So how do you get it to them? Where do you go to get your design published?
Do you stand before the gates of the great castles and hope for entry?
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| Direct Publication |
Do you Rapunzel your way in?
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| Third Party |
Do you say "forget that castle, I'll build my own"?
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| DIY |
Do you rent your ideas out in hopes of funding your own castle?
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| Kickstarter |
No matter your chosen option of getting where the people are (inside the castle, duh), it's figuring out HOW to get there that bogs many people down.
I'm using analogies and symbolism for a reason- and I'm not just talking out of my ear. TheDude and I were involved in a project that was pretty close to done at one point, a long time ago. We were working on getting it published, and we tried several of the approaches I'm mentioning here. I know the frustration of failure, and the fantastic feeling of a getting somewhere.
When we were working on our project (early 90's), there was a certain expectation that new ideas should be sold to big companies. (Standing at the gates of a castle and trying to get inside, or Direct Publication.) At the time, there was an understood "formula" for getting noticed by the big guys if you didn't know someone. Following the formula was the way to go, "they" all said; and to do otherwise was to risk not being noticed.
In a lot of ways it reminded me of being in a band.
The story in music that everyone knows, where the "way to get noticed" was to have shows with high turnout, and then move to bigger venues, and then an agent would hear about you. And then demo tapes and trips to LA and so on.
Only with game designs, the way to get noticed was to demo your game at conventions. Traveling from con to con, drumming up a following and getting lots of exposure was the "surefire" way to get the attention of the guys with the checkbooks. From there, you could wow them with your awesome game design, sign a contract and presto; publishing.
If any of you have been in a band, you know it doesn't always work that way. Often times the crowd is made up entirely of girlfriends and parents; and no matter what you do, you can't get other people to actually COME to a show. No one ever wants to see a band they've never heard of, they want the "BIG ACT" and so they come late or don't come at all.
And so it is with game designs. Getting folks to try new games is a tricky thing, and in the days before social media and widespread internet exposure, it was often even tougher. Getting someone besides the "homers" to play can be a huge challenge.
Social media and internet exposure have changed in the publication landscape. Now it's not so unusual to be Twitter buddies with Matt Forbeck, Trevor Kidd, Mike Mearls or Neil Gaiman, or have Wil Wheaton in your Facebook feed. While those factors don't make getting noticed easier per se; they do make getting your noticed product into the right hands a lot less difficult. They are on the inside and can let you in. Their recommendation or referral can get you published.
It's the getting noticed by these folks that's the issue for "storm the castle" types- and it always was. The big boys don't just open up because you ask nicely; and getting someone legitimate inside to let you in is the challenge for anyone going that route. With all the voices and people trying to gain their attention, how are you going to get any of them to listen to you long enough to make a pitch?
(Don't worry; learning about how to get inside and how to be noticed are going to be included in the series. Keep reading!)
So storming the castle isn't for you. You think- hey; maybe I'll get someone who already has a deal with the castle to let me in, riding on their coat tails. I mean, they did a lot of the legwork already, why shouldn't I see if they can help me? (Also known as the Rapunzel/third party method per my above scenario.)
In this situation, you have to convince the Princess to let you in (and that you mean no harm), and that you can even potentially offer something that will be of interest and value in return. Real life Rapunzel can be as foolish as a fairy tale maiden that gets knocked up by a visiting squire; or as shrewd as the enchantress that locks the maiden in a tower with no stairs and no door.
Third party partnerships can be wonderful and easy, with good contracts and well defined expectations, or they can be terrible disasters with bungled designs and embezzlement. Just because Rapunzel is already in the castle doesn't mean she knows what she is doing any more than you do, or has any kind of influence. I mean, she's not part of the castle staff for a reason, and it's smart to know what to expect before you ever ask her to let down her hair.
It's not unusual to "woo the princess"; only not to get anywhere. Paying for editing, printing, promotion and even staff at conventions is not out of the ordinary. I've seen designers do all that and still end up with nothing, because of the princess (third party) "knows a guy", or hires her second cousin, or is a total flake. I've also seen people make a good living by finding a great match with their princess and knew what they were getting into.
Then maybe building it yourself seems like the way to go. You're handy with tools, and you have an idea of what your castle needs to look like when it'd done, so you get to building. Or you try to.
The castle down the road has all the bricks, and the one a few doors over owns the rights to all the land and won't sell (or license) to you for a reasonable amount. The plans you've drawn have to go to the architect to see if they are structurally sound, and someone steals them before you can get started.
Perhaps none of this happens to YOU, and you build your castle without incident. You have a self publishing scenario that puts you at low risk and you don't have to deal with OGL. But no one is inside your castle. No one knows you exist. How do you get people to your property to check out the cool things you built in? How do you convince someone to head to the middle of nowhere for your idea?
So none of those options sound good to you. There's a lot of risk in them and while you're not afraid to take a chance, you need to eat. So you concoct a way to get funding without shooting yourself in the foot. You decide to rent out your idea, sort of like a trailer of a movie. It gives folks a concept, but doesn't reveal it all. Then you get a ton of people to promise to help you build it, with an expectation of something for them in return later. This "rental" idea has taken a lot of forms in the past, but the latest incarnation is Kickstarter.
For those of you unfamiliar or living under a rock, Kickstarter is a "crowd sourcing" funding avenue for all kinds of things that might not get mainstream opportunities. The trick with Kickstarter is that no money changes hands until or unless the dollar amount you want to raise is reached. So if you think you need $5K to develop all the components you need for your new hotness, you throw up a Kickstarter project (don't forget a video!) and wait for the money to come in. If you get $4999- no project. Nothing happens. No one is charged and you are out of luck.
Kickstarter is entirely dependent on someone thinking your idea is cool, and SHARING that premise with other people. Otherwise it's a lot like being the opening band with moms and girlfriends in the audience. You need for your idea "to go viral" in order to make any headway on the funding end. You need to put your idea in a "high rent" neighborhood for anyone to see your little sign.
So how do you get people to notice your project? How do you get the word out? How do you convince people that your design is awesome and they should fund it?
These are just some of the issues a designer will face when trying to get published. We'll talk about each step and find out what others in the industry have done to make their dreams reality. We'll see that there isn't "one true way", and that a lot of new and different options are out there.
We'll have fun storming the castle!
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