Stainless said:
While there is a certain amount of humour in that, I don't think it is the sort of thing we can do
Secrets of the Ancients hardback mising something?
- Thread starter IraShaine1972
- Start date
While there is a certain amount of humour in that, I don't think it is the sort of thing we can do
Looking at the credits in the PDF sample file on drivethruRPG.com
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=96625
It lists Editor as Nick Robinson, Layout as "Nick Robinson and J Guilt" and Proofreading as Charlotte Law. So I'm not sure if missing out a chapter is an editing, layout or proofreading failure, but I imagine it's one of those 3 who have left. I hope Nick still has a job.
SJE
http://rpg.drivethrustuff.com/product_info.php?products_id=96625
It lists Editor as Nick Robinson, Layout as "Nick Robinson and J Guilt" and Proofreading as Charlotte Law. So I'm not sure if missing out a chapter is an editing, layout or proofreading failure, but I imagine it's one of those 3 who have left. I hope Nick still has a job.
SJE
DigitalMage
Mongoose
Whether fairly or not many people have a perception of Mongoose as having poor quality control over their RPG books. In order to help combat that I wonder whether Mongoose may look to releasing books in PDF format first, allow a couple of weeks for customers to spot errata or massive mistakes, then work to correct any mistakes before getting the physical book published.
I recognise that it may be felt that releasing the PDF a month or so before hardcopy may damage hardcopy sales, but I am not sure that would happen, and if it did it may be a necessary evil in order to ensure a decent level of quality in the first print run of the hard copy.
Any thoughts?
I recognise that it may be felt that releasing the PDF a month or so before hardcopy may damage hardcopy sales, but I am not sure that would happen, and if it did it may be a necessary evil in order to ensure a decent level of quality in the first print run of the hard copy.
Any thoughts?
rust said:
That assumes sales of pdf harms hard copies rather than players simply waiting for whichever version they prefer.
You could say actually this could INCREASE hard copy sales due to less errors...
However whether they would have time to correct and print in this way is something to consider.
DigitalMage
Mongoose
Green Ronin does (or at least did it) too, I know I picked up the PDF of Warriors and Warlocks a couple of months before the hardcopy.
Also I used to only buy a hardcopy if I had bought and read the PDF - this meant I would never have unread books sitting on my shelves taking up space. In this instance an earlier PDF would mean an earlier hardcopy sale.
Also I used to only buy a hardcopy if I had bought and read the PDF - this meant I would never have unread books sitting on my shelves taking up space. In this instance an earlier PDF would mean an earlier hardcopy sale.
IraShaine1972
Mongoose
SJE said:
So you are telling me that 3 people were somehow in a position to catch this and it slipped by them all??????
How did MGP decide which one to let go? Did they draw straws?
I don't know anything about how Mongoose assign the responsibility of those 3 roles, I'm just looking at the most relevant credits listed in the book- perhaps the proofreader or the editor only see the original text files and it's Layout that assembles them in the book for the printer. Or perhaps Layout included Chapter 6 and the printer and proofreader missed it in the hardcopy version.
But it seems the responsibility for including all the chapters and reviewing the final version might lay with one of those 3 roles.
But it seems the responsibility for including all the chapters and reviewing the final version might lay with one of those 3 roles.
IanBruntlett
Emperor Mongoose
Given the goodwill in the community for Mongoose, maybe Mg should capitalise on the goodwill and attention to detail that some of its customer's have?
Perhaps by sending out "test copies (paper)" of upcoming Mg products to a select few would help improve the books and act as insurance against more embarrassing mistakes being made?
Perhaps by sending out "test copies (paper)" of upcoming Mg products to a select few would help improve the books and act as insurance against more embarrassing mistakes being made?
lastbesthope
Mongoose
msprange said:Stainless said:
While there is a certain amount of humour in that, I don't think it is the sort of thing we can do
Could be worse, Ted Chang could still be in charge of "morale" at Mongoose :shock:
LBH
rust said:
Everything I have read says that is completely untrue, PDF sales have helped increase print sales. Even Kenzer has finally come around to the truth of this and have been using the PDF pre print module to help with editing issues, as well as increase their print sales on their Hacklopedia of Beasts and now their new Hackmaster players handbook, and Paizo continues to like the effect of PDF's on their sales.
Even Neil Gaiman has jumped on board the free or very cheap PDF bandwagon because of the jump in print sales he experienced when he started doing it. Just a couple of years ago you would not have seen his books offered up as free PDF's, but now you do:
http://our-free-ebooks.blogspot.com/2009/04/neil-gaiman-collection.html
rust said:
The ones that pirate them for free won't pay a dime anyway whether hardback is released month later or year earlier...
However there's no reason to suspect that those who prefer pdf's won't just wait for the pdf now and those who prefer hardback wouldn't just wait for hardback if pdf is released first.
Also is the margin of profit really that much bigger for mongoose with hardbacks...Printing!=free, shipping!=free...
At Dragonmeet, Nick was demoing Ant Assault, but when we had a natter, it turns out that he already quit mongoose for a life on the freelance seas.
The question that should be asked is how can the qc process be improved? SJG have their playtest groups. Could something similar also be possible for Mongoose?
SJE said:
The question that should be asked is how can the qc process be improved? SJG have their playtest groups. Could something similar also be possible for Mongoose?
Nathan Brazil
Banded Mongoose
Has anyone bought the PDF at Drivethru? Is it in the improper format or the corrected format?
IraShaine1972
Mongoose
You can get the PDF free right off of this site. It is 100% complete.
As the Ancients book was playtested prior to layout, where the errors occurred, should the playtest documents instead be distributed as preliminary layouts PDFs so that missing chunks of text can also be detected?
With a sign up programme, couldn't the PDFs then be watermarked, perhaps with the individual playtester e-mails so that leaked PDFs could be traced?
