Any thoughts on pricing a book?
Paul Czege:
I spent $40 on Old Frontiers at Gen Con last year:
http://www.frontier-games.com/
It's 290 pages, softcover, perfect bound. It was not an impulse buy. I looked at it a bit while the designer was running a demo for someone, and then came back the next day and had him run the demo for me. And then I didn't buy it on the basis of the mechanics he demoed, but based on some of the off-hand comments he made about the game universe while running the demo.
I don't know anyone else who bought it.
Chris is right. Whether it's $30 or $37, you're going to sell it on the basis of your conversations with folks.
Paul
hoefer:
Well, the more I'm looking at things, the more I'm thinking of dropping the price to $30 for GenCon. Here's my reasoning -please point out errant logic as you see fit.
1). The book is available on my site at $37.00 (I've decided to -for the time- pay all shipping costs. My goal right now is to get this product out into the masses and aside from demoing it at every con I can get to, I feel making it "ship for free" might help) so really I'm taking nearly the same hit selling it directly from my site as I would selling it discounted at GenCon.
2). I originally choose 37.00 out of a "range-pricing" idea I had, along with the fact that at $37.00 each book covered the printing of an additional book and a half almost exactly. At 30.00 I still get an extra print out of each sale and the sales I get at the con might illicit additional sales afterward through my site (God willing, some of the purchasers will play it with friends and they will then purchase it, etc.).
3). My own "gaming buddies" and test players have suggested that they expect a book to be hardback once it breaks the $30.00 range. I guess I (subconsciously) feel the same. There is some latent expectation that after $30.00 everything will be all glossy and hardbound (similarly I kinda feel past $50 it either has to be larger than 8.5 x 11 or be leather bound). I've already read teh threads that declare this thinking as crap -but I've talked to a lot of people and crap or not it seems to hold true... I originally thought that because it was so meaty (with the 436 page count) it would compensate, but I'm just not getting that feel from the people I've talked to. (apparently, an extra 100 pages of good content don't add up to the luxury of having a hard outer cover...hmm???)
4). Right now, selling 1 more copy seems more important to me than earning X more profit -not to the point I want to lose money, but just that I hope my product will speak for itself once its out there -meanwhile I can speak for it at the conventions and such.
5). Unfortunately, I won't be there as much to directly promote my game. I'll be running a lot of events with it (as I have for many years), but not be there with the GPA booth pushing copies into the hands of every passerby :-) Therefore, I think what has been said about price being overcome through "presence" may not be a luxury I have this year (to boot, I'm a pretty shy guy -maybe dealing with the esteem issues Chris mentioned).
6). Last, I think if I was even sort of interested in a new product and saw a sticker on it saying something like, "GenCon Release Price $30.00 -save $7.00" I might be more apt to get it while at the convention. I know personally I have never bought something at the convention that I could have got off-site cheaper (and my local shop gives me 15% off everything I buy). The only exception here is when I've bought directly from the creator/owner of the company (so I guess this defeats my own logic...).
Well, there you go...
-Oh, and Chris, I will definitely hunt you down at the con. I've talked to you (briefly) for the last few years. When I started out a few years back, you were the first person (who had their own booth/company) that actually talked to me about the industry and didn't seem condescending when I explained that I was working on my own game -kudos to you friend.
Louis Hoefer
www.wholesumentertainment.com
MatrixGamer:
You've made a firm decision so run with it. Your reasons are sound.
You're actually at the fun stage of game making. Getting to run your own games is the best and if you walk people down to the GPA booth after your run then you'll make sales - probably more sales than you'd get being at the booth.
You've come a long way - getting a game designed, written and published in an economical POD way is a lot of work. The next step is to have fun at the show! I'm hoping to drop by the events my demo guys are doing and saying hi to the players. That way I can get more feedback from them over what I need to improve and maybe enjoy some friendly banter. It's all about engaging my own shyness to continue to get more used to the feelings it brings up. Now that I need to start making sales calls I need to get better and better at regulating those emotions.
Chris Engle
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