These little white books are helping me break into a wider audience. Each book references solo play, the Easier Solo Play is all about solo playing, the Scarier Horror Play references a lot of solo playing experience.
The next book mixes solo and group play when talking about running mystery games.
I often want things to do a lot of work. In this case, I would love to get a wider audience, but I would also like to bring more solo play awareness to mainstream gamers. I also think that mainstream GMs can learn from the improv. skills of solo players.
From a hard-nosed marketing point of view. A book that appeals to group GMs is going to have a wider appeal than one that appeals only to solo players. That is not a downside and is not to be turned away from.
Interestingly, they are both harder and easier to write. As they are advice, tips, and experience, they do not need playtesting. What I do in a typical month is on a par with researching and writing two undergraduate dissertations, and then playtest them. In that respect, these are easier.
It is much simpler to think I will sit down and write a book. Sure I have been roleplaying for decades and GMing for nearly all of that time. How hard can it be to write down your experiences? The answer is ‘very’. The first 2000 words or so are fine, then you realize that there is still a long way to go! Thankfully they are also a lot of fun to write. They send you scurrying back through game notes that you never thought you would need again for examples of this, that, and the other.
And Finally…
You may remember that I was working towards promoting my OSR Solo book to a Platinum best seller. I sold the 1001st copy yesterday and the Platinum award appeared this morning.