Horus Heresy Book 43 in April

[IronDrake28]

Well it worked out for me when I bought The Seventh Serpent, it's the only book I would of fancied reading in this collection anyway!

[Tymell]

Black Library updated its coming releases page, and the next HH book after Garro will be Shattered Legions, containing the stories from Meduson plus Seventh Serpent.

 

http://www.blacklibrary.com/whats-coming-soon/april/hh-shattered-legions-hb.html

 

I haven't read any of the stories as I prefer to wait for the numbered novels and anthologies. Are there any truly exceptional ones?

For me the only exceptional one was The Keys of Hel, but none of the others were really poor, they range from solid to passable. Also, between Unspoken and Strike and Fade I really want to see more shorts/a novella about Salamanders from Guy Haley.

[HeritorA]

 

I am not opposed to releasing stories in different formats. It frustrates me, however, for certain stories to be released in several different formats over a span of months - and even years - at an ever-decreasing cost, as part of what I assume to be a known marketing plan. Ultimately, however, I have only myself to blame. I should have learned my lesson following Legacies of Betrayal, The Silent War, etc.: there was absolutely no reason to purchase eBook versions of The Seventh Serpent and Meduson. I paid roughly $8 more than the cost of Book 43 for the privilege of reading the same material a few months in advance.

I imagine opinions will vary, but it strikes me like the above, charging more for an eBook variant of a "limited edition" novella, and the practice of categorizing anthologies along the main lines novels all make for a strategy that is not particularly fair toward a fan base that has stuck with this series for over a decade now.

Classic marketing approach. Premium products at premium prices to satisfy early adopters before later lowering the price to grab a slice of mass market. Happens across most sectors for most products, just look at Apple!

 

Nobody saying it's a unique practice. The problem is - BL use it too often (like everytime).

But the biggest point is - as soon as their practice of re-releases starts again  - mean that years that sucked in HH books releases (like 2014-2015) are returning, instead of continuation of an amazing 2016 for HH.

[DarkChaplain]

2014-2015 were bad not because of re-releases or the likes, but because over those two years we got a grand total of FOUR books. Scars officially released in 2014 but had already been serialized before The Unremembered Empire so we only got Vengeful Spirit, The Damnation of Pythos, Legacies of Betrayal and Deathfire for new books.

 

This amazing 2016 still had THREE anthologies, FOUR including Corax. You keep forgetting that it ended up amazing "despite" old content in a new dress.

 

Damn I miss the years when 3-4 books per year were considered average and people were happy to get even that many...

[Taliesin]

The only thing that bothers me about it is that the re-releases take up another slot in the series, delaying other books I do want.

It's not like they're saying , "well here's a new novel, and a collection of material which we are reprinting". No, it's, "you'll get a reprint, and because we only release 1 HH book every two months, in a few months you'll get a new product". That is annoying.

 

We're 6 months into 2017 before we get a new book, that is back to the standard of the poorer HH years of 2014 and 2015.

Especially irritating considering that Crimson King has been so long delayed anyway. And it looks like the Space Wolves vs Horus novel would be book 46 at the earliest, and there is even the looming dreadful possibility that book 46 is the Tallarn reprint.

[DarkChaplain]

But are they actually delaying anything? I don't think so. They're giving writers the time to actually finish their stories and get through the editing stages, partial rewrites and the gears of the publishing machine. If these books weren't part of the schedule, The Crimson King would be out no sooner. Neither would Ruinstorm, Old Earth or the Siege of Terra.

 

We've known the approximate schedule since Black Library Live. 43 and 46 being collections wasn't exactly a secret. Those plug the gaps that occur when you have to coordinate so many projects at once and still can't get them out the door any quicker because human beings, creators especially, aren't machines. They can strive to put 1000-2000 words a day to the page and some days none of them will survive editing anyway. They might have creative ideas but struggle with putting them into a coherent story. Just look at how many times AD-B commented that he had to rewrite book x or chapter y to get it right, and how much time that can take.

 

Yes, a more rapid schedule would be great. Great for us fans, at least. There are more factors to consider than the hardcore consumers - most notably that it takes time to get :cuss done. As much as people keep complaining about the newer short novel format that gets pumped out these days, not being 400 pagers and what not - this impatience is EXACTLY why this step had to be taken by the publisher. You can't maintain the rapid pace of almost weekly novel releases without it anymore.

 

Rather than complaining about those collections happening now, in-between new novels, how about looking at it from a different angle? They're getting them out of the way, as people were holding out for this exact format for years, and can concentrate on the novels afterwards.

[DukeLeto69]

Personally I don't understand the complaining about anthologies collecting previously available material. If you already have it don't buy it! 

 

Previously when a couple of new stories were included people (arguably rightly) complained they had to buy stories again they had already paid for. Now the anthologies are only collecting previously available material. That is great for people like me who do not buy every eshort or audiodrama or any limited release novellas or event only releases. I love it as I can catch up!

 

Also it helps collect together an amazingly diverse and disparate set of material (having been released across various different formats) that for mere mortals is almost impossible to keep track of. I welcome that.

 

As DC says above, complaining about the scheduling is also a bit, well, silly really! It also comes across as so "fanboy entitled". Authors need time to write. Graham McNeil has taken forever to write Crimson King because it coincided with him moving to the States to start a new job/life with a new employer who rightly has expectations of what he would deliver for them. His freelance work had to take a back seat. Just life challenges!

 

Similarly all the other authors are freelance and have multiple projects going. 

 

This view also contradicts what some others complain about - ie we actually only want a select few authors writing the HH. The "A List" (although most people have different lists of authors). It seems like generally speaking people only really want ADB, Abnett, Wraight and French writing HH (maybe Haley as well). However, that just cannot happen due to other product lines at BL and the freelance nature of all of those writers and their other commitments.

 

So because the two other confirmed NOVELS this year are by Annandale and Kyme some people are moaning this isn't going to be a good HH year.

 

How about we wait and see?

[HeritorA]

Personally I don't understand the complaining about anthologies collecting previously available material. If you already have it don't buy it!

Previously when a couple of new stories were included people (arguably rightly) complained they had to buy stories again they had already paid for. Now the anthologies are only collecting previously available material. That is great for people like me who do not buy every eshort or audiodrama or any limited release novellas or event only releases. I love it as I can catch up!

Also it helps collect together an amazingly diverse and disparate set of material (having been released across various different formats) that for mere mortals is almost impossible to keep track of. I welcome that.

As DC says above, complaining about the scheduling is also a bit, well, silly really! It also comes across as so "fanboy entitled". Authors need time to write. Graham McNeil had taken forever to write Crimson King because it coincided with him moving to the States to start a new job/life and a whole new employer who had expectations of what he would deliver for them. His freelance work had to take a back seat. Just life challenges!

Similarly all the other authors are freelance and have multiple projects going.

This view also contradicts what some others complain about - ie we actually only want a select few authors writing the HH. The "A List" *although most people have different lists of authors). It seems like generally speaking people only really want ADB, Abnett, Wraight and French writing HH (maybe Haley as well). However, that just cannot happen due to other product lines at BL and the freelance nature of all of those writers and their other commitments.

So because the two other confirmed NOVELS this year are by Annandale and Kyme some people are moaning this isn't going to be a good HH year.

How about we wait and see?

How about they release books that already written/edited and approved and printed instead of old anthologies only because of profit?

But are they actually delaying anything? I don't think so. They're giving writers the time to actually finish their stories and get through the editing stages, partial rewrites and the gears of the publishing machine. If these books weren't part of the schedule, The Crimson King would be out no sooner. Neither would Ruinstorm, Old Earth or the Siege of Terra.

We've known the approximate schedule since Black Library Live. 43 and 46 being collections wasn't exactly a secret. Those plug the gaps that occur when you have to coordinate so many projects at once and still can't get them out the door any quicker because human beings, creators especially, aren't machines. They can strive to put 1000-2000 words a day to the page and some days none of them will survive editing anyway. They might have creative ideas but struggle with putting them into a coherent story. Just look at how many times AD-B commented that he had to rewrite book x or chapter y to get it right, and how much time that can take.

Yes, a more rapid schedule would be great. Great for us fans, at least. There are more factors to consider than the hardcore consumers - most notably that it takes time to get done. As much as people keep complaining about the newer short novel format that gets pumped out these days, not being 400 pagers and what not - this impatience is EXACTLY why this step had to be taken by the publisher. You can't maintain the rapid pace of almost weekly novel releases without it anymore.

Rather than complaining about those collections happening now, in-between new novels, how about looking at it from a different angle? They're getting them out of the way, as people were holding out for this exact format for years, and can concentrate on the novels afterwards.

As above. 2 new HH books are already written for months now and almost gone to printers.

[DukeLeto69]

Well there are 12 months in a year so plenty of time to get those too! Who knows, perhaps we will have back-to-back releases or event previews?

[HeritorA]

Well there are 12 months in a year so plenty of time to get those too! Who knows, perhaps we will have back-to-back releases or event previews?

That happened cause we didn't have 'Coming soon' section. Now we have it - if book is where - then it's the time for it release.

[DarkChaplain]

The Coming Soon section is for the general release dates and still NOT covering everything there is going to be. Just this week they released a Disciples of Tzeentch novel for Age of Sigmar without it being teased before. Carcharodons and Garro both had pre-releases as ebooks ahead of their print releases. Shield of Baal wasn't listed at all yet, and neither are various omnibuses that Amazon had pecked for Q1/Q2. The Eisenhorn: Malleus audiobook came out of the blue entirely, as did the Legacy of Russ print/ebook.

We also have nothing about upcoming Campaigns listed until they actually happen.

 

Right now we only have solid information up to April, with more approximate release dates on Amazon for a few further books, mostly omnibuses. Beyond that, the schedule is bound to be more flexible as of yet and there's a bunch of stuff we simply haven't even heard about at all.

 

And no, event pre-releases don't have to adhere to the Coming Soon schedule at all. As long as it is printed and ready, BL/GW can take them to wherever they want ahead of proper market distribution and sell them.

[HeritorA]

The Coming Soon section is for the general release dates and still NOT covering everything there is going to be. Just this week they released a Disciples of Tzeentch novel for Age of Sigmar without it being teased before. Carcharodons and Garro both had pre-releases as ebooks ahead of their print releases. Shield of Baal wasn't listed at all yet, and neither are various omnibuses that Amazon had pecked for Q1/Q2. The Eisenhorn: Malleus audiobook came out of the blue entirely, as did the Legacy of Russ print/ebook.

We also have nothing about upcoming Campaigns listed until they actually happen.

Right now we only have solid information up to April, with more approximate release dates on Amazon for a few further books, mostly omnibuses. Beyond that, the schedule is bound to be more flexible as of yet and there's a bunch of stuff we simply haven't even heard about at all.

And no, event pre-releases don't have to adhere to the Coming Soon schedule at all. As long as it is printed and ready, BL/GW can take them to wherever they want ahead of proper market distribution and sell them.

Someone still interested in AoS?

'The Eisenhorn: Malleus audiobook came out of the blue entirely, as did the Legacy of Russ print/ebook.' - not exactly the new books, aren't they?

'with more approximate release dates on Amazon for a few further books, mostly omnibuses' - same as above.

'And no, event pre-releases don't have to adhere to the Coming Soon schedule at all. As long as it is printed and ready, BL/GW can take them to wherever they want ahead of proper market distribution and sell them.' - yes and no. One of the old critic for absent coming soon was inability to prepare the wallet for incoming purchases.

[Taliesin]

I see some straw men arguments being put up in a rush to continiously apologize for Black Library.

Really guys, it is ok to occasionally be critical of something as well, you don't need to be a BL apologist all the time.

But are they actually delaying anything? I don't think so. They're giving writers the time to actually finish their stories and get through the editing stages, partial rewrites and the gears of the publishing machine. If these books weren't part of the schedule, The Crimson King would be out no sooner. Neither would Ruinstorm, Old Earth or the Siege of Terra.

We've known the approximate schedule since Black Library Live. 43 and 46 being collections wasn't exactly a secret.

This is actually not true, DC. We have not known what book 43 or 46 would be, and there was the hope that the Wolf Cull novel might be it.

Or another new offering. So when we learn it's just a reprint anthology of the just released Meduson collection, that is obviously disappointing.

It was the revelation that is disappointing, and if you combine that with a policy of one 1 HH per 2 months, which has been in place since the start of 2016, it means quite a long time without a new book. That's a fact. You don't care, that's fine, but don't berate others for being understandably disappointed.

And it is actually possible that due to the limitations of the "one per two months" format, that another book has been delayed. Possibly Crimson King might have come out sooner, since we know that was turned in by October already, and half of it had been turned in much earlier for editing anyway, as per McNeill. We don't know this for certain, but neither can you say that this reprint does not effect the publication of TCK.

As for the other books, they are still being written, and no one is suggesting that those are being delayed by this release.

Yes, a more rapid schedule would be great. Great for us fans, at least. There are more factors to consider than the hardcore consumers - most notably that it takes time to get done. As much as people keep complaining about the newer short novel format that gets pumped out these days, not being 400 pagers and what not - this impatience is EXACTLY why this step had to be taken by the publisher. You can't maintain the rapid pace of almost weekly novel releases without it anymore.

I don't complain about the short novel format.

Everybody understands :cuss takes time. That is not the issue here at all. No one is saying BL haven't had a fantastic 2016 with many books.

This discussion is about what is being lined up for the first half of 2017, and book 43 being the second reprint after Garro.

It's unexciting.

As DC says above, complaining about the scheduling is also a bit, well, silly really! It also comes across as so "fanboy entitled". Authors need time to write. Graham McNeil has taken forever to write Crimson King because it coincided with him moving to the States to start a new job/life with a new employer who rightly has expectations of what he would deliver for them. His freelance work had to take a back seat. Just life challenges!

Similarly all the other authors are freelance and have multiple projects going.

This view also contradicts what some others complain about - ie we actually only want a select few authors writing the HH. The "A List" (although most people have different lists of authors). It seems like generally speaking people only really want ADB, Abnett, Wraight and French writing HH (maybe Haley as well). However, that just cannot happen due to other product lines at BL and the freelance nature of all of those writers and their other commitments.

So because the two other confirmed NOVELS this year are by Annandale and Kyme some people are moaning this isn't going to be a good HH year.

How about we wait and see?

What's with the massive amount of straw men in your post? Are you responding to actual people posting on this forum or imaginative posts?

Everybody understands writing and editing takes time. We are well aware of the reason McNeill took 3 tears to write Crimson King. It has nothing to do with anything.

Upcoming novels by Annadale and Kyme both look interesting to me.
Granted, it looks to be a year without any HH Novels from Abnett, ADB, French, Wraight, so yes, the known big hitters don't have a HH release.

Is it allowed to even draw that conclusion without being berated as a complainer?

Yes the year looks light, HH wise. And yes let us hope that there will be a few great surprises.

But if book 46 is Tallarn reprint as well, it simply doesn't look great at this point.

[DukeLeto69]

I don't think my points were straw men at all. They were conclusions based on conversations across multiple threads.

 

And this is a discussion forum so we are bound to have different viewpoints or else it would make for a pretty boring discussion...

 

"Yeah I agree with all of you"

 

"Cool I agree with all of you too"

 

"Shall we all group hug"

 

"Dude I thought you would never ask!"

 

Dull!

 

Some people are disappointed by what they know about HH in 2017 and some are not or are saying in their opinion the disappointment might either be premature or doesn't face the realities of publishing.

 

That is not being a BL/GW apologist, just an alternative view.

[Biscuittzz]

You seem to be taking the angle that everyone has been reading the series since the first release. Have you not thought that perhaps BL are catering to those that need to catch up but don't know where to go?

 

I'm one of those 'new' people. Think I got into the series just when  Vengeful Spirit was released. As such the anthologies are a great way for me to get all the shorts, novellas and audios in one place. Also, having not read anything really about the shattered legions, this new release will be a great way of avoiding having to pick up and locate all the other pieces associated. As others no doubt will find as well.

[Phoebus]

I want to be clear. I'm not upset because the schedule isn't going fast enough.

I'm also not upset about efforts to get newer readers caught.

 

That last bit, however, DOES strike me as an apologist line. Shattered Legions as a numbered novel is exactly the sort of thing I am against. Seventh Serpent came out a few months before Meduson, which carried the balance of the material found in Shattered Legions. Who exactly is this novel aimed at? A reader who picked up the Horus Heresy series in the last 12-24 months and has gone through Books 1-42 in that time period?

Consider this: up until, oh, Book Twenty-something, the onus of this series was in producing novels. When Primarchs and Shadows of Treachery were released, in fact, the system was the reverse of what it is now. Those two were numbered books whose individual stories were in turn made available separate. And when the odd limited edition novella came out and readers lamented it not being available to everyone, they were told that, well, said story wasn't exactly integral to the main storyline. That, by the way, was the specific reasoning given for Aurelian. Now, it's the opposite. Supposedly non-essential tales - novellas, short stories, audio shorts, e-shorts, etc. - are being packaged as numbered novels of the main series.

 

The reader has two options. They can pick up all this material when it's initially released, at a marked-up cost that often exceeds that of the actual full-length novels. Alternately, they can wait one or two years for them to be released in a collection, ignoring the fact that by the time this happens there is the very real possibility that the series has moved on to a new story arc. So, for the privilege of reading these events that will be deemed novel/anthology-worthy in the future in the time-frame that makes most sense to the release schedule, you have to shell out double or more the amount a book such as Shattered Legions will cost.

So yeah, several of you are correct: this sort of thing is a tremendous deal for anyone who happened to jump into this series recently... or who happens to possess the sort of bizarre discipline that would lead them to take a break from reading the series for 1-2 years at a time, in order for the various non-novelized material to be collected at a bargain price. If you're actually interested in reading this series' releases when they make the most sense, however, you are stuck with paying what amounts to a luxury tax far greater than the ultimate price of the eventual Numbered Book.

Sorry, we can respectfully agree to disagree, but I can never be convinced that this is somehow fair toward the long-term audience.

[Biscuittzz]

Yea, you have a point when looking at it it like. I guess from my point of view it's all fresh to me so the timeline isn't exactly a problem and I understand that if you want to stay up to date you have to shell out premium prices for each novella, short etc compared to the 20/25 or so for the numbered anthology that will follow in a year-ish.

[mc warhammer]

 

o r who happens to possess the sort of bizarre discipline that would lead them to take a break from reading the series for 1-2 years at a time, in order for the various non-novelized material to be collected at a bargain price.

 

 

 

hey, that's me you're talking about.

[DukeLeto69]

 

o r who happens to possess the sort of bizarre discipline that would lead them to take a break from reading the series for 1-2 years at a time, in order for the various non-novelized material to be collected at a bargain price.

 

 

hey, that's me you're talking about.

And me!

 

It has taken years of deep mediation and contemplation to reach this state of nirvana where I can resist the temptation of the Black Library Gods and their sweet tasting produce.

 

Hey I do understand some of the frustration but still think there are bigger concerns to get so worked up about in the world ;-)

 

At the risk of being labelled an apologist it is clearly a case of damned if they do damned if they don't.

 

Actually the ONLY fair way for the HH to have been approached is for the core story spine (ie the absolutely vital aspects of the story) to have been released as the numbered editions and for all other side stories to have been released in a differently numbered/packaged approach. BUT how do you decide which stories are core and which are not...actually BL would have been criticised by the completists then LOL

[Orwell84]

Everybody understands writing and editing takes time. We are well aware of the reason McNeill took 3 tears to write Crimson King. It has nothing to do with anything.

Upcoming novels by Annadale and Kyme both look interesting to me.

Granted, it looks to be a year without any HH Novels from Abnett, ADB, French, Wraight, so yes, the known big hitters don't have a HH release.

Is it allowed to even draw that conclusion without being berated as a complainer?

Yes the year looks light, HH wise. And yes let us hope that there will be a few great surprises.

But if book 46 is Tallarn reprint as well, it simply doesn't look great at this point.

Three tears was all McNeill needed to write that book? As long as the blood and sweat was proportionate

Looks like 2016 may indeed have been a year of plenty sandwiched between drought years either side. <shrug> If the authors need the extra time to improve the final product, then we'll enjoy it all the more. At least this isn't A Song of Ice and Fire or the Wheel of Time we're waiting on here

It has taken years of deep mediation and contemplation to reach this state of nirvana where I can resist the temptation of the Black Library Gods and their sweet tasting produce.

Hey I do understand some of the frustration but still think there are bigger concerns to get so worked up about in the world ;-)

At the risk of being labelled an apologist it is clearly a case of damned if they do damned if they don't.

Actually the ONLY fair way for the HH to have been approached is for the core story spine (ie the absolutely vital aspects of the story) to have been released as the numbered editions and for all other side stories to have been released in a differently numbered/packaged approach. BUT how do you decide which stories are core and which are not...actually BL would have been criticised by the completists then LOL

Agree with all the above. The problem with a series grown this huge is that some stories are, shall we say, peripheral (at best) to the main war. Most are interesting enough to compensate (I'd count Nemesis, 'The Last Remembrancer' and Alpha Legion shenanigans among them). But Battle for the Abyss and Damnation of Pythos didn't really add anything to either the main storyline or the series in other ways.

[Taliesin]

Everybody understands writing and editing takes time. We are well aware of the reason McNeill took 3 tears to write Crimson King. It has nothing to do with anything.

Upcoming novels by Annadale and Kyme both look interesting to me.

Granted, it looks to be a year without any HH Novels from Abnett, ADB, French, Wraight, so yes, the known big hitters don't have a HH release.

Is it allowed to even draw that conclusion without being berated as a complainer?

Yes the year looks light, HH wise. And yes let us hope that there will be a few great surprises.

But if book 46 is Tallarn reprint as well, it simply doesn't look great at this point.

Three tears was all McNeill needed to write that book? As long as the blood and sweat was proportionate

Looks like 2016 may indeed have been a year of plenty sandwiched between drought years either side. <shrug> If the authors need the extra time to improve the final product, then we'll enjoy it all the more. At least this isn't A Song of Ice and Fire or the Wheel of Time we're waiting on here

LoL. The Wheel of Time has been done for years.

As for GRRM, I've been waiting 6 years for Winds of Winter, and before that I waited 10 years for Dance of Dragons.

The Ultimate Sloth.

Hey I do understand some of the frustration but still think there are bigger concerns to get so worked up about in the world ;-)

At the risk of being labelled an apologist it is clearly a case of damned if they do damned if they don't.

That's not really true is it.

Sometimes that may be applicable. Here it is not. They are taking rightful criticism because the specific way they choose to do this, is a way that is absolutely the most beneficial to Black Library, but not to a lot of readers. There are and were in fact other ways they could have handled this, so it's not like they are damned if they do, damned if they don't. They just didn't do it right. I know plenty of people who get really worked up about the insane premium prices and the fact that they have to wait two years before said story comes out in a more affordable format.

For me, I think it's perfectly fine to do a separate release of a novella first, but don't mark it up as a limited edition.

Sell it as a EUR 20.00 hardcover like Seventh Serpent is already available as. No problem. Regular publishers also publish a normal hardcover first, and 6-12 months later a paperback.

It's also ok to collect those again later in an anthology. Now maybe that should not be part of the numbered series, maybe it should, I don't really care.

But if you're going to have a " only 1 HH book every two months" policy, which in fact they do have, and this will continue in 2017, that does mean those reprints back up the actual novels you want to read. And that really is where my disappointment with this schedule comes from. Because also, we have seen Laurie say in interviews/forum posts that there are a few more books already done, and that they have HH books for October 2017 already going to the printer.

That makes me wonder what it is that is already done, but not yet published. And why we're suddenly not getting new material for 6 months.

[Phoebus]

Please delete.

[Phoebus]

At the risk of being labelled an apologist it is clearly a case of damned if they do damned if they don't.

I don't think so. Not at all. In fact, I think it's far more a case of having their cake and eating it, too. Consider:

 

We have Limited Edition Novellas and Novels that cost more than normal editions. What makes them Limited Editions? In all honesty, the only thing that makes them limited in any sense of the word is the quality that goes into the slipcase, cover art, and other details specific to that edition. It's not exclusivity of the story that makes it "Limited," because by now we all know that it will be re-released in virtually every format and/or (in the case of Horus Heresy tales) will almost certainly eventually be made part of some anthology at only a fraction of the price.

 

The same mindset that informs that marketing scheme is the same one that, a year later, asks a reader to pay more for the eBook version of a "Limited Edition Novella" than they would for the eBook version of a Horus Heresy novel. There's nothing "limited" about said story any longer - it's available to everyone - but it costs more than a full-length novel with greater page count and no more or less "bells and whistles." Worse, that same story will, another year later, be made part of an anthology whose cost will be exactly the same as a numbered novel.

 

While I respect where you're coming from, I think there absolutely is a more fair way than both the current model or what you propose. It's the model that they used until after Book 20: The Primarchs.

 

What I mean by that is, Black Library knows what their release schedule is. When they commissioned anything from an e-short to a Limited Edition Novella, they did so knowing they were going to re-release them in various formats and collections. They could have done so at once, or in a tighter schedule that still kept the various products within the time period of the narrative arc they belonged to. They could have let people who wanted to spend $65 for a Limited Edition variant of a novella with lovely covert, a decorated slipcase, etc., do so, while also letting people spend $30 for a hardcover anthology with no "bells and whistles" or $16 for an eBook that cost far less to produce.

 

They didn't, and I sincerely doubt that this was to help out new readers. Nor do I think the way the Heresy was being released up until Book 20 was bankrupting the company.

 

As of right now, however, we have a mind-boggling marketing plan that sees the eBook format of a 150-page Novella that's not actually limited in a way priced at $25 for as long as a year while the eBook format of a 500+-page Novel is priced at $16. That's nuts.

[DukeLeto69]

Understood but even if these practices are distasteful to you/others it is simply about market forces.

 

If X number of people are prepared to pay y amount of money for a product and the figures all add up to the benefit of the company and shareholders then they will follow that model.

 

Tech companies do it all the time. Initial release iPhones or play stations etc are always more expensive to take advantage of early adopters.

 

If that practice was economically unviable (ie nobody was prepared to pay inflated prices for early access to product) they would soon stop doing it.

 

I guess it doesn't bother me because I do not have to have things on the day of release. In fact I have made myself be patient and wait for MMPB (in the case of HH). I never buy eshorts, novellas, event only books or many audiodramas. And that is because I KNOW that they will eventually come out in my preferred format and also be collected together thematically which enhances my experience (personal preference).

 

Saying all that...I still don't get the argument about BL being bad guys for daring to release an anthology in April. Sure I get that people who have already read the content will have to wait longer for a new novel but, well, big deal!

[Phoebus]

I'm not arguing that Black Library are bad guys just for releasing an anthology in April, though.

 

Again, my argument is that it's disingenuous to commission a number of short stories and novellas to be released separately for $4-25 each when you know you're going to package them for $16 in two years, after the stories lose relevance in relation to the current state of the narrative. It bilks the current reader in favor of a newer one. Worse, it potentially assumes that some readers will make almost redundant purchases.

 

The larger point I'm trying to make is that, up to Book 20: The Primarchs, the sales model was much more respectful to the consumer. The same anthology we're talking about could have been released alongside or ahead of the individual releases. When that model was reversed, it effectively meant Black Library were charging a tax almost 400% (if not greater) of the eventual cover price for a reader to have access to a story - or wait as much as two years to read it.

 

That market forces make this possible doesn't make it right. And if the profit margin wasn't right by the time Book 20 rolled around, then perhaps answers should've been sought in the quality of the product - and not how you could force someone to choose between waiting a year (or longer) or paying an unreasonable markup.

 

And respectfully, some of those comparisons you made are neither here nor there. Tech companies aren't balancing release schedules and prices with a narrative timeline. Completely different considerations go into buying a smartphone versus following an ongoing storyline.