Daniel Sell
Things I Learned From Talking To One Of The Biggest Book Distributors In The Uk This Weekend
Big bookshop chains want books to look a certain way and not to diverge from the expectations a customer might have regarding size, art, format and construction. I.E. Look like a DnD book.
Ttrpg publishers are damned if they do, damned if they dont. To become a stable independent business you would have to have relied on some sort of crowdfunding or preorders. Distributors and shops hate that. They need 100% of the customer base for it to be worth their while. So, you must either start with a distributor or lock yourself out. This explains why the ttrpgs that break through into highstreet retail tend to be side projects by people famous for other things.
This distributor cited [redacted] as an example of a publisher they can’t make work in Waterstones etc. And they’re a huge, mainstream (non dnd) publisher.
Innovation is only tolerated in incremental steps. Again, shops want a certain size and look. Only certain art styles. You can push against it, but not change it completely.
Rpgs are too expensive. For reference, they would prefer something closer to 1/3 of what we currently charge. They acknowledge where our price point is makes sense, and that we paid a good price for the printing, but that shops dictate the value and this ain’t it. Shops, it should be noted, which only sell books passively.
You must plan, concretely, at least 6 months ahead with releases. Obvious enough but good to know.
I think that is everytjing but ill add more if i remember. They were very nice, genereous with their time, and refreshingly transparent. So im grateful.
Now for some speculation
The book shops people remember from, say, the 80s and beyond, dont exist any more. The free market has consumed any book seller who is willing to risk anything. The exceptions to this only confirm it! Ask the next independent bookshop how they feel and prepare to be Over Shared and offer a hanky.
The rules, as they have been shared (more than a few times) with me, suggest that ttrpgs are fundamentally unsuited for mainstream bookshops at this moment in time. Culture might catch up, but we live in a monotheistic ttrpgocracy with no sign of changing. Things like the Critical Hit rpg or Pathfinder or whatever are at best a Reformation. We are filthy pagans.
We are misguided in our belief we’re making books. We go to many, many conventions of all sorts and we do best when we are at either art shows or very narrow interest places. Large ttrpg spaces are still under the auspice of monotheism and are only marginally better than a straight book show. We’ve drawn all sorts of conclusions from these points of data and i cant say which, if any, are accurate. My suspicion is that the common thread is “people who stand just outside of pop culture and are eager to move further”. Ttrpgs or not ttrpgs may not be relevant to that.
To break book shops you need to break dnd. Which is not likely, unless they self-immolate, at which time the book shops are more likely to abandon rpgs rather than expand them.
We are both on our own and very much together, you and me. Your fellow flesh and blood is the way forward, not “the market”. We have to make a human pyramid to the top.
Posted on May 25, 2025
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