Yesterday I was able to share the best selling DMsGuild products of the year. Those are titles that people could spend money on for the first time ranked by how well they sold. Wizards of the Coast took the top spot but not the top three.
I also asked for the top newcomers, and the busy at the DMsGuild got back to me with the top 20. Thank you.
We didn’t get into the nuts and bolts of definition. DMsGuild can’t share commercially sensitive data, but it would be nice to define “new” and “best selling” precisely. I infer these are publishers who are new to the shop this year, despite experience from elsewhere, and the same sort of total sales value metric that seems to populate the bestseller lists.
- Heroic Maps from Sarah Bilton and Joseph Bilton
- Splinterverse Media from Jimmy Flowers
- Beth the Bard
- Jon Morecroft
- Hedra Group
- The Wild Court
- Need Games
- Mark Comfort
- Harmony The bard
- Carl Terence Vandal
- Sean Atherton
- Daniel Kay
- Eric Boyd
- Jesse Jerdak
- Harvey Clarke
- Cayce Corday
- Angela Bradley
- Mark Mockridge
- T.M. van Dalen
- Ghostfire Gaming
The top three newcomers
I took the chance to drop the top three a quick email Q&A. After all, everyone on this list has already made helpful contributions to the community and are worth listening to.
What motivated you to create this year?
Heroic Maps by Joseph Bilton and Sarah Bilton
We’ve been making TTRPG maps and player supplements for nearly a decade (which are available on DrivethruRPG and via our Patreon). Earlier this year we felt inspired by the snappy and varied format of the Candlekeep adventures and we wanted to make some support materials. We’ve been enjoying using them in our own games, so we’re glad other people like them.
Splinterverse by Jimmy Flowers
The number one reason I create is to bring smiles to people’s faces and leave something behind that hopefully can entertain people for a long time. I really love being a part of the TTRPG community not only via creating but also celebrating and supporting the work of others too.
Beth the Bard
What motivated me to create this year is a drive to see more women represented in Dungeons and Dragons!
What from the world of RPGs are you looking forward to in 2022?
Splinterverse by Jimmy Flowers
Splinterverse Media has a lot of projects planned, including our first Kickstarter, so I’m excited for that to reach a point where I can talk about it. It’s hard to keep it a secret. Outside of that though, I’m really looking forward to the 2022 Wizards of the Coast releases and continuing to look at all the third party D&D content coming out each week on my YouTube show.
Beth the Bard
I’m looking forward to so many things in 2022, but especially a new DMs Guild project and the Deep Breadth RPG Kickstarter in the spring!
Heroic Maps
We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get back to more in-person gaming in 2022. One of the 5e settings we’re keen to play is Lou Anders’s Thrones and Bones: Norrøngard. The Kickstarter for this just fulfilled in the last couple of months and we made a whole set of maps for the adventures which we’d love to use on the real tabletop.
What tip would you give someone considering writing and publishing some material through the DMsGuild?
Beth the Bard
I’m looking forward to so many things in 2022, but especially a new DMs Guild project and the Deep Breadth RPG Kickstarter in the spring!
My tips for new publishers are to create what YOU want and need. The passion will be apparent. Also, hire a good cover artist!
Heroic Maps
We’re hoping that we’ll be able to get back to more in-person gaming in 2022. One of the 5e settings we’re keen to play is Lou Anders’s Thrones and Bones: Norrøngard. The Kickstarter for this just fulfilled in the last couple of months and we made a whole set of maps for the adventures which we’d love to use on the real tabletop.
Jimmy Flowers
First, stick with it. It is easy to procrastinate or give up, but there are people out there like me who truly want to hear what you have to say. Second, think of your book’s cover like a window display and signage for a store — it draws people in — and think of your catalog page as your salesperson. Don’t let these things be an afterthought. If you spend time on them, you will increase your sales.
Let us know what you think in the comment section below.
