CoG/HG business model

[leiatalon]

@vapidparagon

To me it seems like the biggest barrier to greater revenue for both authors and publishers is getting people to know that these games (some of which are in my estimation really excellent works of art) exist at all. Is there a better way for these works to be publicized to new readers? Are there ways for CoG/HG authors to work together with the publishers for their mutual interest there? Are there ways to move the active readers (people like forum regulars) to action in an organized way to bring new people in? Is there the collective will to do something like that?

These are all great questions that I don’t have answers to. The hardest thing as an author (in my experience) is letting people know your work exists. As someone who has self-published novels, working with Heart’s Choice/Choice of Games as a publisher has been a great experience because they have an audience and a marketing team. Could more be done? I’m sure it could. How? I really don’t know.

As someone who comes from a background in novel writing, I don’t know where to find the readers who are interested in interactive fiction. I feel like a large majority of readers don’t even know what interactive fiction is. I do my best with the reach I have (on Twitter, FB, and discord), but it seems like a drop in the bucket. From what I’ve seen, most successful authors are finding their readers through TikTok and paid advertising. TikTok feels like a huge time drain and I honestly feel like it’s sucking out my soul when I try to participate on that platform. I’d much rather focus my efforts on writing so I can produce more games for people to play.

I’d love to hear more suggestions about marketing and where to find readers for our games. I agree that a lot of the content people are writing for CoG is exceptional art that deserves more viewers. Where do we find people who would enjoy this medium of storytelling? How do we reach them?

Perhaps this subject deserves its own thread. Thoughts, anyone?