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There is only one smart way to publish. As a business, it's a publisher's duty
to print what the masses want. So readership is the prime motivator.
If it sells papers, as they say, it's news.
This extends to editorial decisions on the micro scale. When presented
with a piece, the three prime considerations are:
- does it fall within our scope of coverage?
- will our audience react to it?
- will it therefore maintain or boost our readership?
So in a way, it's like starting a go-cart. The cart is your basic
business plan and initial idea. You build the best cart
you can and launch it down that hill. You now have control of the
steering and can take your idea in any direction you wish.
But then its path is largely taken by the road, and you really have
only limited steering. Turn down a less-favored path and you'll
likely wipe out. Stick to the main groove and you'll get a winning time.
Let's extend this to the business level for game publishers. Clearly,
a game publisher's job is to produce games that people want. Figure
out what the masses want, and produce it. If they want family games
and not RPGs, it's the company's duty to make family games.
There's some sliding room. You can market new ideas and try to convince
people they'll like, say, roleplaying. And if the marketing catches on,
congratulations! You've built a new, untapped market! But if it doesn't,
you should switch strategies.
In short, you want to produce the games that the majority of the market
plays. So your main goal is to find out what they want, then produce it.
(Or, if you can afford the marketing, convince them that what they want is
what you produce.)
When it comes down to it, a good business will produce games that 70%,
80%, 90% of the market wants. By capturing that mass market, by
definition you are successful and your games are good. You'll never
capture all 100%, but getting the majority of the market is the only
worthwhile goal for a company.
So, if it sells papers (or sells more supplements or gets more web visitors),
that's the basis of your editorial decisions! Go for it!
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There is only one true way to publish. As a publisher, it is your
duty to print the best material there is. So quality
within your chosen niche is the main goal. If you can serve your
readership niche with good material, it's worth printing.
This means your editorial decisions on the small scale reflect your
main reason for existence. When presented with a work, the two
primary considerations are:
- does it fall within our scope of coverage?
- is the material worth publishing?
- will a portion of our readers like it?
It's a bit like sailing. You outfit your boat and choose your
course and destination. Other boats may swiftly zoom by you or
take different straits. But if you can keep to the course you
set and avoid the storms, you will reach your destination.
Choose your destinations wisely and it was all worth doing.
Let's extend this to the business level for game publishers. Clearly,
a game publisher's job is to produce quality games. You have to
understand your target market and their wants, but you also have a
duty to expand their horizons and push the envelope a bit. In this
way you keep the market niche fresh and evolving, while still holding
to its key values.
There's some sliding room. You should put out stuff that they clamor
for, and not be dogmatic about 'what quality is'. And flexibility is
key-- making hybrid products or new directions because the market
demands it is always good. And a crossover item is gold, a nice bonus.
But it's important to remain true to your original purpose in being
a publisher.
In short, you want to produce the games that, as they say, "people who
like that sort of thing will like". So your main goal is to find your
audience.
When it comes down to it, if your market niche is 20% of the total market
and you can keep it, that's good business. So your goal is to choose
a market niche you like, and mine it to the best of your ability.
You'll rarely capture the mass market, but maintaining a steady
market segment is a worthwhile goal for a company.
So, if it's worth doing and it keeps readership, that's the basic of
your editorial decisions! Go for it!
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