What is a digital title?
A "digital" title means any title sold in a non-analog format. Beyond PDF files, this designation includes, but is not limited to, products designed for use on specific e-reader devices, such as MOBI or EPUB files; maps or other assets meant for use on digital VTT platforms; STL or OBJ files meant for 3D printing applications; or any other type of digital file or asset.
How are digital titles priced?
You set the price the customer pays to buy a digital title or a digital and printed title together as a single "combination" purchase.
Customers may hesitate to buy a digital title that's priced at as much or more than the print version of the same title. Some partners sell their digital titles for half the price of a retail print copy, while others charge a little more or a little less. Choose a price for your digital title that best suits your goals as a publishing partner.
If your goal is to maximize reach, making your title free increases accessibility. Make sure you market your title to see the best results. If your goal is to maximize income, setting a higher price for your digital title and then offering it at a deep discount can result in a significant increase in average revenue for the duration of the sale. Feel free to experiment with pricing to find the strategy that best works for you!
Based on historic data from DriveThruRPG sales for PDFs, the most successful price points are $1.00, $2.00, $2.95, $3.95, $4.99, $7.95, $10.00, $14.95, and $19.99.
DriveThru offers three articles on site-wide trends and best pricing practices:
How long does it take for my digital title to be approved?
If you are verified with us, your title will be approved automatically. Please allow up to 15 minutes for any changes to be shown on your title.
If you're not yet a verified publishing partner, it normally takes 1-3 business days to approve new titles as a Partner Relations Representative works through the current queue. This process can sometimes take a bit longer based on staff travel and vacation schedules.
How many digital titles can be submitted in a day?
Technically, you can upload and activate as many files as you like each day.
We recommend limiting the amount of products you make public to 3 titles per 24 hour period. Our homepage ribbons are limited to 3 new products per publisher per 24 hour period, so submitting more than that limits the amount of visibility your title listing will receive. Having products on the Newest Titles product strip on our front page is the best, cheapest way to get them noticed.
Can multiple files or file formats be uploaded for a digital titles?
Yes. We prefer this method to uploading zipped files or folders.
Titles can have more than one file associated with them. For example, some partners offer a PDF version in color for screen reading and a second PDF with fewer graphic elements and in black-and-white for home printing (i.e., a "printer-friendly" version). The latter effect can also be achieved using layers in Acrobat.
Some partners offer multiple formats for a title, providing a PDF, Epub, Mobi, or other formats as well. The customer can then choose which format files to download and use after purchase.
Maps and other add-on components can be provided as .jpg files (commonly called "JPEGS"). For customer convenience, large maps can consist of a JPEG of the full map and/or individual JPEGs of the map split into page-size pieces for home printing. All of the map files can then be uploaded separately and downloaded all at once by the buyer for easy delivery.
Unless a single title has more than eight or so files, we encourage you to upload multiple files for your title rather than zip all of the files together and offer one larger zip file. It is more convenient for the customer not to have to unzip their downloads, and it also makes updating individual files easier in the future.
Files for digital titles can be uploaded through the Update digital download files for a title tool.
Can I use RAR files?
We strongly recommend against uploading this file type, as customers may have a difficult time extracting the files.