last updated 2025-07-14
Is IPR open during the COVID-19 pandemic?
Yes. For more information see IPR Operations During Pandemic.
How do I apply to join IPR?
To join up with IPR, you need to provide us with review copies of your product or products. IPR does this to maintain a quality standard with the products we offer and our direct-sales customers and retailers have come to know IPR for that. It's also an opportunity for IPR to get familiar with your product and how to sell it.
Does this mean that I might get rejected?
Yes. Rejections are not common, but they do happen. When we determine that your products aren't the right fit for IPR, we'll do our best to explain why, and if we think it's possible your products could be a good fit for IPR, we'll tell you what we think needs to be done (improved layout, better binding, etc).
What is IPR looking for in a new product?
Products on IPR should have the following characteristics:
Absolutely NO use of Generative AI in art or text, in any way. We're interested in games made by humans for humans.
Excellent art, professional quality layout, attractive and eyecatching cover design, meticulous editing, well-written text, and a compelling rule set and/or setting. These are the criteria on which all submissions will be judged. If your product is lacking in any of these areas, it might be rejected. We are looking for products that make us sit up and take notice. If one of the criteria isn't quite up to snuff but there is some other aspect of the product that really knocks our socks off, we will bring the product on board despite a couple of weaknesses. On the other hand, if the product is competent but not exciting, we may reject it on that basis.
We're not currently accepting adventures for Mothership® Sci-Fi Horror RPG, Mörk Borg, or OSR, and are rarely interested in supplements for these.
We're not interested in games under 8 pages, or not bound printed matter. We'll occassionally accept a game in card format, if we like it enough to make up for the inability to ship it USPS Media Mail.
We're much less likely to be interested in games over 2.2 pounds (1kg), but it's OK to ask.
Does IPR do in-house printing?
Nope! You'll need to handle that yourself. Lulu, Lightning Source, and many others are good places to start.
Where do I send copies of my product for evaluation?
First, use the contact form at the top of this page or email support@indiepressrevolution.com
to tell us about your game. Include title, form factor and size, what it' about and how it's about it, number of players, GM-less or shared-GM or GM-ed, MSRP, and anything else you want us to know about it. If you crowdfunded it, please include a link to the campaign.If it sounds interesting to us, we'll ask you to upload the PDF for us to review. We may also ask you to send us a physical copy, but don't send a physical copy without us asking.
Nicholas Ambrose does the evaluations. If we ask you to, please mail to:
Indie Press Revolution
PO Box 247
Gerlach, NV 89412
USA
Note that submissions will not be returned even if rejected.
Don't send us a PDF without telling us about your game first. We'll send you an upload link to Dropbox if we want to see the PDF.
What can I expect to happen if I get approved?
If you're approved, Nicholas will send you a contract, which you'll sign and our General Manager Jason Walters will sign. Then Nicholas will set up your account, tell you where to ship your product and where to enter information so he can get the products set up on the site
What are the details, in brief?
- IPR doesn't work like distributors tend to. In a practical sense, IPR is an alliance of publishers using their strength of numbers to create a destination storefront for folks looking for small press games. Benefits include:
- IPR is a destination site. Customers enjoy the one-stop shopping aspect of IPR and don't have to hunt around through twelve separate publisher stores to get what they're looking for.
- IPR sells to retail affordably. IPR doesn't ask its publishers to cut deep on retailer discounts, but we do our best to be fair to the stores too. As a general rule, we offer a 45% off discount to retail stores.
- Â IPR's cut focuses on affordability. It breaks down like so:
- IPR's cut is 20% on sales of print products to retail stores, and on sales of "non-shipped" items (PDFs, MP3s).
- IPR's cut is 30% on sales of print products direct to consumers.
- IPR takes its cut off the sale price of the product. This means you get 70% of cover on direct print sales to consumers, and 80% of the 55% left over from a retail sale (leaving you with 44% of the cover price).
- The cut is all the fee you'll see. IPR's cut covers all the costs involved in a sale transaction: bank transactional fees, shipping discounts for the buyer, and a modest amount for IPR to cover other expenses & profit. By sticking with a flat, covers-everything cut, your costs should remain predictable.
- By carrying hundreds of games from over2100 publishers, IPR makes it feasible for retailers to order from one place in one shipment, rather than having to go around to dozens of separate webstores to place orders too small to take advantage of efficient shipping.
- IPR goes to conventions. IPR has a booth at Origins and Gen Con every year, and has partners at dozens of other US and UK conventions. While we can't take all 500 products to each show, we do our best to take an attractive mix of steady sellers and the new goodness.
- IPR knows your products. Part of the advantage of the evaluation process is that our staff gets a chance to learn something about your game. That means we can sell your games more effectively online and in person.
- You own your stuff. IPR's setup runs on a consignment basis. You own the product you send us. We respect that throughout your time of membership.
- Quarterly payments. IPR will report quarterly sales by the 15th of the following month: so, January 15th, April 15th, July 15th, and October 15th, with payment by the 22nd by mass PayPal (we cover the small fee) or paper check.
There's more, of course, but that should give you an idea! You'll get all the details when you get the contract, and we'll be glad to answer any questions or concerns you have.
What About Conventions?
By attending directly or working through trusted associates, IPR covers many conventions across the United States each year, making games available to fans who prefer to look before they buy but don't have a convenient local game store. These include Gen Con, Origins Game Fair, PAX East, PAX Unplugged, DexCon, Dreamation, DunDraCon, Big Bad Con, and many others. For a current list see the "Conventions" link in the Help menu on the left.
