Publishing Advice #29: Do you need a business partner?

Do you need a business partner? It's a very tricky question. All depends on your personality, preferences and circumstances. I can't really advice you, and the decision is solely up to you. I'm not writing today about pros and cons of having a business partner, neither trying to convince you to take on a partner or not. If you'd like to dig dipper, I recommend an excellent article by Jamey (Stonemaier Games) Kickstarter Lesson #45: Partnership. It's as I believe a good introduction to my article.

In this post, I'll just share my story, what happened recently in my life and how this is changing things around. It's going to be a very personal story. Maybe you will find it relevant to your situation. I'd love to see people being inspired to look from a distance on their lives and business and make the best decision possible.

Meet us at Bristol Anime and Gaming Con

Personally, I'm a big fan of conventions. It's always a hectic time but very satisfying and fruitful. I love to meet new people and know their opinion about things I do. It's an opportunity to know better your fans, other designers, publishers, distributors and shop owners. It's not a place to make money but build new relationships and get new connections. But in the first place, I'm there to have fun!

Another crucial thing about taking part in conventions is the fact that many positive and uplifting conversations during these events are recharging my batteries.

On 7-8 October I'm going to take part in Bristol Anime and Gaming Con. I'll be playtesting my new design Krill (you can read a little about it on my Krill diary series). My fellow designer Richard Buxton will be presenting his amazing game Master of Olympus and definitely visit his blog!

Would you like to stop at our place and say hi? It would be great to have you there!

See you soon :)

Publishing Advice #28: Retail Margins and Kickstarter

Kickstarter is the beginning of the sales chain. After your campaign finishes, you got traditional distribution. A healthy relationship with distributors and retailers is crucial. If you do not look after the post-Kickstarter tail, your product most likely will die, and you will lose a great opportunity to expand.

So why the post-KS tail is more important than Kickstarter campaign itself? Simply because KS is just a small part of your market. The biggest market is waiting for you!

Publishing Advice #27: How to Get People to Talk About Your Game?

How can you stand out with your "best game" in the world when there are more than 1000 new games published every year? Competition is horrendous. There are loads of incredibly good games out there. Everyone knows that to succeed as a publisher, you need an outstanding game, not just very good but outstanding. But can this guaranty your success? Not really - there is much more in it! You need to do your homework, but now I'll write about something different! About something which will help you to stand out!

Publishing Advice #26: Facing Haters part 2 - Open Letter to Fans

Constructive criticism, again, is a very helpful and healthy thing. All professionals always appreciate honest opinions as they're extremely useful. But now and again we have "privilege" to hear rude opinions regarding our games without any reason or explanation. Or experience cruel behaviours towards our personas.

A while ago I wrote about facing trolls and dealing with hate as a designer. And the best thing you can do is to ignore them and give your time to your fans - people who deserve it! Read Publishing Advice #10: Facing Haters.

But now I will talk how fans can help us: designers and publishers in facing haters.