Dr Kromm on how to Make Money Writing Games

Dr. Kromm is of course Sean Punch, the line editor for GURPS one of my favorite games. With 15 years of game experience the man knows what he is talking about .

When the question came up (on Big Purple again) about making money in game writing Dr. Kromm answered with this bit of wisdom.

The way for publishers to make a buck in 2010 is to offer fair royalties to writers, not to stint on editing, and to keep everything in print perpetually as PDF. The way for writers to make a buck in 2010 is to work quickly and efficiently so that their hourly rate (the measure used by everybody else in the world) is fair; they can improve their lot greatly in this regard by accepting that they're technical writers and learning their publisher's style.

Since its a two man shop here the 1st point doesn't apply to us of course but the rest of the points especially the part about us being technical writers are very important.

We are not creative writers making fluff nearly as often as we are technical writers. The works I sold to SJG some time ago were by some standards antiseptically dry and crunchy as pea gravel but they sold, were read and decently rated.Its what people want and we had best give it to them.

Our goal here at 5stone is more than that . Its also to make stuff you can actually use in your games. Not theoretical books or coffee table books, but stuff that gets played an enjoyed at your table. I believe that if we give you what you can use, you'' come back and support our endeavor with you scare gaming dollars.

And if we don't? We deserve to fail.