How to find if a publisher is good or not

[Jack Norton]

Yesterday just turned on a publishing offer.
I find interesting writing down a list of things that should tell you if a publisher is good (serious) or not.
1) check their website. In my case their website was "under construction" and "we're just starting" isn't an excuse. Beside, if you're just starting how can I trust that you'll sell my games well?
2) check contracts spell errors. I got the contract sent to me three times and even in the "final" version there was a nice augusR instead of augusT just before the signature field (so how could they have missed it? also I think that if the date isn't valid, the contract could be claimed invalid!)
3) advance royalties... they say "we offer you 9000$ in advance" and you can be easily tricked (well they almost got me infact). then you read that you MAY get those AFTER 30 days OR release of the game in XXX country (was retail part of the deal). What if they don't manage to release it? I should work to adapt the games for multilanguage and don't expect any payment BEFORE starting? my games are ready, you can see them. I have concrete things to offer and they don't. So just ask for a IMMEDIATE payment of the half of those "advance royalties" otherwise you may never see them...
4) negotiate. Unless your game is very crap never accept the first offer they make. From first contract to last one, the money they offered was doubled so their first offer was really low if they can afford to offer double money...
5) LINKS request. That was almost fun: they required me to put a BANNER or a link from mine to their website and they wanted to sell my games with ESD at a LOWER price!! haha yes, the people come to me, then come there and see the same games at less price... wonder where they'd buy them? that would mean losing lot of sales! and that request also mean that they don't really know how to do marketing (never seen BFG or real asking for such a deal!!)
6) last but not least reputation. Ask around before signing with someone, even if experience varies, if all people say "yes had no problem with them" you SHOULD be safe

This is my list if someone want to put more advice/suggestions...

[alfie]

Jack, which country was this so called "publisher" from?

Alfie

[Jack Norton]

Sorry but to avoid troubles, I won't post any info about it but I sent you a private msg

[super_e]

Hi Jack,

Thanks for the advices. They are very helpful especially for newbies like me.

Have you been in touch with the "bigger" publishers like Yahoo, Pogo, Gamehouse, and RealArcade? Can you actually go through them directly or do you have to go through smaller ones? I also noticed that Popcap is now selling stuff from other companies, does that mean they are also "publishing"?

[Gilzu]

1) check their website. In my case their website was "under construction" and "we're just starting" isn't an excuse. Beside, if you're just starting how can I trust that you'll sell my games well?

Check if he has a domain and a host. those worth about $5-$10 a month. If the publisher can't spend that, Don't expect him to spend more on publishing your game. Same goes for Website look&feel, as that will be the same way your game will be published. bottom line, if the the publisher can't publish itself well, why should he have any more sucess with your game?

2) check contracts spell errors. I got the contract sent to me three times and even in the "final" version there was a nice augusR instead of augusT just before the signature field (so how could they have missed it? also I think that if the date isn't valid, the contract could be claimed invalid!)

Contracts exist to clear things up about the deal. If they aren't spelled, dated, elaburate enough, it means trouble or lack of experience by the publisher. Also, ALWAYS ask a lawyer advice about things you should sign, especially if they invoulve your money/product/reputation.

3) advance royalties... they say "we offer you 9000$ in advance" and you can be easily tricked (well they almost got me infact). then you read that you MAY get those AFTER 30 days OR release of the game in XXX country (was retail part of the deal). What if they don't manage to release it? I should work to adapt the games for multilanguage and don't expect any payment BEFORE starting? my games are ready, you can see them. I have concrete things to offer and they don't. So just ask for a IMMEDIATE payment of the half of those "advance royalties" otherwise you may never see them...

Run Forest, RUN! this is much like those posts on gamedev.net we see saying "if we'll make money out of it, you'll get some." (subtext:and keep all rights for your work to ourselves).

4) negotiate. Unless your game is very crap never accept the first offer they make. From first contract to last one, the money they offered was doubled so their first offer was really low if they can afford to offer double money...

It's also interesting to see how much they want your game or just bulk mailing to everyone.

5) LINKS request. That was almost fun: they required me to put a BANNER or a link from mine to their website and they wanted to sell my games with ESD at a LOWER price!! haha yes, the people come to me, then come there and see the same games at less price... wonder where they'd buy them? that would mean losing lot of sales! and that request also mean that they don't really know how to do marketing (never seen BFG or real asking for such a deal!!)

RED LIGHT (#2) !
a publisher having a bad time bringing traffic to his website?

[alfie]

As anyone considered asking these speculative/unproven publishers (when they first approach you) for a non refundable $250 payment (whether a deal is reached or not) to cover your expenes for considering/negoiating/evaluating their proposition?

Alfie

[Andy]

One time I have asked one of them to order the game at first when he required to give them the License Code to test the full version - 19.95$ - just for sure. And yes, he made attempt to order it. Of course I answered "Well, OK, forget it, there is your License Code"... The end of story?-Sure they have disappeared as always Almost always...