Wednesday featured a disappointment on the publicity front. A couple of days after hearing that a review of Border Reivers would be in the edition of BBC MindGames Magazine that comes out before Christmas (when everyone has money to spend and is looking for presents) I heard back from the reviewer to say that it will slip to the February edition which comes out in Janurary (when everyone is skint). Apparently the reviewer is unused to that type of game and was finding understanding the rules tricky. This was a bit of a blow as I was hoping to gain a boost in sales from the review.
A bit of thinking on my feet and I worked out that I could pop down to Bristol this weekend (since The Wife is away anyway) and explain the game to the reviewer. I checked with my parents (who live down there) to see if I could crash at theirs this weekend and that was great as there was a tame joint families stag and hen do for my sister and her fiancé that I could attend. I hurriedly arranged a meeting with the reviewer, got Monday off work and booked train tickets. I asked if this would bump the review back to the January (out in December) edition, and they thought it would, it would be tight - but possible. Excellent news. They even thanked me for offering to come down and explain the game! It's they who are doing me the favour, not the other way round - as they are hopefully providing free publicity to a lot of people just before Christmas. I thanked them back.
I also noticed that Hugo of Bode Gueims has posted a very nice review of Border Reivers on his blog and BoardGameGeek. It's been on the front page of BGG all day and will hopefully generate some interest. Thanks, Hugo!
Upon checking my email last night I got a third piece of good news on the publicity front. A few weeks ago I was interviewed via email by Mike of Psychocon fame for the Flagship games magazine. I'd got an email from the Flagship guys, congratulating me on a good interview and asking to buy a copy so they could review it! Wow, great stuff. Thanks, guys!
What a rollercoaster ride this games design lark is. Wednesday evening I was quite disappointed, now I'm on top of the world. It never ceases to surprise me how much support I'm getting from the UK games community - it's really great.
Posts
2 comments:
Jack,
Again, you are welcome.
I think that the boardgame design business in the uk is still in its infancy (when compared to Germany or the US) and people like you or the Fragors are pushing it towards adolescence and aduthood.
So, well done and congratulations for your fantastic effort!
Thanks Hugo. Although I'm still in the infancy category, I assure you!
Post a Comment