ORX, Sales Numbers, and Retail
Valamir:
Quote
portions of a few of the answers felt very dismissive--and again I realize they were not intended to be, so no harm, no foul--with the essential answer being "print more or get out of publishing" or "come on, everyone has that kind of money".
See, that kind of misrepresentation really chaffs my ass.
The essential answer was "print more or get of RETAIL", which I think is pretty irrefutable if you actually are looking to make money.
the other option presented was "Here's a way you can get the kind of money needed to print more if you don't have it now and think your game can support the additional sales".
It rather irks me when I give solid advice that is then dismissed as being dismissive just because its not the advice you wanted to hear.
If you can find a POD printer who will give you fantastic pricing on run sizes of 50 that is cheap enough to make Retail profitable, by all means please post the details, I'm sure there are dozens of publishers who'd love to know about them. But while I'm certain you can find printers cheaper than Lulu, I'm skeptical you can find one cheap enough to make Retail profitable at that run size.
Ron Edwards:
Everybody's ass seems to be getting chaffed. There are too many reactions to reactions going on in this thread.
I am giving moderator's notice that what someone feels about what you say is not to be taken as important, and that what you feel about what they say is better kept to yourself. Again, I've looked over the thread carefully and decided that this is in fact a problem, so I am not going to stand for any debate about it. Leave your egos at the door now, please.
Raven, regarding "the drive to retail," I suggest leaving it be. This thread's about making important decisions and not about some zeitgeist or vibe or anything similar. To repeat my point about it, you have hard numbers that suggest some attention to the retail channel would be good for you, and that is all anyone needs to concern themselves with in this thread.
Best, Ron
greyorm:
Fair enough, I can see how a discussion of that issue might just become empty wanking or social theorizing, so consider it dropped.
But I've been talking with you, Fred, and others about this over the past few days and realizing that the retail situation is hitting me from my blind-side and leaving me reeling in shock, trying to figure out how those numbers relate to my sales strategy. So let me try to clearly retarget the thread:
-I, surprisingly and unexpectedly, have decent retail sales.
-I have a very limited budget to fund my publishing.
The sales are good, but making no profit with them is bad. For what I think are obvious reasons, I need to be able to continue to tap those retail sales in order to grow volume and market* (or at least maintain the current momentum) rather than abandon them. But I need to do so within my budget and at a profit given the expected lifetime sales of the product**.
That, then, is what the thread is about: what options are available to me that accomplish those goals with those restrictions? Should the retail sales be abandoned despite their volume (and the possible benefits of retail) for direct sales only at greater profit but possibly a much longer payout period? Though understanding that's a decision for me to make and not a question for anyone else to answer, rather: what have the experiences of other publishers been regarding the above possible benefits of retail versus profit on low-volume products and the rate of direct sales and profit on the same?
Make sense? Do I need to clarify any of those goals or questions?
* ** I don't have enough data right now and need to gather more, so after discussing this with Fred, I'm going to sell at least two more quarters to see how the retail sales play out: if they pick up, drop off, hold steady, or drive more direct sales. Then I'll look at changing my overall sales strategy.
guildofblades:
Hi Raven,
My opinion would be, you should not drop the retail sales channel presently. However, that opinion is based on a couple assumptions.
1) You are able to find a short run or POD printer that can bring your total cost down, thus enabling you to get a bit more profit from those sales. Even just going from a buck to three bucks or so on the profit on those sales could become a substantial operational difference in your cash flow.
2) Your current retail distribution method (IPR?) isn't costing you time or additional marketing capital to garner the sales you are currently achieving. Meaning you aren't dumping your limited marketing resources to fuel these sales through this channel and you are able to POD print your inventory in fairly lean printing, striving to keep a leaner inventory on hand for those sales and turning around more micro print runs. Thus not tying up any more of your limited capital than is necessary to keep product flowing through that channel.
3) You have a very limited budget, so if your retail sales can nearly be run on auto-pilot with regards to your ongoing time commitment and the capital you keep tied up there in the form of inventory isn't overly restricting your cash flow and hence your ability to push forward with the other things you wish to accomplish with your company, then the retail sales you are getting is serving, partially, as your marketing channel. Its getting your game out there. And since its "getting it out there", but hardly on a broad basis, it means your retail coverage will be spotty at best or your product will remain a darn hard thing to find in most stores. This means any interest the retail sales drive on the consumer level now have the opportunity to spread to increased interest in other gamers later and if the product is then unavailable to those new fans of your game local at the time they take an interest in it, then this can help drive your direct sales stronger. Very likely driving direct sales that wouldn't be attained through your other direct marketing efforts.
Since your capital is limited, the solution of "printing in more volume" to drive the price down just isn't going to be an option. That means you need trim the fat in order to increase profitability on those sales. Find either a cheaper place or a cheaper format in which to print the product. And look for ways to streamline your time involvement in the day to day ongoings of your retail sales channel. Its providing you some value, but not a great deal of profitability. So you don't want to focus your time there. Let is run itself. If you are selling through IPR, Key20 or whomever else, that's why you are letting them have a cut of the action. So you can focus on other ways to generate sales and make money. Most likely your direct sales.
Ryan S. Johnson
Guild of Blades Retail Group - http://www.guildofblades.com/retailgroup.php
Guild of Blades Publishing Group - http://www.guildofblades.com
1483 Online - http://www.1483online.com
Ron Edwards:
Hi Raven,
I'm still a little confused, because several people have all provided the same advice to your question, since the beginning of the thread.
1. Find a POD printer who does short runs (say 100 books) at a reasonable price. How those books are stored, handled, and shipped to distributors is another question, but it seems as if you already have done that to some extent, in which case, do what you've been doing with these new books.
2. Stay with Lulu for one-customer direct on-line sales.
If these haven't been clear to you until this point, then let's forget all about why it wasn't clear or who could have said what in a different way.
Do you have any concerns that make this advice not useful? Is there any "how to" that remains?
Best, Ron
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