Here are some random thoughts on the matter...

Flyers, asolutely. I was planning to have some flyers for the Giant brain at expo, due to me having to push back my start date a little. How about catalogue we could send out to shops listing all our products?

Oh, how about setting up a shop on the site for our products. I know this would require a bit of work but it may see our sales increase.

I know we have been talking about doing a podcast, but what about courting some interviews on others like Sons of kryos etc. They have got to be interested in what we are trying to do.

Gaming report would seem like a good place to starting announcing new releases etc.

Get links from sites like the Forge, Story games etc.

Adverts in Games Gazette, Dungeon etc.

Those are all I have for now.

Cheers
Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

Just an observation, but right now the UK games scene is really cool. Just a theory, and I'm not sure how much bearing this has on indie schtuff, but I think as the dollar drops off the map further and further in terms of any actual value homegrown talent is increasingly looking within the UK for opportunities.

Your/our Uk-ness is something well worth trading on right now I think, in a very positive way. I'm no kind of nationalist, and its rare for me to say something like this.

I could of course be talking absolute balderdash. But I look at the UK projects I have on the go, and others around me, and they fill me with enthusaism.

Jon Hodgson
www.jonhodgson.net

Podcasts are certainly a good idea, whether it is talking on other peoples or starting our own. There are certainly benefits int hat kind of interaction.

Actual advertising (in terms on online and print) is, I think, something we want to avoid as it's pretty much not worth the money.

Jon: I'd be interested in hearing more of your thoughts on the matter of utilising the home grown talent we have here to the greatest possible extent. What is it in particular that enthuses you about the UK-based projects that you work on as an artist?

I think we should do more to promote ourselves within the UK games scene: more posting on other fora, egtting ourselves out there a bit more and so forth. The more people we can attract to the site, the greater the diversity of opinion and thought and the greater the volunme of worthwhile chat about games and gaming.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

I wrote a blooming super-long winded essay, all about Madonna, the Artic Monkeys record sales, weasels and dinosaur eggs. And then chopped it as long winded, metaphor ridden, speculative rubbish. So to keep some brevity here:

If I were selling Cheddar cheese, I'd use its Britishness to sell it, both at home and abroad.

Britishness is popular.

I think there is a common "Brit" feel running through much of what gets produced on our tiny islands, and it sells, and could be used to sell more. I'd want to think about what that was, and pin it down a little, and then market using it.

AState feels British, Dragon Warriors feels British, SLA feels British. WFRP feels British (though interestingly now written by Americans studying the British feel). And so on and so forth.

To adress my own line of work, where previously America was the market to crack as a freelancer, the falling US dollar means working domestically in your own currency is looking increasingly attractive. How much of an impact that will have on UK games I couldn't say. But there seems to be a lot going on here in the UK of late. Maybe its simply something I'm noticing as the Pound becomes an much more attractive currency.

Jon Hodgson
www.jonhodgson.net

I don't think spending money on advertising is worth the while for mainstream publishers, let alone indies.

I've been thinking along the same lines as Jon, and the idea of "best of British" keeps popping into my head.

How about some sort of compilation? A book of short games and articles, either tied to our own games or to some sort of ephemeral concept of Britishness?

How about a contest of sorts, a games design contest we could champion to get novice designers involved in the site?

Riffing off Andrew's idea, what about a Best of British 'Zine. Kinda like Push, but more full of practical brit-grit than cutting edge meandering.

-Matt

Realms Publishing

How about a more regular ezine that we could use to push product, do interviews, write articles etc. Bimonthly, quarterly?

Cheers
Iain

Lead Developer Mob Justice RPG

Check out my home brew games like 'Reel Adventures'

I like the idea of a 'zine of some kind. Perhaps it could feature columns inspired by discussions on the site, short games (the original version of Okhrana would be a good fit here), discussion of techniques, 'what we are playing' and so forth.

As I have a large chunk of free time coming up, I'd be happy to volunteer to co-ordinate such a venture.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

And to address Jons comments, I think there are a lot of good points contained there. The strength of the pound versus the dollar certainly is a double edged sword: printing is cheaper in the US, but this is balanced by getting less per unit sold.

One of the things about CE, for me certainly, was always to popularise and encourage the growth of small press games in the UK and Europe. Not just in terms of selling more games, but in terms of encouraging design, play and discussion.

Cheers
Malcolm

Contested Ground Studios

I could get behind a 'zine!

===Not just in terms of selling more games, but in terms of encouraging design, play and discussion.===

I wonder how much those things can be/need to be seperated out? Hmmm much ponder-fodder there methinks!

I realise I often use "sell" in a very broad sense. If you can "sell" the thing that is Collective Endeavour (design, play, discussion), win hearts and minds, then product sales may just follow without you doing much methinks.

Using the cheese analogy again, if you can "sell" the branding to people, make them beleive in the vision of leafy English lanes and the taste of that the cheese will undoubtedly offer, and then later on they part with the cash - in a way you could see as incidental.

Hmmm... a "people don't buy umbrellas they buy keeping dry" kinda thing I guess.

I don't know what use these random thoughts are, but hey. I post 'em anyway! :)

Jon Hodgson
www.jonhodgson.net

Zine - definitely!

I'd like to volunteer my awesome powers of journalism +3, Malc.

Let the zine be short, frequent and web accessible.

Per

Cutting edge meandering Ha ha.

I think a 'Zine would be great - the old CGS circular was very good.

I think a podcast or v-cast would be good for generating some buzz.

In the spirit of the elections CE should have a manifesto for the future of story and role-play gaming. To increase actual play fourfold.

+++
JoE
+++

Prince of Darkness Games
Rock N' Role-Play....

I might add that a 'Wisdom of Hodgson' section of the forums would be most worthwhile. Not taking the piss at all (well, maybe a bit), bit the analogies and thoughts you've been posting have actually proved to be very interesting and thought provoking*.

Cheers
Malcolm

*And not just in the realm of cheese-based resolution mechanics.

Contested Ground Studios

I too have been intrigued by the cheese-based wisdom! Some very salient points there! Not to mention all sorts of crazed cheese-based design ideas.

Just call me... The Cheese Monger.

Like I say, I don't know if there's any signal at all in my noise. I've made my own mental pilgrimages on some of this stuff and I'm happy to report what I saw. Worked in a lot of small businesses with an eye to running my own, worked a fair share of retail, been in gaming industry too long, make my living from it, seen a lot of people feck it up and a few do it really really well. Etc etc.

I certainly wouldn't want to give advice as such, but if my blethering makes for some discussion all is well.

Jon Hodgson
www.jonhodgson.net