Hopefully everyone had a good Christmas and was also able to gather with their gaming group for a little bit of dice throw-down.
Since my "day job" is in retail, I've been busy, so I was on a "vacation" for the last couple of weeks.
Once the turmoil of the holiday season is passed I like to take a little bit of a look at the last year and, if I'm able, give my 12 readers a look ahead on my plans for the next year as well.
Since I started the Frugal GM blog I've been using DriveThruRPG as a barometer for how I've been doing as a small-time content creator.
Overall: It has been a bit of a mixed bag. Due to a few personal issues that I won't get into here, I've not been as productive as I was in the past, something that needs to change. Few "products" means fewer sales and downloads. On the plus side, one of the metrics (
percentage of free downloads) increased from 86% to 91%. That might seem like a negative, but achieving a 90% was probably the 1st goal for using DTRPG. Adding a PWYW option in 2014 skewed the free downloads percentage.
As an aside, a
LOT of the PWYW purchases were for a dime or even a penny, which really messes up the numbers.....
By the Numbers:
-17.4% Products "sold"
-35.1% Gross sales
-17.2% Free downloads by count
+05.4% Free downloads by percentage
91% Percentage of free products of all products "sold"
What's next?
The last couple of years I have been sharing content through DTRPG and Patreon, but after Patreon's little pass-the-buck cash grab, which they have since rescinded, I'm just not comfortable using that platform any more. I might give them some time to see if they come around to dip into Patron's pockets again, and I might...
might, go back to them, but so far that's not in the works for me.
I have a couple of projects that I really want to see in printed form. I don't know if this will mean local printing and distribution, using Lulu, DTRPG print services, or some option I haven't even considered.
I do plan on taking some/all of the maps I've created and disseminated on Patreon over to DTRPG, and to put future maps on that site as well. I might go back to using Dropbox for some files....I'll know more when I start the process.
I'd love to be able to attend some conventions with professional-looking product in hand, but my ability to travel is up in the air for now, pun intended.