thread: 2011-03-17 : My First-time Publishing Advice
On 2011-04-08, Simon R wrote:
Another perspective for first time publishers.
IPR charges 15% for selling PDFs; rpgnow charges 35%. rpgnow will sell more copies.
You do not have to sell print games through IPR, nor do you have to sell through retail.
All in all, IPR charges about 28% of cover for selling your print games, and is an additional channel - that is, it does not cannibalise your mail order sales. To be clear - you will sell additional books. When you are using IPR, you are paying for someone to pack and ship your books. IPR works on very thin margins, which is one of the reasons when you sell through a retailer, they'll expect 50%, not 28%. The other reason is that IPR doesn't buy your stock.
I certainly recommend that publishers set up their own PDF/mail order store and get it established first, but IPR is a good next stop. This of course depends on the price point and print cost for your book, and how much you value your own time when it comes to your games. Most publishers don't price their own time for doing mail order, as they consider it a pleasurable part of being a creator-owned publisher.
