A quintet of Silver Best Sellers on Jonstown Compendium

[Jon Hunter]

It seems to be Rick that the hot list are ordered on sales value and not units sold is that your observation too?

[Rick Meints]

10 hours ago, Jon Hunter said:

It seems to be Rick that the hot list are ordered on sales value and not units sold is that your observation too?

I'm not sure. I hadn't considered that. I think that it is just units sold recently, but can't be sure.

[Diana Probst]

On 2/1/2020 at 2:09 AM, Richard S. said:

Maybe the reason we aren't seeing as much content for the JC as we do the MR is because everyone's intimidated by the quality of book like these

I've decided that's why, and I'm going to stand on that ground and continue to scare people.  And publish more.

[Rick Meints]

On 2/3/2020 at 4:15 AM, Jon Hunter said:

It seems to be Rick that the hot list are ordered on sales value and not units sold is that your observation too?

The hottest lists are calculated on $$ of sales divided by the number of days it has been up for sale.

[Diana Probst]

As you can infer from Rick's post, it's pretty easy to spike up into the hottest list.  It's hard to stay there for a while.

From the back end, as a fan publisher, you don't get any insight into how people are finding the work you've published.  I think that being in the hottest list helps, but it's impossible to break it down.  You can take a guess at how big the market is from watching Martin's sales and assuming that's a limit for a highly anticipated book.  Beer with Teeth was hoping that https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/300087/Rocks-Fall would sell 100 within 6 months, with the significant advantage of us being able to use it to sell our art services.  As it turns out, it was slightly over a month, and I'm thinking it'll settle to 2/week.  That's deliberately kept conservative, so I don't lose heart, but if it sells 2/week for the next year, I'll be OK with that.  I'm hoping our next offering will do a little better, and we're going to try several sorts of offerings to find out what people like best.

[soltakss]

On 2/1/2020 at 2:09 AM, Richard S. said:

Maybe the reason we aren't seeing as much content for the JC as we do the MR is because everyone's intimidated by the quality of book like these

For me, it's just time. I have nearly finished the text of my first contribution and have sourced artwork. Next step will be putting it all together, then on to the next one.

[jajagappa]

6 minutes ago, soltakss said:

For me, it's just time. I have nearly finished the text of my first contribution and have sourced artwork.

Same with me, though both real-life and other projects have delayed finishing text.

[Rick Meints]

DTRPG does not share much customer data with us, so we have little to share with our Community content publishers. Most initial sales tend to come from people getting a DTRPG email about new products they are interested in, followed by posts on social media (mainly our Ab Chaos newsletter and Facebook).

[Bill the barbarian]

2 hours ago, soltakss said:

For me, it's just time. I have nearly finished the text of my first contribution and have sourced artwork. Next step will be putting it all together, then on to the next one.

Oooh, does this mean I can expect a bit of work in the near future, looking forward to it. Hell to quote from one of me fave movies, "I am quivering with anticipation!"

Edited February 16, 2020 by Bill the barbarian

[Shiningbrow]

I don't know the best place (if there's any such thing for this), but since @pookie has made this reference a few times, I thought I'd put my hand up.

In @pookie's reviews, it is often mentioned that the works could do with another edit/once over, and so I'd be quite happy to offer my services!

FTR, I was an examiner for the writing test of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), as well as having been the head of Academic English for a major UK university consortium, in their Pre-Masters degree program for Chinese students. (And I've got a Masters in Education (TESOL) and M.App.Ling.)

 

So, if you're not too confident with the English side of things, I'd be more than happy to help!

[Bill the barbarian]

And a few of you already know of my skills but if anyone else is interested... editing, proof-reading and ... much more.

[Austin]

2 hours ago, Shiningbrow said:

I don't know the best place (if there's any such thing for this), but since Pookie has made this reference a few times, I thought I'd put my hand up.

In Pookie's reviews, it is often mentioned that the works could do with another edit/once over, and so I'd be quite happy to offer my services!

There's a great community for JC contributors over on Facebook, if you have that and are looking to get involved.  And I could put you on my list of JC resources if you'd like as well.

[Shiningbrow]

1 hour ago, Crel said:

There's a great community for JC contributors over on Facebook, if you have that and are looking to get involved.  And I could put you on my list of JC resources if you'd like as well.

Thx Crel.

I haven't used FB in many years,,and being in China where it's blocked wouldn't make it easy anyway.

But, absolutely add me to your list of resources!

[Psullie]

As one of the contributors, I'd appreciate more feedback. Pookie's reviews are great but I was surprised how few reviews and/or ratings were actually left on DTRPG. 

So if you liked what you read please say so and rate the publication. This will only improve the quality of future publications, increase sales which will encourage more contributions.

[Rick Meints]

1 hour ago, Psullie said:

As one of the contributors, I'd appreciate more feedback. Pookie's reviews are great but I was surprised how few reviews and/or ratings were actually left on DTRPG. 

Reviews on DTRPG are pretty rare. We've had our most popular core items attract very few reviews. Some people at least rate the item with X number of stars, but they often don't write a review, and usually the few reviews we do get are very short in length.

[Shiningbrow]

1 hour ago, Psullie said:

As one of the contributors, I'd appreciate more feedback. Pookie's reviews are great but I was surprised how few reviews and/or ratings were actually left on DTRPG. 

So if you liked what you read please say so and rate the publication. This will only improve the quality of future publications, increase sales which will encourage more contributions.

Which is yours? I've probably got it... (I think there's only a couple I haven't purchased yet... )

I'll try to get around to reviewing. I'll try not to be too nice

[Psullie]

22 minutes ago, Shiningbrow said:

Which is yours? I've probably got it... (I think there's only a couple I haven't purchased yet... )

I'll try to get around to reviewing. I'll try not to be too nice

This Fertile Ground, just be honest and constructive

[pookie]

On 2/16/2020 at 8:45 AM, Shiningbrow said:

I don't know the best place (if there's any such thing for this), but since @pookie has made this reference a few times, I thought I'd put my hand up.

In @pookie's reviews, it is often mentioned that the works could do with another edit/once over, and so I'd be quite happy to offer my services!

FTR, I was an examiner for the writing test of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), as well as having been the head of Academic English for a major UK university consortium, in their Pre-Masters degree program for Chinese students. (And I've got a Masters in Education (TESOL) and M.App.Ling.)

 

So, if you're not too confident with the English side of things, I'd be more than happy to help!

By profession I am an editor and proofreader, so I pick up on these as I am reading. I should make clear that I do not hold titles from either the Jonstown Compendium or Miskatonic Repository to as high a standard as those published professionally by Chaosium, Inc. So when I mention this, the criticism is mild at best.

[Jon Hunter]

I think we all would appreciate honest some reviews.  I'm sure none of us like constructive critiques, but we all need it.

A wall of false praise does little for the ego and you learn nothing from it.

However as a lot of our critiques are writers and proof readers, i've learned proof , proof and proof again

 

[g33k]

On 2/16/2020 at 6:59 AM, Rick Meints said:

Reviews on DTRPG are pretty rare. We've had our most popular core items attract very few reviews. Some people at least rate the item with X number of stars, but they often don't write a review, and usually the few reviews we do get are very short in length.

On the one hand, that completely sucks.

On the other hand... their primary function is a retail site, not a review site; so it's pretty understandable!

Despite the "ability" to review, I think the overwhelming majority of users see it as a place to buy.  They "silo" their expectations & use of online sites, going to places like EnWorld & RPGnet (or whatever) for reviews... And chatting in the forum and maybe looking for threads like "sell me / un-sell me."

"E-tailers" (like many online replacements for brick&mortars) are notably poor at the social/community element.  Browsing the F&SF aisles in a bookstore or library, I have had MANY interactions with other individuals, strangers, having a 5-min chat about "what do you like? what's good here, on these shelves in front of us?"  Online sales just seems to lack that element... to their detriment, I think.

(edit:  not that I expect I'm educating Mr.Suitcase with my rant; but maybe an interesting perspective for some folk who have had Amazon &c for their entire buying/adult lives ... ) .

Edited February 18, 2020 by g33k