Since I began the journey of publishing board games through Tasty Minstrel Games, multiple people have asked me how I got started. Not everybody wants to know how to make their own board game a published reality, but most people seem to be interested in the process. I started the only way I knew how, leveraging the efforts and capabilities of my close friends, and talking to people. Talking to LOTS of people via phone, email, and any other way they would tolerate me. This may make it sound overly simple, but I had previous experience with almost publishing games.
Four years ago, I was about to graduate from college and planning to make my own board game a reality. I had many pieces of the puzzle lined up, but also some gaping holes. Fortunately, my wife and I found out we were pregnant with our first child. After much deliberation, we decided that I should do the prudent thing and work with my father providing financial advice. I knew providing financial advice would be a fulfilling occupation that I would like and be good at. Erin and I wanted her to be able to stay at home with our children, and financial advice would definitely allow for that.
The publishing efforts were moved to the back burner. Often times they were forgotten. Whenever something became frustrating at work, I remembered how great it would be to be publishing board games or running some other game related business. In March of 2009, we decided to take the dip. This time with the idea that I would not be making one of my own board games, but that I could license game designs from others for publication.
Now I will list the general steps that I went through for publishing
- Think about all of the necessary steps to deliver the final product.
- Create a list of all the requirements to bring the board games to market.
- Continue perfecting the list.
At first the list started out very short:
- Form a separate legal entity
- Find games worthy of publishing
- Find a graphic designer
- Manufacturing necessities:
- Plastics Production
- Printing
- Box Making
- Laminating / Die-Cutting
- Assembly
- Warehousing
- Shipping
- Distribution
- Marketing
Once again, I was very fortunate in one of my choices of best friends, Seth Jaffee. Seemingly forever, Seth has been very involved in board game design and development. As it turns out, there is a very thin line between being an amateur designer and a professional designer. That thin line is publication, and Seth will be crossing it when Tasty Minstrel Games publishes Terra Prime. By knowing Seth, I had access to quality board games for publication and quality graphic designers.
I decided that Tasty Minstrel Games would spare no expense in graphic design for our board games. I have played too many games that would be great or enjoyable if they were not so ugly. Just a matter of fact. Good visual elements raise the expectations for a game and also raise the play experience. Fantasy Flight Games and Days of Wonder always publish their games with the highest art and production standards. Not coincidentally they are also some of the biggest names in the hobby game market. While a good game can be made great or a great game fantastic with quality artwork, I know the opposite is true of bad artwork. This was an easy choice for me to make.
Due to my daily profession as a financial advisor and going through the rigors of earning the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ designation. I understood sufficiently the legal ramifications of different structures and was able to seek sound legal counsel. I recommend finding a competant and highly recommended attorney to draw up simple papers and educate you. It cost me $1,000 to get our LLC formed. It would have cost me about $500-600 to use legal zoom for everything I needed, and they provide no actual legal advice. You do not want your personal assets at risk because you failed to do something required by law that legal zoom did not advise you on. The LLC provided the desired separation from personal assets while avoiding any additional burdensome corporate formalities.
At first, I naively decided that warehousing and shipping should be done out of the garage. My wife and I were in the process of building a new house, and we would have an extra space in the garage. Fortunately before actually receiving any shipments I came to my senses and decided to use a fulfillment company to provide access to warehousing, shipping, and distribution.
This leaves only manufacturing and marketing left to be covered. Both of which have evolved significantly from the beginning. Knowing that I had high quality enjoyable board games, which would have great artwork. I wanted people to play the games, assuming that the rest would take care of itself. This was my initial plan, and it is still the basis of the general plan. All of the various prongs of promotion that I have for our games revolve around getting people to play the games.
Manufacturing Was Going To Be the Biggest Problem
My instincts tell me that every time an additional middleman is added, there is another mouth to feed, and my profits will go down. Operating under this assumption and a desire to manufacturer everything within the United States, I set off to assemble all of the resources I needed to manufacture the games. I called people in the plastics business, printing, and post-press businesses. I assembled quotes from various different resources and found that I would be able to get everything manufactured at sufficiently low prices for the board games. The downside being that we would have to assemble and shrink-wrap them ourselves. I did not know until after the initial manufacturing issues and resolving the manufacturing issues how of a pain assembly would have been. Take my advice, pay somebody else to manage the assembly and make sure they have good quality control.
In the process of doing my due diligence, I decided to solicit quotes from turn-key manufacturers from around the world. Thankfully, the internet makes this infinitely easier. Unlike 10 years ago, you do not need the contacts to necessarily get the right people. You just look them up and fire off some emails. I anticipated that the turn-key solutions would not be able to beat the prices I accumulated. I glad that I was only mostly right about this. There was one fortunate exception.
Now for a side note on why I say it was a fortunate exception. Both of the graphic designers that I used for Homesteaders and Terra Prime had various suggestions for manufacturing which proved to be very insightful and helpful. One of them however suggested that I contact a manufacturer in China. This manufacturer would cost 50% of what I managed to source and was still 50% less than the other turn-key solutions. Additionally, they answered all of my emails within 36 hours in proper yet choppy English. If there was something that they did not understand, they asked, making no assumptions. Additionally, this manufacturer would be able to manufacture my games with lightning speed. I fully expect to be asked who the manufacturer is, but I need to keep some secrets to myself right?
With that one suggestion, my graphic designer’s expertise helped me save more money than I would ever pay him. This is the benefit of hiring people who are smarter than you, and have a wider variety of experiences related to the field that you are working in. Paying extra money for some of the best in their fields will often give you greater benefits over the longer term. If you cannot afford the best, then I suggest that you find out what you need to do to get the best. If you decide to act and make your own board game, then you want (I personally NEED) to be successful.
The current version of the to-do list as adapted from above:
- Legal / Insurance / Accounting
- Form LLC and make sure LLC remains legal
- Get appropriate insurance
- Get all proper accounting done professionally
- Find games worthy of publishing
- Find more games worthy of publishing
- Develop games that are almost worthy of publishing
- Find graphic designers
- Develop and maintain quality relationships with skilled artists
- Find quality copy writers
- Develop and maintain quality relationships with skilled writers
- Get and Maintain ISBN numbers
- Manufacturing
- Warehousing / Shipping / Distribution (covered by fulfillment company)
- Shipping From China
- Customs (covered by a customs broker)
- Marketing to Consumers
- Press Releases
- Conventions
- Direct Web Traffic
- Board Game Geek
- Promotions
- Email Marketing
This current list may make it seem exceptionally easy to publish games. In a way it is exceptionally easy. However, the reason it is easy for me is because I am providing my own startup capital, and I get to make the choices about what board games get published. Not that I have any games of my own that would be published, due to the possiblity of having beer googles. If this looks sufficiently easy that you may want to move forward, please listen to this warning…
Do not skimp on quality in order to publish a game. If you are going to publish, aspire to be just like or better than the ‘big guys’. To be able to do this, you will need to have significant startup capital. Not only for publishing the board games or card games, but for marketing and advertising as well. Make sure you do it right, and that you have additional funds for marketing and future game releases. Most of the revenues from Homesteaders and Terra Prime will be going back into producing more copies of Homesteaders and Terra Prime after the initial print run. Hold onto some capital to be able to keep moving forward. Did I mention that you need extra money for potential future publishing opportunities as well as for marketing?
If you have any specific areas of my experience with publishing that you want to probe for ideas, please begin by commenting on this post. I applaud you in your efforts to make your own board game, and hope to assist you along the path.
Related posts:
- 5 Essential Questions To Ask Yourself Before Publishing A Board Game
- Fact or Fiction… Publishing Board Games Is Good Finance?
- Co-Op Publishing – Thinking Out Loud – Please Comment!
- You Are Not An Island – Learn From Other’s Mistakes And Success
- Dr. Feelgood or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love Publishing Board Games
- Overwhelmed By The Board Game Geek Response
- 21 Essential Posts about Board Games, Marketing, Business, and Efficiency
{ 23 comments… read them below or add one }
nice post! Keep me in mind for the graphic designer openings
nice post! Keep me in mind for the graphic designer openings
I will have to do that Gavan
Great initial article on this Michael. Do keep writing – its always nice to read the other side of the story.
On another note, do send me some additional info on the game – we run a monthly 'Small Publisher Contest' (http://www.starlitcitadel.com/games/articles/sm...) where we give and promote new / independent publishers on the site which I think you'd be a great fit for.
Great initial article on this Michael. Do keep writing – its always nice to read the other side of the story.
On another note, do send me some additional info on the game – we run a monthly 'Small Publisher Contest' (http://www.starlitcitadel.com/games/articles/sm...) where we give and promote new / independent publishers on the site which I think you'd be a great fit for.
I'm a graphic designer who has worked in the gaming industry for many years. I'd love the opportunity to help you out with publishing your games. Please check out my portfolio site at http://www.edwedig.com for examples of my past work.
I'm a graphic designer who has worked in the gaming industry for many years. I'd love the opportunity to help you out with publishing your games. Please check out my portfolio site at http://www.edwedig.com for examples of my past work.
I am really need to know where to find a good manufacture in China.
I am really need to know where to find a good manufacture in China.
Many people like Kaleido. They do manufacturing in China
Many people like Kaleido. They do manufacturing in China
Thanks Michael for the very nice post with a lot of helpful tips inside!. I´m from Spain and starting to work in my own boardgame publishing project. Would like to ask you about the shipping cost from China, cause for what i have found in the internet they seem to be very high, more or less the same quantity per unit than the production cost, specially when you need just a couple of pallets. Regards, Alfonso.
Thanks Michael for the very nice post with a lot of helpful tips inside!. I´m from Spain and starting to work in my own boardgame publishing project. Would like to ask you about the shipping cost from China, cause for what i have found in the internet they seem to be very high, more or less the same quantity per unit than the production cost, specially when you need just a couple of pallets. Regards, Alfonso.
I would like more info on the llc. part. What are my directions of the company I will to form? What licenses do I need to obtain to license and or publish the games?
I would like more info on the llc. part. What are my directions of the company I will to form? What licenses do I need to obtain to license and or publish the games?
What if I have an idea for a game would companies be interested in buying my idea? Model designed and everything.
* Alfonsus – Shipping from China on a basis of aggregation can be very expensive. For example, the cost to bring an entire container for me is approximately 4 times the cost to bring a handful of pallets. Despite the fact that a container can hold LOTS of pallets.
* Rubay101 – Unfortunately I cannot comment any further on that issue, as I am not a lawyer and will not provide any other advice than to use a good lawyer and protect yourself. A simple LLC for somebody specializing in that type of work will not take them very long. For example, my lawyer charged $250-300 per hour, but it only took her about 1-2 hours plus our hour inital meeting.
* Alexander – Game companies will license game ideas from designers, but a very small fraction of people get this opportunity.
Thank you for posting your experiences! Interesting read!
I have developed carom games on Java platform for mobile users.
I just pitched a T.V. game show to a top agent at CAA. He said my idea was innovative,brilliant,fun and interesting. He said he could sell it. 1 week later he said make it a board game first to protect your property(my show can easily go international.)it will be that much easier to sell. How hard is it to just go for the “BIG” Manufacturing companies? I have been working on this for 4 years. It's a(Texas Hold Em') poker hybrid game. Where do I go first?
Laurie
Very interesting question Laurie. As far as getting into the “BIG” manufacturers, I would assume that any contract with them basically gives them the rights to derivative works and works in other mediums, which would include your game show. I know my contracts operate in that manner.
Of course, you could do it yourself… But then you are going to be spending $$$ and working on something that you may not be inclined to work on.
Very interesting question Laurie. As far as getting into the “BIG” manufacturers, I would assume that any contract with them basically gives them the rights to derivative works and works in other mediums, which would include your game show. I know my contracts operate in that manner.nnOf course, you could do it yourself… But then you are going to be spending $$$ and working on something that you may not be inclined to work on.
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