The other day, out of curiosity, I went to see if I could buy the latest version of the BattleTech rulebook in print.
Amazon? Nothing. Barnes & Noble? Nothing. Abebooks? Nothing. Half-Price Books? Nothing. Booksamillion? Nothing. DriveThruRPG? PDF only. The Catalyst Game Labs Store? PDF ONLY!
What sort of retarded Rhesus Monkey fails to comprehend that Print On Demand is a thing?
Even niche fronts like DriveThru offer Print On Demand now, so Catalyst doesn't have an excuse to not make every single book product available in both paperback and hardocover- even Amazon does both now.
"But-"
YOU HAVE NO EXCUSE!
You already offer this shit in PDF. You're already one step away from offering it as Print On Demand. I don't give a fuck what your bullshit excuse is for failing to make your product available in an evergreen fashion that you don't have pay to print, pay to house, pay to ship, or pay to maintain stock levels lest it not be available.
I don't give a fuck about any complaints about Muh Local Game Store. They don't have a right to exist anymore than any other business does, so if they can't compete then into the trash they go. You are selling books, and well over 80% of all books are sold on Amazon alone- nevermind their competitors. Failing to take advantage of this is terminal stupidity. You are a full-tilt bozo retarded shit-eating faggot if you do not make your product easily available where the majority will go looking for it, and that (a) means online storefronts and (b) means On Demand availability.
Want to fuck around with traditional printing anyway? That's where your FOMO-driven Muh Premiumisms Limited Special Edition For Rich Retard Whales With More Money Than God offerings goes.
And if I needed another proven point to skewer you stupid shits with, then here it is shivved between the ribs: Print On Demand is what made the OSR a viable--and now proven--business alternative to SJW Death Cult faggotry.
The Pundit doesn't need to maintain a warehouse of books. Chris Gonnerman doesn't either; there is no physical copy of Basic Fantasy that a buyer didn't will into existing by purchasing a copy. There is no reason why I can't buy whatever the fuck I want as Print On Demand other than some dumbshit being a stupid, lazy fuck. It's not that hard; I did it, so you can too. Color works in POD, so don't come at me with that bullshit either.
Do it right, or get the fuck out.
I don't know what you're talking about. I just Googled "Battletech total warfare" and the newest version is in stock at 3 different online game stores AND is available directly from Catalyst with free PDF.
ReplyDeleteWay to miss the point.
DeleteIt should _never_ be unavailable because Print On Demand exists. It _was_. That's an unacceptable fuckup now.
Catalyst is not the only offender here. Palladium STILL hasn't caught up, but that surprises no one since they were colossally late to the PDF party.
And there's more after that.
There's no excuse anymore for rulebooks, novels, etc. being "out of stock".
This. RPGs, Comics, and anything Indie should be forever POD. Think like a genre fiction author. Build a library of your works and keep it available as you can for as many people to see it and buy it. You want Rulebook A1 and Issue 1 just as available tomorrow as Rulebook Z-35 and Issue 100.
ReplyDeleteThen you need to say that, instead of misrepresenting the facts. The book is out there, you can get it from more than one source, and writing a post saying you can't is a falsehood. If you're pissed you can't get it on PoD, that's one thing. But don't tell me you can't get the book: "I went to see if I could buy the latest version of the *BattleTech* rulebook in print.". You can; the you simply decided to change the narrative.
ReplyDeleteNo facts misrepresented.
DeleteI went looking for it. _It was not there._ It should have been.