As many of you know WorldWorks Games sells all of its goods on the RPGNow store. It really is a fantastic outlet but it’s not without its problems. The main trouble comes in the form of front-page recognition. Your product has "front-page" advertising status for a few short days at best and then is moved off to more hidden subcategories as new products come on-line. As a result I see a big sales spike at the start of a release and then things abruptly fall short (a bad thing for my survival). This is where you come in...

To help WorldWorks counter this issue I rely heavily on customer comments. Once you leave a comment about a product that product is shown again in little "comment windows" throughout the RPGNow site. This pushes the product back into focus and lets everyone else know what you thought about WorldWorks products. If you have purchased a WorldWorks model set simply go back to RPGNow, log back in and leave a comment about your purchase. I’m not asking for five stars or anything, just your honest opinion of the product.

Some of you have already done this with the latest release "Gothic Realms" and I cant thank you enough. Your comments were incredibly kind! These comments help me to continue doing what I do here at WorldWorks. If you have purchased other WorldWorks products please take a couple of minutes to pen a comment or two about them as well. If you love the product let the whole RPGNow community know about it! Without your support I cant afford to keep going. Things are still relatively “small time” here but I do work at this thing full-time. This is how I am able to bring you such an expansive range of detailed product. It’s a sensitive balancing act that is essentially all in your hands (Where I want it to be). Thanks in advance!

Denny

It also is #1 on the Hot Sellers list on the RPGnow front page, so that has to help the exposure. Word apparently is getting around, too, because it looked like 6 WorldWorks sets made the top 25 for October  8)

I posted comments just tonight, under my real name. I have to say most of the comments and reviews are positively  glowing! (As are mine own)

I should say that nothing sells the sets like seeing them first hand, I know that helping put a set together is what drove me to buying my own set. (And the one after that, and the one after that...) At least two others have made purchases of one or more sets after seeng my set ups.

The Auld Grump

Thank you for the additional comments guys. You really pulled through for me again. Sales have been a little on the flat side so Im actually surprised Gothic Realms ranks at #1 on the charts. The other vendors on RPGNow must be having a horrible month.

At any rate I really appreciate your support!

I just picked up Gothic Realms and commented Thursday. I haven't had a chance to print any of it out, but the details are terrific.

Man! I better get folding! I've got a game Thursday and still need to make about half the scenery.  :o

Hmmm, another way of getting exposure for your producst might be to have your free samples on RPGNow as well as your own website. A lot of people (including me) take their first look at the wonderful world of PDFs by downloading the free stuff.

Some then go away, appetites satisfied, others (again lincluding me) stick around and buy more stuff. Note that I am not suggesting that you put up more free stuff on RPGNow than you have on your site, just duplicating it.

Maybe a sample containing all three current free items would work as a single download.

The Auld Grump, GM's Day was a contributing factor as well...

*EDIT* Mostly though people just need to see the product. I am assuming that most people are lazy slugs (I know, one of those slugs is wearing my shoes), and won't bother clicking the product info to take a look at the WW homepage... Then again, maybe I'm not a complete slug, I did click the link to your homepage after all!  ;D

I have been dribbling my RPGNow reviews and comments one every week, trying to spread them out. Is this the best way to get the comments to be refreshed, or would I have been better off sending in a big ol' pile of comments?

The Auld Grump, just sent in comments and rating on Castle Works...

*EDIT* You may want to try SVGames.com as well . While their cut is bigger than RPGNow's the additional sales might be worth it.

The Auld Grump, who thought of that just as his finger hit return...

I just commented on both Gothic Realms and Arenaworks.  ;) 5 stars from me on both!  If you like you can check them out, but I think I'm preachng to the choir.... ;D

Ever thought about placing an ad? I mean, if your afraid of the loss of exposure, why don't you contact.... oh say Dragon Magazine and see if you can place a small add. if your sales pick up, you may even be able to put a larger Ad in the following month with a Sample on the same page they can cut out and put together.

any thoughts?

Heres another idea, How about an Ad in Sjgames Pyramid, that will be there guaranteed a week and they get quite a bit of exposure. I see other gaming companys doing it all the time as well.

www.sjgames.com

Actually, that might not be good for Denny.

He won't have much control over anything, and he'll be paid quarterly for a much smaller number of sales...at least, the people who I've talked to that have products up with SVGames aren't really all that thrilled with SVGames. RPGNow, as it is, gets the MOST traffic and the most sales for gaming-related digital downloads.

I received an email a few months ago from someone at SVGames who wanted to carry my products there. I listed the things I mentioned above, and never got a response back. You'd think that if any of these things were false, I'd have gotten a rebuttal at least...

-The Masked Designer

Yeah...the second half of November and all of December was flat for me too. Probably because PDFs aren't exactly the first thing people think of as Christmas gifts, or their money's already spoken for.

-The Masked Designer

Funny you mention the SVgames thing. They contacted me a couple months ago wanting to carry my products but when I grilled them for more information on sales tracking and other concerns they never got back to me. Giving them the benefit of the doubt I contacted them again asking similar questions but heard nothing.

Obviously they are more concerned with the "bottom line" then with business clarity or basic respect shown towards potential vendors. I wouldn’t have gone with them anyway as they take a completely unacceptable/unjustified cut of sales for the level of service they are offering vendors. I didn’t get a good vibe from them at all.

Another avenue you might want to try is to contact the Editor of The Miniatures Page

http://theminiaturespage.com/

He is always interested in posting pictures and links of products that would be of use to Miniature Gamers.  Best of all it's free, and his site is pretty much the one stop of every Miniature Gamer on the planet, his site gets around 1.2 Million Hits a month.  I think you would be surprised at how much business you could get from Miniature Gamers

Cheers
Junk Runner

The Miniatures Page is the only site where I have clicked Every single banner ad! Advertising on their site would not be a bad idea in my jaundiced opinion.

The Auld Grump

 I posted a querulous comment on one of the forums on TheMiniaturePage.com a few weeks ago, about how I found folding your products to be tedious, and 4 or 5 people immediately replied that you were a great convenience to wargamers, and had a beautiful product. Also, I notice that today (Jan. 2) under "Manufacturers Listings" they added a new manufacturer of paper terrain (Superquick)to their list,  with a link to their web-page.  I'm sure Bill would do the same for you.

ok, heres another Stay Alive comment. just bought all your sets(except castleworks, waiting for castleworks ultimate.) about 1/2 hour ago and eagerly looking through them. so thats another 87 dollars in your pocket. hope that helps denny.

YOU ROCK QBALL! Thank you so much for taking the plunge!

I will definately contact the miniatures page about a link exchange and possibly advertising. Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

Yeah, getting listed on TMP is a good way to get some extra traffic. Whenever I post a news announcement there the traffic to my site spikes sharply over the next couple days and peters off by the end of the week.

I think if you send in pictures of your sets with Moose, a lot of purists just might change their minds about cardstock being a lame medium for gaming.

-The Masked Designer

Just posted my glowing comment, hope it helps.

Definately get involved with The Miniatures Page. It was a discussion there that prompted me into purchasing my first set. More purchases will definately be forthcoming.

When I bought the my first three WorldWorks sets from RPGNow I didn't notice the customer comments bar at the bottom.  I did however notice it when I added VillageWorks to my growing collection and you received 5 stars, and a glowing reference from me on all purchases to date.  They are perfect for every situation I have placed my players in and they love how easy it is for them to understand their surroundings.  I will be completing my collection of other current sets in the near future and can't wait to see what's coming next.  Love your work and have been passing on the info to several of my gaming buddies and favorite hobby stores hope this helps, as cardstock models should appeal to every gamer out there who can't afford the overpriced resin and plaster models.  

Thanx Denny!  Your doing a wonderful job. *droooooooool*

Thank you for the support and kind words! Its people like yourself that keep WorldWorks afloat and help us to continue to grow. Greatly appreciated  ;D

 Another place where you could spend your hard earned advertising money, or maybe get a mention just by giving them some free samples, is Knights of the Dinner Table. The comic is read by a hefty plurality of role-players, and an "It's worth a look" by Brian would get you a whole bunch of contacts.  But then, I never noticed anything from you on The Miniatures Page, so maybe you're not interested.

True enough, I've checked out numerous products after reading about them in KoDT and I'm sure that this would boost sales....might be worth looking into.

Hi Denny!

Just looked at RPG Now and saw Worldworks listed as a platinum vendor.

Thought you'd like to know.