Saturday, July 03, 2010

My RPGNow "Staff Reviewer" rant

So after a year of selling my various editions of Legends of Steel on my own, I'm persuaded by a friend to put them up on RPGNow. The move appears to have been a good one. Yes, I lose a percentage of each sale, but the supplements are now being seen by a much larger audience. As a result, sales have improved nicely.  
I do have one gripe though.
When you post your book for sale, they ask if you would like to send a copy to the "staff reviewers" at RPGNow. I checked ok (a little added publicity never hurts right?). 
So then I post the books and almost immediately a couple of dozen books fly out the door-but at $0.00.  These are the review copies. Okay, so I wait. It's been about a month and so far I see one staff review of one of the LoS books. 
Maybe I should give it a bit more time, but one review after a month seems a little sparse. I'm wondering if these "Staff Reviewers" really do all that much reviewing or are these guys just buddies of the owners who get treated to free copies of peoples stuff? 
It reminds me of when I first came out with Broadsword and LoS.  I sent out a bunch of review copies to friends, Blog owners and "message board royalty" in the hopes of getting some reviews back. A few solid guys reciprocated with reviews, but most just put me off with excuses. Needless to say I don't send out review copies anymore, and next time around I dont think I'll be checking that box on RPGNow.

12 comments:

  1. Yeah, doesn't sound like you got much bang for that buck.

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  2. Man, that's ridiculous. People expect freebies just so they'll be willing to review them - bullshit. You made the right call in not giving out review copies anymore.

    If I love a product, I let people know. Hell, I was glad to buy Legends of Steel for Savage Worlds and give it the review I did. Supporting a product with your words is fine, but supporting it with your wallet is what really matters.

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  3. Anonymous11:21 AM

    Those staff reviews often don't seem to "get it" with regards to the fans/culture the game may be intended for anyhow, with some of these more niche games. And their reviews are often the most read on the site, so I'm not sure it's even a good idea to have them review your stuff. They aren't necessarily experts on anything. Of course, I may be wrong...

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  4. I get offered dozens of products each month, both via RPGNow/DriveThruRPG and directly from authors and publishers. I don't solicit them, but as a long-time blogger and reviewer I get offered. I often turn things down, as I cannot possibly review them all. I don't get "freebies" because I'm friends of the owners; I get copies of products because publishers and authors would like me to help advertise and promote their game.

    Even when I accept a product for consideration, I am under no obligation to review them. Again, I get dozens of products every month, and as I do not get paid to write reviews, as it is not the job that pays my rent or puts food on my table, it is impossible for me to review more than a small fraction. For me, the primary reason not to review a product is that I would give it a poor review. Another reason is time and readership; as I look through the stuff available for review, I need to select the things my readers would be most interested in, or what products I can write the most entertaining piece about. Things that I'd like to someday review routinely get rotated down the pile in favor of new/hot stuff. I also tend to delay writing my own reviews when a ton of other people are already covering that product.

    Among the featured/staff reviewers on RPGNow/DriveThru are people who review/blog/podcast about specific things -- just D&D, just core rulebooks, just Old School stuff, just Cthulhu stuff, just Savage Worlds, etc. There's no filter so that specific people get specific things, all reviewers get everything, even stuff they're not interested in. That's also something to consider.

    I want to point out that while I don't select products for review based on a "buddy system", my relationship with publishers and authors does come into play. I've had publishers insult me because they didn't like my review, even though it was positive; I will not only no longer review their products, I will not mention their name or the names of their products in public. I've written good reviews of games I wasn't previously familiar with, only to have long-time fans of the game give me a ration of crap because of my lack of familiarity witth this cool thing I've just discovered; guess what I won't be reviewing any more?

    On the other hand, I have had publishers and authors email me to politely ask that I take a look at their game and review it, above and beyond my getting an automated email from RPGNow/DriveThruRPG that I've got a new "freebie" waiting. Those people, for their personal contact and professionalism, will move up my list. I often get thank you's from publishers and authors after I've reviewed their game, because they appreciate that I took the time to plug their product over someone else's. That makes me more inclined to review their future products.

    Now that I've said my piece, I welcome anyone who wants to discuss the matter further to contact me privately.

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  5. cont

    On the other hand, I have had publishers and authors email me to politely ask that I take a look at their game and review it, above and beyond my getting an automated email from RPGNow/DriveThruRPG that I've got a new "freebie" waiting. Those people, for their personal contact and professionalism, will move up my list. I often get thank you's from publishers and authors after I've reviewed their game, because they appreciate that I took the time to plug their product over someone else's. That makes me more inclined to review their future products.

    Now that I've said my piece, I welcome anyone who wants to discuss the matter further to contact me privately.

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  6. I get offered dozens of products each month, both via RPGNow/DriveThruRPG and directly from authors and publishers. I don't solicit them, but as a long-time blogger and reviewer I get offered. I often turn things down, as I cannot possibly review them all. I don't get "freebies" because I'm friends of the owners; I get copies of products because publishers and authors would like me to help advertise and promote their game.

    Even when I accept a product for consideration, I am under no obligation to review them. Again, I get dozens of products every month, and as I do not get paid to write reviews, as it is not the job that pays my rent or puts food on my table, it is impossible for me to review more than a small fraction. For me, the primary reason not to review a product is that I would give it a poor review. Another reason is time and readership; as I look through the stuff available for review, I need to select the things my readers would be most interested in, or what products I can write the most entertaining piece about. Things that I'd like to someday review routinely get rotated down the pile in favor of new/hot stuff. I also tend to delay writing my own reviews when a ton of other people are already covering that product.

    Among the featured/staff reviewers on RPGNow/DriveThru are people who review/blog/podcast about specific things -- just D&D, just core rulebooks, just Old School stuff, just Cthulhu stuff, just Savage Worlds, etc. There's no filter so that specific people get specific things, all reviewers get everything, even stuff they're not interested in. That's also something to consider.

    I want to point out that while I don't select products for review based on a "buddy system", my relationship with publishers and authors does come into play. I've had publishers insult me because they didn't like my review, even though it was positive; I will not only no longer review their products, I will not mention their name or the names of their products in public. I've written good reviews of games I wasn't previously familiar with, only to have long-time fans of the game give me a ration of crap because of my lack of familiarity witth this cool thing I've just discovered; guess what I won't be reviewing any more?

    cont

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  7. Anonymous12:42 AM

    I definately understand your decision not to do the free review copies anymore based on the lack of return.

    I think that RPGNow should have a better system in place so that those that are offering to review products not actually do so, but do so after playing with the product in question. I tire of "featured reviewers" giving 5 lines to something that they haven't tried out - even posting reviews just hours after something has been released. I also believe that it should be genre-specific. If someone doesn't play a system, they shouldn't be offered that product.

    Personally, I don't "do" reviews there because I have more than enough to handle with companies sending me things based on the fact that they know that I will actually take the time to play with the product before I write about it.

    If it hasn't been played, it can't be reviewed. Period.

    But - I will say that I disagree with it being a "buddy system" there, if only for the fact that I don't think they have the time to get that sort of thing organized, and from what I know from dealing with the crew there, they seem to be all very on the up-and-up.

    But don't drop the review copies all together. There are sites where people will review stuff the right way - and get it done in a decent amount of time.

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  8. @Dane of War: Sorry, but I have to disagree here. Playing every product that gets released to review it is almost impossible. I don't share John Goodman's belief that reviews not based on a playthrough are "idiot reviews".
    And especially if you insist on proper reviews give the reviewers some time to properly read (and perhaps even play the game). Noone among the "staff reviewers" is actually being paid for reviewing RPGs - at least AFAIK - so they probably have other things that keep them busy, too.

    Whenever I get a game to review I definitely will write a review about it. The only exception is when I think it would be a bad review. I think it's in noone's interest when a reviewer bashes a product. But when I want to write a fair and deep review, you have to cut me some slack and give me some time to do so.

    By the way, I am one of those guys who got a free copy of LoS. From what I've read so far, it's a nice book and I will write an in-depth review and post it at my blog as soon as possible. And I would be glad if the review causes a couple of my readers to buy that game.

    But I also think you went a bit overboard with your rant, EvilDM.

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  9. Stargazer said:
    But I also think you went a bit overboard with your rant, EvilDM.

    Thats exactly why It's a rant.
    Rants are a bit overboard by nature right?

    which is also why I kept it on my blog, instead of using one of the various forums.

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  10. Haha, you've got a point, EvilDM! ;)

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  11. I am sorry Jeff, I was one you sent a copy to and I was way over my head with work and never got around to reading your Broadsword and LoS, at the time I didn't know anything about Savage Lands and just recently I got into it.Here is my Hart felt apology. I am sorry I let you down.

    Chuck

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  12. Just to let you know: my review of LoS is now live on my blog and at the RPGNow product page.

    http://www.stargazersworld.com/2010/07/14/review-legends-of-steel-savage-worlds-edition/

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