Adamant Ent abandon app pricing

Artbod · Post by **Artbod** » Tue Apr 05, 2011 6:22 am

Adamant Entertainment have abandoned their app pricing model for their PDFs and returned to the older pricing. I for one understand why they tried this but am very happy that it has returned to normal. As a small press guy I'd like to think that I can at least charge a reasonable price for something I've worked on for a number of weeks. Hopefully we will see smaller cheaper items alongside full priced rule books again.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Wed Apr 06, 2011 1:29 am

I suspected it wasn't going to last. They get props for giving it a shot, but I had my doubts that it would be successful long term. Glad I was right too, as I wasn't looking forward to pricing my first project so low after the amount I'm spending on art!

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 2:41 am

Finally!

Thank goodness!

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 6:16 am

I'm glad...I couldn't afford to compete at that level.

On rpg.net, the app pricing failure ironically hurt Adamant, as now people are complaining that the prices are too high...even though they are certainly in a perfectly reasonable ballpark.

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 9:47 am

The market will re-adjust, but from my own sales on Supervillains! Vol. 1, this model just doesn't work.

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:51 am

I'm genuinely sorry that you ended up being the guinea pig for the rest of us on the BASH front.

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 10:53 am

It's okay... I look forward to all the complaining when we go back to normal pricing on Volume 2

But your sympathies are appreciated.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Thu Apr 07, 2011 11:20 pm

Funny enough though, Vigilance Press stated that their sales stayed consistent the whole time. They did raise their prices up though, but not by much. That Homefront Heroes release only went up to 2.99, so they seem to not be bumping it too high.

I was considering going my first release at under 5 bucks, but now I'm not sure. It's kind of hard to figure out what works, especially when you're just starting out.

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 6:12 am

I offer a piece of advice I received starting out: do you want to try to make some money or do you want to share your work? Would you rather sell 1 copy at $50 or 50 copies at $1? The example is obviously extreme, but it can help to make a decision.

For Fight!, I wanted to at least make my initial investment back and I based pricing on what seemed relevant at the time. Now that I've sold pretty well, I plan on reducing prices.

urbwar · Post by **urbwar** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 7:01 am

If I just wanted to share, I wouldn't even bother with art.

I'd prefer to try and break even, but what would allow me to do that is kind of subjective

kevperrine · Post by **kevperrine** » Fri Apr 08, 2011 4:27 pm

urbwar wrote: I'd prefer to try and break even, but what would allow me to do that is kind of subjective

On a curious "developers" note regarding marketing and determining the correct price point rather than just randomly tossing a pricegun in the dark...
What do you folks believe IS the necessary notes to consider when pricing?
How do you determine pricing?
Have you considered offering "discount" or other marketing deals to encourage sales?

What other questions can you think of on this line?

Me...
I'm not as certain that a lower price-point is a bad idea in this economy and modern buying habits. But finding that "sweet spot" is probably one of the most crucial things a producer could do for their project.

For those that have produced a project, can you give us some minor details on the numbers of sales of your various projects? I'd like to know the market a little more.
For example: if I budget $250. on a project, if I *know* it's likely to be able to sell 100 units in the first week of sale at a lower price point - I'd probably sell at: $.99-2.50 = needing 252/100 sold to break even.

So is that sale volume reasonable?
Neat subject.

-kev-

AslanC · Post by **AslanC** » Sat Apr 09, 2011 9:06 pm

I can say this on the subject of sales, in total for BASH to date we have sold;

65 copies of Supervillains! Volume 1 for BASH, which makes for a total of;

$80.79 profit

Now I am sure you can see how that isn't even remotely enough to cover the cost of art, and I have been lucky in that the artist did if for profit sharing and to "get his name" out there.

App pricing does not work. From everything I have been told I could expect comparable sales numbers if I had been closer to my $4.99 original pricing model, or at least made about the same amount of cash.

Has I sold hundred of copies that would have been something, but such low numbers, added to what Adamant has learned as well as the speculation that Vigilance will see that the app pricing doesn't work in the long run either, leads me to believe that the App Pricing experiment was a failure.

The only problem I have seen is that it has set customers expectations and it may be hard to convince them to purchase a similar product for a higher price.

That said I will not be raising the price on Volume 1. It stays fixed. Volume 2 will be more expensive though, as part 2 of this experiment must play out to help find the "sweet spot" for pricing.

My two cents anyways

Cheers!

Artbod · Post by **Artbod** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 8:38 am

I cant see a problem with small (Under 20 page) items selling for 1.99 or whatever but a full book should get the proper treatment. My Power pics are only a few pages long but still take time to produce. My setting book i'm working on has been in production for over 3 years including rewrites so I'd like to think I'd make a little money back on it.

drkrash · Post by **drkrash** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 5:47 am

Yeah, a big part of the calculation is sales expectations. Aslan was upfront enough to provide hard numbers. I've done a lot of searching and a lot of comparing. I don't know what BASH's numbers are (I have suspicions), but Fight! sold about 300 copies in a year (at $15) and that seems to be a pretty good success for indie publishers.

When I produce, I calculate costs, estimate a fair price point, calculate how many I need to sell to break even, and adjust from there.