Self-Publishing. All publishers started somewhere. So how hard is publishing? The bulk of the work is in game design, right? Not necessarily. Self-publishing takes a serious amount of work, drive, money, and time. The time commitment alone is enormous. Financially, the commitment for even a small print run will likely exceed $20,000- and that investment may not be recovered. The drive, the passion, must be there- even with the potential for no gain. The work shifts from a design focus to a focus on marketing, promotion, and sales. Not unlike any business, breaking even will take several years. As you build exposure for your designs, you may move into the realm of profitability, but do not expect that profit to be large. Expect to struggle at first with what you are taking on. Expect frustration, roadblocks you need help with, production issues, and many questions. Many of the answers require a business sense and it helps to have some sort of business or sales background. The hardest thing for me to do was not the production run, but to shift from designer to salesman- if you can’t sell your game, you will not remain in business very long- and you’ll end up with a stack of games in your garage. Make sound financial decisions up front, understand what you’re getting into, and don’t overproduce your game.
The rest of this post is geared toward the concerns of a self-publisher.
Advertising & Promotion. Advertising is everything if you intend to sell your game yourself. If you are taking the self-publishing route, be prepared to face your biggest challenge- getting the word out about your game. This is particularly difficult if you are not established and requires time, money, and dedication. One of the best avenues to do this is through your game or company’s website, through ON-TOPIC forums on general gaming sites (BGG, for example), through gaming news websites using press releases (see resources), and through banner ads on gaming-related sites or ads in printed magazines, e-zines, etc. Form a budget for advertising up front and use free-routes initially and then just prior to release, purchase ad space that you can afford, and even consider attending conventions such as Gen Con, Historicon, Origins, WBC, etc. Announce your attendance at these conventions and be prepared to be engaging. Consider offering an ad-exchange on your own site. Word of mouth and in-person promotions such as at a local game shop or trade show are great for making contacts and for getting feedback. The contacts you make may be future customers, future play testers, or future retailers of your game. Be prepared to answer questions and be prepared if people do not like your game. Smile and acknowledge their gaming preferences and then politely move on.
Business Cards. This sounds simple, but business cards are important at trade shows and useful at local game stores as well. You may print your own or you may want to have them professionally printed. There are a variety of websites that specifically provide this service and produce incredible results- typically better than you can produce at home and on higher quality paper. I’ve listed a few in the resources section. Use a two-sided business card design. The front is fairly typical with contact information, web address, etc., but the back is an advertisement. When recipients flip the card over, they should see some quick concise text and/or graphics that promote your games. For more information on two-sided business card design, visit the GreatFX website listed in the resources section.
Newsletter. Consider releasing a monthly, bi-monthly, or quarterly newsletter or e-zine with previews of your games. With my first game, as part of its promotion, I spent a lot of time writing historical articles, tying those articles to my game, and then offering the newsletter for free. I also provided content such as interviews with veterans, game combat examples, rules previews, component previews, and more. This was VERY time consuming but worth the effort. I provide newsletter subscribers the new editions first, via e-mail, before wide release on the web. After about a week or so, I send out a press release to various game news sites with a link to the PDF. This has proven highly successful. I’ve released over a dozen issues and dropped the frequency from monthly to quarterly due to time constraints. Overall, my newsletter has driven hundreds of thousands of visitors to my site and helped me get the word out about my game. Writing the newsletter and receiving so much positive feedback is also a huge motivational factor that not only drives up interest but also drives the completion of the design.
Copyright & IP Protection. Though it’s not very easy to protect a game design, most publishers out there are not in the business of stealing designs- their reputation is on the line. If you are self-publishing, consider registering the copyright on your rules and game components. You have copyright on your intellectual property upon the moment of creation, but registering that copyright allows you greater protection in a court of law in cases of infringement. Typically registration requires 1 copy of the game to be sent to the Library of Congress if published, along with an application fee. This has inherent advantages and does not cost an unreasonable amount- just the fee and the cost of sending off a single game. For more information, read about copyrighting games in the US on the official government copyright office website. Don’t bother with seeking a patent. The short answer is that game designs cannot be patented.
If you want to tell the world that you’re using a particular logo or title, and it’s not something common, consider using the trademark TM symbol next to the logo or title. This offers some protection of any logos you may come up with. To further protect your logos or titles, you can register trademarks officially with the US government and display an R in a circle- but this is costly.
Small Print Run. If you want to produce a small run, you will most likely have a hard time finding commercial printers who are willing to work in small quantities (without astronomical charges). Printing is expensive. But in the modern world of desktop publishing and cheap home office printers with excellent quality, you may consider doing a home-based print run of, say, 100 games or so. This can be just right for trade shows where you want to demo the game and offer some for sale as well. My advice- choose a home office printer wisely. Look at total ownership cost, cost of ink, cost of maintenance, cost of paper, and buy in bulk whenever possible. This goes not just for paper, but for dice, storage bags, etc. Everything that you include in your game- buy bulk and save money whenever possible. For supplied items like dice, shop around and consider several suppliers. The web is the best resource for this- you can find virtually anything you need by doing a little research. I’ve provided a couple links for dice and bags.
Preorder System. If things go well, offer the ‘production version’ for sale as a preorder at a slightly discounted rate over full retail price (this will encourage preorders). Take enough preorders to cover the cost of a print run (some companies typically set this mark at 500 preorders). Once the preorders are at the mark you set, you should have enough money to execute the print run. Sub out the printing to an experienced printer who will meet your needs and requirements (determine all of this up front). You’ve now sold 500 games and made enough money to afford printing of 1000 or more depending on your preorder price and production costs, without going into substantial (if any) business debt. Now promote and sell the remaining 500 games. If you adopt a preorder system, be sure that you follow applicable laws for sales and product delivery timing. Generally, it’s best to only take payment on an order once the order ships. In other words, don’t take anyone’s money until you are sure you can deliver a product to them within six weeks. After the initial run, if another run is warranted based on demand, go for it. To fund additional production, you can do a reprint and place it back on P500 to gather another batch of necessary orders, or you can pay for it with any profit from the first run. The latter may be required to maintain any momentum you may have from the initial run.
Packaging considerations. Think about everything you’re going to include in the game and find sources for it all. You’ll most likely need: Components, a board, dice, a box, box art, storage such as plastic bags or inserts, and whatever else your design calls for. Find a box manufacturer who can meet your needs. Since this is a game and considered a toy, be sure that you meet all government safety requirements- esp. if it is intended for children. Label as such if you have small parts, and list a suggested age on the box.
GGIC. The Greater Games Industry Catalog is the standard list of game products available on the market today. This catalog is sent to distributors and retailers who are looking to stock their shelves. It is full of advertisements for new and existing games and contains a wealth of listings and retail prices for just about everything currently available that’s gaming related. The GGIC also maintains a standard list of manufacturers. To get a manufacturer’s code, make sure you have a product that you’re actually making, and request a code be assigned by them for your company. This, in addition to some non-descriptive digits after the code, can become your game’s ‘part number’. You can list your game(s) in the GGIC for free I believe, though for better exposure for a new game, you may wish to purchase a full or half-page ad to get noticed.
Bar coding. Ever wonder how to obtain a bar code for your products? Standard international GS1 bar codes are most often required by distributors if you will be selling through distribution (and not just direct selling on your site). The link to the organization that controls all GS1 barcodes is provided in the resources section below. This carries an expensive initial cost and a renewal cost each year. Just to set up and be assigned a company code costs over $700- and that’s just for 1-100 bar codes. Creating the bar code after registration is accomplished using the software tools they provide. Digital versions which can be placed on your individual products are then most-easily created by third party companies who specialize in this work and cost around $10 each. Make SURE that you need bar-coding before you go this route. If you are selling your games by yourself, or just via the web, you may not need a bar code for your products. If you are self publishing and selling through distribution, you will most likely need bar-coding capability. However, if you sell your game to a publisher, they will most likely apply their own barcode to your product- do not invest in this as a designer.
Another option for bar coding is to purchase a single bar code, verified unique by the seller. Several companies specialize in this service and are legit. For less than $100, you receive a bar code graphic that can be used on a single product. This is cost prohibitive for a large volume of products, but may work fine for one or two games per year.
Box Art. Your packaging will make or break sales. A game presented in a zip lock bag with no box or box art is not going to sell as well as a game in a nice box that can be reused for storage. Work with the box manufacturer for templates for the lid and bottom of the box wraps. Typically, these templates are provided compatible with the software you use, such as Illustrator. Simply create your box art within the template (or pay an artist to do so), send to the manufacturer, and they will use specialized machinery to glue/fuse the wraps to the lid or box bottom. Very cool stuff. You receive the finished boxes which you may then package your game components in. Consider shrink-wrapping after all packaging is complete for a finished look.
Supplies. Check the resources section for some links to suppliers of bags, dice, boxes, etc. I do not list printers- there are too many out there who provide commercial printing services. Also, check the other pinned thread in the Board Game Design forum on BGG for more supplies resources. Read below for tips on selecting a commercial printer.
Commercial Printer Selection. After perhaps a small initial in-house print run, you’ll probably realize that it’s a lot of effort to print, kit, store, and manage your game/supplies inventory. You may also realize that a commercial printer can do it better and cheaper- in the right quantity. You should not consider a commercial printer until you are ready for a run of at least 1000 games. Do a search in your local area first. Check out all of the printers you can in person. Visit their facility if possible and ask for a tour. Check out their equipment, samples of their product, and ask as many questions as you can think of. You are the customer- they need to sell their services to you. Keep that in mind as you discuss options with them. Press time is everything and it’s very expensive.
Printers can offer a variety of services beyond just printing. Check and see if they offer kitting, storage/inventory control, and shipping direct to distributors/retailers. If you cut out shipping from the printer to you and ship from the printer direct to your distributors, you halve your shipping cost. Options such as sorting and kitting components, wrapping each deck of cards in cellophane, randomization of collectible components, weight of shrink-wrapping, box inserts, packaging, etc., will all be items of discussion.
Solicit multiple quotes for a print run in several different quantities- 1000, 1500, 2000 qty, etc., so that you can see exactly how increasing quantity affects the game’s unit price. Higher quantity runs mean more affordable games, lower unit costs, and better retail pricing.