights to provide me access to what I've paid for.
3} Multiple places sending marketing e-mail is just annoying. I know who you are, and I'll come looking periodically for things I want. Unsubscribe is all fine and good, but "don't subscribe in the first place" is better.
4} "Has anyone seen my keys? I know I left my keys around here somewhere. Are they here? Here? How about here?" Keeping track of where to find any particular thing came from is no fun when you're away from your downloaded library and want to access an emergency download. "Ain't nobody got time for that."
Anyway, Paizo has to have my credit card data due to subscriptions, so they win by default. Yes, I have a DTRPG account, but I probably have four or five items purchased there.
As for physical books, I get my items generally from the originator (in the case of a Kickstarter), or from Paizo, or (increasingly) from Amazon (Canada) because shipping and import costs have been massively increasing in the last five years. When bringing an item over the border costs half the product's price in shipping, and Amazon offers free shipping, and the product cheaper than the original price, it becomes harder and harder to justify importing personally. 10% I can live with. 20%, sure. But 50% is starting to get dumb. (This is mainly a factor of the relatively low price on the items involved. Shipping a thousand dollar car part here still makes sense because the shipping might still only be $25, but a $40 book... no thanks.) Oh, and Amazon's domestic shipping has tracking, where companies in the US shipping here usually use USPS and poof... no tracking. It'll be here in five to ten to an infinite number of business days.
Thanks everyone. This really helps.
Anyone else?
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Paizo is often the first place that comes to mind (and I've got a number of 3rd party items, incl from JBE in my digital downloads here). For physical stuff - Paizo again.
Second up would be DriveThroughRPG.
Third would be Kickstarters.
incl from JBE in my digital downloads here
Thank you. I hope you enjoy them.
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I bought several Pathfinder Bundles on Humble Bundle. I discovered several great 3PP there, and got some PDFs I would probably have never bought because they are not my main focus... and finally loved.
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I purchase most 3PP directly from the publishers. Paizo products I get through Amazon, though not so much these days.
The stuff I have purchased this year is Frog God Games and Legendary Games mostly, with the occasional product from Kobold Press.
I have a Drivethru account, but seldom use it.
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Yeah, downloading from Paizo is excruciating compared to downloading from DTRPG (or Humble Bundle, or pretty much anywhere else).
I do realize that Paizo takes a larger cut than other distribution sites do
This isn't entirely accurate.
For PDFs
DriveThruRPG takes 35%
Paizo takes 25%
OGS takes 20%
My own webstore 2.9% + $0.30/transaction
For Print
DriveThru takes 35% of the (Selling Price - Printing Cost)
Paizo takes 50%
OGS takes 30%
My own webstore 2.9% + $0.30/transaction
So for PDFs, DriveThru is definitely takes the most.
For print, it is possible for DriveThru to be worse than Paizo, but if the Printing Cost + cost to ship it to Paizo is > 50% of the Selling price, it isn't going to Paizo in the first place. So effectively, when it comes to print, Paizo takes the largest cut.
So a quick tally:
(Scoring 1 point for preferred place, 0.5 points for anything less than preferred).
DriveThruRPG 5.5
Paizo 5.5
Open Gaming Store 0.5
Publisher's Website 3.5
Local Game Store 1.5
Amazon 4.5
Kickstarter 4.0
Interesting. I figured Paizo would skew high because it is Paizo's site. I definitely didn't expect Amazon to be as high as it is and I obviously didn't expect Kickstarter to be on the list, though I should have in both cases.
Anyone else?
Instead of totaling this again and again, I made this a poll over at blog.jonbrazer.com. Vote for it now.