Problems:

  - Printing books is expensive.
  - Finding niche buyers is difficult.
  - Marketing is prohibitive.

Solutions:

The objective is to secure a subscription model. It is probably the only sustainable way of publishing low volume books continuously. But this requires a loyal readership.

To build a loyal readership, there needs to be enough exposure through the channels such as Kickstarter, Reddit, and the overall Web, a website, social media, and even Patreon.

It's important to remember that i'm not trying to sell books, I'm trying to provide a service of ongoing supply of new solo gaming experiences and a channel for authors to both advertise their craft and to get their craft in front of people; as well as a place for people to go in order to get their hands on products, as well as wholesale offers to retail stores for even more author exposure.

The first step, think of this, as a small independent publishing club. Subscribers fund the production schedule, and receive every new release, and help finance the future books.

The main benefit here is that subscriptions are predictable revenue, which helps with commission, printing, and production. It also help keep track of demand and minimum quantities. It lets me gamble less money, and helps branding. And of course, it is a channel for unknown authors to reach a wider audience.

The specifics here is that an 'advocate' would pay around 150-200 SEK to get all new physical releases before publication, exclusive covers, authors signatures if possible, and the books shipped when complete (not monthly). the idea is that the subscribers would support the entire output and not just a fixed number of books. depending on cost of production though, we might even be able to go as low as 39 per month sub for PDF and 99 for printed + pdf. at 500 subscribers, we are potentially looking at a fulltime job.

i think branding should be as a curated collection where the book is the game; but there are no limits to how the game actually runs, as the authors are allowed to freely and creatively produce original ideas, as long as they are good and i am willing to publish it after verifying the product.

i think though, i don't want the subscribers to feel shortchanged, albeit it is not too dissimilar from how people donate through patreon. but i think it must be made clear that the books ship when ready, and we have a minimum annual quantity that we expect to meet, with progression reports, and alerts when commitment isn't met - so the subscriber can make good economical decisions.

i dont know if i pointed this out but i htink its important to remember that we are splitting this up into a kickstarter for exposure, a subscription model (where you don't need to back the kickstarter to get your book), a store selling the books at full cost for discovery, and wholesale distribution for growth. of course subscribers get exclusive covers, while bookstores get standard editions.

as for the books. they are (1:5) A5 books at 60 pages, with full colour, and perfect bound softcover with french flaps (heavy cardstock). printed spine and consistent series design.

ideally retail price would be around 149-179, but we will see the costs first. but, since gamebooks need enough content to be fun, we might have to consider 96-128 pages, and black and white interior print. at which point the retail price may land at 199-249.

make sure to check the cost for 200 vs 500 books.