GURPS On Demand: Your Experiences

[philreed]

Originally Posted by beetle496

If the 4e POD books were interior color, and still at $5 less than the hardcover version, it think that would represent a fair value.

You're failing to note the realities of inflation. GURPS High-Tech, for example, was released in 2007 at an MSRP of $37.95. If we adjust for inflation, that $37.95 is the equivalent of (approximately) $47.94 today.

If we reverse the numbers, the $29.95 price of GURPS High-Tech in POD today would be the equivalent of (approximately) $23.71 in 2007.

If we were to publish GURPS High-Tech as a color hardcover today, the MSRP would very likely be set at $49.95. Maybe even more than that, considering that Ghosts of Saltmarsh -- a 256-page Dungeons & Dragons color hardcover -- is priced at $49.95. And they print way, way more units of those D&D hardcovers than we would if we were printing GURPS High-Tech in color today.

Game lines that extend for decades often make the mistake of not adjusting for current conditions. And gamers who have followed lines for decades often forget that time marches on and, with it, the impact of inflation.

Based on market conditions and in-house costs, the GURPS On Demand books are priced as necessary.

[dsoukup]

Originally Posted by philreed

If we were to publish GURPS High-Tech as a color hardcover today, the MSRP would very likely be set at $49.95. Maybe even more than that...

Based on market conditions and in-house costs, the GURPS On Demand books are priced as necessary.

I understand and agree with your assessment, but I must ask why color versions of the POD titles are not available. Do you perceive a lack of interest in $50 paperback books? Are there additional setup costs that would prohibit the same title being offered in color and black-and-white? In my admittedly limited experience with POD, the costs are basically passed on to the consumer with very little risk to the author/designer. If you offer a color paperback version of High-Tech for $50, for example, but only 3 people buy it...is the company really shortchanged at all if the only difference is a printing setting of “color” vs. “black-and-white?

That is, I am working under the assumption that the print ready file is a grayscale version of an existing color version of the work or that you use the color version and define the POD setting as “black-and-white”, both of which would require little if any additional work to make a color version available.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by dsoukup

I understand and agree with your assessment, but I must ask why color versions of the POD titles are not available.

Costs. I'd have to take another look, but if I remember correctly we would have to price GURPS High-Tech around $65 as a full-color POD title.

[Innui]

Have you ordered GURPS On Demand books?

Yes, it's pretty much the only way in Europe, price gouging makes GURPS prohibitive otherwise.

* If you did, how fast was the delivery?

Around 3 days to a week.


Bonus: What other books would you like to see released as a part of this program

Psionics. Pretty much everything 4th edition that isn't a 64 page supplement. I do buy pdfs but given their cost compared to hardcopy, and I always prefer to read a book and use s pdf for reference, more print please. I find it mysterious that of all the books on drivethrurpg, only GURPS magic is available in print in demand.
My experience of using drivethrurpg for my ad&d 2e fetish has been favourable, even for hard to scan books and great customer service.
Amazon.de kept sending my gurps books in dhl letter envelopes and I had to return 4 for damage.
I know who I prefer.

[bert]

Originally Posted by philreed

Bonus: What other books would you like to see released as a part of this program?

So, in my previous reply I did not answer this question. But my suggestions are:

GURPS Atlantis
GURPS Arabian Nights
GURPS Places of Mystery

Not hard to spot a trend here: all are written by Phil Masters. I think they also are not burdened by any licenses?

[beetle496]

Originally Posted by philreed

Based on market conditions and in-house costs, the GURPS On Demand books are priced as necessary.

I believe you that they are priced as necessary!

The conundrum is that a consumer that does just a little market research will quickly find that, for most 4e titles, the SJG posted MSRP for hardcover full color interior books is only about $5 more than softcover B&W POD offering. I think that costs you sales.

If the full color version was available, no matter what the price, that would help.

[philreed]

Originally Posted by beetle496

The conundrum is that a consumer that does just a little market research will quickly find that, for most 4e titles, the SJG posted MSRP for hardcover full color interior books is only about $5 more than softcover B&W POD offering. I think that costs you sales.

Our choices come down to: Price the titles as we have, or do not offer them in print at all.

Offering those books in color POD would cost too much staff time, which is limited. If we decided to adapt all of the books to work as color POD titles, we would have to stop producing new GURPS works for . . . months? Unsure.

If the demand was there, we would reprint color hardcovers. The numbers show us that B&W POD books, which is what we are currently offering, is the best way to keep the books in print at this time.

[Gandalf5]

Yes, several, and I had them in a few days. I personally love the option.

[tbone]

Report from my first GURPS On Demand experience (technically DFRPG On Demand):

I ordered Magic Items 2 from Amazon Japan, mostly to settle my curiosity over what would arrive. I expected it would be more or less the same B&W printing as Companion. What arrived the next day was a surprise: full color, on glossy paper similar to all the other DFRPG books (save for Companion).

It's not quite the same, actually. The binding looks the same as Companion. But for the publishing nerds out there, I'll note that close scrutiny reveals a print quality below the SJG-published books (on the covers and pages), with a bit less gloss to the pages as well. And although individual pages don't feel substantially thicker, the book's 52 pages (48-page count, plus four blank pages) are about a millimeter thicker than the same number of pages in Monsters 2 (ignoring covers for both).

At a glance, though, it looks indistinguishable from other DFRPG books, and fits right in.

Not much else to note. Other than this trivia: It arrived on a rainy day, and the Amazon box was notably wet on bottom. Bad move on the part of Yamato (delivery company). Fortunately, Amazon shrink-wraps everything inside. Unfortunately, not without some openings in the shrink wrap. But nothing seemed to have gotten wet . . . yet, the book has a wee bit of that warpage you associate with moisture. Was that inherent in the printing? Or did it occur in delivery? No idea.

But it's really minor, and no problem; I'm there for the content, not book collection. The TL; DR summary: I was pleasantly surprised to get an Amazon GOD book that matches the DFRPG in color and general feel. Which makes it more likely I'll order GOD Companion 2 as well. (Still looking forward to the PDF on that one!)

[Arcanjo7Sagi]

I recently bough Psionic Powers and Illuminati. The last one I bought these days and I am waiting to arrive this week.

I am satisfied so far and when my financial situation allows, I plan to get more books.