Four Weeks, Two Thousand Books

 All
May 022010
 

A Sunday post, because the data’s in.

We’ve had four full weeks of the Dresden Files RPG preorder over on the Evil Hat webstore.  In that time, we’ve broken 1,000 copies sold of each of the two books. For the record, that is officially nuts. We also have an order in from one of our distributors, arguably the largest, tallying up to about 1,100 of each title too, some bound for the book trade, some bound for comic stores, some for game stores. We’re in very good shape right now, and on the cusp of getting the files off to the printer and starting to think about getting the second wave preorder happening over on IPR, stand-alone versions of the PDFs up for sale, etc. Good stuff.

Here’s the breakdown of our webstore sales for the data-junkies. What’s particularly interesting is we’ve only seen about a 6-or-so percent gap between the two titles. Most days Your Story outsells Our World by a couple copies, but there’ve been two days out of the 28 where Our World sold a copy or two more.

The Graphs

The Daily Numbers

Date Your Story Our World Total YS Running Total OW Running Total
4/4/2010 283 271 554 283 271
4/5/2010 158 154 312 441 425
4/6/2010 62 59 121 503 484
4/7/2010 59 55 114 562 539
4/8/2010 38 34 72 600 573
4/9/2010 54 52 106 654 625
4/10/2010 28 27 55 682 652
4/11/2010 29 28 57 711 680
4/12/2010 21 17 38 732 697
4/13/2010 35 34 69 767 731
4/14/2010 13 13 26 780 744
4/15/2010 25 22 47 805 766
4/16/2010 19 17 36 824 783
4/17/2010 17 16 33 841 799
4/18/2010 21 19 40 862 818
4/19/2010 27 19 46 889 837
4/20/2010 15 16 31 904 853
4/21/2010 18 15 33 922 868
4/22/2010 25 22 47 947 890
4/23/2010 18 17 35 965 907
4/24/2010 13 12 25 978 919
4/25/2010 9 9 18 987 928
4/26/2010 23 18 41 1010 946
4/27/2010 22 20 42 1032 966
4/28/2010 12 11 23 1044 977
4/29/2010 14 12 26 1058 989
4/30/2010 13 15 28 1071 1004
5/1/2010 8 7 15 1079 1011
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 Posted by Fred Hicks at 3:58 pm  Add comments  Tagged with: ,
  • http://www.jcfiala.net/ John Fiala

    Hi!

    Just listened to the Fear the Boot podcast you were on, and really liked it! I thought you did a great job answering questions.

    • http://www.deadlyfredly.com/ Fred Hicks

      Thanks a bunch. That was a fun interview.

  • Tim Gray

    Wow! Congrats! That is pretty crazy.

  • http://www.therpghaven.com/podcast walkerp

    Congratulations! Great job. This is kind of like fantasy sports, being able to follow the numbers as they happen, getting compiled data updates from you every now and then.

    What is really promising is the steadiness of the sales after the first week of sales. That line is flattening really slowly.

    Also very happy to hear that it sounds like we may be seeing some in regular book stores. A small shot in the arm for the hobby?

    • http://www.deadlyfredly.com/ Fred Hicks

      It’s not QUITE as flat as all that. The first week’s average (including the monster first two days) is about 28-29 of each title per day. The second week’s average was about 21-23. The third’s was 17-20. The fourth’s was 13-14. So it’s a 20-30% drop, week to week, so far.

      That said, interest is certainly still there, and in the grand scheme 28 days is not a large period of time to be measuring the game’s performance. :)

  • gapb

    Congratulations! I take it this means that you’ve past the break even point? : – D

    • http://www.deadlyfredly.com/ Fred Hicks

      With those distro sales commitments, very likely so. :)

  • Paul Anthony Shortt

    That’s fantastic! Great to hear the game’s doing so well. I’m loving my copy.

    http://word-maker.livejournal.com/

  • http://underburrow.com/billwerks/ Bill Dodds

    That’s fantastic! It’s been a long haul since originally announced, but the fans would rather have an excellent product later that a rushed haphazard job now.

    Thank the Stars and Stones it’s Later!

    Got my pennies saved for a purchase at Origins! That way, you don’t have to subsidize any shipping costs. ;)

  • Conrad White

    Until recently I have always been a person who browse stores for books like these – Don’t Rest Your Head changed all that (and I came to it very late). Even some books that I have read or heard about that sound irresistible, I didn’t buy till I saw the shiny cover and interior lay-out goodness in a store.

    How much would you estimate the above mentioned consumer behavior has effected initial sales of the product?

    What indicators, other than Dresdenverse fanbase, have lead you to believe that the pre-order PDF pre-release was the way to go for release of this product over a production run?

    • http://www.deadlyfredly.com/ Fred Hicks

      I think folks getting to see the PDF and tell people what it’s like, or even show their friends, got some of the “browse it” vibe going, sure.

      We’ve been doing instant PDF preorders ever since Spirit of the Century. It’s always worked well. Customers like instant gratification, and the fact they’re getting a “tangible”, immediate benefit makes them more willing to make the commitment of faith that a preorder represents.

  • Bob

    I paid for my preorder for Vol 1 & 2 at the FLGS (Game Habitat in Monterey) today, and got my PDFs. Woot!

    The PDFs are gorgeous.

    Picked up S7S, too.

  • Kjetil Kverndokken

    First of, thanks for producing so many wonderful products!

    Second, I love preorder pdf combos! It sucks waiting for books, that may or may not get somewhat delayed, and having the pdf is fantastic. I can read through and do some prep time, show it to my group so they know what all the fuzz is about etc etc.
    Producers should do that more often, many are afraid that doing stuff like that, and even sell the pdf stand alone before the books are out will drastically affect the sales.
    I have almost read through both the pdf books, and have not a single complaint! And love the easter eggs shaded out in the pdf’s ;-) .

   
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