[Icehouse] Icehouse game book

[Carol Townsend]

On 2/21/08, David Artman <david at davidartman.com> wrote:
>
> > From: Doug Orleans <dougorleans at gmail.com>
>
> > So why do you need their permission to give them money?
>
>
> Dude, seriously? THEY DIDN'T WANT TO DO IT. Re-read the quote in my past
> post. They said no.
>
> Now, I could put it out myself, accrue profit, and then mail a check to
> them periodically... but WTF should I waste my time and postage on that
> if they don't want to invest a few hours reviewing the book (to be sure
> it's all copacetic for their business) and setting up the POD listing
> for the book themselves?
>
> I guess it's a love-versus-pride thing: I'm happy to help, if there's
> some give and take. But I'm not going to sign up for a part-time job
> (even if its only a few minutes a month) when the principle beneficiary
> of my efforts won't even put in a fraction of the time that I am
> investing, to get the product to market.
>
> And as I said to James... be my guest, if you'd like to take the reins.



It's not that the Looneys don't want to do it, and it's not a
love-versus pride thing.  It's about time.

Please understand that this is an unofficial answer from another Icehouse
fan, not a Looney employee.  Speaking as a former Looney Employee however, I
can categorically and with 100% accuracy say that the Looneys do NOT have
the time to oversee such a project.

Yes, you could do all the collating of rules, all the layout, all the
typesetting, all the everything and it would seem that everything's done,
ready to go, and it would seem that the Looneys would have no work at all.
Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, as odd as it seems, it
takes MORE work to coordinate things through a volunteer than it does just
doing something themselves.

I'm sure you've experienced this in your own life - it's just
easier/faster/less frustrating to go ahead and do something that needs doing
rather than tell someone else how to do it - and it gets done the way you
want it to get done.

And there's the whole crux of the matter. To be a Looney-approved book, it's
GOT to be "Looney Approved." And they are very picky people. They have a
right to be - whatever product comes out of their warehouse and has their
name on it is what either puts food on the table or doesn't. They have to be
very careful about their brand, their name and their products. All business
do, and even more so because they are small. To be a Looney product, the
would want to be happy with all the choices for font and layout style and
cover photo and all the picky exact details that HAVE to be right before it
can go to publication. Because it's their company and their livelihoods that
are on the line. Not ours - theirs.  And all of that takes time - which they
don't have.

Kristin and Andy said "not right now" to the POD idea 18 months ago. They
didn't do it out of spitefulness or meanness - they told you right up front
honestly that they don't have the time. Saying "hey - you'd have 3 sales
right here!" doesn't help anything because they STILL don't have the time.
They are working as hard as they can to grow their business. Growth means
change. Lots of it. Change takes work. Lots of it. If you want the Looneys
to grow, if you want Pyramids to be the ubiquitous playing piece of choice,
then you've got to give them the time and space to grow.

In other words, they may not have time for overseeing the POD book for
another 2, 5 or 10 years. It's up to them. But if and when a new book of
Pyramid games comes out, I can be assured that it will be a great book -
because it will be Looney Approved. I can trust that brand. And I want to be
able to continue to trust that brand - so I'm leaving the decisions and
pickiness up to them.

Carol

-- 
Carol Townsend
carol.townsend at gmail.com
H: 630.681.0311
C: 630.215.6027
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