New and Upcoming Releases, Vol. X: All Systems Nominal...ish

[I am Belch II]

It's too bad about the CM book series. Had all the units for one faction all ready to go with Alpha Strike Stats.
Really wanted to see a Clan Book.

[Doom]

I think if they released the already-written CM:Davion, they'd see the higher sales they want. Some folks may hate the Davions, but it always seems that Davion stuff sells better than other factions'.

[YingJanshi]

They mentioned a YA-type BT trilogy by Jennifer Brozek.

Any more info on that?

[Empyrus]

I think if they released the already-written CM:Davion, they'd see the higher sales they want. Some folks may hate the Davions, but it always seems that Davion stuff sells better than other factions'.

Seems unlikely. Mercs, Kurita and Davion are the three top-favored factions among players apparently. If neither of the two others sold well, why would a Davion book?

[Doom]

Seems unlikely. Mercs, Kurita and Davion are the three top-favored factions among players apparently. If neither of the two others sold well, why would a Davion book?

Because Davion stuff always sells the most.

[Empyrus]

Because Davion stuff always sells the most.

"Faction books don't sell" doesn't hold true anymore (or at least in this case), per TPTB. http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58343.msg1345469#msg1345469
The issue with the series seems to be that the physical Combat Manual books don't sell. At least that was indicated somewhere earlier/elsewhere.
(I know i don't need them, i got the Mercs and Kurita PDFs, mostly because they appeared way before physical books... and once i've gotten PDFs, well, no need to double-dip.)

[Colt Ward]

Yeah, and that paradigm shift is coming . . . it DOES seem to be something they are ahead of the curve on with all the PDF only releases.

[Doom]

"Faction books don't sell" doesn't hold true anymore (or at least in this case), per TPTB. http://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=58343.msg1345469#msg1345469
The issue with the series seems to be that the physical Combat Manual books don't sell. At least that was indicated somewhere earlier/elsewhere.
(I know i don't need them, i got the Mercs and Kurita PDFs, mostly because they appeared way before physical books... and once i've gotten PDFs, well, no need to double-dip.)

And releasing the one that would sell the most of the entire series would refute that for all to see, regardless of whether the denial or the initial reason is a valid explanation for the book's delay. Release it as PDF-only (since I never advocated any format), and I still expect it to have higher sales numbers.

[Empyrus]

I would assume TPTB saying X is more probable than belief saying Y since the devs should have access to sales data.
While it may look like Davion sells the most for us commoners, it doesn't mean it is so. Maybe it was once true, and not anymore.

Either way, i figure poor sales of a series indicate it is not a good idea to continue. Sure, yet another book made the same way could turn into profit... but it is not probable, merely possible, and "merely possible" isn't probably good enough, whether one wishes it so or not.

[YingJanshi]

And releasing the one that would sell the most of the entire series would refute that for all to see, regardless of whether the denial or the initial reason is a valid explanation for the book's delay. Release it as PDF-only (since I never advocated any format), and I still expect it to have higher sales numbers.

Per Ray as quoted above, it wasn't that the CM books didn't sell at all, it was that the DTF copies barely moved. The PDFs did sell well.

In that case I don't see the release of Davion changing that. It seems that more people are simply more interested in buying PDF these days than DTF and for whatever reason faction-specific books fall into that paradigm harder than other books. They could release it as PDF only...but as the CM books were meant to be core support books for Alpha Strike, I'm not sure if they were still live up to what they were meant to. But that's just all my speculation.

[Adrian Gideon]

Davion would sell more, we know that for sure based on past sales data.

Saying that the CM print books didn't move isn't accurate either. The answer is complicated but if reduced to a single concise statement the most accurate would simply be that the CMs are too expensive to produce. Again, that's not quite right, but much more accurate than "faction books don't sell" or "the CMs didn't sell."

[Doom]

I would assume TPTB saying X is more probable than belief saying Y since the devs should have access to sales data.
While it may look like Davion sells the most for us commoners, it doesn't mean it is so. Maybe it was once true, and not anymore.

Either way, i figure poor sales of a series indicate it is not a good idea to continue. Sure, yet another book made the same way could turn into profit... but it is not probable, merely possible, and "merely possible" isn't probably good enough, whether one wishes it so or not.

Bones routinely said (at past GenCons) that Davion stuff outsold everything else by a wide margin. It's invalid to say such things no longer apply, since there hasn't been much in the way of such single-faction (print) products in recent years, until the Combat Manuals. It's also tenuous at best to say a Davion print product wouldn't sell well, when there hasn't been one since the handbook, which Bones reported to have sold like gangbusters. HBHK took forever to come out, and it was part of a series that (Davion aside) sold poorly, apparently. So there *was* a precedent to complete a series that didn't have huge sales numbers. But, if poor sales are to be the justification for not continuing (and it doesn't look good), it still seems like a poor business decision to stop before the faction that historically has brought the most money for a given type of product.

Davion would sell more, we know that for sure based on past sales data.

Saying that the CM print books didn't move isn't accurate either. The answer is complicated but if reduced to a single concise statement the most accurate would simply be that the CMs are too expensive to produce. Again, that's not quite right, but much more accurate than "faction books don't sell" or "the CMs didn't sell."

As I was posting, it seems AG provided some relevant information. :)

If I were a conspiracy type, I'd say it's the same anti-Davion bias that the prior administration harbored at work. ;) :D

[Adrian Gideon]

Being I'm a Davion through and through, I'd say you'd need to come up with a better conspiracy theory. ;)

[Doom]

Being I'm a Davion through and through, I'd say you'd need to come up with a better conspiracy theory. ;)

Well... Is Brent? :)

[Adrian Gideon]

He's more a clan fan, but he's certainly anything but anti-Davion.

[Empyrus]

It's invalid to say such things no longer apply, since there hasn't been much in the way of such single-faction (print) products in recent years, until the Combat Manuals.

Point. This did occur to me afterwards.

But, if poor sales are to be the justification for not continuing (and it doesn't look good), it still seems like a poor business decision to stop before the faction that historically has brought the most money for a given type of product.

Budgetary reason perhaps.  I would guess "Too expensive to produce" can be taken to mean "not high enough profit margin" (which may or may not be applicable still) or it could mean "this takes too much away from other potential products". Maybe it is better to have multiple books under work, and selling at once, even if they aren't individually as profitable. Safety in numbers, or however one wants to put that.

As I was posting, it seems AG provided some relevant information. :)

Good he cleared that up. Interpreting various vague-ish statements from various times and places (and people) leads to different picture.

[Doom]

He's more a clan fan, but he's certainly anything but anti-Davion.

Hmmm. Then I got nothin'.

[pheonixstorm]

So CM Clans will come out before the rest of the Houses?? lol Damned freebirth for ya

[Dmon]

The shift to PDF over DTF was made quite a while ago by me. Saves me a small fortune in international shipping if nothing else.

so big question.

What do we actually have in the pipeline right now?

[Doom]

Good he cleared that up. Interpreting various vague-ish statements from various times and places (and people) leads to different picture.

What a strange way to type "You were right, Doom." :)

[Sartris]

What a strange way to type "You were right, Doom." :)

Congrats, your prize is no CM: davion

[ColBosch]

Hmmm. Then I got nothin'.

I should note that the previous administration's dislike of House Davion did not substantially affect the story. Herb and Ben were working off the plan first developed by FASA and later expanded by Jordan Weisman himself in MWDA. Herb himself has said that the Davions would've continued to be a part of the post-Dark Age universe.

[sadlerbw]

Davion would sell more, we know that for sure based on past sales data.

Saying that the CM print books didn't move isn't accurate either. The answer is complicated but if reduced to a single concise statement the most accurate would simply be that the CMs are too expensive to produce. Again, that's not quite right, but much more accurate than "faction books don't sell" or "the CMs didn't sell."

In my defense, I tried to make sure I said things like 'didn't sell well ENOUGH' or 'not as well as hoped'. I tried to make sure I didn't imply that Brent said the CMs didn't sell well period, because he didn't say that. If you look at it that way, it's just the other side of the coin. If they sold more, production cost could be justified; if they cost less to produce, the sales numbers would be fine. Regardless, I'll stop repeating Brents comments since Ray has provided a better answer.

[Kit deSummersville]

AS long as w don't have characters with sparkly skin I think w'll be okay.

Oh great, another fan of the Frails....

[Doom]

Congrats, your prize is no CM: davion

Nope! :D

[Luciora]

Where's my House Handbook: Free Taiwan at?

[BrokenMnemonic]

Are there many more Touring the Stars pdfs in the works? While I know my hope for Touring the Stars: Leviathan's Rest is a forlorn one, I've really enjoyed the ones that've come out so far.

[Adrian Gideon]

Yup.

[mrbooth]

Any word on when the new anthology is going to be available for general sale?

[mbear]

The Spotlight On and Touring the Stars series are still being produced, right? Not affected by the Combat Manuals or ilClan reworking, right?

And TRO: IrregularTech is still coming? (please say yes, please say yes)