Publisher Speed Dating
When I last wrote, I was getting ready for T&G Con with high hopes for either / both of my card games, Stripes and That’s My Hat! I anxiously awaited the Speed Meeting event so I could pitch to publishers these soon to be wildly successful card games. First, I’ll tell you about what lessons I learned, then I’ll tell you the outcome.
I started by doing my research in preparing for the speed dating type event:
I had my speech down cold. It started with my name, the name of my game, the targeted ages and time to play. This is very important to give the publisher a frame of reference.
I stacked the deck (literally) to demonstrate my games in the best light.
I had Pitch Sheets available. They were attractive, had well composed pictures, basic information and white space.
I had my business cards at the ready. I even updated them with my social media usernames.
My preparation paid off in that I was given 4 or 5 business cards. That was the goal. If a company liked what they saw in the 90 seconds you had to pitch your game, they gave you a business card so you could follow up with them for a more in-depth discussion later.Â
What did I learn? A couple of things. The first lesson is to heed those that have gone before me when they say to only pitch one game at a speed dating event. But I am so enamored with our Mr. Mustache character that I couldn’t put him in the back seat even though I knew there wouldn’t be many publishers interested in a children’s card game. I “solved” this problem by asking the publisher which game they would like demonstrated. I quickly caught on that Mr. Mustache was not the huge hit that he was destined to be. I still don’t get it. He’s adorable! Anyway, not splitting my time between two games may have helped with my second big takeaway:
Take notes whenever you can. I wasn’t thinking about there being gaps between “dates”. Game inventors outnumbered the publishers by a fair amount at this particular event. As a result, you may have several dates in a row or you could hit a dry spell waiting for the next prospect to come by. Use that time to take notes! (But only after you’ve gotten your game back to its starting state.) I had a wonderful problem. I got business cards from people who wanted me to follow up with them, but it was such a blur I couldn’t remember their faces. A quick note or two, or even a discretely snapped picture on my iPhone would have helped me track them down the following day.
So did anything come of my first speed dating experience? Yes! There was a lot of waiting after the convention since the holidays are shortly after. Then the New York Toy Fair takes place in February so January is prep time. I’d email about once a month or so just to make sure I wasn’t forgotten. But one publisher was as excited about my card game, Stripes, as I was. I signed with Shari Spiro at Breaking Games. I’m very excited to see how this process unfolds and ultimately to see my game on store shelves!