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Old 11-26-2018, 09:20 AM   #15
DouglasCole
Doctor of GURPS Ballistics
 
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Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Lakeville, MN
Default Re: What would Pyramid Volume 4 look like?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kromm View Post
This is left unsaid too often in discussions of "Why doesn't [GAMING COMPANY] do [PROJECT] in [SPECIFIED MANNER]?" People seem to understand economic reasons,
As an example of this, I've posted the Gaming Ballistic financial details a few years running. Here was my take-home pay since inception:

2016: Lost about five grand ($5,000)
2017: Lost about twenty grand ($20,000)
2018: Thus far, on the way to the end of the year, I'm guessing $10,000 profit including both Dragon Heresy and Hall of Judgment.

In terms of win/loss:

Dungeon Grappling, my first book, was a clear win. It continues to sell, if slowly, and broke even on the Kickstarter. I've had to order mild POD reprints. I can't go into distribution on this one because POD cost is VERY high, and for a $15 book, it needs to be about $2.25 per book just to be self-sustaining.

Lost Hall of Tyr, my second Kickstarter, wound up losing $1,000. Mostly that was a calculated risk: I invested $1,000 extra in a piece of amazing art from an artist with a very large following, with the expectation that 50 of his folks would come by and pledge, which would make up the risk, or more, which would be a return. That did not happen.

Dragon Heresy, my third KS and vanity project. Probably cost me $35-40K all in, and I've made maybe half of that back. I do have something like 1,300 copies in my inventory, however, at both the warehouse and my home. At the expected distribution take for the book, if they all sell via distribution, I will bring Dragon Heresy to break-even. If they sell through Amazon, direct-to-retail, or through my store, it will be profitable. But that's likely years unless something happens to up the visibility of the core book.

Hall of Judgment, my fourth project, was a smashing success. It cost relatively little to make, but roughly half (about $6.5K!) were printing and shipping costs, with shipping from overseas being the lion's share. Total revenue is on the order of $19-20K so far. So my return on this one has been good, but mostly goes "rearward" to pay for investment in Dragon Heresy. Looking *forward* rather than backwards, the GURPS/Dungeon Fantasy RPG community has been good to me and I intend to return the favor with more product.

But you can see that other than my basic love for making games, I'd be utterly unable to do it at all save for a solid day job.
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