If you don’t follow my Twitter feed, you may have missed that I am at DragonCon this weekend, mostly for funsies and hanging out with a guy named Jim. That said you can still find me at the two indie publishing panels (Friday 11.30a and Saturday 2p I believe) and hovering nearby most places Jim Butcher is at.

Bits & Mortar is a new label for an old practice, at least here at Evil Hat: our policy of backing in-store purchases of print products at your local FLGS with complimentary PDFs.

It’s been a funny kind of a ride. Back in 2006-ish, when we were releasing Spirit of the Century, I felt like it was only appropriate to do something I thought I’d seen at least one or two other places on the internet, in gaming — provide a PDF together with the book when people were buying it. And with SOTC, at least, and eventually other products, it only seemed right to offer that PDF for free with the book.

We were one of the first, possibly the first, publishers to offer that kind of a bundled deal on Indie Press Revolution, and it worked out really well for us. It formed a basis of policy for us in general — folks who bought the dead-tree versions of the books should get the PDF as well because it measurably enhanced the experience of the dead-tree version and vice-versa. This policy then extended on to other venues besides IPR, which is how our Brick & Mortar Free PDF Guarantee came about. Support us or support the businesses that support us, and we’ll support you — it just felt like common sense.

More recently something unusual happened with that last part, the part that to us just seemed like a natural extension of our “first principles”, the PDF guarantee. It came in two parts, really.

The first was the idea of working together with a retail store to let the retail store be the agency of delivering the PDFs to the customer — as an incentive to purchase, sometimes an exclusive incentive if some kind of preorder was underway. Our friends in California at Endgame Oakland helped us prototype this using dirt-simple technology: file sharing and burning CDs. Nothing complicated and just a small investment in plastic discs.

The second was the sincerest form of flattery — other publishers also doing the same thing, in some form or another, offering their PDFs to customers of FLGSes when the customer buys their physical products at that store. Rogue Games was probably one of the earliest ones to do this, though they weren’t alone. A kind of critical mass formed, more or less in the same timeframe where Evil Hat was working with a number of retail stores to push the Guarantee out to their storefronts as part of the Dresden Files RPG preorder.

That critical mass turned into a conversation, and that conversation turned into a coalition, and that coalition turned into Bits and Mortar.

We put out our first press release today. It won’t be our last. Give it a read!

http://www.bits-and-mortar.com/2010/08/launch/

It’ll still be a few weeks, in some cases a few months, before we can hook up retailers and publishers — some of us are still getting our feet back underneath us following GenCon — but we’re excited to kick this thing off, to give it a name, and to start putting in the work to make this a game-changer for the industry. But even if it isn’t a game-changer in the long term — hell, we’d want to do it anyway. Because we like retailers. We like local game stores. We like PDFs. And we like you. And if we can make all of those things work together in one place, in one way, with one simple policy … why not make it happen?

Hold on to your hats, folks. This one was super interesting.

Where We Started

Lifetime:

Penny: 471
DLYM: 860
DRYH: 2746
SOTC: 5219
SOTS: 605
S7S: 987

IPR For Q2 2010

Penny PDF: 2
Penny Print: 29 (20 retail)
DLYM PDF: 4
DLYM Print: 38 (35 retail)
DRYH PDF: 9
DRYH Print: 57 (48 retail)
DFRPG:OW PDF: 7
DFRPG:OW Print: 81 (50 retail)
DFRPG:YS PDF: 7
DFRPG:YS Print: 100 (64 retail)
SOTC PDF: 4
SOTC Print: 58 (49 retail)
SOTS PDF: 1
S7S PDF: 2
S7S Print: 19 (12 retail)

OBS For Q2 2010

Penny PDF: 10
DLYM PDF: 24
DRYH PDF: 39
DFRPG:OW PDF: 339
DFRPG:YS PDF: 354
Happy Birthday Robot PDF: 8
SOTC PDF: 104
SOTS PDF: 15
S7S PDF: 14

e23 for Q2 2010

DRYH PDF: 1
SOTC PDF: 1

Lulu for Q2 2010

DRYH Print: 4
SOTC PDF: 2
SOTC HC: 9

Distribution Orders, Retailer Orders, and Convention Sales in Q2 2010

This is a healthy mix, mostly Alliance and Esdevium, but later on ACD, Lion Rampant, Pegasus Spiele, and others. (We recently added PHD and one or two others to our distribution contacts as well.)

Penny Print: 130
DLYM Print: 98
DRYH Print: 136
DFRPG:OW Print: 2626
DFRPG:YS Print: 2741
SOTC Print: 251
S7S Print: 232

Evil Hat Webstore Totals for Q2 2010

Penny PDF: 9
Penny Print: 9
DLYM PDF: 10
DLYM Print: 15
DRYH PDF: 15
DRYH Print: 27
DFRPG:OW PDF: 120
DFRPG:OW Print: 1604
DFRPG:YS PDF: 112
DFRPG:YS Print: 1704
Happy Birthday Robot Print: 1
SOTC PDF: 9
SOTC Print: 31
SOTS PDF: 8
S7S PDF: 4
S7S Print: 9

Totals for Q2 (HOLY CRAP)

Penny PDF: 2 + 10 + 9 = 21
Penny Print: 29 + 9 + 130 = 168
DLYM PDF: 4 + 24 + 10 =  38
DLYM Print: 38 + 15 + 98 = 151
DRYH PDF: 9 + 39 + 1 + 15 = 64
DRYH Print: 57 + 4 + 27 + 136 = 224
DFRPG:OW PDF: 7 + 339 + 120 = 466
DFRPG:OW Print: 81 + 1604 + 2626 = 4311
DFRPG:YS PDF: 7 + 354 + 112 = 473
DFRPG:YS Print: 100 + 1704 + 2741 = 4545
Happy Birthday Robot PDF: 8 + 1 = 9
SOTC PDF: 4 + 104 + 1 + 2 + 9 = 120
SOTC Print: 58 + 31 + 251 = 340
SOTC HC: 9
SOTS PDF: 1 + 15 + 8 = 24
S7S PDF: 2 +  14 + 4 = 20
S7S Print: 19 + 9 +232 = 260

Lifetime:

Penny: 471 + 21 + 168 = 660
DLYM: 860 + 38 + 151 = 1049 (ding! 1k milestone)
DRYH: 2746 + 64 + 224 = 3034 (ding! 3k milestone)
DFRPG:OW: 466 + 4311 = 4777
DFRPG:YS 473 + 4545 = 5018
Happy Birthday Robot PDF: 9 * Note that this does not include the ones sold in Daniel’s kickstarter preorder!
SOTC: 5219 + 120 + 340 + 9 = 5688
SOTS: 605 + 24 = 629
S7S: 987 + 20 + 260 = 1267

Analysis will have to come another time, as I’ve got an evening ahead of me. But feel free to start in with your own observations in the comments!

So, we kinda goofed up with our preorders when it came to planning our shipping strategy. This has been partly a case of inexperience on my part with things on this scale (IIRC the 1600+ preorders we got on Dresden Files was easily 4 or 5 times what we saw when Spirit of the Century launched), partly a case of asking more of the warehouse than they could handle (at least in the timeframe I had assumed was possible), and partly a case of life complications (medical and staffing issues) that layered on top of the other things at a time when there just wasn’t a schedule buffer to handle those sorts of issues.

I’ve talked about this pretty extensively over on The Dresden Files RPG website and on RPG.net, but over here at Deadly Fredly the goal with publishing posts is to pass along things that other folks can learn from. With that in mind I want to talk less about the things that went wrong so much as the anatomy of a preorder ship-out and the lessons available from the mistakes.

Let’s get down to it.

Read the rest of this entry »

So it’s a common notion with “microbrew” publishers that some things are out of reach unles you’re willing to lay down a really fat amount of cash. One such thing is the idea of doing a full-color hardcover book, even a small one.

Certainly there are some issues with such a book, so this notion is not without merit. Color art can cost you, on average, double what black and white does. And if you’re oriented on print-on-demand technology, especially with one-copy-at-a-time outfits like Lulu, the unit costs can be really prohibitive.

But the thing to realize — the thing I hadn’t entirely realized yet either — is that print on demand is nevertheless putting a squeeze on the traditional printers out there. The printer I used for the Dresden Files RPG, Taylor Specialty Books operating out of Dallas, does very good work, but I had no expectation that they were able to do print runs that numbered in the hundreds rather than thousands.

Turns out I was wrong.

When I started talking to Daniel Solis about taking on the printing and distribution duties for Happy Birthday Robot — a full color interior, hardcover, 40-page, square (8.5×8.5) kid-friendly story-building game formatted like a children’s book — I thought I’d have to do a lot of poking around to see what print on demand places would charge me only an arm rather than an arm and a leg for doing the work on a print run of maybe 500 or so. But I figured I’d ask Taylor anyway to see what they could offer.

Their answer? They can do print runs as small as 300 copies.

This was surprising, and I asked for a quote. Reality is, the cost per unit on a print run that small is not great (though still pretty good if you consider the quality of an offset printing job), and started to get more workable as things moved into the 500-or-so copy range. That’s the range I was looking for (I ultimately settled on 750 copies instead), and I had a good established relationship with Taylor, so I went for it. The resulting book is damn pretty.

I figure some of y’all are eager to see real numbers on this thing, so here’s what I can show you:

Read the rest of this entry »

So we’re done with the second quarter of 2010. Somewhere past the middle of this month I’ll cough up some real numbers on our sales overall for you data-hounds to chew on. But first, a preamble.

Back at the beginning of the Dresden Files RPG preorder in April, I decided to track daily sales data — at least as expressed through our web-store. It’s been an interesting ride, one that’s now over as I don’t intend to keep tracking day to days from here on out. I’ll share the data and some pretty graphs down below after the cut.

What’s perhaps more exciting, though, is that once we add in the distributor and direct-to-retail orders we’ve processed, DFRPG sales on each volume are in the mid-4000′s — around 75% of what we printed in the first print run. That’s major news because of another statistic I’ve been tracking across the years — Spirit of the Century’s sales numbers. With PDF and print sales combined, SOTC was just a bit past 5,000 units sold (before this quarter’s numbers get added in).  It took SOTC since the latter part of 2006 to get to that figure, about 3 and a half years. Dresden Files, meanwhile, has gotten within striking distance of that figure in three months — and with an aggregate price-point between the two volumes that’s three times what SOTC’s cover price is. Huge, huge, huge.

Granted, I have a fat check to write Jim Butcher for his royalties, a $60,000 loan to repay, and probably a $40,000-or-so reprint run (for about 3000 copies of each volume) on the nearish horizon, but I’m at ease because (once the preorder shipments wrap up and I can demonstrate their shipment to PayPal) the money we’ve been drawing in through the Evil Hat webstore pretty much covers all that. The checks that’ll roll in from the distributors in about a month will get to go right into the profit coffer.  Rob’s and my taxes will be real interesting this year, I have a feeling.

Anyway, the pretties:

Read the rest of this entry »

There is a really long draft of [Do] waiting to be edited by the inestimable Ryan Macklin when he gets a free chunk of time. I mean long. Like, 80,000 words. It's intentionally too long, so Ryan would be able to cut out all but the best 10% of valuable material. I mean, you can read it if you're crazy, but I didn't think anyone would be insane enough to actually play the game from this draft.

Obviously, I underestimated the enthusiasm and pure grit of the Italian gaming scene! Fabio and his friends created the following characters:

Fabio Succi Cimentini (me): Pilgrim Ikuna the Resplendent Puppy
Ariele Agostini: Pilgrim Lani the Mercurial Falls
Bruno Capriati: Pilgrim Kaki the Sincere Koala
Francesca Giacomini: Pilgrim Matareka the Dignified Arrow
Mario Bolzoni: Pilgrim Taranga the Judicious Mosaic

The group decided to answer the following letter (written by Ben Lehman!):

Dear Monk(s)
Hi how are you! My name is Melanie. I come from a very small planet.
There is me, my house, my cat, and two trees (see drawing).
I am not so good, because my planet has been eaten by a whale.
It is a very small planet. I woke up and I was inside a whale. I don't want to get (more) eaten.
Please help!

your freind
Melanie (age 8)

P.S. Drawing is on the other side.
P.P.S. I will make you cookies.

Fabio translated the following AP from Italian, so forgive any quirks of grammar, but really it makes about as much sense as any average session. :P

Note: The abbreviation ST stands for "Storyteller," a role that passes from one player to the next on each turn. The abbreviation TM stands for "Troublemakers," who are any players who are not presently the Storyteller. The number of stones the Storyteller keeps on her turn determines whether her pilgrim gets In Trouble. Other pilgrims can, if they draw and keep the right stones, get that pilgrim (or themselves) Out Of Trouble. I can explain the rules in more detail, but this is a long post as it is.

ROUND 1

FABIO: 2 Black Stones
ST: Ikuna is the first Pilgrim to enter the belly of the whale, lighting the way with her glistening gold body.
TM: But before she reaches Melanie's planet, she is bewitched by the luminous baleens of the whale

ARIELE: 3 White Stones
ST: Lani takes a stroll upon the whale's gastric acid, then swims into the soft palate to force the beast to cough

BRUNO: 2 Black Stones
ST: Kaki lands on the cavo orale of the whale, bandages Ikuna whole with his meditation bends and carries her away, saying “You want the beast to keep eating the planet?”
(Ikuna out of Trouble)
TM: The coughing of the whale launches Kaki away, who ends up being tangled up between baleens.

FRANCESCA: 1 White Stone
TM: Matareka reaches the planet, Melanie hugs her pleading her to save the cat. “He just flew away!”
ST: But she literally reaches the cat on the fly and brings him back to the girl.

MARIO: 2 Black Stones
ST: Taranga throws himself in the blowhole, just as he glances Melanie's house
TM: But he's blown away by the pressure

ROUND 2

ARIELE: 1 Black Stone
TM: The whale keeps on coughing, and Lani is violently knocked from one side to another
ST: He swims upwards and reaches the whale's palate

BRUNO: 2 Black Stones
ST: As whalebone is not so different from tree branches, Kaki can wrestle his way out and lands on the planet.
TM: But he's instantly recognized by the trees on the planet... and he's quite notorious among vegetables, so they're not really happy.

FRANCESCA: 2 White Stones
ST: Matareka begins to navigate the planet across the puke streams towards outside.
TM: But as the planet's weight unbalances, she falls in the stream and is carried onwards.

MARIO: 2 White Stones
ST: Luckily Taranga bound himself with elastic cords to the whale's mouth as Matareka taught him, so he's brought back to the start
TM: But the backthrust is too strong... and he lands on the house's roof. Smashing it.

FABIO: 2 White Stones
ST: Marching on with eyes still blindfolded, Ikuna ends up hanging from the mouth of the whale, who starts to follow the Pilgrim-emitted light turning downwards and pushing the island in its throat close to the outside.
TM: But she's struck by the downflowing streams and covered whole with a disgusting green patina which freezes her in horror.

ROUND 3

BRUNO: 1 White Stone
TM: The trees are Whomping Willows!
ST: But Kaki knows their weak spot: so he throws them Mel's star-shaped cookies, which they love, with a “soporific cookie throw”

FRANCESCA: 2 Black Stones

ST: Matareka grabs the cat's tail and manages to reach the bank.
TM: But the angry cat assaults her,


MARIO: 1 White Stone

TM: As he wakes up, Taranga sees an enraged Melanie attack him with a rolling pin
ST: The beating causes Taranga to blow up over and over, until he begins to lift the planet up


FABIO: 1 Black Stone
TM: As seaweed attaches itself to Ikuna, she draws the giant hungry plankton emerging.
ST: Crying and all pissed, she blindly beats up everything in the path so she can give vent to her frustration and then calm down.


ARIELE: 3 Black Stones
ST: Lani can see everything. He then swim even upwards to force the3 whale to the ultimate sneeze.
(Here we had finished all the Goal Words: but no-one reached 8 words yet. So we went on.)

ROUND 4

FRANCESCA: 1 Black Stone
TM: The cat enlarges everytime it angrily blows at Matareka
ST: But as it reaches the size of cow, she eventually knows how to deal with it and calms it down.

MARIO: 3 White Stones
ST: Using the elastic cords Taranga manages to ferry the planet out of the puke stream.

FABIO: 1 White Stone
TM: But Ikuna is still near to the plankton, and the whale is still hungry.
ST: She is falling asleep, though, and seeing her all curled up ready to slumber softens the whale... which ends up placidly following the planet.

ARIELE: 1 Black Stone
TM: But the cords are too dry and Lani is slipping down
ST: He rubs them on whale mucus, so he's manage to climb.

BRUNO: 2 White Stones
ST: After striking the trees Kaki takes care of them until they blossom.
TM: But the planet may be too small for a third tree..!

8 Stones are reached. All GW weres marked.

END GAME – PARADES

MARIO: Taranga binds the whale in the elastic cords.
ARIELE: Carrying bucketfuls of building material, Lani repairs the roof.
BRUNO: Kaki puts the newborn tree in a vase, then he greets Melanie goodbye and begins to depart.
FABIO: Ikuna cuts off her hair so she can weave a shiny golden flag to direct the whale so it can drag the planet everywhere Melanie wishes to go
FRANCESCA: And Matareka teaches Mel how to cook plankton sushi. Every hunger issue is solved!

And then they played another letter after this! Fabio hasn't translated that story yet, but I'll post it as soon as he does.

Rob Donoghue, my business partner at Evil Hat, has been writing one hell of a blog of late over at Some Space To Think. You should check it out in general, because it’s fantastic.

You should check it out today, though, because he talks about his perspective on the crazy five-year project we’ve been working on called The Dresden Files RPG.