Gareth-Michael Skarka's bass-ackward comment about my Kickstarter project...

Last week I made a post about how I was planning to do a Kickstarter project but I had not decided what to do it on. Gareth made a comment to it and referred to it as being "bass-ackward". Now some of you are expecting this to be a tirade again Gareth and his comments.  It's not. Who this is an interesting teaching lesson moment on two different side of business thought.  OK what is more important, the product OR the delivery system that delivers the product? Based on Gareth comment I would think he fall under the camp of "the product"; I, on the other hand would fall under the side of the "delivery system".  Let me explain this one real quick with a few questions: How many people think they can make a better burger than McDonalds? How many of you think McDonalds burgers are "bad to poor quality"? How many people think McDonalds has a better delivery system to get their burgers to the customer? If you make a better burger than McDondalds, why haven't you put them out of business?  If McDonalds burgers are of "bad to poor quality" why haven't they gone out of business?

Because it has nothing to do with the quality of the product, but everything to do with the delivery system of that product.  I think we all can agree McDonalds burgers and not that great (Their french fries are another thing completely) and you could make a better on then their at your home.  McDonalds has build a system where they can deliver burgers consistently of a certain quality of burger to all their customers in all their locations.  Best of all their system is so simple 16 year kids (abundant cheap labor) can operate the system with easy by following directions.  The system is what is important.

Let's make it easier for those who might just say McDonalds is completely different then a RPG. Gareth sells at RPGNow.com and I think he sell at his own site too. Which one of these websites do you think he sell more at, his personal website where customer could get his personal touch with each and every sale that he might make or at RPGNow.com where they get thousands of customers a day who get a constant buying experience with each and every sale? I am going to have to say I think RPGNow.com is the winner.  RPGNow has build the correct system that hundreds of vendors have used to sell to tens of thousands of customers. Kickstarter follows that same model. So Best Buy, Radio Shack, Target, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream, AMC Movies theaters and Disney. They have built a great system where what you are "selling" does matter, the delivery system is what is important.  You might have the best product in the would, but what does it matter if no one or not enough people can get access to it to keep your business going?  Just a thought.  Talk to you later...

Half Pixel and Webcomics get it – Alliances and Partnerships are how you survive and grow

While looking at the morning Webcomic.com blog post, It hit me how smart the guys at Webcomic.com and Half Pixel are. They work as a unit promoting webcomics while at the same time promoting themselves and what they do. They do a “somewhat” weekly podcast about the industry and business of webcomics and best of all, they put out a book of how you can do it yourself. They have proved that alliances and partnerships are a strong business “weapon” that can be used by anyone; including you and me. I have a few partnerships with other PDF RPG companies who sell my products that look like products in the other companies gaming line. Why? It is a great way for them to make money (I pay them 15% of the sale to do it), they get to expand their product line without having to do anything, and lastly it is good for the industry as a whole by supporting each other. One song, many voices.

This ties in to directly what I am doing with the Creative Imprint Agency. Teaming up with other RPG PDF companies to help is all is a good thing. Just take a look at RPGNow.com and think about how many of the people listed there you could team up with and proved a whole new range of products. RPG Objects did it for years with Modern Dispatch. Just something for you to think about. Talk to you later…