thread: 2008-02-14 : Oh you should too publish
On 2008-02-15, Seth Ben-Ezra wrote:
So, check out this game. That's Junk, my first published game, released into the world back in 2001. It was a fun little game. Rather, I should probably say that it contained a fun little game. I've toyed with revising it, and I know that there's a lot that I'd trim out now. But, as it was, it was a miniature wargame inspired by Battletech and Car Wars. It resulted in generally fun play at conventions, especially with a one player/one 'Can ratio.
But here's the problem. I had visions in my mind of being a "real" publisher. You know, doing this full-time, for a living. Doing it the "right" way. So, that meant making a book, getting price quotes, doing a print run, working with distributors...all of that. Print on Demand was *just* starting out; Lightning Source was still called Lightning Print, and their quality was substandard compared to the full-blown offset press print run. But I ran the numbers, and all I'd need to break even was 500 direct sales! I mean, that's it! And I was working with Wizard's Attic, so I had that extra pull. It would work out fine!
So I financed the print run on a credit card.
Bad move.
Really bad move.
Suffice it to say that I didn't sell anywhere near what I needed to break even. Then Wizard's Attic folded up and vanished. I happened to have some stock on hand, which I liquidated through Key 20 (back when Jason Blair was still a part of that operation). The debt was still there, of course, and combining that with other financial troubles that we were dealing with, I actually put my family into a five-year scramble to stay afloat, paying off our debt while still eating.
That's part of the reason that Legends of Alyria languished. I didn't see how I could afford to get the thing into print at all, let alone pay for art or layout. The only reason that I actually went ahead and put Alyria into print was for purely selfish reasons. I wouldn't feel like I had finished the game until it was in book form. After that, any sales would be gravy. And now, with Lulu, POD was much more accessible, with no startup costs at all. I could afford that....
But then a crazy thing happened. I got another idea for a game. And, lo and behold, we were now (finally) out of debt. And I started thinking about relaunching Dark Omen Games. But this time, it would be different.
First, no debt. I wasn't going to finance anything in publishing ever again.
Second, spend only what I can afford to lose. Every time I've spent money on Dark Omen Games, I've done it with the assumption of $0 financial return. Therefore, I ask myself, "Can I afford this expense *now*?" If not, then I don't do it. And that's it.
Third, evaluate the status of the business after three years. It's not reasonable to assume that a startup business will be able to support itself immediately. However, I'd like the business to be able to support itself by year three. If not, I'll need to reconsider my business model. Things like GenCon, for example, can be rather pricey, especially to have a booth presence. Maybe I'll need to go a different route. Maybe it simply won't be worth it anymore.
But, since I won't have any debt from the business and no built-in necessity to draw cash from the business, I can walk away whenever I want, without causing any financial harm to my family.
Now, that all being said, I anticipate continuing to publish games for some time now. I'm having a blast. As I mentioned above, my wife is part of the act, doing layout and graphic design work. I'm helping my daughter (age 9) to design a game, and when it's finished, she will help with the publication process as well. So it's becoming a family affair, which is really cool.
And that's the biggest deal for me. I have responsibilities that are more important than Dark Omen Games, and I need to make sure that I don't mess them up.
