That's an interesting (third) perspective on publishing Graham - thanks for posting it. Did you take this route through choice or necessity? And would you do so for your next project?

You forgot number 6:

Pimp the shit out of your book at every opportunity.

Seriously dude, you think you'd have sold 300 (or even 30?) without doing that? Don't need to spend money on marketing, that really is (to certain audiences) something you can do yourself.

I'm not saying you should be obnoxious about it, just that, well, any time you get an opportunity to tell people about your game, you should take it. Put it in your sig on every forum you frequent. Make sure it gets reviews. Create buzz.

Buzz = people knowing about your game = Potential sales.

EDIT TO ADD:

If you want to know how to create buzz for free and pimp the shit out of a book in a non obnoxious way, Graham here's the viking-ninja-pimpmaster.

David is possibly going to do "Eekamouse Goes To Atlantis" on this kind of model. It has a lower return per book, but a much smaller initial outlay. It also can allow for word-of-mouth sales and growth with an active online presence.

Graham's method of being an active online presence is a big part of Play Unsafe's success, I'd say. Plus really hitting the Zeitgeist with a book on improv helps, cos every thread on improv automatically generates a mention.

But yeah, my method doesn't differ from Graham's all that much. The only difference is I spent a small amount on art (£200) and some skill-swap stuff.

-Matt

Realms Publishing

What I've been doing is not too far from this. My internal art has mostly been from RPG-oriented clipart packs which I've paid for - but you can get some good stuff for pretty low cost, and once you have it you can re-use it indefinitely at no extra cost. I have paid out significant amounts for a couple of cover images (Questers and Jaws) - mainly because I found them and fell in love than because they were absolutely essential to the product.

I've also paid for software, or used stuff that I'd bought for other purposes.

I would suggest people consider a proper RPG sales venue as well as Lulu, so that you get passing trade as well as your mates and online contacts. (That might incur a cost to set up, e.g. at OBS.)

Tim Gray
Silver Branch Games
www.silverbranch.co.uk

That's pretty much what I did, with the £200 fo art. Everything else was me - writing, editing (an english degree mate helped me out there), layout and final print file production. I wouldn't say I got it perfect, but Wildfire looks pretty good I reckon.

Greg

As Gregor says I am considering this as the method for Eekamouse, when I get it done, for a number of reasons, including: the fact that I wish to price the game low, concentrate mainly on PDF sales, use a more expensive size format (A4 would cost a lot more to ship if I were to buy stock in advance), and Graham's success.

Our discussions at the moment are concentrating on books where print is still the primary distribution method, with PDF sales as a lucrative sideline, but I suspect Lulu excells for books that are primarily intended to be a PDF with the physical copies as more of an oddity.

http://www.solipsist-rpg.com/

A couple of things.

1. Of course it's about creating enthusiasm for your product, but then it always is. There's no realistic method of selling stuff where you don't have to promote it. Promoting the product isn't specific to this method of doing things.

2. I don't actually pimp the shit out of the product. I'm happy to talk about what I do, but it's not quite mentioning it at every opportunity.

3. The best buzz comes from other people starting threads about your book. I had no control over any of that.

4. Actually, at the risk of blowing my own trumpet, I'd say that my best technique for generating buzz was by making the book actually quite good, so that people wanted to talk about it.

Graham

You are suggesting that quality sells? Controversial!

http://www.solipsist-rpg.com/