Hello, all. I stumbled upon a new publishing option you may want to consider
for your OGL efforts: http://www.iUniverse.com. For $99 (or $199 for 25
illustrations, $299 for 50 illustrations), they will print anything but
pornography or hate speech. Books must range from 108 to 700 pages, and are
printed in trade paperback format. They won't edit it or promote it (those
are both your job); but they WILL get it an ISBN number and a listing in
Ingram, the leading book distributor. That means your book can be ordered by
any book store, and through Amazon and BN.com and others. I don't know if
most game stores use Ingram or not. They pay you 20% of sale price less
shipping charges. The arrangement is for 3 years; but you can cancel with
reasonable notice (like if you find a better publishing deal for a hot
book). In that case, they claim the right to continue selling for one year
from cancellation. They claim other rights (everything short of film and
TV); but they pay 50% royalty on those rights. You can get author copies at
a discount (but no royalty) if you want to sell them yourself. Like, say, at
GenCon.
The up-front costs are so low because they don't do print runs. Instead,
they use Lighnting printers for Print On Demand: print and bind and ship
each copy when it is ordered. So they're not risking a lot on any given
title. You're risking three hundred bucks max, which compares pretty
favorably with small press.
Getting an iUninverse book before GenCon is tight, but possible: turnaround
time once you approve your "galley proofs" (actually a PDF file) is 4-6
weeks. I would bet that, if you knew what your OGL system looked like right
now, you could JUST squeeze out copies for GenCon. I know that this is the
approach I would take IF I had the D20 SRD at hand (and a whole lot more
spare time -- I may find myself in both Arkansas and India over the next
month).
Larger companies probably have more attractive printing options than
iUniverse. But I see them as a really good choice to let an individual or
small group compete with the big boys on a more even footing. (I also see it
as a way Emerald Software may soon publish our class notes as separate
volumes, but that's a whole different subject...)
iUniverse should NOT be seen as the Golden Ticket. It's simply one more
business option that will only pay off if you follow it up with promotion.
BUT: The OGL community could be in a much better position than the typical
iUniverse author. If the review effort takes off (and boy, is THAT list
silent of late!), there could be a central source for info on OGL materials.
So GOOD OGL works published via iUniverse will get promoted that way.
There are certainly copyright issues regarding the OGL and STL. Before I
brought this to your attention, I wrote and asked them if they could publish
within these guidelines. The short answer is, "Yes." (Actually, the REAL
answer to MOST iUniverse questions is: "If your check clears and you don't
get us sued, we're happy.") The questions and answers are attached. Note
that iUniverse already publishes a wide range of computer science books for
the Open Docs foundation under a very similar premise as OGL. So I kind of
expected they would be open to this idea.
Thank you. Hope this helps.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
-----Original Message-----
From: Martin L. Shoemaker [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2000 5:43 PM
To: pubservices
Subject: Copyright Question
Dear folks,
I am very intrigued by iUniverse.com. I don't know how or when, but I expect
to use your services at some point.
One idea I have in mind is to produce role-playing game materials under the
Open Gaming License for the D20 System. These are described at
http://www.opengamingfoundation.org/. The main idea is that TSR (now a
division of Wizards of the Coast, which is now a division of Hasbro) is
creating an open license under which individuals and others may produce and
commercially distribute game materials based on a subset of their new D&D
rules. They freely admit that the purpose is to sell more of their own game
products; and as long as no one infringes on the core rules that makes those
products salable, they are more than happy to have others make money while
doing their promotion.
There are technical rules points which must be followed to be within the
license; but I trust my ability to stick within those. Some bigger issues
are: the D20 logo must be properly displayed on the cover; the cover must
state that the D&D Player's Handbook is necessary to play the game; and the
Open Gaming License must be reproduced in its entirety within. Wizards of
the Coast retains copyright of their own rules; and new rules that are
derivative of the OGL rules are automatically licensed under the OGL for use
by any other OGL designers. The copyrighted for the remainder of the product
(characters, maps, artwork, stories, settings, etc. -- the original
material) remains with the author. They do recommend that the author
explicitly state what is copyrighted and what is open.
In principle, this seems very much like your Open Documentation computer
books; but before I invest too much time in this, I thought it best to see
if you can publish books under these terms.
Thank you for your time.
Martin L. Shoemaker
Emerald Software, Inc. -- Custom Software and UML Training
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
www.EmeraldSoftwareInc.com
www.UMLBootCamp.com
-----Original Message-----
From: pubservices [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
Sent: Friday, May 26, 2000 3:13 PM
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: RE: Copyright Question
Dear Martin,
I don't think there would be a problem with this. The author would need to
provide us with all the necessary information and instructions, logo, rules,
etc., when he submits his manuscript. The detailed instructions could be
provided as production information on the title submission form he sends or
uploads with his manuscript. All the responsibility would be on the author
to make sure the book was in compliance.
Please feel free to write if you have any more questions.
Tracy Dittbrenner
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Publishing Services
-------------
For more information, please link to www.opengamingfoundation.org
