Episode 20: The Business of Design

This week, I'm a bit too busy actually writing Orkworld to write about it. My head's so far into the words that I can't spare the time to write about something I'm writing about. If that makes any sense.

So, instead, let me tell you how things have been going on the business side. We're getting close to the writing deadline, and Jennifer's been making phone calls. We've talked to a printer, gotten back estimates on the cost of printing the book and we took a jaunt to the computer store to stack up on the software we'll need to lay the book out.

This is where it starts to hurt, folks. Get your Advil ready.

The Computer Store

We walked into the computer store (who shall remain nameless), ready to fill up our credit cards. We had no idea how unready we were. The program I've been trained on is called Quark Express. I do not own a copy of this program. Fortunately, I do own a copy of Photoshop - even though it's the Tower of Babel Edition - so I won't need to pick that one up.

That's the good news.

The bad news is that Quark costs $1700 ($1699.99, but who's counting?). That's right, my layout program costs more than my computer.

But there's more.

(I'm sure you many of you guys already know this, but it's rather new to me, and I'm trying to explain it to folks who might not know, so bear with me, okay? Besides, give me a little slack, I just bought a program that cost more than my computer.)

In order to keep us from pirating the software out to other industrious game designers (who are all in it for the money, remember?), Quark Express includes a hardware package that has to be plugged into your computer. It's like a little zip drive that holds all the software, so nobody else can copy it off your hard drive. Now the trick is, Jenny and I own a Mac, and these days, Macs come with a new kind of port. The Quark plug uses the old kind of port, which means we have to send away for an upgrade. Granted, the upgrade is free, but we still have to take an additional step in order to make the program work.

Did I mention it cost more than my computer?

In addition to that, Jennifer and I will be laying the thing out on an iBook. Mr. Blueberry iBook has only one port, which means if I'm working in Quark, I can't have the printer plugged in at the same time. This means I have to buy a junction box, which only cost us $49.99.

For those of you keeping track at home, here are my expenditures for Orkworld so far.

Webpage: $75

Quark Express: $1700

Port Extension: $50

That's a grand total of $1825 so far and I haven't even talked to the printer yet. Let's do that now, shall we?

The Printer

This is my first quote from a printer. He's a local chap, which means I can pick up the books with a U-Haul and store them in a convenient, local storage space.

(Incidentally, we haven't talked about warehousing the book, yet. But the local storage space only charges $49 a month. Only.)

Here's what he told us.

First, if I want to do a hardbound version, my best bet would be to not make it look like a regular game book. Instead, I print it with a cloth cover and a four-color dust cover for about the same price. Also, the author's (and artist's) name would be embossed on the cover along with the title of the book. All for about the same price.

Now I'm excited. I ask him for numbers on printing 1,000 copies along with a softcover edition (without dust cover) of about 3,000 copies. I ask for quotes on both a 256 page book and a 128 page book (I'm not sure how we're coming out for page count just yet). "Give me a few days," he says. Then he calls me back. Here are the quotes (all prices are per book):

1,000 hardbound cloth w/dust cover (128): $7.41 ($7,410 total)

1,000 paperback w/4-color cover (128): 2.95 ($2,950 total)

1,000 hardbound cloth w/dust cover (256): $9.04 ($9,450 total)

1,000 paperback w/4-color cover (256): $7.41 ($7,410 total)

3,000 hardbound cloth w/dust cover (128): $4.56 ($13,680 total)

3,000 paperback w/4-color cover (128): $1.41 ($4,230 total)

3,000 hardbound cloth w/dust cover (256): $5.53 ($16,590 total)

3,000 paperback w/4-color cover (256): $2.29 ($6,870 total)

This is my first quote. It will not be my last. I have been told (by a reliable source) that I can get better hardcover numbers elsewhere. I'll let you know when I find out.

But let's assume I go with the softcover numbers (they're pretty good, actually). Let's assume I go with the 1,000 softcover print run. My grand total for printing the book would then be ($2,950 + $1825) $4775. Now remember, this does not include art. I won't tell you how much Thomas Denmark is letting me get away with, but I'll take the average numbers for art in the gaming industry and apply them here.

Thomas is drawing 12 full page spreads for me. He's also painting the cover. At some companies (this is an average of RPG companies that I either worked with, for or talked to), those full page spreads would earn Thomas $100 a pop. That means, I could be paying him $1,200 for the interiors. As for the cover, the prices on those vary, but the average price (from randomly sampled companies) is 'round about $850. That means an average art budget for an RPG is about $2,000. Add that on to my budget ($4,775 + $2,000) and I get $6,775. That comes to about $6.75 per book for one thousand books.

Now, I don't know about you, but I really don't have $6,775 just lying around. This is where my business partner, Rich McHugh comes into play. Rich is not only a good friend, but he's also studying to be a doctor (of the research flavor) and is laying out the initial investment for the book. Rich and I have an agreement that says he gets 50% on top of the money he invests. That means if he gives me $6,775 to print Orkworld, he gets his initial investment back, plus $3,387.50. You gotta have money to make money, folks. It's the way of the world. And, to top it off, Rich is gambling. If the book doesn't sell, we're both in the dog house.

Now, I have to consider what to charge for these books. It's a 256 page book, softcover. The industry standard says I can charge anywhere between $25 to $30 for this thing. I'll be greedy and charge $30 (it is signed and numbered by the author and artist, after all). If I went through distribution channels, I'd get $8 a book (remember that 60% discount from last week?). A gross profit of $8,000. A net profit of $1,225 for six months of work.

On the other hand, if I sold it myself, I'd gain $30,000 gross and $23,225 net.

$23,225 vs. $1,225. Hm. What do you think?

Now, I could print 3,000 books, but then again, I can't. The price range is just a little bit too steep for me (and Rich). So, I'm going with the 1,000 print run. I just have to find a different printer.

The Orkworld Weekend Whirlwind Tour!

As you may have seen from the Newsboard (I can't be the only one who reads the news), I'm going on tour this weekend. I'll be at Orc-Con (whoo hoo!) on Saturday and DunDraCon on Sunday. Orc-Con is in Los Angeles and you can find out how you can be there at "strategicon.com". DunDraCon is in San Ramon, California (just outside of San Francisco) and you can find out how you can be there at "dundracon.com".

Demoing your roleplaying game is the best way to sell it. Trust me on this one. AEG can rest every ounce of success it has on the fact that we demoed our games into the ground. When L5R CCG first hit, we did demos for that thing at least three days a week. At least. I did demos in every game store in LA, in northern Cal, in Nevada, at Origins, at Gen-Con. Dave Williams did demos in New York. D.J. Trindle did demos in Ohio. I sent cards back to buddies in St. Paul, begging them to play. We demoed so hard, we lost friends, lost girlfriends, lost weight and almost lost each other. But, in the end, we won (and some of us even got better girlfriends out of it! At least, I did; and she turned into a wife later, but that's a different story).

And next month, I'll be in… Scotland! March 18th and 19th, Jennifer and I will be in Edinburgh for CONPULSION. You can find out more at: http://www.eusa.ed.ac.uk/societies/geas/CONVENTION/index.html.

Right then. I'm off. Got to write more about dragons (they don't breathe fire; they regurgitate it), elves (wanna live forever?), dwarves (Ready… Fight!) and Men (who think it's a good idea to fight dragons; stoopid humans). Take care of yourselves and I hope to see you this weekend!