GURPS 4th Reprints?

[CaptainNemo]

Recently, I discovered that GURPS Low Tech, GURPS High Tech, GURPS Ultra Tech, and GURPS BioTech were all out of print and selling quite highly on Ebay. Is there some criteria by which reprints are made?

Bruce

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by CaptainNemo

Recently, I discovered that GURPS Low Tech, GURPS High Tech, GURPS Ultra Tech, and GURPS BioTech were all out of print and selling quite highly on Ebay. Is there some criteria by which reprints are made?

Quite possibly, but as an internal business model no company is likely to share theirs with you.

One of the things that is definitely not a factor for any competent publisher though is out of print sellers are asking a lot for a copy. Those prices tell you essentially nothing about potential sales. Well OK, I guess they set a ceiling - since they prove you can sell no units whatsoever at that price or higher (if you could that one would have already been sold) so if they're below cost that tells you definitely should not to reprint, but generally if your product is that undesirable you really ought to already know that without needing to check eBay.

[johndallman]

Printing costs per copy are strongly dependent on the number of copies. So to be able sell copies at a reasonable price, SJG has to be fairly sure they'll sell a large quantity. This has meant there haven't been many reprints for several years, and two new titles, Diskworld and Mars Attacks, have not yet gone to press because it's not clear that they'll make money.

Copies listed on eBay at silly prices do not mean that they are selling regularly for that much. Many eBay vendors seem to prefer to wait for someone who wants a book so much that they'd be happy to pay $100, rather than sell it at $25 and not have a reliable way to get another copy.

If you buy a PDF, you have full permission to get a hardcopy printed, and there are threads in the Warehouse 23 Digital forum with information on the companies that do this.

[Pragmatic]

Originally Posted by johndallman

Many eBay vendors seem to prefer to wait for someone who wants a book so much that they'd be happy to pay $100, rather than sell it at $25 and not have a reliable way to get another copy.

Or someone who--having lost many auctions in a row--will in desperation pay $100 for a copy.

(Sigh... Complete Book of Necromancers...)

[Anaraxes]

Seems like good FAQ fodder.

Add a mention that SJG permits you to print a copy of the PDF, if you like hardcopy, link to that letter, and also past discussion of POD services like Lulu.com or your local print shop, which can bind the book in exactly the same manner as the SJG versions, should you be inclined to pay for that.

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Seems like good FAQ fodder.

Add a mention that SJG permits you to print a copy of the PDF, if you like hardcopy, link to that letter, and also past discussion of POD services like Lulu.com or your local print shop, which can bind the book in exactly the same manner as the SJG versions, should you be inclined to pay for that.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=69842
More could be added, like a link to one or more POD discussions on the forums.
E23 FAQ also addresses it
http://www.warehouse23.com/downloads
And its posted elsewhere as well.

[David Johansen]

I find myself in a bit of a quandary as I have a fair number of GURPS books on the shelves of my store and I could always use the cash I'd get from putting them on ebay. On the other hand that would be the end of my supporting GURPS as a retailer as GURPS no longer supports retailers. I like GURPS, I want to promote GURPS, but if I can't get books to sell people there's not much more I can do with that.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by David Johansen

I find myself in a bit of a quandary as I have a fair number of GURPS books on the shelves of my store and I could always use the cash I'd get from putting them on ebay. On the other hand that would be the end of my supporting GURPS as a retailer as GURPS no longer supports retailers. I like GURPS, I want to promote GURPS, but if I can't get books to sell people there's not much more I can do with that.

Putting them on eBay at silly inflated prices would at least be an interesting test of whether anyone does actually pay those silly inflated prices, or whether they're just an artefact of brain-damaged eBay pricing algorithms.

Though I do think that retailers should never spurn offering mail order. My favourite bricks and mortar games shop is one I haven't actually visited in years. They just do really great mail order and comprehensive convention stands.

As to GURPS not supporting retailers... As a GURPS author, I'm honestly grateful for all support from any quarter, but the sad fact is that the pre-order numbers for things like Discworld and GURPS Mars Attacks apparently suggest that most retailers no longer support GURPS. That ship has sailed (and hit an iceberg). If anything, the current problem may be that SJGames is too dedicated to supporting retailers, and insufficiently willing to get printed GURPS material out through other channels.

[Peter Knutsen]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

As to GURPS not supporting retailers... As a GURPS author, I'm honestly grateful for all support from any quarter, but the sad fact is that the pre-order numbers for things like Discworld and GURPS Mars Attacks apparently suggest that most retailers no longer support GURPS. That ship has sailed (and hit an iceberg). If anything, the current problem may be that SJGames is too dedicated to supporting retailers, and insufficiently willing to get printed GURPS material out through other channels.

I suspect it's because people who aren't online much assume that GURPS is dead. They gauge the biological health of an RPG line by how many books are on the shelves in their FLGS, and when that number drops towards zero the diagnosis is "dying", changing to "dead" when it hits zero.

Digital and online and web and so forth is all very good, but many people in their 30s and even more so 40s and 50s haven't caught up with developments.

[Polydamas]

And just to make it more fun, the slower SJG publishes printed GURPS books, the harder it is for retailers to justify shelf space, while the fewer retailers who devote half a meter to GURPS products, the harder it is for SJG to make a business case for printing books. A feedback loop is at work.