The Perrenial Question - PDF, Paper or Both?

I've asked this question in the past, but as the RPG market is constantly adjusting (and tablets as electronic book readers are really finding their own these days) and my readership is significantly higher than it was a year ago (both on the blog side and the G+ side) I figured this was as good a time as any to ask that perennial question:

PDF, Paper or Both?

Me, I'm firmly in the "both" category. If I had it my way, every paper product produced for RPGs would come with a "no cost" "vanilla" PDF. Why? I do one hell of a lot of my RPG reading on a tablet and it irks me to no end to have to buy the same thing in two different formats twice.

Why do I want my PDFs to be "vanilla" or plain? It's easier on the eyes when I read it on the screen. It's also way more economical if I want to print out a few pages for use at the table if they aren't saturated with color ink. Besides, saturated pages bleed and wrinkle and often don't read as well as a "vanilla" page.

Yes, I want my dead tree book AND I want my convenient electronic copy. You got a problem with that?  Heh.

So, where do you fall?

PDF?

Paper?

Both?

Other?

Make 'Em Walk the Plank!

I just started reading the latest RPGNow.com newsletter. Sean Fannon (he who writes it) often has some nice thoughts he puts down on paper but this one has some priceless thoughts on e-book publishing. One piece really sticks out to me:

Forget pirates. Seriously. Forget about them entirely. There is NO percentage in wasting any time on the matter. Any stringent efforts you make to combat pirates will only serve to annoy and drive away your legitimate customers. The music industry first proved all of this for us, and our own experiences have born the truth out utterly. Measures that do not impact your customer experience in any way are reasonable; anything else hurts more than helps. The most important truth here is that legitimate customers WANT to be legitimate customers; pirates are NOT lost sales. :: end quote

I wonder if WotC will ever see things in this light?

PDFs and the Art of Art

Some folks love the art in their PDF game books, others just don't care.  For some publishers its a high priority, other's are happy to use clipart.

Here's where I fall in the scheme of things as a customer:

1 - The Cover is Where it's At - Since you can't flip thru a PDF like you might a book at the bookstore, your cover is the first impression.  Sometimes, its the only impression.  Make it count.

2 - Don't go Crazy on the Pages - Some publisher's like to make the page around, behind, below their text all supped up with background art and such- DON'T!  It can cause issues with certain e-readers (the Amazon Kindle / Kindle DX comes to mind, but it messes with others too).  It wastes my ink if I want to print out the pages.  Last, it can make some products a real pain to read.  This last part applies to print books too.

3 - Less is More - Remember, if I decide to print your product out, the art is going to kill my ink.  Black and white art is fine.  Less shading and filling is better.  Heck, if you can give me two versions (one for printing, one for on screen reading) so much the better.

4 - No Art is Better Then Crap - If you aren't an artist, don't know one, can't afford one, use some of the great clipart that is available.  Or avoid the art altogether.  Trust me, no one wants to see bad art in an otherwise good product.

5 - Don't Forget the Tablets - As iPads and other tablets take off, more and more RPG PDFs (and other e-reader formats) are going to be read on electronic devices.  White Haired Man and Greg (He of Boundless Creativity) are already taking that into account, and I expect others to soon follow suit.

Just some of my thoughts.