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[Prospero]

Is the Pen as Mighty as the Joystick?

A few money quotes:

The guide for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, an intricate and violent action game, has sold 748,000 copies, an unusually high number, since it came out in 2004. Mr. Hodgson estimates that the 55 strategy guides he has written have sold a total of one million copies.

(By comparison, former President Bill Clinton's autobiography, "My Life," which came out in 2004, has sold 1.27 million copies, according to Nielsen BookScan; the hardcover edition of "My Life" was on the New York Times best-seller list for 28 weeks.)

In 1997, Mr. Hodgson wrote his first guide, for Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. Last year, he wrote guides for, among others, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II, Medal of Honor: European Assault, Half Life 2, Jade Empire, Burnout: Revenge, and Perfect Dark Zero.

He declined to say how much he is paid for each guide, but publishers say they generally pay authors $3,000 to $12,000 a book. For the Godfather guide, he wrote 175,000 words — the equivalent of nearly two novels — and said he talked daily to a designer who was laying out images from the game, tip boxes and other elements.

Some players disdain the guides, which they say are less about strategy than taking shortcuts.

"They're good for people who don't like challenges," said Ibe Ozobia Jr., 32, of Las Vegas. "You don't have to think through the game. You can just look for the answers on the shelf."

Others, however, swear by them. Beverly McClain, 60, a retired clerical worker in Wichita, Kan., said: "Many gamers insist that the only way to play a game is to figure it all out for yourself. I say, buffalo chips."

Ms. McClain says she plays video games about five hours a night. As her taste in entertainment shifted from reading books to playing the games, she said, her purchases at bookstores also changed. She said she brought home about a dozen strategy guides last year, more than the number of novels she bought.

 

[mckmas8808]

Damn that old lady is hardcore than a motha. :lol

 

[shuri]

$3,000 to $12,000 a book.

what

 

[Beer Monkey]

Cool article. I wouldn't write those books for 4k-12k a pop. Would have been nice to see them cover the hardcore who buy certain guides just for the art.

 

[Prospero]

That $3k-$12k figure is interesting if true. On the one hand, there are people who happily write guides for GameFAQs for free and spend months on them; on the other hand, anyone who accepts a flat fee of $12,000 for a book that sells hundreds of thousands of copies is making a bad, bad move.

 

[Community Forum]

I would buy way more guides if they were all Japanese / DoubleJump style.

 

[Oichi]

the 3,000 - 12,000 is about right, although it's a little misleading, because the 12,000 would probably be for something HUGE, like a Final Fantasy-calibre game, one that requires a ton of time and patience and stat-tracking. It'd also be divided amongst two or three people as well, so each would get 3 - 4K for that.

 

[john tv]

Go Hoags!

 

[Fuzzy]

$3,000 to $12,000 a book

Somebody's gonna sue 1up. :lol

 

[Xdrive05]

Three or four thousand for something that earns millions and millions?

The publishers are laughing all the way to the bank. And back. And every time the interest compounds. They fucking CAN'T STOP LAUGHING!!!

 

[Eggo]

Cool article on Hoagey, aka Chief Hambleton from GameFan. The part that made me double take was when they said it's not big business... drawing $100 million a year. Considering the small number of people it takes to get a guide made, it's very lucrative for all parties involved. I have friends pulling in six figures a year from writing game guides. Hellish work with taxing deadlines and sometimes little cooperation from publishers, but the money is very good.

 

[svenuce]

Hoags is also one of the best and most sought after strat guide authors. I'm curious if the numbers hold true for more of the rank and file people.

As for the publishers laughing all the way to the bank, it's easy to neglect printing costs, distribution costs, inventory risk, rights costs to publishers, profit sharing with game publishers and all sorts of other nasty things that eat into that $100 million market.

There are lots of books that they lose money on.

 

[robot]

lol, buffalo chips.

I'm amazed how much strat guides sell with places like gamefaqs. I know images and an easy to follow layout definetly help when figuring out puzzles, but I couldn't justify buying a guide knowing I can get enough help by going online and looking it up.

 

[svenuce]

I'd take a proper guide, with solid, large maps anyday over Gamefaqs or IGN Guides. Money isn't the issue. Usability is the issue.

 

[heavy liquid]

The title makes me keep thinking of the SNL Celebrity Jeopardy skit:

"I'll take The Penis Mightier for $400, Trebek!" :lol

So if Hodgson writes about 8 books each year, he can make anywhere from minimum $32,000+ from it. Can't be all that great... I'd imagine he probably doesn't want to play any other games after spending so much time with those ones he's writing about.

 

[Timbuktu]

I've never bought or used a guide so I'm in the dark here, but if there is so much money in it, why don't game publishers and developers write guides to their games themselves? I mean, they just have to document all their designs.

 

[JoshuaJSlone]

I'd take a proper guide, with solid, large maps anyday over Gamefaqs or IGN Guides. Money isn't the issue. Usability is the issue.

I guess it depends how much you'd be using it. I use GameFAQs all the time, but I can usually spend 1 minute searching for the particular bit of knowledge I'm missing and get out.

 

[acidviper]

So, uh when are they interviewing the people down at gamefaqs.com?

 

[Beer Monkey]

For most games, I only want a quick tip and only when I'm really stuck, and a big fat guide is a bunch of spoilers I don't want.

On the other hand, the art and complete, non-ascii move lists for some fighting guides are damned sweet to have.

 

[robot]

I guess it depends how much you'd be using it. I use GameFAQs all the time, but I can usually spend 1 minute searching for the particular bit of knowledge I'm missing and get out.

Thats pretty much the same thing I do - and a small amount of guilt usually follows for "cheating"

 

[mosaic]

I've never bought or used a guide so I'm in the dark here, but if there is so much money in it, why don't game publishers and developers write guides to their games themselves? I mean, they just have to document all their designs.

Have you ever tried to read something written by a programmer or designer? It'd all be bland, incomprehensible jargon and acronyms. Now, it'd make sense if they were to hire an in-house writing team to work with the dev team, but perhaps that'd cost them more than just signing a publishing agreement with an outfit like Brady or Prima.

That $3,000 to $12,000 mark sure sounds about right though. Personally, I've only written smaller guides for publication in magazines and on web sites, which pay much less ($500-$2,000 typically), but I know a couple guys that have been routinely grabbing $8K for full-on book-type guides.

The writing is actually the least difficult part. It's all the note taking and communicating back and forth for screens, developer insights, and haggling over the layout that really makes the process time-consuming.

Some people like it; some people hate it. I'm probably in the latter category, since it can be draining, and turn you off to personal game playing. A lot of outlets have trouble getting decent strat writers because of that... and because the pay is a bit on the low end compared to the time invested.

 

[Timbuktu]

Have you ever tried to read something written by a programmer or designer? It'd all be bland, incomprehensible jargon and acronyms. Now, it'd make sense if they were to hire an in-house writing team to work with the dev team, but perhaps that'd cost them more than just signing a publishing agreement with an outfit like Brady or Prima.

Is that what Che is doing at Microsoft? Personally, if I really need a guide to get through a game, then I think the game isn't well designed enough to worth bothering. Occasionally, I check GameFAQs for a quick tip if I get stuck.

 

[C- Warrior]

Dan Birlew (I met him once before) lives in Vegas (my hometown). I should maybe ask him more on this the next time I meet him.

Anyway, he's done the Devil May Cry, Resident Evil, Kingdom Hearts and I think Final Fantasy guides. Basically he does the big games that Brady Guides cover.

He does a pretty decent job I think...

And I am not Dan Birlew, btw >.>...<.<

 

[Community Forum]

And I am not Dan Birlew, btw >.>...<.<

:lol

 

[terrene]

(remembers Drinky having to do a strategy guide for Ecco the Dolphin on Dreamcast)

 

[Flynn]

I wrote a strategy guide once, the amount of hours I put into the process vs. my pay made me decide never to do it again. I admire people who can make a living doing it.

 

[Wellington]

It takes a ridiculous amount of work to do an in-depth strat guide. It took me 3 days to do the Madden strat guide and it wasn't anything super specific.

 

[mosaic]

(remembers Drinky having to do a strategy guide for Ecco the Dolphin on Dreamcast)

For Ziff's Unofficial DCM mag? I'm partially to blame for that. The deadline was crazy ass short and there was no damn way I was going to be able to get the whole thing done on time, so they contacted him. Poor guy ended up with the most hellish levels in the game AND they didn't put his name on it alongside mine. It was an unintentional oversight, but... ouch. (I believe they fixed that when it was reprinted in XG)

Magazine strat deadlines, typically, are cruel when compared to standalone guides. We're talking 2 weeks on average, sometimes less, as opposed to months. If I recall right, we had like a week to get Ecco done so the layout guys could hammer it out. When I did the Shenmue guide for DCM, I had about a month to get that done and it felt like an eternity by comparison.

 

[Pakkidis]

"They're good for people who don't like challenges," said Ibe Ozobia Jr., 32, of Las Vegas. "You don't have to think through the game. You can just look for the answers on the shelf."

A sad reflection on society in general

 

[Unison]

I have no idea what compels people to write FAQs on Gamefaqs. It's downright insane, imo.

More power to them, etc...