I\u2019ve worked with various content creators over the years and I have learned a ton about what kind of expectations to have and how to treat people. A very important part of all of this is knowing that there\u2019s very few people in this industry that make a living off of board games. I would say that most people in the industry, whether they are designers, publishers, reviewers, or podcasters do not make a living off of the work that they do. This is certainly a hobby industry, where the majority of us are here to create something because we love the hobby and the people in it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why is this fact important when interacting with content creators? Well, your game is not in their top 10 priorities, most likely. They might have a significant other, family members, a job, and themselves to think about before you and your game and this is perfectly normal and logical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are some of the things that have prevented reviewers from posting content on my games on the agreed upon date:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This isn\u2019t a comprehensive list, but things happen and it\u2019s no one\u2019s fault. If you\u2019re putting a game on Kickstarter and send out 5 reviewer copies, you should expect at least one of those reviewers to not be able to review on time for one reason or another. Sometimes lightning strikes and all 5 of those reviewers have something happen in their lives and that\u2019s terrible, for both you and them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that you know that life can hit you and content creators in a variety of ways, the best way to start avoiding being disappointed on the KS launch day is to send out more reviewer copies of your game than you want reviews done. How many more reviewer copies depends on several things:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At this point, I think I\u2019ve sent Eric from What\u2019s Eric Playing? seven games to review and he\u2019s published content on all of them on the dates we talked about. I can pretty much assume that if the game gets to him, he\u2019ll have the content out when I expect it and I\u2019ll get a quote before the content goes live. I\u2019ve also met him in person and know all of his policies, so I understand what he needs and what to provide him with to make this happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you haven\u2019t worked with a particular reviewer before but have worked with other reviewers successfully, I\u2019d say there\u2019s a better chance of things working out than if you\u2019ve never worked successfully with any reviewer. There\u2019s certain things you can learn how to do to make things easy on all parties involved and I\u2019ll talk more about that later on in this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The more lead time you give a content creator, the more likely they can have content made on your time table. I have had success with sending out games and getting content two weeks later, but this is rare and also understood from all parties involved. Instead, giving content creators at least a month, if not two months, with the game gives a great chance at getting the content out on a time table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Written reviews tend to have pictures that need to be taken, maybe they need to be edited to look good, then the text has to be put together, proofread, and laid out. This isn\u2019t something that can happen in an hour, even if the content creator has played the game enough to know all about it. Videos take even longer; a script has to be written, a recording area has to be set up, recording and editing have to happen. Sometimes you record voice and video separately and they have to be overlaid. Generally, this takes a certain number of hours, on top of the hours it takes to learn and play the game a few times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you think about the fact that content creators tend to have families, jobs, and they need to do basic tasks like eating, it makes sense that dedicating 5-20+ hours to your game (a lot more for heavier games) is more likely to happen if you give them a month or two to put that time in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One way to make things super easy is to have a dropbox folder of information. I usually have the following avaliable in the folder:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also send out regular emails (weekly, if possible) that have the following information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you know the reviewers you\u2019re working with a lot, have made it really easy for them, you\u2019ve worked with reviewers in the past successfully, and have given them two months with the game, I\u2019d suggest to send out 30% more copies than you\u2019d like to get reviews. So, if you want to get 5 reviews out on a date, send out 7 copies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Increase this percentage for any factor that you\u2019re not sure about and also increase this percentage if there\u2019s anything going on in the world, like a pandemic. Pandemics make for more chaos, in your life, the mail, and each content creator\u2019s life. If their job changes at a moment\u2019s notice, they\u2019ll need to deal with that instead of your game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re brand new to working with reviewers, but have a lot of time, I\u2019d suggest sending out 100% \u2013 200% more copies than you want reviews. One reason for this is that at this time, in addition to not knowing how to work with content creators, you also probably don\u2019t know much about the content creators themselves and their taste in games. You\u2019ll most likely send your game to a content creator that won\u2019t enjoy it. Some content creators will tell you and send the game back, some will make content that isn\u2019t something you\u2019re excited to share with the world. So, if you want to get 5 great reviews to share around, you should send out 10 \u2013 15 copies of your game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, say you\u2019re also launching your KS in a month AND you\u2019re brand new to all this. I\u2019d recommend sending out even more reviewer copies of your game. This can come with a great cost, with the amount of shipping and cost of the games, but it can definitely be a learning experience. You\u2019ll learn which content creators like games like the ones you create, you\u2019ll get skills on how to interact with content creators, and you hopefully won\u2019t be disappointed on your launch date.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One thing you can also do is to ask a content creator to pass along your game to another content creator. This can mean multiple pieces of content for one game, which is fantastic! Here’s some things to keep in mind with this: <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, I always ask that content creator’s don’t post until a certain day, but when that date passes, I usually ask that they post before the end date of the Kickstarter if they can AND I tell them that date. If you ask someone to not post until September 3rd, but don’t say anything else, they might think you’re perfectly alright with them posting their content on September 23rd or in October. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For example, here’s the guidelines from Eric of What’s Eric Playing: https:\/\/whatsericplaying.com\/contact\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Content creators are people and your game isn’t in their first 10 priorities and also shouldn’t be, as they could have any (and maybe all) of these people and things in their lives; a spouse or person they’re dating, kids, parents, a job, a vehicle, a computer, pets, etc. Plus, they need to do basic things, like cooking and cleaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Be nice and honest with them and hopefully they’ll be nice and honest with you and you’ll all be happy with the interaction, but sometimes even then lightning can strike (literally!) and the content won’t go out as planned, so prepare for this by sending out more reviewer copies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Did you enjoy this entry? Please let me know I\u2019d love to hear what you think and what kind of things you\u2019d like to see from this blog. Feel free to send me an email<\/a> or comment with your thoughts!<\/p>\n\n\n\nTLDR;<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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