It was a busy week that finally came to an eventual end as a big online sale through OneBookShelf and my first convention as an exhibitor/publisher were rolled into a big week of sales (pointing out Killshot is now six months old). When it's all said and done, I pulled in $100 after commissions and expenses for all of the above with the majority of it coming from online sales. At the moment, I'm still in the red at close to $240. Helpful as the sale was, it's not something that's wise to repeat over and over again or else I might as well just drop the price down permanently (and it's a bit early and offensive to those first customers who purchased anything at full price).
What I need to focus on is getting the word out about the awesomeness of Killshot and that means conventions and videos. I know I've talked a lot about posting how-to-play videos and posted some rough footage of a new trailer, but that needs to move into a higher position as a weekend project. That leaves us to talk about conventions.
This past weekend's Game Summit was an interesting and educational experience, one that I enjoyed going through. Not just because it was my first con as a publisher/designer working an actual table (shared with the OTGD), but because I learned the table approach is not going to work for Killshot or the Optional System as a whole.
One of the most educational parts of the weekend was watching Corey Reid, creator of Dino-Pirates of Ninja Island, connect with fans and potential customers. It was either his personality, enthusiasm for his product, or that incredibly catchy title that brought them in and the remaining two closed the deal. He also had the benefit of association to help RPG fans connect to the mechanics (Dino-Pirates is influenced by True20 and 3rd edition D&D), something Killshot does have. At most, I can state it borrows elements from Savage Worlds (exploding dice), but everything was intended as original material from the ground up. (This really sounds like bragging when I read it, so I want to make sure that's not my intention at all. It's not an insult or snotty remark to Corey's work. I played a game of Dino-Pirates on Saturday night and all I can say is "undead steampunk-mechanized Tyrannosaurus Rex... on fire." How is that not awesome?)
