I have not shared this with a lot of people, but one of my goals for 2018 is to increase both my throughput in terms of products and my sales in number of units and gross. This will allow me to grow, get more art and writing done, offer better pay to both my writers and my artists. I pay my artists and my writers. Granted, I doubt any of them will grow rich on this, but I like to think it helps.
If you don't know: FOE is in the black, everything is currently paid for (minus the final payments for pieces of art currently in the works). Everything else is up to date. Meaning that should I stop producing any content today, I would not lose anything. This is one reason I have kept my operation small and growing organically. Producing content for first the Tyrants of Saggakar, and now for Rhym, Akhamet, and my Ancient Greek side-project is something I do for fun, something I enjoy.
Back to the topic, after years of "just doing it," I looked at my sales and profits and began to wonder how to increase them, how to make more money. So for the first part of this year, I looked at a number of things to achieve my goals.
- Better content This means refining the writing, sharpening and improving my own style. This is one thing I have been working at doing, from polishing the writing, to the editing, to the look of FOE's products. I have been reading, watching and trying quite a few things. From the first products I put out back in 2013 to today, there is a world of difference.
- Better art When I started, I could not care less about the art. I am a writer and the art was little more than "eye candy" to illustrate a character. I have come around on that, going so far as to invest all of FOE's profits into commissioning more and new art. Akhamet is already funded and paid for (minus the cover page, one of the pieces I mention previously). All the unique races of Akhamet will have their own new unique piece of art just for them. I work mostly with two great artists: Irene and Zammy, both of which as great and provide my products with a look that I like. One great thing about it, I had to dust-off my Espanol because Zammy speaks very basic English. Small win. No. Do not expect a spanish version of Tyrants of Saggakar... I began talking to a local artist for some collaboration work.
- More content On the back of better content, I am trying to push out one product a month. These products cover a variety of subjects and settings: from races (such as Olympians, the Medusans), to settings books (Spiderfen) to adventures for Legacies and Setting-less, to magic items collections. I have even more ideas than time to complete them.
- More varied content I have been thinking about creating different products to complement products I am already making. A few random things include: NPC cards, and other media products.
- More revenu streams You may have noticed already that some FOE products have shown up on more platforms, such as DM's Guild, and the Open Gaming Store.
- More Appearances I've always been a firm believer that I can talk to people about why I think my setting is awesome, but nothing beats playing. So I plan on attending more events in and around Middle Tennessee. I am having a lot of fun doing so with ActionMan as the two of us get to travel and spend some time doing guy stuff.
Those are just some of what I am trying to make FOE more successful than ever, with an eye on breaking even on my con trips, so I can attend more events in the area. As I write this, I have three products that should be coming out within the next three weeks: Gostor Medusan, Gostor Gifts of the Gods, and a DM's Guild adventure: A Rose By Any Name, which is an update and rework of the classic Legacies Adventure of the same name, now setting-less to conform to the guidelines of the Guild. I will post when they come out...
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