Transparency Report: Some Numbers and Business Model Talky Talk

The last two months have been, far and away, the best two months of RPG sales I have had in a decade, and have generated more enthusiasm than I have ever had for anything I've done in comics or RPGs. You can see the sales at the bottom (because I just cut and pasted the reports right out of DriveThru for your reference).

Why am I sharing this?

I suppose because this is the reality of being a self-publisher. I talk to a LOT of friends, family, and students about this, and their shared belief is that you go through a three-step process: A) Create something that's pretty good, B) Put it up for sale, C) Buy a yacht and set sail around the world, because you can do that now. You're a 'published author' = 'you must be rich' (or, you'd be rich if you were working for one of the big companies rather than doing this stupid independent thing you are so fixated on, but that's a whole other discussion - I have no numbers but do have a lot of anecdotal evidence that suggests I am probably better off where I am right now).

This begs the question - why don't I just come out with another game like Stalwart? Except do that every two weeks? Forever? Wouldn't I then increase these sales all the time? Like... duh. The only problem is that ... A) Stalwart somehow finds one of the remaining sweet spots in the industry where the supply has not quite caught up to the demand (supers systems of low/medium crunch), and B) Stalwrt took me forty years to finally get right. I've been trying to write this game since I was eleven. I don't think I can do that again next week. If I start now and live to 90, I might squeeze out another one of these. Everyone has their go-to fantasy game, and most people don't need another one. For some reason, many people are still looking for that holy grail of supers games.

Okay, Let's Crunch Some Numbers

1. First of all, I also launched the itch.io page, and have 27 core rules downloads (I put it up PWYW there because I had no idea how the model worked there really) and have had 10-20 downloads of the other books, and zero total sales. I'm not loving itch. It's got a different set of people (that's good) but they don't seem to really be as invested or care as much (that's bad). I'm competing with a wider and not-necessarily-compatible set of products for space. I'm meh about it so far. I'll keep it up (because why not) but I don't see much value in it right now. Maybe that will change.

2. I am a pretty active blogger, and I talk about my game a LOT (I think). Even when I don't have new releases, I'm trying to continually keep people aware that I'm working on the game, and I produce a lot of tertiary stuff that ties into or adds to the game in some way. I have been blogging for 14 years and this is post 1,290 ... and an average of about 25 people read any post I put up (posts with images end up in the 30s, posts with no images end up in the teens). I have NO idea how people make any money blogging (maybe they're a little more broad than 'niche game I produce in the darkest corner of the internet'), but still. You'd think I'd be able to get more traffic after 14 years and 1200 posts :) I added an image to this post just because I hope it gets some traffic (and full disclosure - this post is part of my business model, too. People might not know or care much about my game, but people are interested in reading about publishing if they want to do it, and more eyeballs is more eyeballs).

3. I ran a banner for Stalwart, thinking this would be a home run, and it was BY FAR the weakest banner I have ever run (20,000 impressions with 8 clicks - so .04% - that is very, very bad). I don't know why, but I suspect part of it was the high number of people who visited the Stalwart RPG page to begin with. They didn't click the banner because they had already seen the game's main page. That's the best I can figure.

4. My core 'business model' - a few foundational books in my back catalog along with frequent smaller releases as PWYW to keep new eyeballs on my stuff, is the winning formula. Over these two months, my sales break down into these three categories (broken down by sales, not by my earnings, which are 2/3 of this, so out of 400.62 on the two months my earnings are 260.40):

• Stalwart Core Rules (the thing I am trying to sell): 119.00 (29.7%)
• The PWYW releases for Stalwart (the things that support the thing I am trying to sell): 102.15 (25.5%)
• The back catalog (just other stuff I've done that I'm not actively promoting at all): 179.47 (44.8%) 

In the broadest strokes, it's the three-headed monster with roughly a quarter the core book, a quarter the PWYW supplements, and almost half the back catalog (the back catalog is the strongest overall performer)... Here's why this model works (I think):

First, I have produced some good content (that's kind of the most important thing). The back catalog accounted for a significant chunk of my sales (44.8%). If people like my new game they got for $1, they are far more likely to throw another ten or fifteen my way to get the other stuff I've done. That's HUGE.

Second, I set very modest price points. I think my games give good value for the money I ask. I could double my prices across the board and nobody would be too angry at me for trying to gouge people, but how far down would sales go? I understand that raw economics says as long as I sold 51% or more, I'd be ahead. However, two things work against this: 

A) Getting more eyeballs on my games is always better. The more people who get it, the more people might like it, and the more they might talk about it. Another reason to keep the itch.io page up - maybe the 'right' youtuber or blogger gets it there, says nice things about it, and suddenly I'm looking up yachts for sale on Google.

B) You guys are pretty awesome. For real. The reality is that each of you sets a value in your mind of what the game is worth to you, and you make sure to pay accordingly. Some of you felt that the World of Stalwart was worth $3 (and some of you more than that), but then decided that the Guide to Meridian was going to be the 'free one' you had already helped pay for. You felt like you'd made a pretty good investment in the game, and this supplement was a 'bonus' you should get for your support. I have no issues with that at all. I trust that at some point, I'll release something else you feel strongly about paying for, and you will. The model trusts you to set the value, and you collectively respond appropriately. Some people (who I very much doubt would happen upon this blog) have decided to fill several external hard drives with every free RPG they can ever get. I don't think those peeps are ever going to be a dedicated base, and that's fine. I am not going to change what I do so that someone doesn't have file 3752 on Drive F in a drawer someplace. It's why I like Patreon as a model (people pay you what they decide things are worth), but it's sort of a closed space (a lot behind the wall), so I think it ends up limiting itself. Setting up a Patreon at this point would be double-dipping on people - if you want to support me more, there are lots of ways to do it already.

Anyway, here are the sales charts:

Edit: By the way, here are the sales reports for March and April, so you can see what 'typical' months look like. I figure that context matters, and without the context of my regular sales, it's hard to see what I see in the numbers above...

  

 

Slipnaught

I don't have a standard way to design characters. Sometimes, I come up with a concept for the story, and build the character that way. Sometimes, I think of a power I want to use, and build a character around that (like I did for White Hot, who I'll share later)... and sometimes I come up with a name as I'm doodling, and the interactive process of the stylus moving along with my brain tinkering comes up with a character concept. I was halfway through doodling this guy when I thought of 'slipknot', and then realized I could play with the name, and then figured he's the world's greatest escape artist, and then thought that the elongation gift with a power of D4 would effectively make him able to contort himself in dramatic ways without really 'stretching' all that far. It's the power on its lowest setting. Then if I give him high Reflex, infiltration, and profession (escape artist), I've got my own little version of Mr. Miracle going...

No idea what to do with him yet, but he's kind of nifty. He seems like he'd be a good fit for Tipo's Rogue's gallery, but it would have to be when Tipo is teamed up with a low-power hero, since this guy isn't all that much in the fighting department... I could see a plot twist where Tipo needs him for something, and then I team up Tipo with a villain he's defeated before... hmmm....

The Simian Manifesto

The Simian Manifesto

Ego feci omnes ad simia

 
You know who he is. Of course you do. The Mighty Doc Stalwart. Yes. But you may not know my story. Or how our shared stories intertwine.
 
Let me tell you.
 
While a young Nathanial Stalwart was in the third grade, recreating the Freedom Formula, the original elixir that granted Heartland his superhuman abilities, I was a common primate living a blissful existence in the jungles of Africa. 
 
And while young Nathaniel was experimenting on himself, I was a victim of experiments by members of the Final Reich and their leader Dr. Voltus. They believed that if they could grant primates superhuman abilities, they could then modify this process for men. They were wrong, and many of my family paid the price in blood for their arrogance.
 
And while Nathaniel made his discovery on the first attempt, I was subject 66 - the first 65 suffering ignoble deaths. The Super Simian Serum worked all too well on me, granting me powers and knowledge beyond their imaginings. With my newfound gifts, I drove these inhuman men from my lands. I was able to stabilize the serum, granting lesser gifts and awareness to my kin, without any concern for harming them. Now, among others with intellect and gifts like myself, I was willing to live in peace. And I did. For a time.
 
But then I learned of events in the world of men. Nathanial became the Mighty Doc Stalwart. Spurred on by the Freedom Formula, he demonstrated physical gifts and an intellect comparable to mine. And… I knew, if he could make all humans equal to himself, enhancing them as I had enhanced my kin, they could easily, with but a thought, wipe my people from the annals of history entirely.
 
I would not let humans do that to me or my kind again. So, despite my desire for peace, I prepared for war. Despite my desire for home, I knew the only path ahead was invasion. We had to strike our enemies and imprint fear into their hearts.
 
And so, I set my armies, and our remarkable technology, upon our foes. Success was in our grasp. We had made our point, dealing destruction that would be a symbolic reminder to leave us be. That the Simian Supreme would not be trifled with. And I was about to turn for home when Doc Stalwart had to interject himself. He could not let us claim this small, symbolic victory that would even the scales for what humans had already done. No. He and his kind would not be satisfied with accepting us as a comparable force. They must exert absolute domination over us. 
 
But I came to realize something more. Now that humans knew that we were their equals, that we may in fact have surpassed them, they would not - nay, they could not - be satisfied until we were wiped out. Now, I had only one choice - I must claim utter dominion over mankind, or die in the effort.
 
You may think this objective to be mad. I can see why. I am no fool. I know now that wiping out 7 billion humans may prove impossible. I am a genius after all. I recognize this, in my heart of hearts, despite some efforts I may have made to do it anyway. But there is a victory that would be symbolic for all time, and would finally convince mortals that the Simian Supreme are justly named, and that Simian Prime is their ultimate master. 
 
I must kill Doc Stalwart, and do so in such a way that leaves no doubt. I must humble him, breaking him in mind, body, and spirit. I must crush him so completely and absolutely, and so obviously, that humans have no choice but to bend their knee in subjugation.
 
Every super villain he defeats (and what a ludicrous term - super villain - as if he is the hero?) is but another step in forging his legend. I welcome each of his ‘victories’. Each only adds to a mythology around him which will be all the more devastating when the pillars of his infamy are brought to ruin. Only then can we be free. Only then can I rest. Fate has set me on this course, and fate will be satisfied.
 
Ego feci omnes ad simia.

Stalwart Team Up #1

Having just seen Deadpool and Wolverine, I'm jazzed for superhero team-ups, even though this one has virtually nothing to do with that one. But hey! It's superheroes teaming up! Huzzah.

Your weekend starts now! Head on over to DrivethruRPG and get yourself a copy. I promise it has less profanity than Deadpool and Wolverine. To be fair, pretty much everything has less profanity than Deadpool and Wolverine, but still... 

Scratching an Itch (.io)

Thanks to a suggestion from the Marvelous Matt Jackson, I now have a page on itch.io for Stalwart. Is it set up properly? No idea. Is it going to generate traffic and interest? Nary a clue. Is it going to tear a hole in the space-time continuum that leads to the eventual end of all life in this universe? Gosh, I hope not. I would free pretty bad about that. 

Is it one more place where the collective consciousness of humanity may be able to intereact the fruits of my creative loins? Uh. Yeah. I guess so. Though that is a weird way to put it...

It has a message board/community option, so that seems really cool if there are actually real human beings who actually go there and use it and stuff. I've never been there, but it seems like some of 'our people' (as in people who play old-school RPGs) hang out there, so it might be worth linking up with. 

Your mileage may vary. My mileage may vary. There may be no mileage to have variance within. 

I guess I will know when I know.   

Of Foolish Consistencies

I remember as an undergrad being struck by Emerson's quote, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds". Not only is it okay to change your mind, but people who hang on to something too far past its natural end are foolish. Sticking with something just because you said you were going to is just plain dumb.

In some ways, I've tried to live by that. And in some ways, getting my books up for sale and building a readership on Amazon seems to be starting to come under the foolish category. I've read about how there's a glut of material there, and breaking through is really hard unless you are in romance (or *ahem* adult fiction) categories, and I don't think my book qualifies there. I realized that the Doc Stalwart book link for an ebook is broken, and cannot be fixed. No idea why. I can only sell it there as a softcover, and in the three years it has been for sale, I have sold exactly two. I'm grateful for those two sales... but, um... yeah. Not exactly setting the world on fire.

The first issue of Stalwart Team Up is in my publisher list, but it's marked as 'blocked', with no additional information. It could be that I'm still in the approval process (which can take a few days I guess), but it doesn't say that... it just says blocked. 

I think my people are on DriveThru. Maybe I should just stay there with them.

I'm circling back to simply putting the whole thing in one package - the comic story of 4-5,000 words, and then the 6-8 pages adapting it to the game. It's a pay-what-you-want download anyway, and this makes the books feel more substantial and in line with the others in the game so far (since they are averaging around 14-16 pages), and this would put the book well over that. I can fret a little less one month if I don't have as much subtance to add to the game (hey - here are three new characters, but the set pieces don't need maps and there is nothing else to add to the game really this time around)... I feel like it makes for a tighter package, and a cleaner presentation to the consumer (that would be you). My big concern was that, even with different coloring on the covers, there would be some (rightful) confusion for you all over which version of the book you are getting. 

And, if I ever get the whole Amazon thing working, I can always cross post the entire same package there (with the game material in the back), and if I get a few extra sales and more visibility out of it, all the better.

I'm going to start tinkering with the packaging. I'll let you know what I end up with...

The 'Best" Story

I have the first three issues of Stalwart Team Up written, and I’ve realized something about the format. I get to tell the best story for each of these characters, or at least a really iconic one. I don’t think this is necessarily the BEST Doc Stalwart story, for instance, but it’s one I really like. I got to write a different perspective for Doc. I love how the story I have written humanizes him more and brings a hint of tragedy to his whole story that is not present in the stories I’ve already written about him. Most of my stories are about the amazing things Doc has been able to do. This story, on some level, is about the things he never got to do. The small fights he never had time to take on, but that were still important. For me, it answered the question of “if you have Superman, why do you need anyone else?” Now, I know. I’m really happy with the answer.

As far as issue 2, it is, far and away, the best possible Condorian story I could ever have written. I absolutely love it. I have no need to write a Condorian novel (or even another Freedom’s Four story), because I found the perfect story to tell about both Freedom’s Four and Condorian, within the world of Tipo… I cannot tell you how much I love this little story. The fact that it expands the game world out in a nifty way is icing on the cake.

As far as issue 3… it is not necessarily the best Twilight Archer story, but it is absolutely an iconic sort of Twilight Archer story. I like how much it feels different from the first two issues, because he’s such a different character. It's also a very traditional sort of street-level adventure, which the other two are not.

My original thought was that I’d get to play with different genres by telling stories featuring different characters, and that is true, but I didn’t think about how the tone and themes would subtly shift as different characters came into and out of the narrative.

I also feel like the stories thus far have the right balance of character, moving the story forward, and action sequences. I’m very pleased with the story I’m telling so far. I’m looking forward to seeing what you all think of it. They also feel very rooted in the existing comics universe; I’m not doing a lot of world building; the world is already built, and now I’m just shining a flashlight into corners of it and examining those corners more closely.

The first issue should be up on Amazon in the next day or two (once it moves through Amazon’s pipeline), and I’ll release the RPG adaptation (which is already done) as soon as that goes live, so you can get them at the same time. I think I’m going to stagger releases to once a month going forward, just so I can place things through the school year and have some updates to keep releasing. I might even wait until August 1^st at this point (which is only a week away), because then I can get on a ‘monthly’ release schedule that I can maintain. Getting two or three more of these done and ready to go before the end of summer is a reasonable goal and will give me a way to keep publishing and supporting my game for the foreseeable future, which is vital to its continued growth and success.

I still envision a ‘complete rules’ as a collection that includes all of the books so far along with some extra material that would be a single pdf and print book release… but that’s definitely on the back burner right now. I think that I’m in a position to let the game grow organically for a little while, and maybe build a stronger following, before taking that next step. I’d LOVE to do a Kickstarter, but I’d also want to have a big enough audience to support that, and enough reason (i.e. new material to add) to make a collection like that worth everyone’s time and money.