Ever write a short story?

Ever come back to that short story after a year or two, look at it, and cringe?

Ever write a short story?

Ever come back to that short story a few days later, give it a read through, and find things you want to change?

Ever write a roleplaying game?

Ever come back to that roleplaying game a day or so later, give it a read through and find things you want to change& but you cant because its ready to go to press?

Thats exactly where Im at right now.

Dean Koontz once wrote that he was ashamed of every book he ever wrote& ten minutes after it went to press. Im not ashamed of Orkworld, nor am I trying to justify it being a bad book (as some are wont to mention). But a whole lot of people often ask me, Why do gaming companies put essential rules in supplements? and Why do gaming companies print second edition books a year after the first printing?

Ill tell you why. Because the creative process never ends. Once youve spent the better part of a year in ork-head-space, its hard to get out of it. Its hard to look at anything without thinking, What would orks think about that? And every day I discover something else to write about.

(Did you know orks play a weird kind of baseball? Neither did I till last night, when I had dinner with my dad, and we got talking about the book while we watched the Angels game.)

(They also play a weird kind of golf. Of course, that came from our conversation about Tiger Woods extraordinary victory yesterday at the American Open. Its funny  I only think about sports when Im with my dad.)

This is what I call post-production depression. Same thing, I hear, newborn mothers go through. Ive experienced it at the end of every creative endeavor. It happens at the end of theatrical productions, at the end of Renaissance Faires, at the end of long gaming cons, and it happens at the end of game design& when the book is just ready to go to press. Its a strange kind of depression; an energetic surge mixed with a low, calm, serene feeling, all wrapped up in a twist of lemon.

Im engulfed in an excited exhaustion.

This is probably the worst time in the world to talk about money. But, thats whats on the agenda this week, so here we go.

Heres a few invisible costs you may not have considered going into this little venture. I found out about them a while ago, and I still dont have all the final numbers, but I can at least let you know what were going to spend money on.

First, theres the little matter of a business license. Im producing and selling books, after all. I gotta have a license to do that. I wont be incorporating, but I will be getting a license. Thats gonna cost me a couple of hundred dollars. Lets pretend $300. Thats thirty books eaten right up. A tenth of my print run.

I also have to cover the cost of shipping the books. Thatll run me about a grand. Ill have to sell one hundred books to cover that cost.

I also have to get an ISBN. Thats gonna cost me.

And then theres the bar code.

And I have to buy 3 weeks of newspaper ads (in the personals section) to identify myself as Wicked Press.

And I have to register and trademark Wicked Press (another $300+).

I just registered www.wickedpress.com (but dont bother clicking; it isnt there yet). Another $80.

And when its all said and done, by February& itll be time to pay the taxman. 40% of everything I earned from Orkworld.

If the book sells 1,000 copies online ($25 a pop, minus 12% for Wizards Attic = $22,000) and 2,000 copies through distribution (sold at a 60% discount = $20,000), our gross profit is $44,000. Thats $17,600 going straight to Uncle Sam, leaving me with $26,400.

Twenty-six grand.

Minus ten grand for printing leaves me with $16,400.

Minus a thousand bucks for shipping leaves me with $15,400.

Minus the scanner ($150), minus Photoshop ($400), minus Quark ($800) leaves me with $14,050.

Minus $2000 for art leaves me $12,050.

Minus $350 for copyright and trademark protection leaves me with $11,700.

And I still dont know how much the business license is gonna cost.

Eleven grand. For a years worth of work.

And some gamers have the gall to complain how much RPGs cost.

That last little bit was a tad bitter. My apologies. But I just got e-mail from a certain someone  no one anyone here knows  who asked me, Why dont you just give Orkworld away? RPGs should be free, anyways.

Uh huh.

And novels should be for free. And songwriters should give their songs away for free. And TV should be for free. Every creative expression in the world should be free.

Wrong.

Thats why we have intellectual property laws.

* * *

Don Henley is with the US Congress right now. Apparently, theres a bill supporting publishers rights. If this bill passes, 35 years after a song is published, rights to that song would revert to the publisher rather than the creator. After all, they published the song. Mr. Henley is fighting this tooth and nail. So should you. Write your congressman right the hell now and make sure this thing doesnt get passed.

Now, before you go any further, chew on this. The RPG industry operates on whats called work-for-hire contracts. That means, if you make a game for any of the major publishers  White Wolf, TSR, AEG  they own your work. You dont go into this blindly, mind you. They have you sign a contract, stating that you understand these terms.

That means, you write the RPG, you create the world, you create the rules, you create the characters, and they own the whole kit n caboodle. You get paid a flat fee - $3,000, lets say  and they keep ownership. If the book sells ten thousand copies, you dont see a dime. They make t-shirts and hats; you dont see a dime. They sell the IP to Wizards of the Coast for a few million bucks& you get the picture.

Now, there are plenty of game companies who dont use work-for-hire contracts, but theres a reason game companies work this way: theres no money in this industry. Lets pretend  for the sake of example  that I was only publishing Orkworld. It was actually written by a guy named Jefferson Carter, and his contract states he gets 10% of gross profits from the games sales.

Ten percent of $44,000 is $4,400. That cuts Wicked Press profits ($11,000, remember?) nearly in half.

Id go broke. Hell, I might go broke anyway.

* * *

All of this whining and complaining aside, Orkworld is doing rather well in pre-order sales. Weve already sold nearly 100 copies, which, Im told, is amazing. (That means we have only 300 signed and numbered Orkworld cover prints left!)

Of course, all of this boils down to a sticky situation. Id like to encourage you to buy Orkworld over the internet, but that means Im flying in the face of the support your local retailer! battlecry. And let me make myself perfectly clear on this issue: I want you to support your local game store. I love my local game stores (All-Star Games in Diamond Bar, CA and Dark Forest Games in Upland, CA; great game stores you should visit). But you cant deny the numbers.

One book sold over the internet makes me more money than three books sold through distribution channels. Check it out.

Eric Rowe charges me a 12% fee for fulfillment orders. Thats on top of distributor discounts (60%). So, when I say I make $10 a book through the distribution channel, really only make $7 a book.

If I sell 2,000 copies through the distributors, I make $14,000.

If I sell 640 copies through Eric, I make $14,080.

And trust me, theres a big difference in the gaming industry between six hundred copies and two thousand copies.

So, Im stuck. Me and every other small publisher out there. We make more money if you buy direct, but the distributors and storeowners will kick our asses if we say anything about it.

Like I just did.

Its a very difficult subject in the game industry. You touch it with even a ten-foot pole and theyll nail you to it. But, I just thought you should know.

* * *

All right. Now that Ive pissed in everyones pancakes, its probably time to get back to work. I have to finish layout on the monster chapter and double-check my numbers in my examples. Then, its about time to send the book out. Im almost done. The finish line is in sight.

Lets just hope that flux thing doesnt hit before we reach it.