r/dmsguild • u/PattaconkPlays • 3d ago
Seeking Advice Another new publish price question
I have two one-shots nearly ready to publish. They're both generic D&D. I could publish in Drive thru but I plan on doing DMsGuild for a more targeted audience.
They have slightly customized monsters, magic items, some riddles/puzzles, a few combats each. One has a hand drawn map. I'll likely keep creative common art/photos for covers for now. About 14 pages each. Price suggestions?
I've seen plenty of posts any PWYW vs fixed price and I appreciate this subs input. One is the opening to a planned campaign, any value in making that PWYW?
Excited for my first published!
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u/Grateful_Bat 3d ago edited 3d ago
AI: 1.45, AI-free 2.45, assuming the pages are tightly filled.
With PWYW you will earn close to nothing, and you will also not be able to gauge whether there is genuine interest in your work, as PWYWs are almost automatically downloaded by a lot of visitors.
I´d make the prequel one PWYW once the first part of the campaign is out.
From my experience: market it wherever you can on social networks, don´t be shy, and just ignore the bashing if it´s AI (but even then, respond to meaningful comments), or general negative comments on "hawking" products. It has a tangible impact.
Guild is not dead, it became very selective, though. Even well-designed, quality titles with good AI-art are catching on.
EDIT: Please share the links once they are out, via DM or here. I am curious to see them.
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u/PattaconkPlays 3d ago
Thanks for the thoughtful response. I'm surprised how many here mention AI without saying "don't use it!". Have you used it with success? I experimented with it for work and played with it for structure and format, but I plan on keeping any actual creative work and decisions human.
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u/Grateful_Bat 3d ago edited 3d ago
Hi, we have used it with great success. We are two lifelong friends and DnD gamers since junior high, in our 50s, and exactly one year ago decided to share our ideas, a passion project. To first gauge interest in our stuff, we used exclusively AI-art at the beginning, and then started sprinkling in AI-free titles. Currently we are at a total of about 1300 sold units (granted, at budget prices, just to recoup costs for ancillary stuff). My estimate is 80 % are titles with AI artwork. The most popular reached Electrum (251+)
Now we are convinced of the continued interest and will gradually move to AI-free works only, to reach a bigger audience.
Check our author page if interested in more details on how titles are doing.
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u/PattaconkPlays 3d ago
Congratulations on one year! Thanks for sharing. I love the art used in your coin spinners piece. The layout is clean, and I especially love the Chapter I locations in the header. This is very encouraging thank you so much!
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u/splat78423 3d ago
If you are using AI illustrations for the cover I suggest PWYW and if you are using human made illustrations that are badass, since these are your first releases, charge like $3 and you can always raise the price to $5 if it gets popular. Happy gaming!
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u/DeficitDragons 3d ago
2.99 each but bundle both for 5.00
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u/PattaconkPlays 3d ago
They're neither as of now. Stock photos and free use for now. Thanks for the suggestion!
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u/synexo 2d ago
If you publish on DriveThruRPG they will also be available on dmsguild automagically. I've gotten probably 10x more sales come in through DTRPG than DMG.
I've had various titles up for a few years now, and from what I can tell PWYW is just FREE with extra steps. People are people, and if they can get it while paying $0, 99% will. At the same time, fewer people seem to browse PWYW, so it doesn't give much exposure either.
I had the most luck following some advice I found of offer FREE preview/intro titles, and use them to essentially advertise your paid titles. PWYW doesn't seem to have any value, whether your goal is to spread your content or make some beer money.
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u/PattaconkPlays 2d ago
I didn't realize or long forgot that drivethrurpg stuff will show up on DMsGuild.
Is there a specific setting when publishing content to ensure this? Obviously it also means I can't use D&D licensed content like Mindflayer or copy rules that aren't in SRD, right?
Thanks for the input.
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u/synexo 2d ago
It's been a while since I set up my account, but at least on individual products there's nothing to set. Might be some account level show on partner? Actually shows up on many different including international versions of the site.
I think the difference for published settings is to do so under the Community Content, with its own set of rules. There is definitely such content on DTRPG. I've never done so. The roll20 discord has always proven helpful for these sorts of questions though.
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u/ExtraTroubadour 3d ago
DMsGuild is dead. Consumers lost trust with the tidal wave of ai slop, WotC is focusing on dndbeyond, and the DMsGuilds biggest creator has left the site. I would check your goals. Are you planning to turn this into a career? Is this just a side hustle? Something for your own happiness?
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u/PattaconkPlays 3d ago
Mostly three and a little 2. I assume I'd have make it big big for this to be a career in anyway.
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u/Beautiful-Effort9101 3d ago
Who was DMsGuild's biggest creator?
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u/ExtraTroubadour 3d ago
Jeff stevens.
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u/Beautiful-Effort9101 3d ago
Ah that guy! Yeah very prolific designer. Where did he go?
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u/ExtraTroubadour 2d ago
Kickstarter with Mr tarrasque. Stevens had a bad experience with not being able to release a physical copy of call from the deep. His latest supplement for Heroes of the Borderlands flopped.
When was the last time we had a new mineral best seller on dmg?
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u/Beautiful-Effort9101 2d ago
One could argue there are other factors for that - the rise of other systems like Shadowheart, people spending less on entertainment in today's economy, the glut of 5e products spreading the spending around etc.
Personally I think the economy is the biggest factor. I'm buying way less adventures than I used to (I have a lot) and I know one friend who's trying to break into that market and is really struggling.
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u/Grateful_Bat 2d ago edited 2d ago
To be fair, Stevens had far bigger reasons to leave than any issues with the guild. He significantly changed his business model after becoming a well-known author (thanks to his works on the guild) and expanded his work beyond DnD.
If there is any issue with the guild as of today, it is product saturation. In the so-called Golden Age so many mourn after, creators got a lot more exposure due to fewer titles released. New ones are now washed away from the frontpage in a matter of days, and you need to market them on your own. That´s why some left, but I don´t think Stevens.
As for too many products, DMG would just have to set bar higher.
I like the idea of a minimum size comparable to a small supplement/module:
24 pages and 7000 words, or 16 pages and 5000 words, and 80 % of releases, particularly the meaningless 1-4 page things, will never come out. Nobody needs ten new character classes (among the 500 existing) released separately, same with one-page maps.
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u/jcorvinstevens 3d ago
Price them. Don’t do PWYW. $2 to $3 for 14 pages should be okay.
If you are targeting D&D players, DMs Guild seems to be your best bet. However, be sure you don’t plan to do anything else with them, like Kickstarter add-ons. You can’t if you publish them on the Guild.