Sword and Board

Just wanted to show the sales report for my book, Sword & Board: A Basic Fantasy Supplement. I have sold 111 print copies since the book went into print around a month ago, not counting a couple freebie copies I sent out. I'm pretty happy with that. I am making no money on these, and I have only advertised here and on a couple forums. I imagine the very low price per book has helped with sales. If I had priced the books at $5 even, I'd have likely had similar sales, and would have even made a $120 or so.

I hope that at least some of the stuff is actually making it onto gaming tables. I know it was a grab-bag, but it's the kind of things that interest me.

The pdf/print copy.

Which parts did you like?
Which parts were just so-so?
And which parts did you think were a waste of time?
What would you like to have seen added instead, if anything?

Feel free to be harsh in your judgements, I'm not made of tissue.Even if I don't ever publish anything else, maybe other publishers can look at this and get ideas.

Blah. Just minor stuff, but I wanted to put it out there. I updated the file for the print copy, but it may be a few days until it goes through. I fixed a couple typos, and had two corrections.

Onyx Dog
It adds +2 to its rolls to detect hidden objects and for surprise rolls.

Silver Raven
Another command sends it off into the air, bearing a message to its target. The message is delivered in the mage’s voice.

The Dog was just a screw-up, since I didn't change the number from the D20 version. The Raven I just changed the description, since the description referred to a D20 spell not in BFRPG.

Not really major stuff, but damned annoying.

The book is here

For the low cost of $3.19. It's a softcover black and white 6"x9" book, and it looks amazing. I have nothing but high praise for Lightning Source and RPGNow. I am very, very happy with how the book has turned out. I hope some of you will purchase it and find a use for it at your gaming table.

Can't wait! I ordered it on Saturday, and it was placed in the mail yesterday afternoon. That's only two business days, which is pretty awesome. Once I get the book, I'll post a picture or two and put the print version up for sale, barring any major layout problems.

I've got my fingers crossed. It was a lot of work to get the book done, and if it comes out nice, it will be worth it. Now I'm just worried that I'll receive my copy and the layout will be messed up somehow.

For those of you who think the guys who publish game books don't have much work, you'd be surprised, especially if they are using a print-on-demand service. I imagine that it gets easier once they have done a book or two, since they know what's needed. Lord knows, I've learned a lot. The writing was the easy part. I can easily come up with ideas and write them, but the layout and publisher submission process is a completely different beast. Lots of things seem unnecessarily complicated, while a couple issues that I thought would be difficult were really easy.

I also had a lot more success dealing with RPGNow than I did with Lulu. If you haven't done a print-on-demand book before, I recommend using RPGNow. They are easy to contact via email and very helpful. Lulu provides no easy contacts, with no emails, just a forum that they may or may not answer questions on (I had one question answered and one ignored). I hope Lulu gets this sorted out, but I am really, really glad RPGNow was available, as while it isn't perfect, I got help with my problems quickly.

I ordered a proof copy this morning. Once I receive it, and it's ok, I'll post it. I ordered media mail because the damn shipping is so expensive, so it will take a week or so to receive the book.

Good news is that the book will likely be $3.00. Bad news is the cheapest shipping to PA was $4.90. At least, at this cost, you'd actually be better off buying multiple copies at once, in case you have a group of players. Even if you only buy one copy, it's going to be super cheap.

I did redo the layout a bit from the pdf version. Because of the way the gutter and margin worked, and the page requirements, I used a better version of my original layout, especially regarding page breaks. It would have been too much hassle to bother someone else about yet more potential layout issues. Even so, I think it looks pretty damn good this time around. The book won't win any layout awards, but it also won't have strange spacing.

I'm sure at least one or two reviewers will be irked at the amount of white space, but at the size and cost of this, I really don't care. I'll be happy if even one book sells and it actually gets used at a game table. If it does, I will think my book is a success.

Also, good editors and layout people should consider contacting Chris Gonnerman, as he has a number of books that just need edited, so that they can be put into print.

I got some great help from Talysman/John Laviolette with the cover upload. I submitted the file, and it looks like the print cost is going to be around $3.50 (I forget the exact number). I should be getting a proof copy sometime next week. If it looks good, I'll let everyone know.

I plan on never doing another book again on my own. From now on, if I have an idea, I'm just submitting it to Fight On!. Layout and art is way too much hassle for me to bother with. It just seems like POD publishers go out of their way to make publishing with them difficult.

Regards the print version, I have the text uploaded. I have no way to do the cover, since I don't have a program that works with the cover template formats. I have sent emails out, so hopefully I will hear something back by Monday. At least RPGNow and Lightning provide avenues of communication, unlike Lulu.

Mike Davison sent it over. I've posted it to RPGNow. Hopefully, I will have a print version in the near future. I will need to get a proof of it and once I have a good copy, I'll post here. Thanks!

Mike let me know he's nearly done with the pdf. Just a heads up.

Current Version

This version should not have any extra spacing inside words, though there is some extra spacing between words due to justification. Overall, it should be a big improvement over the first version. Hopefully in a few more days, I can post a nicely formatted version. Thanks!

Could someone who has had layout problems with Sword & Board (spaces inside words) contact me with your email address? I think the pdf layout issue may have occurred when I was compacting the file. I would like to test this. Mike is still hopefully working on a nice layout, because this version still has extra spaces between words, just not in them, but I would like to put up a stop-gap so people can actually use the pdf.

*DONE*

It should be another week before I have the improved layout in hand, courtesy Mike Davison. Once I have it, I'll upload and let everyone know.

I will hopefully have a well-formatted version of Sword&Board available in a few days. I know I couldn't get it to look right. Once I get it, I'll post about it here. Then I'll submit for a print version, and after I get a proof copy that looks good, I'll notify everyone.

I have tried numerous times to make pdf files for this book, and it seems like it screws up every time. I embed the fonts and everything, but I get weird spaces. I assume the newest file still has spaces in each word, even though I don't see it on my computer. If someone could help me out, I'd really appreciate it. The file is a Word document.

Sword & Board: A Basic Fantasy Companion

The pdf is now available! Hopefully, I will have a print-on-demand version available in a week or two. The pdf is free. The print-on-demand book will be cheap, as I am pricing it for no profit to myself. The book is sized for digest. Enjoy!

It's written. It's formatted. It's ready to go.

Lulu submission process doesn't work.
Dragonsfoot does not accept pdf files.
I had to print out and sign some weird contract for RPGNow and scan it and email it back.
I emailed Chris, asking him to put it up on the BFRPG website. Hopefully that will happen, but the site has not been updated since November.

I'm sick of this crap. Why does everyone make it so damn hard to just publish a free pdf and not-for-profit POD book? I will never do this again. I don't know how the normal publishers don't go crazy messing around with stupid BS.

Their site is about as unhelpful as it can be. The directions for the cover don't work. I uploaded my text, after multiple attempts, and then Lulu says it can't make the file print-ready. However, it doesn't bother to give me even a little clue as to why it isn't print-ready.

I know RPGNow has recently gotten into POD publishing. Is their formatting and submission stuff easier to use?

Figures the hold-up is one of the few pieces of art I had to commission. And it's been two weeks, with four separate promises of "I'll get it to you tonight". All for a 3"x4" ink drawing. Blah. Combined with the cover fun, this part of the project has easily been the most frustrating.

The 3rd version of S&W White Box Announcement

Thanks to the kindergarten playground fight involving White Box, it looks like my cover has been taken. After I have had my cover posted for over a week. Fucking frustrating. I'll try and find something else that looks good, but that picture is pretty damn awesome.


*And the new BHP game will use the existing WB cover.*  = that cover is temporary, found out in the comments. Leaving here so the comments make sense.