Starting Another Games Publisher

A few months of lacklustre progress on anything except my German language Windows Phone app seems finally to be coming to a close. A few of you will remember my ill-fated days running Reiver Games (read the history of this blog for a lesson in how not to run a board games publishing company). Now I'm at it again.

At the beginning of the year I announced my intention to get back into board game publishing (but not via KickStarter!) but I've made next to bot-all progress on that so far. The recent re-imagining of Zombology into a true semi co-op game and the resulting good feedback that has elicited has got me fired up once again and ready to kick off Games Publisher II (a working title!).

I've chosen a company name (which will remain secret until I've claimed the web domain!) and need to start the process of starting another company (does this make me a serial entrepreneur?).

I also need to start work on the art of Zombology more seriously. I'm intending to do it myself, since a very small print run has almost no room for an art budget. I've got some skills, but they are pretty limited so I need to work out what I can do to an acceptable level and temper my vision accordingly.

I'm going to ask my dad (an artist and the cover artist for Border Reivers) to help me come up with a logo for my company, and at the same time I need to get a company bank account set up so that I've got an account with which to start paying for things. I'll need this in place before registering the web domain and getting some hosting organised. I'll be doing it all properly again, which means more hours of bookkeeping and tax returns: joy.

It's all getting very exciting. The current plan is a 50-100 copy print run of Zombology depending on the cost of the printing. I want a number that I'm fairly sure I can sell out in around a year. I've got 8 pre-orders already (before I'd even chosen a game to publish - they're keen!), and I hope to get a few more under my belt before I get the printing done.

I'll be doing some rudimentary marketing as time goes on via a combination of Twitter, Google+ and BoardGameGeek, which started with a poll on Google+ this week to choose the last two suits. I'm happy with Healing Crystals, Homeopathy, Vegan Diet and Psychotherapy, but was less pleased with Reiki and Acupuncture. I asked for suggestions here last week and got several good ideas and then put them up to the vote on Wednesday. Magnets was a clear winner with Aromatherapy a strong second. The suits are locked!