Point/Success of Publishing Without Community?
Sebastian K. Hickey:
The last time this thread was active, I promised to return with some updates on my progress (?) with the building of community in Ireland and abroad. I recently came back from Gaelcon and, although it was a dismal failure, I think I've got some things to share.
Gaelcon
I spent a lot of time talking with the convention organisers. They were very supportive. They gave me my own stall for free and arranged for a floor space to demo my game and run special events.
I spent nearly all of the four days of the convention at my stall or nearby and I sold four books. It was a total waste of time. Now, there are a lot of whys and why nots, but in the end, they're irrelevant. What I'd like to share here are the positive things that I learned and some of the negative things that I'd avoid next time.
Networking gets you stuff. By being nice to people and offering help, I was able to save myself €100 for the stall. I may not have sold anything, but I didn't make a loss. So that, in it's way, is a success. If you're newer than me to this business, my advice is to try to contact and meet (and drink with) the convention organisers whenever you can. If you're enthusiastic and genuine, I think that these gamer organisers will do their best to support you (especially if they know you haven't got any money/credentials).
Manning a stall is probably not a good way to sell a new indie game to an Irish audience. I knew that Irish gamers were stuck in their ways, but, somehow, I thought that my game was going to change it all. Hahaha! I was/am an idiot. So, I've learned that if you have a gut feeling about your audience, listen to it, and don't believe that you will be able to change your audience. You've got to change for them. So, if you think you've got a hard sell indie game, then manning a stall probably won't get it sold. You need to convince people through play. I reckon.
If you do have a stall (and this is particular to the small conventions in the UK and Ireland), do what Graham Walmsley did at Indiecon this year. Be there for 90 minutes a day at 10:30, 15:30 and 18:30. Leave a sign telling everyone that you're playing games and go and enjoy yourself. Maybe, by playing new games, you'll meet some awesome people who MIGHT want to peek at your work.
Lastly, if you don't sell any of your game, it might be because your game is flawed/shit. That's what I've come to learn about my game and, even though it hurt, the lack of sales and interest helped me to nail the coffin shut on my suspicions. That nail has helped me to become a little more realistic about my expectations for the game and, therefore, how much support I should be giving it going forward. So, even if it sucks, there's still something you can learn. Some people call that the bright side.
Lucca
This is a funny little story. I got in touch with some Italian gamers at Gente Che Gioca, because most of the Hell for Leather Facebook group was made up of Italian fans. Gente Che Gioca is an Italian version of Story Games, more or less. I asked if someone over there would like to sell a couple of copies of the game for me at Lucca (and earn a profit for themselves, of course).
A couple of people replied, including Claudia Cagnini of Narrativa. She put out a thread to ask if anyone would be interested and, if so, to sign up for a copy. That way we'd know how many books I should ship.
In that thread, I told everyone that not only would every book be signed, but that I would also write a rude dedication. I have some great Italian friends, and if there's one thing I know about Italians is that they love blasphemous, shocking humour. Like me. Twenty people signed up for the book, I shipped those to Italy, and all of them sold at Lucca.
The guys over in Italy are great supporters. I'm so happy I got in touch. So, if there's a lesson to learn, it might be "fortune favours the bold." I sent one little message and it ended up accounting for more than a fifth of my total sales.
In summary, I think a lot of this building of community comes from just turning up at things and having fun, but some of it comes from being bold and the most part comes from someone else pimping your shit. The only way that happens, of course, is by accident.
I won't be contributing any more to this thread, as I think I'm totally under qualified. But I'd love to get some feedback.
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