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Basically, it *is* the latter. What we have seen is that reorder sales of d20 books through the traditional distribution channels are almost neglible right now. Just by way of example, almost half of our d20 product sales to date in 2005 have been through one outlet -- Amazon.com! And then a big chunk of the rest has been through our mail order partner (Warehouse 23), sales at conventions, etc. I'm very sympathetic to the situation of retailers and distributors, who can't afford to keep every d20 title in print in stock. For example, one distributor who sold out of Dynasties & Demagogues (one of our d20 books that does continue to have meaningful reorder sales) told me he didn't want to reorder because it might just hurt his chances of selling some other d20 product already on his shelves; so his policy is, as non-WotC titles sold out, to remove them from his database entirely. Given the economic pressures they face, they need to make decisions like that to stay healthy. (This is OK with me, because in the long run we'll make more money from their sales of future Ars Magica books and perennial sales of our card games than we would from a few more d20 restocks.) But from our sales through other channels, it's clear that there are fans who would be interested in these books, if they are exposed to them. Putting them up as PDF now increases the likelihood of exposure, and puts a little more money in our bank account. :) -John Nephew
President, Atlas Games
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