Which GURPS books are the most successful?

[lachimba]

Just wondering in the tough business of roleplaying which GURPS (print) books are the ones that were the most financially successful.

I would imagine that the core books would pretty much be it and that other books are tough to make a profit on which is why E23 is essential to sell anything that is a niche product.

But I was also wondering about GURPS Discworld and Hellboy. Both are great licences and GURPS effectively has the roleplaying monopoly on them. If they weren't successful then something seriously went wrong.

[sjmdw45]

This data is not exhaustive but may be representative:

http://e23.sjgames.com/hot.cgi

Obviously you'd have to weight the results by price and per-unit profit margin to get a sense of which ones are the most "financially successful," but at least you can guess which books probably AREN'T successful.

-Max

[ericbsmith]

Look for the books that have gotten the most print runs. Besides the Basic Set the rules supplements - Magic, Space, Fantasy, Powers, and Martial Arts are probably the best sellers. This same pattern was true in third edition as well, where rules supplements tended to get more reprints and more new editions than the various Historicals and Worldbooks.

[Phil Masters]

Not contradicting anything anyone has said, but note that a sufficiently popular license could easily sell far more copies of its supplement than the specific tastes of the general GURPS audience.

Put it this way - I know which of my books has earned me the most royalties, by far, despite having a lower royalty rate.

[sjard]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Put it this way - I know which of my books has earned me the most royalties, by far, despite having a lower royalty rate.

Not sure how the royalties work, but I just put a few more cents in your pocket at the very least, if retroactively. (Just ordered Discworld hard cover off amazon at their new price (yes, that was me being a cheap bleeper, used would have been $1.50 less, but $5 more on shipping)). I would have ordered through Warehouse 23, but when I went to order it yesterday they seemed to be out.

[lachimba]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Not contradicting anything anyone has said, but note that a sufficiently popular license could easily sell far more copies of its supplement than the specific tastes of the general GURPS audience.

Put it this way - I know which of my books has earned me the most royalties, by far, despite having a lower royalty rate.

I guess that is what I was getting at. If the licensed books sell more then maybe that is a good way to survive in the tough RPG market. If you can get a good license or two each year then it is a good way to get more players into GURPS. I can think of at least 10 different licenses that I would absolutely love to see as a GURPS books.

GURPS Dragaerea, GURPS New Crobuzon etc etc

[Jürgen Hubert]

Transhuman Space also probably was fairly successful - lots of people talk about it who aren't GURPS fans.

And it still has an official line editor, despite all the time that has passed since the initial publication...

[Figleaf23]

Originally Posted by sjard

Not sure how the royalties work, but I just put a few more cents in your pocket at the very least, if retroactively. (Just ordered Discworld hard cover off amazon ....

You're lucky. I can't get GURPS books for love or money on Amazon. They haven't stocked Thaumatology for months.

[sjard]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

You're lucky. I can't get GURPS books for love or money on Amazon. They haven't stocked Thaumatology for months.

Well, in my case I generally get what I can when I can. Which isn't very often.

[maximara]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

You're lucky. I can't get GURPS books for love or money on Amazon. They haven't stocked Thaumatology for months.

I just checked and GURPS Thaumatology is available: 15 new, 8 used with a review going all the way back to December 23, 2008 so I am at a loss to explain why there was a dry well for several months.