The Board Game Designer's Guide to Getting Published PDF
Preview The Board Game Designer's Guide to Getting Published
The Board Game Designer’s Guide to Getting Published Making a great board game and pitching it to publishers are two completely different things. If you’ve got a game that you want to share with the world but don’t know what to do next, this book will help you navigate through exactly what steps to take. You’ll discover: • How to find the right publisher • Exactly what publishers are looking for • How to create a sell sheet that will actually sell your game • How to negotiate the best deal and get paid more for your game • What to look out for in contracts to make sure you don’t get exploited You’ll learn from Joe’s experiences as a full-time board game designer and instructor, along with tips and stories from a dozen other published design- ers, plus the exact things that publishers want. Direct from 16 established publishers. Make sure to go to tinyurl.com/bgbonuspage to download all the bonuses and goodies mentioned in the book, including the 10 Minute Board Game Blueprint, sell sheet examples, pitch and email templates, the video that landed my first published game, plus a whole lot more. The Board Game Designer’s Guide to Getting Published How to Find the Right Publisher, Know What to Look for in a Contract, and Get Your Board Game Signed Joe Slack First edition published 2023 by CRC Press 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300, Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 and by CRC Press 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, LLC © 2023 Joe Slack Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and pub- lisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. If any copyright material has not been acknowledged please write and let us know so we may rectify in any future reprint. Except as permitted under U.S. Copyright Law, no part of this book may be reprinted, reproduced, transmitted, or utilized in any form by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or here- after invented, including photocopying, microfilming, and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from the publishers. For permission to photocopy or use material electronically from this work, access www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978- 750-8400. For works that are not available on CCC please contact [email protected] Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. Library of Congress Cataloging‑in‑Publication Data Names: Slack, Joe, author. Title: The board game designer’s guide to getting published: how to find the right publisher, know what to look for in a contract, and get your board game signed/Joe Slack. Description: Boca Raton, FL: Taylor and Francis, 2022. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2022023869 (print) | LCCN 2022023870 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032369891 (hardback) | ISBN 9781032369884 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003334828 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Board games–Publishing–Handbooks, manuals, etc. Classification: LCC GV1312. S527 2022 (print) | LCC GV1312 (ebook) | DDC 794–dc23/eng/20220630 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023869 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022023870 ISBN: 978-1-032-36989-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-36988-4 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-33482-8 (ebk) DOI: 10.1201/9781003334828 Typeset in Garamond by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. To my wonderful, amazingly supportive wife, Lisa, and son, Evan. I couldn’t do this without you. Contents Ӷ Acknowledgments xi About the Author xiii Introduction 1 Section I What You Need to Do before You Even Think of Pitching Your Game 1 Making a Great Game 7 2 Understanding What Makes Your Game Unique (and the Hook) 11 3 Thinking about Your Game as a Product 17 4 The Importance of Playtesting 25 5 How to Write Your Rule Book Without Getting a Headache 31 6 How and Why You Need to Blind Playtest Your Game 37 7 Should You Pitch to Publishers or Self-Publish? 41 viii CONTENTS Section II Everything You Need before You Pitch to Publishers 8 First, What You Don’t Need 47 9 Become Pitch-Perfect (or at Least Pitch-Great) 51 10 How to Create a Sell Sheet That Will Actually Sell Your Game 57 11 How to Avoid Overdoing Your Overview Video 63 12 Putting Together Everything Else You’ll Need 67 Section III How to Find the Right Publisher 13 First, Figure Out Who Is Going to Want Your Game 73 14 How to Get Meetings at Conventions (Cons) 77 15 How to Wow Publishers at a Speed Dating Event 81 16 Going to Cons Without Going Broke 85 17 Reaching Out to Publishers 91 CONTENTS ix 18 Why You Need to Enter Game Design Contests 95 19 Other Effective Approaches 101 Section IV What Publishers Want 20 Questions Publishers Ask (and the Answers They Are Looking for) 107 21 Advice from Real Publishers 115 22 Publisher-Specific Wants and Needs 125 Section V Getting Your Foot in the Door with a Publisher So You Can Get Your First Game Signed 23 How to Prove to a Publisher That You’re Worthy 169 24 When to Send a Prototype and When You Should Never Send One 173 25 Setting Expectations 177 26 What Do You Do If a Publisher Says No? 181 27 Peanuts and Promises—How Board Game Designers Get Paid 185
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