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Monday, February 7, 2011

Why is publishing an OSR supplement so damn hard? *rant*

It's written. It's formatted. It's ready to go.

Lulu submission process doesn't work.
Dragonsfoot does not accept pdf files.
I had to print out and sign some weird contract for RPGNow and scan it and email it back.
I emailed Chris, asking him to put it up on the BFRPG website. Hopefully that will happen, but the site has not been updated since November.

I'm sick of this crap. Why does everyone make it so damn hard to just publish a free pdf and not-for-profit POD book? I will never do this again. I don't know how the normal publishers don't go crazy messing around with stupid BS.

10 comments:

Blair said...

Dragonsfoot doesn't accept PDFs? I though they were giving away free PDFs?!?

Anyways, have you considered hosting it on Google Docs...I've found it completely hassle free.

anarchist said...

You could also try Smashwords (www.smashwords.com)

Dan said...

Their submission thing did not have pdf listed, and they wanted lots of extra info. It was really strange, all things considered.

5stonegames said...

Speaking a micro-publisher with one free product (Loadouts) for what its worth I'd suggest a mediafire or 4shared account should suit your needs fine.

I did this with my OGL and fan products both and have had no trouble.

Dan said...

That would be ok, except I'm doing a print-on-demand book along with the pdf. It looks like I might have DTRPG and RPGNow working by tomorrow. Once I get a few computer glitches sorted.

John Matthew Stater said...

Lulu can be a chore. I'm using open office now, and I think it will produce more functional PDFs for Lulu's purposes. I'm thinking about jumping into RPGNow - I'd be interested in how they work out.

Cameron Wood said...

Just out of curiosity, why use a middle man at all? IS it a way to save money on copyrighting your material?

Why not just put up a PayPal button, and fire .pdf's off to whoever hits it for the appropriate amount?

I know absolutely zilch about publishing, obviously. Nevertheless, I am curious.

Dan said...

Thanks for all the comments.

I guess some of you didn't read the entire post, or the comments. It's for a PRINT-ON-DEMAND option, or I would just post it somewhere easy.

The Grey Elf said...

Is Lulu telling you that you don't have fonts embedded? That's usually the only real problem you should have with them. They have a joboptions file for Acrobat you can download that will fix that issue (assuming you're using Acrobat)...I've had no issues once I got that sorted out.

5stonegames said...

Glad you got this fixed up. Good luck with the print on demand options!