10 Ways to Support Your Backlist

A book publisher friend recently asked me a simple but incredibly enlightening question: What percentage of our sales consist of our backlist (products released at least 1 year ago and are in the reprint cycle) versus our frontlist (products released in the last year)?

The answer, of course, is that the vast majority of our sales are from the backlist. Yes, the frontlist products–Viticulture World, Libertalia: Winds of Galecrest, Tapestry: Arts & Architecture, and Rolling Realms–are shiny and new, but they’re far outsold by backlist titles like Wingspan, Scythe, and Viticulture (core games and previous expansions).

So, my book publisher friend (Todd) pondered, what are we doing to support the backlist? We get caught up in marketing the new hotness in the hopes that those products will become evergreen, but if most of our sales are from the backlist, it would seem that a significant part of our marketing efforts should be on those games.

Given this epiphany, I think we can do a lot more to support our backlist, and here’s what we currently try to do:

1. Send backlist products to reviewers: Viticulture had its retail release 9 years ago, and I still send out batches of review copies for it every few months.
2. Keep backlist products in stock for distributors/retailers: Retailers can’t sell backlist titles if they’re not in print. We rarely let a product remain out of print for longer than 3 months–as long as we think we can sell through a reprint in 18-24 months, we’ll make it. We also keep retailers informed of in stock and incoming products via a monthly newsletter.
3. Release expansions and accessories: Not only do expansions and accessories show customers that you’re actively supporting a product, but they can also remind new customers that the product exists.
4. Foster a welcoming community: We have game-specific Facebook groups for all of our games, encouraging people to ask questions, post photos, and share fan creations. We also just started a Stonemaier-specific Discord server (see link in the most recent newsletter).
5. Use product design to encourage social sharing: Marketing starts with the design of the product itself. We try to craft games with aesthetically pleasing, photogenic table presence; this is primarily for the experience of playing the game itself, but the helpful side effect is that people are more likely to take photos and share them on social media.
6. E-newsletter mentions: In our monthly e-newsletter, while the spotlight is often on the latest announcement or newest product, I also try to mention backlist titles too. In the most recent newsletter I also added a new section where I list the 5 bestselling products on our webstore over the last month; by nature they’ll often be newer products, but sometimes I’m sure older products will appear there.
7. Demonstrate strong social proof: For those who are researching one of our games and may be on the fence, it helps to provide social proof on our website, webstore, and advertising that the game has sold well, highly ranked, and is critically acclaimed (if applicable).
8. YouTube and Instagram: I primarily talk about other publisher’s games on YouTube and Instagram, but I sprinkle in mentions of Stonemaier products too (e.g., My Top Stonemaier Gamed Design Regrets).
9. Highlight anniversary and special offers: Whenever we have a retail release anniversary for a game, I invite people to get the game to their table and share the outcome on social media (tagging @jameystegmaier on Instagram so I can share their posts to my story). I also often feature a discounted “product of the month” in our Champion and/or regular newsletters.
10. Offer digital implementations: Ranging from Tabletopia to Board Game Arena to full-AI digital ports, we’ve found that offering digital versions of our games can keep them in the public eye and welcome newcomers.

Across the board, most of these methods are focused on bringing these backlist games to the table and into the conversation, as word-of-mouth marketing is more powerful than any form of self-generated advertising or promotion. I’m sure we could do more and do better to inspire word-of-mouth, though–a big part of it is creating products that people are eager to play, talk about, and share!

I’m curious how other publishers perceive their backlist and what they do to support older products. As a consumer, what’s the last time you learned about a game (or a book) released at least 1 year ago that resulted in a purchase? What brought it to your attention?

Also read: 10 Ways I Market Stonemaier Games Post-Kickstarter

Teel free to join me for today’s live book club session for A Crowdfunder’s Strategy Guide; it’ll be on the Stonemaier Games Facebook page at 3:00 Central on Thursday.

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