High-Quality CDs - On Demand!

[DaFalcon]

http://cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/data.aspx

Just got an e-mail from Cafe Press about this and I thought some devs here would be interested; I know that I hope to use this as an option to distribute Snake Quest and additional level files to those who don't want to download them all- no overhead, no risk.

Cafe Press is offering high quality data (and audio) CDs on Demand: You just send in a master, and when someone orders it, they burn it, print on it, and ship it. This is not a "blue bottom" CD and the labels are not stick-ons, it is a retail quality CD. You have the option to sell the CD in a sleeve, or in a jewel case with your own packaging materials. The cost is $5 per CD (without the jewel case), and there are nice discounts for purchasing in bulk.

Carlos, why don't you put together an uDevGame 2002 CD and distribute it like this? You could charge a $10 donation per CD and make at least $5 for the site for every CD sold, without having to deal with anything yourself (after the initial CD creation).

I would buy a uDG 2002 CD! :-)

[OneSadCookie]

Seems like this could be a good way for shareware developers to go, too -- no hassle payments & shipping, and your users get the convenience of a physical CD with printed booklet.

That, and you can pretty much guarantee somebody will buy a T-shirt with your game's logo or character on it :)

[DaFalcon]

I bought myself a Snake Quest T-shirt and though it is just an iron-on, it is of fairly high quality and it is fun to wear your own merchandise: this would be especially true if you are going to a MacWorld Expo or other public event where, who knows? maybe someone will recognize your game.

[Carlos Camacho]

I got the same email. I will look into it. Cheers.

[macboy]

Sounds very good. Might even be useful for a popular freeware game. :wow:

[Bachus]

I received this email as well, and I must say I'm very tempted to go with them if and when I finish my game. I've been looking at various companies that will press CDs for you, and even make the inserts and boxes, and the prices are comparable with this. However, if you go the CafePress way you don't have to worry about taking any orders or shipping out hundreds or thousands of boxes.

And as OSC said, there's a good chance you can sell some T-Shirts and thongs at the same time. :wow:

We need a smilie with dollar signs for eyes. $_$

[Jake]

I really like the idea of a UDG disc avaiable for a 10 dollar donation. It could feature all the UDG games and if there is extra room you could sell the CD space to any devs here that want there shareware game on it. 5 dollars seems like too much for a something as simple as a UDG disc, you can get CDs free at staples with rebates and new burners burn a CD in 2.5 mins or less.

[Matt Brown]

Maybe iDevGames could put out it's own shareware CD, like MacAddict's? I'd buy a uDevGame CD in a heartbeat.

[Jake]

I would buy one too. If you need any help doing this I could help (burn CDs, ship them or whatever)

[DaFalcon]

Hey, I really like the idea of an iDG Shareware CD ... Announcements don't last very long on these boards before being pushed down and many times I don't have time to download and play a game when it is announced, then I forget. Who would be willing to contribute a game to an iDevGames Developer Showcase CD? Who would be willing to put it together and send a master copy to Cafe Press?

Or do we just want to "sell" extra space on the uDG CD to shareware developers for a small donation. I'm OK with that solution too, and would probably buy a spot for Snake Quest on it. Still, a Dev Showcase CD would be great for being able to see *all* the games we've made here.

[DaFalcon]

Even though you could burn and send out your own CDs, that is extremely labor intensive compared to the Cafe Press solutuion. Plus, the CDs would be suitable for selling outside of the direct iDG community since they are retail quality CDs and printing, we could sell them at the next MacWorld, for example.

[Jake]

Isn't 5 dollars a CD alot? I forget where but I was looking at a web site that would sell commercialy pressed CDs with cases for alot less than that.

Maybe there could be a source section on the CD and a compiled game section, but I think if any devs have made updates they should be put on the CD.

At max we will have 450 megs of games (probably ALOT less), so there will be alot of extra space on the CD, maybe IDG could charge a dollar a meg or something.

[DaFalcon]

Jake, those usually require money down or a comittment to sell a certain number (usually hundreds) of those. Have you looked at the Cafe Press deal? It does not include a jewel case, but if we sold more than 20 in a month, the price would go down. Sell enough and it goes as low as $3 a CD [If we sold 500+ in a month]. And Carlos doesn't need to be bothered with a single thing except collecting a paycheck once the Master is sent in :-)

[Jake]

Oh, 3 bucks isnt that bad, but does that include shipping? If it does then thats a good deal

[macboy]

Originally posted by Jake
Oh, 3 bucks isnt that bad, but does that include shipping? If it does then thats a good deal They don't say in anywhere easily accesible. :blink:

[Bachus]

CafePress works like this. There's a minimum price that you can charge for an item, which is how much CafePress takes out of every purchase. Then on your store page you charge as much as you want. So if you sell your CD for $15 on your store page, and CafePress takes $5 from every CD then you make $10 on every sale. The person purchasing the CD would pay $15 + shipping.

There are other places that will press CDs for you for much cheaper, and some even have jewel cases/booklets/etc. But they won't take all your orders for you and handle all the shipping. If you follow the time is money standard, CafePress is actually less than other places as you don't have to waste all that extra time.