Job profile! Game designer & game writer: Starting a business is not easy

Far above average diligence, total overview, clever Planning and the optimal use of all available resources are some prerequisites for the Success a successful start-up as a small self-employed person. Government help, on the other hand, is hardly available. What's the best way to go about it? A game designer and game author reports on his not always positive experiences.

Above average use

Self-employment means that you have to work constantly, at least in the initial phase, is not new. But it was clear to me that sometimes that wasn't enough either!

From the ARGEN you get grants as support for a start-up out of unemployment, which are very different in their type, amount and duration depending on the case. Of this usually far too little Capital you then have to make a living and also bring at least 125% of the labor input for the business start-up.

From the ARGE to self-sufficiency

I myself am a gamedesigner, a play and a book author, and my ARGE pushed me to become self-employed, even though I was only very briefly unemployed.

The books on the subject (advertising)

I've been self employed for 7 months now and noticed a lot fast, which financial hurdles are placed in your way, so that you can quickly and for sure can become successful.

The problems with start-ups in the area of ​​authors are as follows:

1. It is necessary first to work out works, which alone is very time-consuming. For a well-elaborated book or game you need an average of at least 3 months, depending on the type and scope. Well done on average!
2. Finished works must then be signed, which can also take a long time or may never succeed if you have bad luck.
3. What each author remains in the case of publishing is the self-marketing of his own products. However, depending on the case, this costs more or less money, which is usually not left over.
4. The jungle of the funding does not offer for authors also after my intensive research no means, in which you do not have a high proportion of the desired sum already have to get money, if these are granted. If you do not have this percentage sum, there is not the corresponding funding money and it is with it.
5. In the current economic situation, banks are also overly cautious with loans if they can already have successes from earlier times. What counts alone is collateral of a financial nature. If you do not have sufficient resources, there is no money.
6. Game designers can then only develop more games and bombard more publishers and/or agencies with them and hope for success. Having a game made by yourself without financial support and marketing it professionally is not possible if you want to raise it in such a way that you can make a living from it and this is the least sense and purpose of starting a business.
7. Book authors seem to have - and I stress that - much better opportunities today. You can have individual books produced by very different service providers. That procedure is called BoD. You only make a book if you have a safe buyer for it. That sounds good, because you do not need a high start-up capital, no storage space for a large edition needed and with most service providers, the shipping is easy to handle. But is that the optimal solution? Even if you can master the proofreading and correctional task yourself perfectly and are also graphically experienced enough to be able to design neat covers yourself, there is still a huge dark side, which does not strike you for the time being. The catch is the price and the delivery time. Books made using BoD tend to be more expensive than making a larger run at a print shop / bookbindery. However, the high unit price deters the buyer even if he finds the product somewhere. Why should someone buy a guide from an unknown publisher and unknown author at a high price if he gets it in half from a well-known publisher and popular author? Since books need to be made via BoD after ordering, this usually takes 5 - 7 days to ship to the customer longer than usual. This is rumored and then deter the buyers, since today usually the delivery time must specify.
8. Since many BoD writers publish their works without a professional proofreading and correction, they are often full of errors. Well, if only the content and not the grammar and / or spelling is interested, then this would be a good guide for a reasonable price. But the prices are not cheaper and then still bad quality? Anyone who has been disappointed by a BoD product will, in the future, refrain from doing this and certainly will not make advertising through oral propaganda, on the contrary.
9. Finding the work is usually also a big problem. Many BoD service companies are loudly advertising the fact that the work is listed in the list of available books and is offered on their web pages. Even with other well-known sales pages one is listed. Okay, I do not want to do that badly. Today only a few people go out for a book purchase, because they order over the Internet. Since you can find a work there, it can also be bought. But I emphasize - can -! I had one of my works marketed with such a service provider in my initial period. When I entered the sales pages, however, product-relevant catchwords, I found my right expensive work only after many pages. Accordingly it was then also sold.

social insurance

If you as an artist - and that's a writer - found your own publishing house and sell it yourself, then you face further problems. As an artist, you are usually registered with the Artists’ Social Insurance Fund (KSK) insured, which has many advantages.

If you suddenly become a publisher, depending on the case, it can lead to the KSK excluding you because you are mainly working commercially and no longer purely artistically. If then that Shop If things don't go well, you're not even well insured anymore!

Discounts for your success (advertising)!

Requirements

However, in order for the business to run smoothly, the following prerequisites must be met:

1. You have to have the money so that you can have the corrective board and editing done properly.
2. You need the money to make a run in the high, so you can be competitively priced.
3. If the work is globally valuable, then you need money for translations and so on.
4. The financial resources for effective advertising - and I emphasize effectively - must be available. Today everyone can advertise on the Internet. But even there, effective advertising is usually forbidden and can lead to high financial penalties in case of misuse or it costs just money. Tips and tricks there are lots of ways to advertise on the Internet free of charge, but after checking these possibilities, I unfortunately have to say that the free advertising possibilities regarding time expenditure and positive effect are in no relation to each other. Search engine optimization is still the only trick that brings honestly very good results compared to other advertised possibilities. For freelancers, there are even legal limits as regards advertising opportunities.

workload

So you can not go without moss! I would like to give you a brief overview of what I have done in the 7 months of my business.

• Daily Average working hours with weekends and holidays = 13 Std.
• Developed games / puzzles for TV 58 pieces
• 1 developed TV format
• Developed company games 5 pieces
• 1 Guide to the topic “Game addiction in PC / console and online games”
• 1 non-fiction book for the reinterpretation of the Big Bang with its own conclusive theory
• 1 Fantasieroman completely reworked
• Further written on another novel part
• 3 theme concepts for new social games developed
• I'm deliberately leaving work on research, and so on, as they are time-intensive, but they would break the boundaries

So I literally opened myself up to the point of being successful. The result is that after 7 months 3 of my TV puzzles were bought, 1 Roman at a publishing house came, 1 company game will come under contract and the rest is either still at publishers for the examination or was rejected.

I've signed games and books to publishers several times in my life. You often have to try several times to get a contract because not all publishers have the same range or taste. The Problem is that even with publishing success you only get a minimal sum per piece sold.

Earn the same 0

If you don't get a job with a publisher with the appropriate sales figures, you earn very little. If you publish it yourself, however, you can do quite well with a lot of diligence on your own to earn, but in order to accomplish this, you need enough in advance Money.

For example, I am completely convinced that my guide on “Game addiction in PC / console and online games” could become a global success. But I lack the money for production and translation.

My non-fiction book on the subject of “refutation of the big bang theory” has already been described as an absolute hit by experts, as I offer a completely new view of our environment and inner world and last for centuries Streit between religions and science completely without me having to step on the tie, because I have eliminated the basis for the dispute through my theory ... Many of my game ideas also left themselves merchandise. But even for this self-marketing I don't have the money and none of the funds apply to my project as far as I got information.

No funding for authors

What shoud that? Why are serious authors not properly funded? Has no one yet explained to the responsible ladies and gentlemen that producing and selling books and games costs real money if you do it seriously and with economic Sustainability want to operate? Anyone starting a business today in the technological field to generate new energies has umpteen funding pots available. Sure, I'm also for clean and inexpensive Energy, but you should be there Honestly set different standards when it comes to funding? I do not think so.

My klare Conviction goes in the direction that it would make much more sense if you promote business founders right from the start, so that the existence of the Founders can exist in the long term and possibly also create more jobs. Everything else is humbug! After these 7 months of starting my own business, I feel really exhausted and quite at a loss and let down by the state, to put it mildly nice accept. I still have 2 months left, then the funding period is over.

Advice and action

Well, in 2 months, I can develop more games, write more books, and so on, but if the fat success does not come, I will have to go to the ARGE ashamed and say that my attempt to start a business has failed due to lack of financial support. This is exactly what I do not want. I hate to have to go to any office because I am by no means lazy and want to earn my own money. But for a business start-up as an author or author, you need more to cover your running expenses. All above-average diligence helps only a little.

I would be very happy if someone could help me with advice and / or action, because already at the word ARGE a cold shiver runs over my back!

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