I would happily pay twice that price, or maybe more, for a good-looking version.
I agree with mathgeek, and would like to encourage you to at least do some kind of poll based on a quote from a decent printer. I think you would be pleasantly surprised.
I'm not rich and don't go around throwing $100+ at random whims, but man, we are talking about an impressive tribute and memory of the games I, and many of us, love. A good bunch of the games you cover were an enormous influence during many years in my life (and I still come back to them regularly). It would be one of the most cherished books in my library. Although I love books, these years I'm limiting my physical book purchases to three or so a year due to lack of space, but I would get this one without even a second thought.
I don't want to believe that I live in a world where this book can't get a physical edition to make it justice. One way or another, it must be done.
PS: in page 79, the caption of the last screenshot of Ultima IV seems wrong. I think it was miscopied from a screenshot of The Bard's Tale.
Like a few here, I'd gladly pay $120 or more for a two volume hard cover version. Do consider doing a kickstarter or other form of crowdfunding. I've been reading the book and it's a real trip down memory lane :)
And in term of taxes, as someone living in Japan on a temporary visa in Japan, you do not pay taxes in Japan on income from abroad that does not get sent to Japan. I'm not sure about the Brazilian side of things but you might qualify as non-resident and in that case not be on the hook there. Of course, consult with a professional or read the double taxation agreements (which is a dry reading) but it's likely to not be too complicated in your case.
Heh, I'm still remembering this line: "[...]but if all goes well we're talking of a colored 480-page paperback for about $25-30. And that's printed on-demand via Amazon." ^^
But really, it is as mathgeek says. You are underestimating how much people are willing to pay for this. Though, as you said in the blog post, it's all future-talk at this point.
Thanks for the tip. The problem is that Parish publish his books through Amazon's CreateSpace, which is powerful but extremely expensive... printing the CRPG Book in color through it would cost more than $60 per unit. :/
Speaking for myself, I think $60 is reasonable for a 450 page, full color book about a niche subject. Bitmap Books does look like a good option, and wow, that book on Super Famicom box art is tempting...
+1 to $60 being totally reasonable (cheap even) price for 450 page book in color. I (and thousands of people) regularly pay $50-70 for pen and paper RPG books with less page count. And I've paid much, much more than that for niche art books.
Thanks, but it's a last resort. That wouldn't even require a crowdfunding campaign, I just upload the files and that's it.
Since I've spent over 4 years now on this, why not dream higher? I think it's worthy to try to make something cooler, of higher quality and cheaper for everyone.
The book doesn't even have a cover yet, so I might hire an amazing artist as stretch goal or something like that. :)
First off - this looks amazing; I'd definitely buy a copy myself (even digital only). I'm going to have to follow your progress on this work!
Now - a couple of suggestions (and I realize this work is still in progress - so maybe these are being considered):
1. You mention Dungeons of Daggorath - so there's a few things I wanted to clear up:
Don't write "Tandy Coco" - the proper term for the machine of the era is the "Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer", and there were two main versions; version 1 ("TRS-80 Color Computer 1") was sold with a large gray case (it was originally based off of a machine Radio Shack sold to farmers for Telex information!) and version 2 ("TRS-80 Color Computer 2") with a white case (there are sub-versions within that version, but that's not important). Later, Radio Shack released the Color Computer 3, which looks similar to the Color Computer 2, but had a different keyboard, and vastly upgraded capabilities. However, it was -not- labeled as a TRS-80, but rather as the "Tandy Color Computer 3" - I am not sure of why that name change occurred, but it did.
Now - owners of the machine typically called it the "CoCo" (notice the capitalization - so CoCo 1, CoCo 2, and CoCo 3), but it was never referenced this way by Tandy or Radio Shack. Since Dungeons of Daggorath originally came out prior to the CoCo 2, it would probably be best to label it with "Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer" which is generally understood to refer to the original version of the machine, but can also represent the second version as well.
It should be noted here that for the Color Computer 3, a "sequel" to DofD (of sorts) was released, called "Castle of Tharoggad" (notice the spelling!) - but it was poorly received, and most fans of DofD don't like to talk about it.
2. On the Color Computer, there were more than a few other RPG games - for the CoCo 2, one of the earliest was "Gates of Delirium" by Diecom Products (1984) - it was somewhat of a clone of Ultima.
3. Later, the CoCo 3 had "The Seventh/7th Link" released by Oblique Triad - it too was similar to Ultima, but incorporated an interesting 3D system similar to Dungeons of Daggorath for the "dungeon" portions (IIRC). It utilized much of the CoCo 3's better graphics capabilities.
I'm sure I am missing some others in there (which if you are interested, I can dig in my archives for and see what I can find); the Color Computer is near and dear to me, as it is the machine I grew up with and ultimately led to me becoming a software engineer. I still have both of my machines (a CoCo 2 and a CoCo 3), plus all of my issues of the Rainbow Magazine. I keep in touch with a long running listserv with other members who own or love the Color Computer.
Lastly - and I haven't looked at the book deeply to know - I am interested in finding out what you cover on RPGs for the Amiga - there were a few lesser known ones on that machine as well (one - I forget its name - used an early first-person 3D system with flat-shaded objects - when it didn't crash, it was pretty neat to play for the time).
Never heard this one before. Also, there's no "current definition" - people of different ages, countries and backgrounds all use different definitions.
There's no international and commonly accepted authority defining the one true standard.
