All of GameSpite Quarterly 3 outside of New Games + and the cover and the table of contents and the copy editing is complete. Unfortunately, I appear to have worked so hard this weekend that I made myself ill. That was not terribly smart of me, I admit. But I still anticipate submitting the contents for a proof printing no later than Thursday. Is that rad? Yes, that is rad. Except the mild sickness thing.
There’s been some discussion in yesterday’s comments about how I should break down the standard edition of this issue, with a few people voting that they don’t mind paying a little more than $12. But that would be an abrogation of a core tenant of this entire venture, which is that people should be able to pick up an interesting book every three months for a little more than ten bucks. (Yeah, plus shipping, but Blurb’s new flat rate shipping structure makes that much less painful than when this project first kicked off in April.) That’s why there’s the deluxe edition; for people who don’t mind paying more for a little extra content, the option’s there — but the price of entry for the books should be as low as possible. I determined at the outset that no standard edition would ever be more than $13, and I intend to stick by it. I’m considering a few different possibilities, but the basic edition of this issue won’t cost more than $13, no matter what.
This, I command!
I say raise the price if the added content justifies it. The reason Borders and Barnes & Noble are hurting? Print isn’t dying, books are just too damn expensive at full cover-price. And $13 would be a steal, in this case.
Ok, I take that back, print is dying. Or rather, literacy. In any case, we don’t wanna see Gamespite (aka Parish’s back account) take too big a hit because he’s a kind and un-greedy person.
The price ceiling on the standard edition is a core concept of this entire venture and isn’t really up for debate, I’m afraid. It’s all about alternate solutions this time.
Yeah, keeping the price ceiling in place (or at least keeping it within a few bucks of the target price) should probably take precedence over most everything else, even if it means breaking up material over several volumes. Hell, at least that would let Parish take a break every once in awhile from worrying about what future volumes of GS will be about.
As long as that “alternate solution” isn’t leaving large chunks the book on the cutting room floor I’m happy.
I’m still slightly bitter that some of the articles are cut from the standard edition of the books–especially since 4 of my favorite games were ranked between #41 and #48 on the greatest games of all time list. :(
Here’s an idea. Make the basic edition the $12 paperback version. Add to that a full edition *in paperback* for whatever the cost happens to be. Or, just split the book into two $12 halves…Q3a and Q3b. Then of course the premium hard-cover edition with the bonus content.
I’m just hoping that the full content will be available in paperback.
I hope you’re Serpentor outfit to make yourself feel better.
Smaller font. Deluxe edition would have bigger font.
I kid, I kid.
I like the idea of making a Red and Blue version ala Pokémon, partly because it’s game inspired while at the same time being a really bad idea.
I’m thinking I will probably break the standard edition into two books, one with major characters and one with minor, and price them slightly lower than previous books. That way, people can still have the whole thing in paperback for half the price of owning the same content in hardback, or they can just grab one on the cheap and get an amusing rundown of major 8-bit characters.
I can’t wait until we get to “The Greatest Weapons of 2D Gaming” – the first three volumes will just be about the Metal Blades from Mega Man 2.
I’m really enjoying reading GameSpite Quarterly 1 and 2! All of the writers are great and the topics are truly unique. I can’t wait for the 3rd entry to appear.
Good Work A+
… and if ever we were to have a “Worst Weapons of 2D Gaming” — somewhere up there would be that second-to-last gun power up in Blaster Master, the wavy gun that can’t go through walls & is therefore useless in tight corridors.
I love this issue to bits, I wanna kiss it on the lips
These books are perfect afternoon cafe fodder.. read the internet without having the internet! Half of my GSY1 was read that way.. until I had to go to Adelaide and I needed something to read on the plane.
Yeah, I’m liking the solution of having GSQ 3 for around $12, and then a GSQ 3B (supplemental paperback) for another $10-$12. Especially since Blurb will now charge the same shipping to get both at once, that seems eminently sensible.