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The Talon Of Horus


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I would say that you aren't doing your job properly if a product completely sells out in 4 hours, clearly you could have made and sold a more significant number of copies and made even more money.

 

"Clearly". Somehow I'm not convinced you know better how many they could have sold than the guys with access to complete sales data on every single book they've ever published, including their experiments with books limited by time rather than strict quantity. Just seems like it would be a fairly overwhelming advantage when making that judgment.

If I had to guess, since I haven't spoken with anyone who has any information on the situation, I'd assume that since this is the first release of a new format, and of a new series, a smaller run was decided upon to gauge the responses. Which is fine. Where that falls over is the brain drain someone must have had to overlook: The quality of the book - The FW heresy series has proved that people are willing to drop fairly significant amounts of money on an excellent quality product; Who the author is - Aaron is arguably the most popular author in BL, all of his work generates a crazy amount of buzz well before it get's near a release and the fact he doesn't drop a book every 8-12 months just screws that anticipation up another few notches; The content of the book itself - This is the birth and evolution of the Black Legion and how they fight the Long War through to the end of the Dark Millennium, something that has been just as intrinsic to 40k lore as the Horus Heresy, it's going to have a broad appeal.

 

Taking Aurelian as the prime example since that was the first time the BL servers melted down from a traffic overload, at the very least the guys there learned from the experience and altered the approach to the limited editions of the heresy novels - now they're done to order and everyone who wants one is able to get one. Granted it sets the lead time back a good month or 2 but at least everyone has the opportunity to get what they want.

 

Do I expect a change for when Black Legion is out? Of course, only a retard would make the same mistakes again. Whether that be a bigger batch available or made to order who knows but I'd be outright shocked if nothing was done to take advantage of the obvious popularity. And if there's one thing that BL do very well, it's tap into a potential revenue stream

Maybe they just really want First Editions to actually be exclusive... Maybe they aren't the greedy swine that the internet makes them out to be, and even though they new they could sell many more, they kept the volume low on purpose to drive up excitement. 

Some replies and apologies for my fave forum, now the aftershocks have quietened down and I've slept for seven delicious hours.

 

 

Eh, to be fair, the "never will be printed again" will probably only last until they print it in some sort of anthology. Most like the Black Legion omnibus.

 

As far as I know (and I've asked/been told several times by some senior folks), this is very much a First Edition-only thing, and will stay that way. I can't guarantee that because times (and managerial staff) always change, and occasionally policy changes with them, but in this case I'd consider it a reasonably safe bet that The Wonderworker won't see the light of day elsewhere. I wasn't surprised when limited edition Heresy novellas went on sale in unlimited numbers. I would be surprised if The Wonderworker showed up elsewhere, but hey, a lot of things surprise me. I didn't expect LeBron to really go home.

 

Beyond two blog posts this week I've not mentioned the story at all, and I've done no legwork to hype it up, advertise it, or insist its importance. I was careful to make it something personal to me - something I wanted to write that hopefully people will like, but I just want to reiterate as a general note that if you missed it, all you're missing is a little more of the story between Books I and II. You're not missing any vital lore, or anything I cut out of the main storyline. No one crucial will die in The Wonderworker, and although a major new character is introduced, they'll be around in Book II, true as truth.

 

Just to hopefully reassure some folks, there.

 

 

Well I missed it what with the errors and it reminded me of my horrible experience with Aurellian. 

 

Yeah. As much as I joked about the "glory" of bringing the website to a grinding halt, I feel you on that score. Curiously, after the Aurelian issues, I heard that Black Library actually took pretty significant measures to retool and expand their side of things specifically to prevent it again in the future. Peace was restored to the land for a time.

 

With that in mind, if you'd told me it'd happen again, I'd likely have laughed. I was pretty stunned to see a repeat, as I'm sure BL were, too. This isn't, after all, a Heresy release. Those have always reigned supreme in sales and interest. Plus, Aurelian was released in an era of social media contact, with BL's Facebook and Twitter pages generating interest and keeping people informed. That's a significant advertising black hole now. I didn't even expect this to sell out, let alone throw a spanner in the works.

 

So, again, I can only apologise for the inconvenience, dude.

 

 

 

I would say that you aren't doing your job properly if a product completely sells out in 4 hours, clearly you could have made and sold a more significant number of copies and made even more money.

 
"Clearly". Somehow I'm not convinced you know better how many they could have sold than the guys with access to complete sales data on every single book they've ever published, including their experiments with books limited by time rather than strict quantity. Just seems like it would be a fairly overwhelming advantage when making that judgment.

 

 

Maybe they just really want First Editions to actually be exclusive... Maybe they aren't the greedy swine that the internet makes them out to be, and even though they new they could sell many more, they kept the volume low on purpose to drive up excitement. 

 

There's a lot to be said for that, Steely P. As much as any company wants to make money, there's more to it than that. There are a dozen ways to have made more money from ltd. ed. HH novellas in the past, or to have converted this first First Edition into a gold mine. I couldn't say for certain if there'll be more for the next First Edition (I'd guess not, but I have no head for this stuff) and this was definitely an experiment tempered by needing to gauge reaction and sales, but the exclusivity is an important part of the package. It's something unique and rare, like you said.

Well, that makes me happy I managed to get a copy. Honestly, I figured that maybe now, the plan is Wonderworker is unique, but later on with enough generated interest it could be used as a sales pitch for an anthology or something. That special silver lining, so to speak. Time will tell I guess.
I hope they do, because I kind of restricted myself to getting The Purge and Talon of Horus' first ebook release, instead of this First Edition and no Purge. I get the whole point and charm behind the exclusivity, but still. I would like to read it.

Poop I missed it. Came home from an 8 hour drive and family BBQ from hell and promptly missed out.

 

I shall await the eBay sellers.

 

Truly well done A D-B, massive congratulations!

 

 

 

 

P.s;please please please write the next CSM codex. You have the POWER!!!!

Maybe they just really want First Editions to actually be exclusive... Maybe they aren't the greedy swine that the internet makes them out to be, and even though they new they could sell many more, they kept the volume low on purpose to drive up excitement.

And it worked like nobodies business!

 

My hope is people actually bought this to read, savour and enjoy rather than to scalp. There are a few people who crop up regularly doing that and it really grinds my gears. Unfair on everyone else.

 

Is ToH signed too? Can't remember.

So is the wonderworker a paper product or an ebook?

 

I confess I didn't really see what the offer was, I read the first chapter and decided I wanted in. I could have waited for the hard/paper back, but I'm impatient like that.

 

Plus the fancy pants cover looks like it'll sit well with my HH rules books.

 

Also, when does this ship? Can I expect a delivery in the week? It's a shame it's a bank holiday weekend (Words I thought I'd never utter) because  I'll have to wait longer for it.

checked again today... Awaiting packaging baby! 

 

I dunno why it was so hard to confirm. I truly thought I had lost it but it does show as purchased today. Probably going to be a painful wait for it to get all the way to Canada, but whatever. 

 

Thanks for the Wallpaper link..... really nice art there. Can't wait to see the art inside.

 

 

Hope given the size and cost they box it - nothing worse than a damaged book in the post.

 

 

If it's damaged in the post they can print and send me copy 1501!

 

That'd be a pretty unique book then ;)

Or perhaps it will be whatever # Mk II.

Maybe I'm not the only one thinking that this is such a success Black Library might be thinking "hmm, this First Edition thing's going well. Wonder if we can do a 'Second Edition' for those that missed out on the First Edition"

 

That's what they did with Aurelian effectively, Gold edition with all the perks (aka First Edition) and Silver edition which is still limited and out long before general release but doesn't have all the bells and whistles (Second Edition?)

Hope given the size and cost they box it - nothing worse than a damaged book in the post.

 

They sent me mine a couple of weeks ago. It took ages to get into. They're very well boxed up and safe. 

 

 

Have you seen his signature? I doubt he's going to belt through 1500 copies of that for a giggle.

 

Ah well there's always the weekender for it

 

Yeah, it took me three days to get through all those Aurelians, and then I had to ship back the title pages to be sent on for inlaying during production and binding. It was a ballache. I've not been to Nottingham in months, so signing them all was out of the realm of possibility. 

In the course of canvassing each election, we have to seal certain things like voted ballots. The seals are there to prove that nothing within has been affected since the final official results. These seals will each have two elections officials' signatures on them. Not just a normal signatures, they have to be clearly legible and they need to be the full name. And there are thousands of stuff to seal.

 

So I can commiserate on the signed copies front. Or maybe I don't because I get paid for the hours spent, so it's not exactly 'for a giggle.' :p

 

 

Hope given the size and cost they box it - nothing worse than a damaged book in the post.

They sent me mine a couple of weeks ago. It took ages to get into. They're very well boxed up and safe.

That is immensely reassuring. Always embarrassing to go back and be like 'you had one job'....

 

Have you not taught your son and heir how to forge it yet? Production line technique is the way forward.

So is the wonderworker a paper product or an ebook?

I confess I didn't really see what the offer was, I read the first chapter and decided I wanted in. I could have waited for the hard/paper back, but I'm impatient like that.

Plus the fancy pants cover looks like it'll sit well with my HH rules books.

Also, when does this ship? Can I expect a delivery in the week? It's a shame it's a bank holiday weekend (Words I thought I'd never utter) because I'll have to wait longer for it.

The Wonderworker is actually part of the book. The book has the novel "The Talon of Horus" and then has a few related(and some very thinly related) short stories in a manner similar to the Iron Warriors omnibus, which was one novel and several short stories.

Hope given the size and cost they box it - nothing worse than a damaged book in the post.

If it's damaged in the post they can print and send me copy 1501!

That'd be a pretty unique book then msn-wink.gif

Or perhaps it will be whatever # Mk II.

Maybe I'm not the only one thinking that this is such a success Black Library might be thinking "hmm, this First Edition thing's going well. Wonder if we can do a 'Second Edition' for those that missed out on the First Edition"

That's what they did with Aurelian effectively, Gold edition with all the perks (aka First Edition) and Silver edition which is still limited and out long before general release but doesn't have all the bells and whistles (Second Edition?)

Actually, that would be a somewhat accurate analogy. Having bought the silver edition and weighing my choices carefully, the only differences were silver vs gold, price, and how long I was willing to wait for it. The Gold Edition was basically "Get it right now right now!" while the Silver was "Get it right now, just not right now!" Both were even sold at the exact same time with a difference of US$10 in price.

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