July 6, 2009

Red Panda Games Reviews the Indie Developer's Guide to Selling Games!

You made a game and now you're ready to sell it, so it's a good thing that you did the marketing. Oh, you didn't do the marketing? Then you're probably going to have an issue. Selling games is all about marketing. If nobody knows that your game exists, nobody is going to buy it, so you could end up spending six months to a year after making the game trying to market it, only to find that by the time that you have, your game is now old and nobody will want to buy it. Don't make that mistake!

And, by the way; "If you build it, they won't come." Joseph Lieberman

July 5, 2009

Disclaimer: This Joe Lieberman is not the senator that actually helped create legislation to censor games.

I just finished reading the Indie Developer’s Guide to Selling Games by Joe Lieberman.

Joe Lieberman, an industry veteran in independent game marketing, describes the marketing steps and process over the life cycle of independent game development. The information presented is fairly generous, and is ideal for the right person, but may not be the best read for an experienced indie dev that has been successful at selling their own games. That being said, there is certainly something for everyone to take away from this book, whether you’re experienced in the industry or not.

For the developer that has not released a game, the information that Joe provides based on past experience will certainly help to avoid major common mistakes for people who don’t really know that much about marketing. There is also a reference to download sites, resources, and industry contacts (probably dated at this point) which will save some readers a lot of time, but will seem like filler material to more experienced developers. He also describes in detail aspects of development that should be considered early on to help increase game sales.

Important features to pay attention to are points that Joe feels has worked well for him, and how to implement those effectively. He briefly mentions a newsletter, which I must say is highly and surprisingly effective. A number of people are interested in what you’re doing, but don’t want to frequent your site every week only to find that you still haven’t released your next game. He also details information about the game markets, and how to decide whether your game is indie or casual, and the appropriate steps to take based on your genre.

Overall, Lieberman provides some very interesting content, and although the price may seem steep for the number of content pages, there are a few important things to consider.

• *You may likely be able to write the purchase off as a marketing expense for your business.

• The book will not make you a marketing genius, but if it helps you sell 3 additional titles, than you’ve probably made your money back.

• It will help you avoid some of the same mistakes that we all (fellow indie developers) made the first time around.

• It will save you time, by not having to root around and ask people for various information you’ll need to market your game.

So, get started! Learn how to write your press release, find out who’s who in the business, fix your currently improvable website, and perfect your most important tool: the game demo. Follow the advice closely and get a leg up on other people that haven’t read this book to start selling your games now!

I’ve heard that Joe is also really good about answering questions and providing feedback, and if you’ve purchased his book, I’m sure that he would be more than willing to help with any questions you may have. He also provides other marketing services, for example submitting your press releases to 800 industry contacts, and it’s only $99.00. It’s certainly worth your time unless you want to spend a month scouring the web for people that are actually interested in your indie game.

The book is available in paperback and also by download on our site at about 20% discount. We've also included a link to a preview by pdf here.

Spell of Play recently reviewed the book here

*Please consult your tax advisor as we are not.