435 Page Sega Master System Encyclopedia is done

[onemanfilmcrew]

Morning everyone, it has taken me the better part of a year but I finally have the SMS Encyclopedia finished. The final page count is 435 and is currently available for $10 in PDF format (print versions have been sent off for proofing). If anyone is interested the download link as well as a sample chapter can be found on my site

www.thevgatv.com

I'd love to hear what you guys think of the project and how I can improve future projects. You guys are my go to forum, so please feel free to be brutal in your criticism as that's the only way I will improve (since I need to know what I can do better in the future). As always, I appreciate it!

[Menegrothx]

Do you go through all the Brazil exclusive games on that book?

[onemanfilmcrew]

Sorry but no. It's just the US releases. I know there is a huge list of games from south America and Europe that never hit our shores, but I decided to just focus on the games from here. Plus if I had done all of those this would have easily been a thousand page book. Gotta start small you know?

[noiseredux]

what's the scoop on the physical book? I don't really bother w/ e-books myself. Any idea when it will be out, where we'll be able to get it from, how much it'll cost, b/w or color, etc?

[onemanfilmcrew]

The print versions have been sent off to the printers and I'm waiting for proofs before putting them up for sale. I'm going to do two versions, a budget black and white and a more expensive color version. I'm still working out the numbers but the black and white should come in at $25 while the color will be $75. I know the color version is higher than i would like, but printing a 435 page book
In color is expensive. Oh and these will be available on Amazon as well as my site. I'll post on here when they are ready to go.

[dsheinem]

feel free to be brutal in your criticism

When the first sentence of the article of the sample chapter includes a giant error "an admiral job" instead of "an admirable job" and an unclear referent "the much more popular title" (I suppose this references Spy Hunter on the previous/title(?) page?), my interest in dropping coin on the full version immediately plummets to "very low."

The first person writing is not what one finds in a reference volume, either.

I like the overall idea of the project, but the execution needs polish. You should seek out an editor.

[Jmustang1968]

feel free to be brutal in your criticism

When the first sentence of the article of the sample chapter includes a giant error "an admiral job" instead of "an admirable job" and an unclear referent "the much more popular title" (I suppose this references Spy Hunter on the previous/title(?) page?), my interest in dropping coin on the full version immediately plummets to "very low."

The first person writing is not what one finds in a reference volume, either.

I like the overall idea of the project, but the execution needs polish. You should seek out an editor.

Geez Dave, who's to say an admiral couldnt do a fine job of making a game?

[onemanfilmcrew]

That's understandable. And I would love to have an editor on this project, but given the size of it even the cheapest editor would easily run $500-$700. So yes, there will be mistakes in this. I realize I'm going to lose some people who demand perfection. I understand that completely and am ok with it. I hope that there will be more people who will overlook the occasional typo and enjoy the project for what it is, but we will see.

As to the first person writing perspective, that was intentional. When I picked up the hardcover book "classic home video games" (or whatever the specific title is, it escapes me at the moment) it struck me at just how dull it was to read. Video games are fun and in my opinion reading about them should be fun as well. I know some people are going to dismiss it, and that's fine, but I've had just as many people telle they like my writing style. If it helps, just think of the book as edutainment

And I'm not trying to counter what you said about the sample, I really do appreciate the feedback. And once I get home will correct that error in the sample, so thank you for pointing it out.

[dsheinem]

The cheapest editor would easily run $500-$700.

You don't think an investment of $500-$700 would pay off in more folks buying both digital and (especially) hard copies of the book? I'd think you'd recoup that money quickly if you sold 6-8 or so of the color copies, which people would expect to be of high quality anyway considering the asking price.

[onemanfilmcrew]

You are a little off on the numbers there. Yes the color copy sells for $75. But if someone buys it through amazon I might get 6 or 7 dollars (I'm using createspace for printing). So now I would need a hundred color copies sold to pay for editing. And without knowing if there is going to be a market for a book like this it's very hard to justify spending $700, especially when I would have to use a credit card to come up with that much cash. I understand completely what you are saying however, and of this project shows any kind of success whatsoever I'll gladly drop that kind of money on an editor in the future.

Oh and the other thing I've found about my writing is that the same people who hate the typos are the same ones who hate my style of writing, so when I look at those responses it also makes me pause before spending a ton on copy editing. Because be honest, if the spelling error wasn't there, would that change your mind and make you interested in the book since you didn't like the first person writing style?