Wise Words from a Wise Man

Over on ENWorld, Phil Reed of Ronin Arts - probably the most successful PDF publisher today - posted his top 10 selling products for the quarter. In a reply to someone noting that his feats products were in the top 4 (the trend with publishers being to include less mechanics rather than more), Phil concisely and astutely observed:

"As we all know, what people say they want and what they buy are two different things."

THIS is the great trap which I believe so many publishers fall into - fans cannot steer your business decisions - a problem exacerbated by the lack of anything approaching scientific market research for the industry. Sure, your audience can guide some decisions, influencing the order which you release stuff or how much you give them, but trying to meet their needs right now if you are not a "right now" company which can produce something in the space of a week really is a losing game. You have to go with your gut, look at the numbers, and figure out what to do next. Sometimes, you have to take a risk and put something out there and hope it works. Sometimes, the fans won't know they want it until they see it for sale.

Take for instance, our new printing partner, Mongoose. People dog their pieces for doing so much d20, a 'lack of balance', proliferation of printing and all the points that make for lively discussion on the internet. But Mongoose is one of the few print publishers that have actually grown throughout the Bad Years of late. They've entered into a number of new and expensive miniatures ventures, funded entirely by RPG sales. They've acquired licenses which have allowed them to get progressively bigger licenses and so on and so forth. Fans may hound them, but the numbers Do Not Lie - they sell. That's why we jumped at the chance to join forces with them, because combining a good reputation with the d20 crowd with their good reputation with the store owners gets Spycraft out there to the people. It makes the game grow. It won't necessarily make us rich, but it does make us succeed. And from a business standpoint, that's exactly what we need. The fact that they are supporting our endeavors in such a cheerful and collegial way makes it even better.

I sincerely believe we know what you the Spycraft fans will buy, as well as what you want. And I hope the PDF format allows us to meet both those needs, by allowing us to react more quickly to audience demand while introducing things that will benefit the game environment that you may not know what you want yet. I'm crossing my fingers, here.