Why no new GURPS hardcovers?

[Refplace]

Originally Posted by Dalin

I'm just grappling with how to do the best I can for my favorite RPG company with those realities in mind. Still not quite sure how to show people all the awesome content in these invisible PDFs.

Someone up-thread mentioned a 3-ring binder for the DF series. That may seem obvious, but it didn't occur to me. Maybe with those clear pockets so I can print the full-color cover(s) and slide them in. Has anyone experimented with local printshops for the DF titles (especially the ones with full-color covers)? I haven't messed around with that idea yet.

Couple of ideas.
The binder thing, POD, etc
Also just print the covers to some books and make them as covers for binders, folders (say character folders), even B&W will still show the name and variety of content available.
Use the W23 gift feature to hand out rewards for contests or something. Yeah, on a teachers budget that might be too tough but Im just tossing out ideas.
Have a computer at school or work? Create a slideshow of GURPS covers as a screensaver.
I would like to see items made for GURPS like key fobs, mouse pads, buttons, coffee mugs, posters, whatever, but that suggestion has so far been deemed not viable.

Some of those could be done by yourself for personal use but others might run into issues getting someone to make it for you since its not your art.

[DouglasCole]

Originally Posted by scc

Personally I think that these vanity titles are part of the problem.


I think that your doing the accounting wrong here, the cost of the art should still be counted against the project in some way.

New art was accounted for; re-used art was not in this accounting, because it's based on cash flow. The "$100-150 per page, plus printing costs" estimate is based on all new art.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Stormcrow

I don't understand how people do this. Your hands are wet, you'll get the book wet. You have to be careful not to drop or splash the book.

You use a towel to dry your hands before picking up the book which was left lying nearby (usually on a shelf or the toilet). You don't move around much (just enjoy the nice hot bath water) and are careful not to drop your book into the bath water (unlike my first copy of Grimoire, which survives now in a binder as it feel apart when this happened).

Originally Posted by Kromm

Speaking personally...

Another thank you for your dedication.

Originally Posted by a humble lich

All of my 3e GURPS books are softcover and I can't think of any glossy, full-color, or hardcover gaming books outside of D&D from the 90s (Rifts, Taleslanta, MERP, Vampire, Shadowrun).

My 3e GURPS Traveller is hardcover. All my 1e White Wolf 'main' books were hardcover (the *splats were all softcover).

But yeah, it's a trend, started in the 90's and has ramped up with time. I actually prefer softcover to hardcover, but that's me (and obviously I now prefer ebook to softcover).

Also, all the dang kids need to get off my lawn.

I know right? What is it about my lawn and those dang kids?

[Turhan's Bey Company]

Originally Posted by Dalin

Has anyone experimented with local printshops for the DF titles (especially the ones with full-color covers)? I haven't messed around with that idea yet.

I know that a number of people have made dead-tree versions of GURPS PDFs through services like Lulu (which, it appears, is allowed under the "you may print one physical copy" rule) and have found them satisfactory.

[Phil Masters]

To be honest, I’m not convinced that all the new non-D&D colour hardcover RPG books coming out these days are “vanity projects.” Something is keeping various companies alive, and paying freelances like, say, Ken Hite, over a period of multiple years. That takes more than vanity publishing. Atlas Games and Pelgrane Press aren’t vanity publishers.

[Andrew Hackard]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

You're a publisher, which means that you're in the business of perceptions. If people don't perceive you as doing what you know that you're doing, then there's a communication problem.

Our message has been consistent for a long time. It's not a message some people want to hear, unfortunately.

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

To be honest, I’m not convinced that all the new non-D&D colour hardcover RPG books coming out these days are “vanity projects.” Something is keeping various companies alive, and paying freelances like, say, Ken Hite, over a period of multiple years. That takes more than vanity publishing. Atlas Games and Pelgrane Press aren’t vanity publishers.

No one said they were. But there certainly are some vanity projects out there, and Kromm's comment was about those publishers.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by adm

This is why I read on my water resistant smart phone, it doesn't mind if you drop it in the water.

I couldn’t endure trying to read on the tiny screen of a phone, not for anything longer than a telegram (or text). When I read for pleasure/relaxation, I want a whole page. Bigger pages are better, because I don’t need to turn them as often.

In any case, I’ve only had a smartphone for around a year, and I only use it to make phone calls and check the weather (and once a month or so, text). If I read a book electronically, it’s on a tablet or a desktop; more often the latter, as I don’t usually carry my tablet around. It would be really annoying to leave it on a bus or in a store. And I might actually do that. . . .

[Andrew Hackard]

Going off-topic, but apparently the new Kindle Paperwhite is waterproof. No prize for guessing why that feature was added.

[Alden Loveshade]

Originally Posted by Andrew Hackard

Going off-topic, but apparently the new Kindle Paperwhite is waterproof. No prize for guessing why that feature was added.

Originally Posted by whswhs

I certainly do. It makes reading in the bathtub feel safer.

Obviously so Bill can read e-books in the bathtub. (Don't blame me if I posted those quotes out of order.)

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Yes, there are certainly indie titles that get published because they're all but vanity projects that aren't so much about making money as getting published, and don't have to pay overhead on a games company with staff and an office. Yes, there are certainly Kickstarter projects that get published because they get money up front. Yes, there will be exceptions. But an established publisher can't rely on being an exception, can't always navigate the tax labyrinth that crowdfunding creates, and has to show a profit.

And yet, there are real games companies with real offices, out there publishing real paper RPG books that aren’t D&D, frequently financed by Kickstarters. I’ve backed some of those Kickstarters, and those books are sitting on my shelves, and some of the companies involved have been going for years if not decades, so they’re presumably not running at a loss.