On 2/21/08, David Artman <david@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> From: Doug Orleans <dougorleans@xxxxxxxxx>
> So why do you need their permission to give them money?
Dude, seriously? THEY DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT. Re-read the quote in my past
post. They said no.
Now, I could put it out myself, accrue profit, and then mail a check to
them periodically... but WTF should I waste my time and postage on that
if they don't want to invest a few hours reviewing the book (to be sure
it's all copacetic for their business) and setting up the POD listing
for the book themselves?
I guess it's a love-versus-pride thing: I'm happy to help, if there's
some give and take. But I'm not going to sign up for a part-time job
(even if its only a few minutes a month) when the principle beneficiary
of my efforts won't even put in a fraction of the time that I am
investing, to get the product to market.
And as I said to James... be my guest, if you'd like to take the reins.
It's not that the Looneys don't want to do it, and it's not a love-versus pride thing. It's about time.
Please understand that this is an unofficial answer from another Icehouse fan, not a Looney employee. Speaking as a former Looney Employee however, I can categorically and with 100% accuracy say that the Looneys do NOT have the time to oversee such a project.
Yes, you could do all the collating of rules, all the layout, all the typesetting, all the everything and it would seem that everything's done, ready to go, and it would seem that the Looneys would have no work at all. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as odd as it seems, it takes MORE work to coordinate things through a volunteer than it does just doing something themselves.
I'm sure you've experienced this in your own life - it's just easier/faster/less frustrating to go ahead and do something that needs doing rather than tell someone else how to do it - and it gets done the way you want it to get done.
And there's the whole crux of the matter. To be a Looney-approved book, it's GOT to be "Looney Approved." And they are very picky people. They have a right to be - whatever product comes out of their warehouse and has their name on it is what either puts food on the table or doesn't. They have to be very careful about their brand, their name and their products. All business do, and even more so because they are small. To be a Looney product, the would want to be happy with all the choices for font and layout style and cover photo and all the picky exact details that HAVE to be right before it can go to publication. Because it's their company and their livelihoods that are on the line. Not ours - theirs. And all of that takes time - which they don't have.
Kristin and Andy said "not right now" to the POD idea 18 months ago. They didn't do it out of spitefulness or meanness - they told you right up front honestly that they don't have the time. Saying "hey - you'd have 3 sales right here!" doesn't help anything because they STILL don't have the time. They are working as hard as they can to grow their business. Growth means change. Lots of it. Change takes work. Lots of it. If you want the Looneys to grow, if you want Pyramids to be the ubiquitous playing piece of choice, then you've got to give them the time and space to grow.
In other words, they may not have time for overseeing the POD book for another 2, 5 or 10 years. It's up to them. But if and when a new book of Pyramid games comes out, I can be assured that it will be a great book - because it will be Looney Approved. I can trust that brand. And I want to be able to continue to trust that brand - so I'm leaving the decisions and pickiness up to them.
Carol