After considering whether to self-publish or work with a publisher, you’ve decided on the latter—now it’s time to plan when and how to approach one. There are three strategies you could start with. One of them is a recipe for disaster and we’ll get that one out of the way first, so that you can consider the other two.

Countless factors beyond your control may affect your search for a publisher. What you can control is to intentionally choose a strategy for finding a publisher for your game. In general, you can take one of these three paths:

• Optionality from the start (cool)

• Build leverage over time (cool)

• Wait until you’re in a tight spot (terrible)

Let’s get the terrible one out of the way.

Getting yourself in a tight spot

After deciding to work on the game full time, one day you wake up and realize you’ve only got a few months of runway left. If you’re a solo developer, that might mean you’ll have to look for a paid gig—not great, not terrible. But, if you’ve got a team of people to provide for, it’s going to feel like a massive boulder crushing you slowly, day by day.

The reason why you find yourself in a tight spot might be sudden and uncontrollable, yet most of the time it is due to complacency and because the project was not set on solid foundations. If you had developed optionality or leverage, it would be much easier and less painful to bounce back.

The fear for the future of your team and project will lead to desperation, which will push you to knock on any door and accept any kind of a deal that will keep you afloat.

How to avoid getting yourself in such a state? Build strong foundations with leverage or develop optionality. The two are deeply intertwined and not mutually exclusive, but they differ in how you will begin your campaign.

Building for optionality

Noun: the quality of being available to be chosen but not obligatory.

As soon as you have something to show—do it. Don’t limit your exposure to social media and #screenshot[day]. Begin reaching out to publishers and share what you’re working on.

But I’m not ready to pitch?

And you’re not pitching. You’re testing the waters, probing, checking the signals. Publishers rarely sit idle, waiting for the perfect pitch to land in their lap. They plan out their pipeline at least one year ahead, and you want to be in the back of their mind when they start planning and filling up their calendars.

It comes without saying that you won’t be coming to them with (just) an idea, but with something tangible—a game design document, vertical slice, first playable, or a prototype of sort that will show the story and the visual aspect of what you’re making. Your goal is to peak their interest and get a feel of whether eventually they will be a fitting publisher for your video game.

When you decide to pitch a game, you won’t be a random inbox email left to be open at some point in the future—publishers will know your studio, what you’re making, the progress you’ve made so far, and your ability to execute on your ideas.

A caveat: do not spam. Update when you achieve a significant breakthrough in development. Focus on the publishers that have shown interest or those you are really hopeful to work with. You want to be associated with good work and delivery, not with swamping their inbox.

Weak or negative response from publishers? Excellent! You’ll know not to waste your energy and resources on finding a publisher, and that you should turn towards self-publishing your video game.

Building leverage

No way you’re going to reach out to publishers straight away? Then focus on building leverage for when that time comes. Your leverage will be your audience and, or, crowdfunding success.

If you wait until you have a fully developed game ready to pitch to a publisher, you’re putting yourself in a disadvantaged position. At that moment, you need publishers, and very often that need becomes urgent. Your game might be fantastic, yet publishers will be reserved and will have the upper hand in the negotiations because you have no proof that anyone will actually play the game.

However, if you grow an audience and gather support for the game while developing it, you set yourself to be the one publishers will be chasing after and accommodating to. Keep in mind that publishers want success too, and more often than not they gamble and lose money on projects. Precisely because the unknowns make them act conservatively, they’re constantly on the look out for games that have some proof that they will be a success.

A successful crowdfunding campaign is another leverage you would be able to use in negotiations with publishers. Besides showing that people are willing to pay for your game in advance, a crowdfunding campaign usually means that the game has already received media coverage and has some mind awareness with the players.

The reason why only a handful of developers build such leverage is that it’s a very challenging process. If you don’t count among the extremely lucky, you’ll need financial resources and skill to pull this off—or a strong and committed (also skillful) team to work alongside with. Also, some might feel uneasy to take on a game that has been featured through a crowdfunding campaign, although that’s not the case with the majority of publishers.

Financial backing for building leverage can come through bootstrapping, hefty grants, or investment in your studio. One of the studios we’ve talked to received financial backing that made them feel comfortable to produce a vertical slice and plan for a crowdfunding campaign. Their plan at the time was to grow a community for the game, launch a Kickstarter, and use the proof of product-market fit as leverage when pitching their game to publishers.

An additional factor to consider

Think about your requirements: what will a publisher have to be able to provide to be a good fit for you? Finances, co-development, localization, QA, porting, etc? Knowing what you need and who can offer what service will help you plan when to reach out and what to ask for. The longer you wait, the more difficult it will be for any publisher to provide required services in the timeline you’ve envisioned.

Which strategy should you choose?

It depends—how comfortable you are with communicating directly with publishers and the audience for your game. Both ways assume that you’re willing to commit and take on the responsibility of delivering on what you’ve promised.

Even if you prefer developing your video game in stealth, count on the moment when and how you’ll emerge and let others know that you and your project exist. Communication is unavoidable, and pretending that you’re an exception will lead you into a tight spot that will be hard to escape.

Both strategies are viable and at one moment they bring you to the one and the same road of getting your game in front of players. It’s in the beginning that you should deliberately choose a strategy that works best for you and your studio.