Traveller's Aide in print?

[Pagan priest]

Am I going to be able to walk into my local gaming emporium and pick up a copy of TA? While I'd like to have these, I am not interested in any sort of PDF products.

 

[binky]

Originally posted by Pagan priest:
Am I going to be able to walk into my local gaming emporium and pick up a copy of TA? While I'd like to have these, I am not interested in any sort of PDF products.

Whilst you wait for the official answer, here's my guess.

Sorry, but no.

I suspect you'll find that the cost of producing print copies of TA is economically prohibative. Either you do small runs which means the cover price get's silly or you do large runs to get the unit price down but then risk being left with huge overstocks which then wipe out any sales. Demand has to be very high to make printing very high.

So for this kind of endeavour, electronic publishing makes the most sense. It may not please everyone, but it is definitely the less risky option.

My only problem with the PDFs is I can't get them to display properly on Acrobat Reader for Pocket PC... not something I expect to be addresses anytime soon.

- Neil.

 

[tjoneslo]

The true answer is both yes and no. No the individual TA's won't be available in your gaming store. However, the plan is to collect 4-6 of the better ones and print the lot in a hard cover version. If you buy the 12 issue subscription, you get the "Best Of" printed edition for free. QLI will also be making these printed "Best of" books available for sale to FLGS.

 

[Nearside]

That's a great idea, and I'd love to see the Linkworld's supplement in print,too. I'd happily pay 15 bucks for that with a color cover and some maps/ship plans. Maybe even 20 dollars.

 

[MichaelL65]

Perhaps it would be possable for an entrepreneurial game shop to purchase several .pdf copies and print them out - with a small markup for printing and comb-binding of course...

I think Kinkos can do this, I'll have to give them a call.

 

[hunter]

Originally posted by MichaelL65:
Perhaps it would be possable for an entrepreneurial game shop to purchase several .pdf copies and print them out - with a small markup for printing and comb-binding of course...

I think Kinkos can do this, I'll have to give them a call.

Kinkos can do an excellent job on it. I take every issue there and have them print and bind them. I personally prefer the coil binding

The problem with printing something like the TA issues, is that individually it would not be worth it. Anything smaller than about 96-128 pages isn't worth publishing from a financial standpoint. They just won't sell enough copies to justify it.

However we think a 'Best of' edition at about 128 pages would do well enough to justify a print run.

I may look into Print on Demand and see if it might be a cost-effective alternative.

Hunter

 

[MichaelL65]

Originally posted by MichaelL65:
Perhaps it would be possable for an entrepreneurial game shop to purchase several .pdf copies and print them out - with a small markup for printing and comb-binding of course...

I think Kinkos can do this, I'll have to give them a call.

Well, they can... but the cost turns out to be somewhat prohibitive, it would actually be cheaper to buy a color printer than to have them print more than one copy...

What color printers have produced the best results? I have access to an HP600c and a Cannon BJC4000, neither of which I have been impressed with in the past. Of course, they are probably better than the B/W laser printed copies I'm using.

 

[Pagan priest]

Here's a thought for you, how about collecting a year's worth on a CD? Not just a "Best of" but "All of".