Re: Why...

From: Tim Ellis <tim_at_PGh0vMdBuzf4KPaKPZXExOHmnEzSwTVAHfrmMeib8esTbLVuCCyzyBRd550AzC6vYchLtYo_>
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 13:08:05 -0000

> The scenario to worry
>about is that Issaries publishes a dribble, UW
>publishes a dribble, Rick publishes a dribble, etc. I
>think we are better off having a thriving Issaries
>putting out official Glorantha stuff -- nothing
>against our good friends at UW.

As Jane says, at least at first glance this is the situation we had until the moritorium, and, from a purchasers point of view at least, it seemed to be working. If, for example Issaries, TradeTalk and Unspoken Word were each able to publish once a quarter (which may be overly optimistic, but still) that would be 12 "products" a year, or one a month, which I'd take to be a good rate. That means every month retailers get reminded that HQ is a "going concern", and casual browsers in game shops (Or online retailers) get to see new products appearing that may attract them to the line, without appearing so often that it becomes impossible to keep up with every release. Even if all that work was being offered to Issaries, and they were happy to publish it all, I'm not sure they would be able to produce 12 products a year...

But I accept that it is not that simple - Issaries has overheads that "fan based" publishers like TT and UW don't (like wages, for a start) so needs to obtain a greater return on it's books. If this means that II has to charge more per book, then the 'danger' is that consumers will shun the II books and they will go out of business (Capitalism at work!). While we might cold-heartedly say "Why should I care providing someone is producing material?" We can hardly expect Greg to see it this way though, and a spirit of "fairness" suggests that II should benefit from it's investment (both financial and intellectual).

Treating all submissions as being primarily to Issaries is one step of this "fairness" - It's something I have seen Greg ask before on various lists - "Please send your submissions to Issaries first" - Just now he's insisting not asking! This should guarantee that II are able to gey the "Cream of the crop". The main potential pitfalls from a purchasers point of view are (i) II's eyes being bigger than it's publishing budget and material being held up indefinitely, and (ii) Idealogical impasse if the author does not wish to deal with II/On their terms, but due to the close tie in with their (projected) work is prevented from publishing elsewhere. From a fan publishers point of view it may leed to the feeling that you are left with "second best", and the danger that that perception will affect sales.

The rest of the policy as it affects "product" (as opposed to websites etc) really depends on which category the product in question falls in to (fanzine, convention support, "for profit" book etc). I guess we'll have to wait and see how it works in practice...              

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