Approximately once a week, I get a request like the following, typically on Instagram: I have empathy for any creator looking for ways to share their passion project. But my name isn’t James, and as is the case with most requests, this is the first time I’ve ever heard from this person. This is the […]
Parcel fulfillment methods, options, and best practices have evolved quite a bit over the last few years, so today I’m going to update the information from my 2019 post on this topic in the hopes this will be helpful for my fellow creators. The Basics In general, this is the 2-step process that many creators […]
Over the last 10 years, I’ve written over 1000 articles on this blog to share my thoughts, observations, mistakes, and insights with my fellow creators. That’s a lot of content to go back and read for someone who is navigating the crowdfunding process for the first time, so in this series I continue to revisit […]
A book publisher friend recently asked me a simple but incredibly enlightening question: What percentage of our sales consist of our backlist (products released at least 1 year ago and are in the reprint cycle) versus our frontlist (products released in the last year)? The answer, of course, is that the vast majority of our […]
“I spent way too much on the deluxe version.” Have you ever heard someone say this? Or perhaps said it yourself? Sometimes it’s followed with, “And it’s worth every penny,” but not always, and there’s some level of guilt/remorse implied by the first phrase. Super deluxe games costing $150 or more have become commonplace on […]
The theme of Viticulture is that you have been gifted a vineyard by two people (presumably an inheritance from your family), and each player has different starting resources as a result. In the past we called these starting resource cards “mamas and papas,” as all red cards were women and all blue cards were men. […]
Last week in my live book club discussion of A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide, we talked a little about stretch goals. It’s been a few years since I’ve written about stretch goal, so I thought I’d revisit the topic today. Traditionally, a crowdfunding stretch goal is an improvement or addition to the core reward after a key milestone […]
Yesterday the preorder for Viticulture World and the Wine Crate went live on the Stonemaier Games webstore. We were flooded with orders and enthusiasm, which meant a lot to me personally, as it was at this same time 9 years ago that Viticulture–my first published game–released to retailers. US Store | Europe Store | Canada […]
Over the last 7 years, we’ve primarily sold our products to three different types of customers: Distributors (who sell to retailers), Localization Partners (who sell non-English versions of our products), and Consumers (who buy directly from our webstore. As I reported in our most recent shareholder report, “Last year, 91% of our revenue was from […]
I recently spent 3 wonderful days at Geekway to the West, a gaming convention here in St. Louis. I had a blast playing 8 new-to-me games with a wide variety of people from around the country. Knowing that I had ample time over the 4-day convention, I targeted the space between meals for my attendance […]
In the last week I’ve read 3 great articles about mistakes, traps, and red flags crowdfunders make that can significantly decrease their chances of success. I’m going to link to those articles below and highlight the biggest mistakes (in my opinion) out of the 27 options listed in those articles. Top 10 Worst Things to […]
Ever since Gamefound expanded to include full-fledged crowdfunding campaigns, I’ve been impressed as a backer with how quickly they managed to compete with Kickstarter. Gamefound has been very open and responsive to my questions (see articles linked below). However, I haven’t heard a detailed report from a creator who has used Gamefound. Earlier this week, […]
The vast majority of people in the world aren’t going to buy even the most successful projects and products. Most of them won’t know about the product or won’t care. But for any product, there are at least some people who are intrigued but don’t actually place an order–I think it’s worth learning from those […]
By far one of the most commonly asked questions people have asked us over the years for games like Viticulture, Scythe, Wingspan, and Tapestry is, “Will you ever sell an all-in bundle in a big box?” The answer for us is no; rather, we take an ala carte approach. On our webstore and in retail […]
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so I just wanted to check in with my fellow creators and ask: How are you? I’m genuinely asking how you’re holding up, and the comments are a safe space for you to answer. In preparation for this month, I’ve been compiling a few examples from my work life […]
Before I jump into some hot topics today, just a quick reminder that the first session of our live, virtual book club for A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide is today (Thursday) at 2:00 Central on the Stonemaier Games Facebook page. I’m looking forward to it! You can sign up to be notified about future sessions here. […]
At Stonemaier Games, we primarily use game-specific Facebook groups to hang out with fans of those games, answer questions, and share news. However, it’s occurred to me several times that a remotely playable game like Rolling Realms–particularly given its proclivity for fan-created realms–could thrive on Discord. I’ve used Discord for a few years now for […]
One of the great challenges in any form of content creation is helping people remember and discover your older content. The hot new product or the latest episode is easier to share, but the 5-year-old content has the potential to add just as much value to anyone as the 5-day-old content. A few months ago, […]
Over the last 10 years, I’ve written over 1000 articles on this blog to share my thoughts, observations, mistakes, and insights with my fellow creators. That’s a lot of content to go back and read for someone who is navigating the crowdfunding process for the first time, so in this series I continue to revisit […]
For today’s article, I’m going to post the Viticulture World Cooperative Expansion design diary that I posted this morning. It includes a big mistake we made, and I think the lesson learned is important for others in the gaming industry/community to know as well. *** Today’s continent is South America (17 cards, medium level). The […]
I made this game.