Manor Sale Topped 100

Hey Guys, thanks a ton.  Since I put The Manor PDFs on sale for a $1 each, I've sold more than 100 copies since the 9th of December.  To be more exact, I've sold 121 Manor PDFs.  For a small time publisher dude like me it's fun to see those orders come in on email.

I'm keeping the sale up through Christmas.  If you want to grab a bunch of Manors for cheap you can still grab them for a $1 each.

Also, Starter Adventures has been doing very well.  My expectation were fairly minimal for this product due to the fact it is a higher sticker item and the print version is only available at Lulu.  I know when I shop at Lulu it's usually with a coupon.  But despite that, I wanted to sell at least 20 copies before the weekend and I reached that this morning.  I should be getting my comp copies from Lulu soon and I'll send those out to my helper dudes after Christmas.

I haven't done a sales report for the past couple months.  Not sure why.  Just forgot I guess.  I'll do a catch-up post and reveal the numbers.

Again thanks for the support, have a great weekend and get those gifts now man.  In fact, I gotta run.

Let's Talk Money

I know, it's almost sacrilege to speak about that abomination called money in this field, but I'm gonna.  I know there are lot of people who are already into making their own stuff or thinking about it.  Here's what it looks like in my corner of the self-publishing world.  I've calculated the gross, the cost and net of the past month.  This gave me, I had a bit of an idea, but not really sure until I ran the numbers, of how much I made and how much was going out.  These numbers are about as accurate as I could get them.  When I send out comp copies and freebies it's difficult to track their costs.

I broke down the sales in the different categories so I could see where the money was coming in.  The bundles represent the biggest money maker, but if you look at the per issue, single issues sold for $4.03 on average.  Where the bundles included 6 issues, averaged $3.52 per item sold.  Still, $685.50 for the month is great.  But now let's look at the costs.

Some of the costs were estimated the best I could.  Such as the ink and cardstock.  I burned through 2 ink cartridges this month and into my 3rd, but since I do personal printing on the same machine I just averaged it as best I could.  And the reason the paper was $0 was because I am very good at taking advantage of Staples rebates and all the regular paper I have has cost me nothing.  All the different fees from Paypal, Lulu and RPGNow are accurate.  Paypal has a fee system I don't quite understand.  If someone sent in me in $4 for the latest Manor, I get charged  a .42 cent fee.  If someone sends in $20 for the Manor bundle Paypal charges an .88 fee.  RPGNow is a straight 35% off the top of what you charge.  Lulu, about the same.

 So after a month of sales I was able to make $333.48 to the good.  I figured out what the average gross sale price was for each unit sold, average cost of each unit and how much profit I made on each unit.  These numbers are all based off of selling 208 units this month.

These numbers can be off putting.  This doesn't include all the time I put into printing and mailing these issues.  Which is a considerable amount.  The other thing is most of my products are below the $5 mark so there isn't a lot of room for profit.  But, I do this because I enjoy it.  The profit I make allows me to buy other OSR books and populate my shelves with a few other goodies.

There are a number of folks who get pissy about people making a little money off RPGs...ignore them.  People can figure out what they want to spend their money on without the help of those few griefers.  People can vote with their money if they are interested in what you're doing.  If your interested in publishing your own thing than I say give it a go.  It's a lot of work, but good fun.  I've met a lot of great folks because of doing this and have gotten a ton of support I never expected to get.

First Two Month Sales of The Manors

Apparently I had very few things to do so I decided to check out how the Manor sales stacked up in the first couple of months of them being released.  I did the first two months because some were released at the end of a month.  I developed a chart with the total sales over two months and the PDF sales are defined by a lighter section of the column.  Manor 6 is doing exceptionally well in only 16 days.  Just 10 issues shy of overtaking Manor 1.

Manor 1 is the best selling issue, but Manor 6 is making up ground very quickly.   It was selling very well, but when I offered The Manor bundle 1-6, I got additional sales to new customers.  I was working 14 hour days making sure I had enough printed and sent out on time. 

Anyway I thought it was interesting and thought I'd share it with you.

GM Games Surpasses 1000 Sales

I saw someone did a post a while ago announcing the total number of sales they've had and I thought I should count up my sales just to see where I'm at.  This is what I found out.

Knowledge Illuminates: 377
Manor #1: 290
Manor #2: 207
Manor #3: 113
Manor #4: 60
Where is Margesh Blackblood?: 5

Total Sales:  1052 as of End of Sales Report for August 2013.

I am the most surprised at this.  I know when I first started I spoke to my friend +Rob Conley and thought if I could sell 25 copies of Knowledge Illuminates I would be happy.  If I sold 50 I was be thrilled.  Rob said I would sell a 100.  I have no idea in the realm of gaming whether this is a good thing or not so good.  But I can't imagine 1000 being bad.

I had a horrible expectation of failure.  I expected to make something and no one would notice.  I got lucky with the help of some reviews and mentions from some great bloggers out there.  No way I would have done as well without their help.  Thanks to those who took the time and did a review or posted a play session.  It's been very cool and I plan to continue making a few gaming products and encouraging others to do likewise. 

SALE! Today everything at GM Games RPGNow Stoe is 50% Off.

I thought I'd do a 50% off sale today.  So if you have a Manor or Knowledge Illuminates in your cart get today they'll be 50% off.  GM Games sale is only for the day or until I get around to marking the prices back up.  To those on holiday, enjoy the day.  To those who aren't at least you have a the GM Game sale to get you through a Monday.

Click the icon to save 50% on PDFs.

GM Games Philosophy

Philosophy...snore.  I know.  I know.  But every company has them.  I really can't call GM Games a company, but a teeny tiny business.  Still, I try to keep it as professional as I possibly can.  If people are going to give me money I want to make sure they get what they pay for.  The following are a few of the ideas I keep in mind each time I see an order in my email.  And seeing those orders come in, never gets old.  I still give The Whisk a shout when I see them, "Sold two more" or "Wow, three order just came in".

I ship someone's order the next day 99% of the time.  I can count how many times I haven't over the past year.  With the Google+ connection, if I know the person from there I will also send them a quick message to let them know order received and on its way.  I can do this because I may get a few dozen orders when I release something, but the numbers have never been overwhelming.  If I received orders in the 100s then of course I wouldn't have time to send a message, I'd be glassy-eyed putting orders together.

Some folks have special requests and I try to accommodate the best I can.  One guy likes to have his wrapped in plastic because his mail often comes beat up and rained on.  Whisk has a roll of cling wrap or I use zip lock bag from her stockpile. Some request a cardboard support be placed within to help keep it from bending.  This one is a bit tough just because some of the mail carries will charge more if its a 'stiff' package.  But other wise I haven't had any problems.  One of my customers told me their zine got damage badly in shipping so I sent another.  Again, I can do this because my business is so miniscule.  I've gotten to know many of my customers on an individual basis.

Create a product as good as possible.  No product is going to be perfect.  And even with the fantastic proofreaders I have something is going to be missed or I just screw up what they suggested.  The latter is more the problem.  I've learned to be more patient with the process.  Before I would complete a manuscript, do my own once over and read through and thought it was done....not even close.  All I did was regret the stupid mistakes that were still included.  Then I would have to take it back and do it again.  Proofreaders are worth their weight in miniatures and not compensated enough for their efforts.  More on them later.  I also hope the product I put out is useful and fun.  If its not fun, hell I don't want to do it.  And I also hope it has a twist on it to make it a little new or fresh.  This is tough to do with so much coming out, so much that has come out.  This ground is well tread. 

Compensate the people that help me.  The artists are the only ones I pay.  I call it pizza money because that's about all you'll be able to get with it.  But I still make sure I have money set aside for them and get them print comp copies.  PDFs are okay, but really I think if someone helps getting something completed, print is a proper way to go.  Proofreaders, while I don't pay them any pizza money (I hope I can change this in the future) I offer them comp copies of the zine/adventure.  Print copies.  A good proofreader is worth his or her weight in miniatures.  I know I said that already, but its true.  They can increase the value of a product by getting rid of the errors and enhancing the cool stuff.

Freebies are important.  I know when I first got back into the d20 gaming I went onto RPGNow and went mad crazy downloading all the free stuff they had to offer.  Most of it I deleted quickly, but there was some great stuff included also.  Then I went back and bought more products from that person/company.  Plus its just cool to have a freebie to hand out to someone.  I recently sent out copies of the Mini Manor in print and everyone has been very appreciative so far.  I'm doing this to have fun first and make a little money second.  The money I make goes back into the zines or lets me buy the newest coolest gaming product out there...or invest in another Kickstarter.

Reliability.  There was a reason why I took off the subscription option for The Manor.  Once I got hit with mass amounts of work at my job it was tough to get my mind into writing a zine when I got home.  I didn't want my subscribers to think I'd forgotten the faith they put in me by paying upfront for the zines.  The gap between #2 and #3 was so long that some of my subscribers forgot they had already paid me and ordered an issue.  While I was flattered by their buying an issue it also reminded me about how long it had been.  You see people getting frustrated by Kickstarter delays and here I am taking money for future products, that I don't know when they be done.  If I was doing this kind of thing full-time or even part-time I could get int a regular schedule, but that's not possible at this time.  So now I just offer them for sale as they come out.  Less pressure.  And folks get what they pay for.

I'm very open about my business and the money I make, the units I sell and the costs involved.  If anyone has a question about anything in my business I will let them know.  The one thing I won't discuss is how much I do pay my guys.  That is their prerogative to share that information.  It's not up to me.  Part of it for me is they are amazingly talented and offering their services to me for a mere pittance.  They do it because the love to game.  They love seeing their art in the games.  But its still not up to me to divulge that information.  At least not at this time.  But if you ever have any questions on how I do things, how much I make doing something, how many sales I make or whatever, I give you as accurate info as I can.  I am a lousy bookkeeper.  I'm considering taking an on-line course for that kind of thing.  Then I can dazzle you with spread sheets.

That's about all I can think of at this time.  GM Games is a hobby that makes me a little scratch to buy more gaming stuff.  It allows me to interact with people I would haven't maybe met or spoken to.  It's a fun activity for me and there is nothing more exciting than seeing an order in my email and shouting out to the Whisk, "Got another one," as I reach over for an envelope and a creepy butterfly stamp. 

Over 200 Copies Sold...Thanks

John Stater, creator of the Blood & Treasure RPG and Land of Nod magazine has penned a review of Knowledge Illuminates.  I think its very cool that KI is still getting reviews.  Earlier this month it had its second birthday.  That little adventure gets these weird bursts of sales.  I've been lucky enough to sell over 200 copies of it over the years.  When I published it I set my goal at 25, but was hoping to sell 50. Its because of reviews like this I get those bursts of sales.  So thank you John for taking the time to do the review.

My second review, I guess it would be more of an award ceremony from Mr. Blue over at The Cobalt Kobold.  Mr. Blue has a great way of doing reviews.  The Manor #3 won a bunch of Big Mean Awards.  You have to check it out its a fun read.  He's done reviews for Manor #2 and Manor #1.  It's cool for someone who is publishing their small efforts to see guys like Mr. Blue get excited about it.  It helps fuel me onto the next project and so on.  Thanks Mr. Blue for another stellar award ceremony. 

Breaking My Stuff Again and Subscription?

It is Saturday and my string of things not working continue.  For what ever reason Skype has decided it is not going to work.  Won't connect to the net.  It stopped working after it insisted I upgrade.  How many folks are sick of 'upgrades' that completely screw up a perfectly fine program?  And my graphics on my computer are wonky.

Where I live I need to drive 35 to 40 minutes to a store that sells a graphics card.  The Staples nearby has two, but they are low end cards that have less umph than the one I bought five years ago that just croaked.  So its Best Buy bound I go or just do Amazon.  I'm too impatient though and will probably brave the Mother's Day weekend traffic in Erie. 

Gaming stuff has been going superb.  Many are grabbing a copy of The Manor and writing posts.  I've got most of them linked on my THE MANOR page above.  If you wrote a review of it and I missed it please just put the link in the comment section.  Even if thought it was a steaming pile of crap I'll still link to it.  Sales continue to be steady.

THE MANOR ERRATA

• There was one embarrassing typo, I misspelled  Trey Causey's last name in the credits.  So if you will please get out a fine marker and put in the 'u'.  All copies have the correction.
• Another slight change that has been made is the original title font has returned.  The font matches the title of my blog. 

Second issue is progressing.  I am considering doing a subscription, but it would be issue based and not monthly.  Where as I can promise you 4 or 6 issues, I can't promise they would be monthly.  Two may come out the same month and there might be 6 or 8 week in between.    

I have some fun ideas coming up for future issues.  Just me having fun with the whole zine thing.  I saw something last night that got me excited for a future issue.  Within the next week or so I should have some stuff to show for the next issue and news about possible subscription.  As always I will toss it out there to of you would you like to have a subscription be available as an option?

Have a great Saturday.  Oh, and a special thanks to Ray B. for being my first Canadian print customer.  I'm headed to the post office now.

The Creepy Butterfly

Headed to the post office to drop off a batch of issues.  Through the assistance of Christian and my main man at post office I discovered 2oz seems to be the gold weight to be under.  The Manor at 24 pages with cover and envelope weigh in at 1.7oz.  This allows me to ship to the 'all over the place' without having to fill out customs papers.  In the US its 65 cents.  I bought these cool stamps.  Creepy butterfly stamps.  I never knew they had 65 cent stamps.  I'm glad they do and I'm glad they are creepy.  They remind me of the mothman.  Sending The Manor out to the rest of the world is a little under two bucks give or take a cent.  I don't know what it costs to ship to Canada yet because none of them have order one *looking north and giving it the stink eye*.

This whole thing has been a great learning experience.  For me and Ivy.  I think helping me last night got her to thinking about doing a self-published cookbook.

I see The Manor is already #12 on RPGNow which is always great to see.  I have no idea how they figure that out.  For some reason I don't think it's based on number of sales, but how much money was made.

Anyway, I'm in need to get to the office of the post.  To those who ordered a print copy, keep en eye out for the creepy butterfly.

POW! BAM! ZONK! 100! Done!

I just wanted to thank everyone for the support and shout outs and comments.  At the end of the day I lept over the 100 mark and landed on 110.  It may not break any records or seem like a large number, but I think its great.  I never thought I would sell a 100. 

I've been a big fan of the OSR.  And tried to to support it as much as I can promoting and purchasing what others have to offer.  My favorites tend to be the one man or two man products who really want to put a personal spin on gaming.  A peek at what it might be like to play in their game.  With Knowledge Illuminates I tried to give people a small dose of what it would be like to have me GMing a game.  And when you hear about others using it in their game its a great feeling.

Those who purchased a copy yesterday let me know so I can get you the proper xp.

Again, thanks to everyone who purchased a copy in the past year.  I hope to have a second offering soon.

One More Sale

I have 99 sales of Knowledge Illuminates.  I released it on the 16th of February last year.  Its anniversary is coming up quick.  I'm hoping to reach 100 sales before that date.  So if you had any wee bit of an inkling to buy a copy, do it now.  Help me hit triple digits.  Rob, from Bat in Attic, said I would sell a 100 and he likes to be right.  All I need is one person to buy one copy.  Easy enough.  It's only 100 cents.  And if having the adventure weren't enough, I'll throw in 100 Gothridge Manor experience points to sweeten the pot.  How the hell can you resist that? 

Damage Sale, Go Get Some!

Today I took advantage of Joseph Browning's damage sale over at Expeditious Retreat Press.  He's selling some of his books that have some flaws.  I've had A Magical Medieval Society: Western Europe for a long time and it continues to be on my heavy use self.  This is one of those supplements that go into the classics category for me.  But, that isn't in the sale.

Here's what I got, Malevolent & Benign, Advanced Adventures #13: White Dragon Run, and Advanced Adventures #12: The Barrow Ground of Gravemoor.  These are print copies.  So with shipping included all of this cost $20.  Done.  Thanks Joseph and thanks James at the Underdark Gazette.  Really looking forward to getting these.  Always love looking at gaming stuff as you can see my grand total for the year climbing into scary heights.