thread: 2008-10-02 : Fellow Publishers: Success? Failure?
On 2008-10-03, Gregor wrote:
1. What's your name?
Gregor Hutton
2. What's your publishing company?
BoxNinja
3. What game or games have you published?
I've published, for sale, Best Friends, Solipsist and 3:16 Carnage Amongst The Stars. I wrote Best Friends and 3:16, while Solipsist was written by David Donachie, who refused to publish it himself but who my friend John Wilson and I wanted to be published. I've also published other things like PDFs on my website for free.
4. When you first started publishing, what success did you hope for?
Well, I first published things for free on my website to make me work on/finish off ideas and share them with the internet. The success I hoped for was that I would force myself to write stuff down and make it available for comment and play, and that people might find them interesting and useful. When publishing for sale my aim was to not lose any money and make enough to offset my odd transatlantic extravagance.
5. Did you achieve it?
Yes and No.
Yes to the work on/finish ideas. It was a slow process and often things came in bursts. I spent a week off work doing an 8-page PDF of Frenzy: Fast Action that I still sometimes get mail about. A guy once had a convention at his house in Florida using a free game I put on the web. I got a few fans in Germany and Italy who played, enjoyed and translated the files. I've played, and other people have played, things I worked on and put on the web for free. So, success.
Yes, at first, on publishing for pay. At first my books made enough money to cover print costs and help pay for convention trips.
More recently, No, as 3:16 is making too much money (for my modest aims). It is in danger of becoming hobby "work" rather than hobby "fun". It's also paying for transatlantic trips and leaving money left over, which I'm having to re-invest in the business and be super-wary of. It also raises the grief level that I get from gamers. I never "owed" anyone anything before and all my mails were friendly and supportive (even the frustration people had with my games was well-muted by my lack of "success"). Now I get the odd profanity-laden e-mail full of unreasonable demands and comments about my family.
6. What success do you hope for now?
To help other people publish their games and see that it's not difficult, that it is rewarding and that it does not bestow higher status or worth in you in-and-of itself.
7. Have you achieved it?
Yes, I've helped on the Collective Endeavour website and locally in Edinburgh in doing this. David is now going to be publishing Solipsist himself when the remaining books are sold out (soon I thinK!). He's also working on a labour of love called Eekamouse In Atlantis dedicated to his wife Victoria. He'll be publishing this too, which is something I'm delighted about. He's doing it in a way that is sensible and rewarding to him. So I am over the moon.
8. If a hopeful new RPG publisher came to you and asked you for your wisdom, to help her set reasonable expectations for her own games' success, what would you tell her?
Just what I told David. That, if it's for pay, then she should remember it's about the bottom line. If that doesn't add up then she should publish it for free as a PDF, no problem. If the numbers do add up then she should sell it and get some reward for her work. She can expect 100 sales in a year if she does a good job with the book, plays the game herself and talks about it at cons and online. This will more than cover costs and will be a fruitful and rewarding project.
