Yes, we do use POD, or as I like to call it, the most expensive and least efficient way to publish board games. But as I also like to say, it allows us to publish with impunity - lets us do whatever we want, and somehow make a living at it! 1/12 https://twitter.com/gregorvuga/status/1260816542167642112

In a nutshell:
- Customer buys game from us
- We take that money and pay our printer
- Printer sends them the game
- We keep the remainder (profit!)

That profit margin is razor thin. But with a few exceptions I won't get into, the only real upfront cost is the art. 2/12

There is a minimum number of copies that any game can expect to sell: a floor, if you will.

If (minimum sales) x (profit margin) is greater than (cost of the art), we make a profit even if the game only sells that minimum number. 3/12

If (minimum profit per game) x (games released) is equal to our financial needs, we get to do it full-time. When we switched over to full-time, we figure that number would be 20 games a year - five a quarter. However, we've never released that many; last year we had twelve. 4/12

And that's because that calculation assumes minimum sales, assumes the floor - it's the worst-case, toiling in obscurity sort of scenario. But our games sell much better than that floor, which lets us ease up a bit on the release schedule. 5/12

Speaking of floors, there are also ceilings. Because of our low profit margin, we effectively are cutting ourselves out of normal distribution channels - folks need to buy from us direct. That will become less of a problem as direct sales become normalized. 6/12

We're also a wargame company, publishing games with wargame components - and that includes a paper map. There's a market/audience for that, and there's a wider market/audience that will turn up their nose at it. I dunno if POD works for euros for example as a business model. 7/12

POD, at least at the moment, is very much a niche thing, and we've had the most success when we've embraced that, producing weird, interesting, experimental, niche games. You've got to give people something they can't get anywhere else. 8/12

If POD gives us the freedom to publish with impunity, it also gives us the responsibility to use that freedom -- otherwise, what is it for? It mitigates financial risk, but also constrains your reach - that's a trade-off one has to be willing to accept. 9/12

Working from home with my best friend and publishing weird games where we do whatever we want? Boy oh boy, is it worth it.

There are far easier ways to make money publishing board games, you won't make a lot of money with POD, but you can make enough. 10/12

The original convo I'm spinning off of was concerned with physical vs. digital, so let me close with a comment on that. We are primarily in the business of making & shipping physical games. 11/12

We offer PNPs but they're not a major part of our income - after royalties and hosting fees, we don't really get much of that money ourselves. I don't see how a primarily PNP-focused model would work, but hey, most folks don't see how a POD model would work. :-) 12/12