It’s been a few months since Issue #1 of my homebrew videogame magazine, RETROBREW, was released, and I thought it would be a good time to share some data on how well it sold, what it cost to make, and things of that nature.
Although I’m in Canada, I’ll list all dollar amounts in USD for simplicity, but keep in mind I’m doing a conversion today rather than when the transaction occurred, so this may not be entirely accurate.
Background
First, a little preamble about what RETROBREW is. Originally I envisioned the magazine being a very small, digital-only magazine, which would simply be a few pages showing clips and gifs of homebrew games currently in development. I was only going to have very limited information about each game, with the idea that RETROBREW would just be a “jumping off point” for people to find out more. I expected to work on this for a few days, or a week at most.
However, things expanded a bit from there, and I probably spent about 2 months on the project. The result is a fairly short 20 page magazine (include front and back cover), with 6 pages dedicated to an original comic series (“72 Pin Connection”) and coverage of 8 games across 10 pages.
Reception to the magazine has been, I think, entirely positive. That’s like due to it being so niche, so I think generally the audience is happy to have something so specific to their interests, and isn’t looking to nitpick.
Formats
The magazine came in 3 formats. The intended way to read the magazine is the “Interactive Digital Edition” which features lots of animations and videos embedded on each page. There is also a tradition print version, as well as a static PDF.
The digital version (including both the PDF and Interactive formats) sold for $3.95, while the physical version cost $7.95 + Shipping (usually about $4-$8 depending on where it is shipping to).
Despite the Physical version costing more than double the Digital edition, readers were split pretty even between Digital and Physical versions of the magazine.
Costs
The magazine was created by me, with some outsourcing for things like the comic book. I also had to pay for the software to build to Interactive Edition of the magazine, as well as printed proofs of the physical version to ensure it looked correct. I also experimented with some online advertising.
So all-in-all it took 2 months of my spare time and about $528 to create the magazine. You’ll notice that there is no cost of goods for the physical version. I used a company that does “print on demand” and there is no up front cost of goods; they just take a cut of every sale (similar to digital sales).
I was also blessed with another amazing Beta Testing crew on my Discord server who helped proofread everything for free!
The online advertising turned out to be a total waste of money. I has almost no engagement, and burnt through my budget very quickly. I suspect RETROBREW is far too niche to benefit from trying to go wide with my audience; the people who would buy the magazine probably will find out about it organically.
Since this was the first magazine I did, I hope that the 2 months I spent on the first issue will be cut in half for subsequent issues. I learned a lot through trial an error, which should help going forward.
I’m working with my artists to try and find cost cutting saving for the biggest cost on the project, Art Outsourcing. It will likely still be the highest cost going forward, but hopefully not as high.
Sales and Profit
Now the fun part! How many copies were actually sold, and how much did I make off each one?
Although the physical and digital editions of the magazine had different price tags, they were both priced such that I made $3.95 profit off each of them.
NOTE: The totals are not simply Copies x Profit Margin because people sometimes leave tips, and I also had a brief sale.
As you can see, I sold about 300 copies of the magazine across all platforms, totaling about $1,255 gross profit.
If you subtract the costs covered early, that’s $1,255 – $528 = $727 NET PROFIT.
Conclusion
So is $730 worth 2 months of my spare time? Nope! Will there be an issue #2 of RETROBREW? Of course!
I would have loved for this magazine to be a huge money-maker, but I make it for the fun of making it. Sharing the projects I love, and the developers that inspire me as a homebrew dev myself, is why I make it. However, like everyone, I do have limited free time, and a lot of others projects on the go (many of which do bring in a decent amount of money), so RETROBREW will likely only happen once or twice a year, as I work on it in my spare-spare time between game projects.
I hope this look behind the ledger has been interesting. If there is anything I didn’t cover, and that you want clarity on, please reach out in the comments or on social media, and I would be happy to discuss in more detail!
So glad to hear you are going to continue! It will be worth the wait!
Thanks!