RPG Zine Group on Facebook. Come Join Us!

Hey folks, I created a group that will feature RPG Zines. I've wanted to do this for a while. To establish a place on Facebook (MeWe just never worked out), where people can come and share, talk, get advice, offer their talents, and review all things zines. 

I'd like to feature zines on a regular basis. Get a zine catalog developed to direct people where to find the zines they want. And I hope a few folks do some how-to post or videos for those who want to learn.

If that sounds interesting, please consider joining. And bring your favorite worn out zines with you.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/551466285487694/?ref=bookmarks

A Manor Day: Zine Business

Yesterday was a fun day with the release of the 8th Manor.  Heck, I even made it to the #2 spot on RPGNow.  While I know we aren't supposed to care about those things, I like it when it happens.  All the print orders went out yesterday with the help of my lovely assistant.

I used to do my sales report and that's fallen off.  I plan to get into doing that again.  I don't even know how many I send out yesterday.  That's something I plan on writing more about, the zine business.  A while back I did a break down of costs and equipment to make my zine.  I plan to do another because so much has changed since I began this a couple of years ago.  When I first started the zine I can only think of 3 or 4 that were active and now there is more than that active in just the DCC line. 

In the past couple of years people have been getting involved in zines.  It's been very cool to see how it has evolved and how its expanded.  I've gotten to know a good batch of folks who've asked advice from my limited knowledge.  I think I learned more trying to answer the question than the information I gave them.

Thanks to all those who support not just my zine, but any of the OSR zines out there.  It's really become its own subculture.  I hope to have enough brainpower in the next couple days to create a PDF about zines and getting going.  I hope to get input from a batch of other guys out there also.

Until then, worship the long-armed stapler...it can change the world.

Mail Call! Zine-pocolypse

Look at what came in the mail today.  Just take a look.  Over here.  Yeah, all the zines.  The best part....two of the zines are from new dudes still wet from the placenta. 

I got the 2nd issue of Crawling Under the Broken Moon.  Put a little space in your dungeon.  If you want to run a sci-fi DCC game, this is where you're going to want to start.  +Reid San Filippo looks like he's got something very cool on his hands.  Well done.

The Well of Souls is brought to you by fellow Pennsylvanian, +Carl Bussler.  This is an adventure for the DCC system.  I play in three different groups and not one uses the DCC system and I've got more DCC zines than anything else.  I guess I'll have to tell Ivy that I'm starting a 4th group.  Carl does an incredible job with presenting his adventure.  The zine itself is stylized with deckle edging of the pages, his choice of card stock and interior pages.  Carl did it all, wrote it, drew it and mapped it.

And the other newb to the zine ring is The Undercroft by +Daniel Sell.  You thought I was going to say this one was for DCC also, nope.  Daniel gets down with Lamentations of the Flame Princess.  For some reason I always want to write flaming princess.  As Daniel puts it, this zine is full of death & disease. 

Two out of three zines are new, the third one is still wet behind the ears.  But I think zines are kinda like dog years.  One zine equals 5 to 7 magazines. 

Please give these guys a look.  Grab a copy.  Support their work.  This zine thing is contagious. 

Construction of a Zine: Paper

 The other day I did an experiment with paper.  To be more exact, different weight paper.  I've been experimenting with using 24lb and 28lb paper instead of the standard 20lb.  The reason?  Heavy paper increases the look and feel of the zine.  The main reason why I considered a heavier weight this time around, all the artwork in the issue.  Art mean lots of black space.  Lots of black space means more bleed through to the back of the page.  Both the 24lb and 28lb reduce that problem.  But with the added thickness of the paper, increases the overall weight of the zine.  We are playing a game here were every tenth of an ounce counts.

Another factor is the amount of pages.  Since I'm going to be unable to fit what I want into 24 pages I am going to increase it to 28 or more likely 32 pages. 

Weight experiment time.

I'm figuring how much it would weight if I increased my zine from 24 to 28 to 32 pages.  I'll throw in the 28 page count also.  Weird math to follow.  All of the calculations are figured with a 65lb card stock cover.  I'm using Ivy's kitchen scale (shhh, don't tell her)  which is very accurate and seems to jive with the scale at the post office.

20lb Paper

• At 24 pages it weights in at 1.7 ounces.  
• At 28 pages it weights in at 1.8 ounces.  
• At 32 pages it weights in at 1.94 ounces.  

So if I needed to I could squeeze in 8 more pages without more cost in postage.  Really pushing it, but it can be done.  Once that scale reads over 2oz the postage goes up and not by a little.

 24lb Paper

• At 24 pages it weights in at 1.76 ounces.  
• At 28 pages it weights in at 1.89 ounces.
• At 32 pages it weights in at 2.15 ounces.

At 32 pages the weight kicks it into the higher postal bracket.  See postage increase below.

28lb Paper

• At 24 pages it weights in at 1.91 ounces.
• At 28 pages it weights in at 2.12 ounces.
• At 32 pages it weights in at 2.33 ounces. 

I think the 28lb paper gives the zine the best look and quality.  But again, it costs more.  Let's take a look at those additional postage costs for breaking the 2oz barrier.

Postage Increase

• US shipping increases from .66 to .86.
• Canadian shipping increases from $1.10 to $1.55.
• International increases from $2.05 to $3.

As you can see the cost increase is not small.  More pages, better paper, more weight and more ink.  I do plan on using 32-pages minimum this issue.  I may see what 36 pages looks like on the scale.  If I'm going to pay for the next postage level I might as well fill it.  I can use the space.

And here is another sample of the cool artwork in the next issue brought to you by the deft hand of Jason Sholtis.

GM Games Sales Report

It's hitting the end of the month and I try to post my sales for GM Games when I have any to report.  Why do I do it?  I believe I do it because I like when companies let me peek behind the curtain.  To have concrete numbers that go with sales and gaming.  When I started, I had no clue how many I would sell.  I still don't.  But my guessing is a lot better.

In February I released the third issue of The Manor and participated in Jim Raggi's Free RPG Day Kickstarter.  The Kickstarter alone gave me more sales in PDFs than I had previously combined.  I sell all my print items from my home.  But I'm planning on doing a combo, issues #1-4 in a book form, but due to the new policy of RPGNow's printer they will not ship books to my PO box.  I'll figure something out.  The PDFs I have for sale are on RPGNow and Lulu.  I've inquired about selling them on FRP Games, but haven't heard back.

Here are the numbers for February.  I've broken them down to show where the sales come from. 

Manor #3
43 - Print Sales
 0  - Lulu PDF
 9  - RPGNow PDF

Manor #2
 4  - Print Sales
 0  - Lulu PDF
 2  - PRGNow PDF
70 - LotFP Kickstarter PDF

Manor #1
 4 - Print Sales
 0 - Lulu PDF
 3 - RPGNow PDF
92 - LotFP Kickstarter PDF

Knowledge Illuminates
1  - Print Sale
2  - Lulu PDF 
3  - RPGNow PDF
73 - LotFP Kickstarter PDF

The Kickstarter made a decent month into a stellar month.  I plan on storing the money from the Kickstarter to get art for the zine and other projects.  Also this month I had some people who ordered back issues.  It's very cool coming home after a long ass day of work and see a few sales in my e-mail.  But what I am seeing is a spiraling downward trend with PDF sales.  Here are the number of PDF sales I had for each zine in their first month.

PDF Sales 1st Month
Issue #1: 40
Issue #2: 14
Issue #3:  9

I'm not sure why this is.  I know Issue #1 had some difficulties and took me a few attempts to get them straightened out.  What I think I'm going to do from now on with the PDFs is get them cleaned up and bookmarked by someone who knows how to do it.  I'll be reading up on it so I can eventually do it myself, but may need to enlist someone already versed in that already.  And when I get the 4th issue released I'll start doing bundle packages.  I know I always look for those when cruising around RPGNow.

Speaking of the 4th issue, its coming along nicely.  Jason Sholtis is really putting in a lot of hard work with not only art, but content.  He's already done more art for this issue than the first three combined.  And it looks like the 4th issue is going to be a tad larger than past issue, I'm guessing it'll be 28 pages instead of the usual 24 pages. 

I also wanted to thank everyone who did reviews or gave me a shout out for issue #3.  That would be Tenkard's Tavern, Tabletop Diversions, Bat in the Attic, Lapsus Calumni, and I am sure I'm missing a couple.  Ivy is better at spotting them than I am.

Here are the total sales of each issue to date.
Knowledge Illuminates - 266    (released February 16th, 2011)
Manor #1 - 253    (released May 4th, 2012)
Manor #2 - 170    (released July 4th, 2012)
Manor #3 - 52      (released February 16th, 2013)
Cave of Seiljua - 231    (released September 9th, 2012)

I know I've mentioned this before, but Dak from CRAWL! and I have opened up a community on Google+ called RPG Zines.  If your interested learning about how to do a zine or have some knowledge to share please join.  There has been a lot of good discussion about the process and the culture of zines.  I'm learning a lot from the input.  So if that's the kind of thing that interests you, please join and say hello.

A Peek at Inside Issue #4

Here is a fantastic picture drawn by none other than Jason Sholtis for issue #4 of the Manor.  Yeah, it looks like this one is going to be out much quicker than the last one.  Of course that wouldn't be tough to do.  Jason is really helping out in this issue with art and I've recruited some of my gaming friends to help contribute content.  In this issue there will me a mini monster manual that Jason came up with the title, From Beneath the Manor.  I like it.  Because of the extra contributions and the fantastic art I'm thinking this might be a larger issue.  Not sure yet, but I'm pretty sure it will be expanded to 28 pages.

Dak of CRAWL! fame and I have started a zine community on Google+ and I think its going well.  There are some people just starting out or having trouble connecting with the proper talents.  I guess I would divide talents into content contributor, artists, proof readers and in some cases layout assistance.  If you have one or all of these skill and you have a spare moment to help someone stop on over to the RPG Zine community and let them know you're available.  I know my zine wouldn't exist without the help of others in the OSR community. 

Off to work.  Which sucks.  Paperwork up to my ass, convicts waiting to lie to me, homeless families scrambling for a moment of my time and my workers are thinking up excuses of why they can't come in.  But, it keep the lights and heat on and on occasion it allows me to buy something fun.  I got my eye on a Tardis.  Because Tardis's are cool.