Upcoming BL Stuff - 2023

[theSpirea]

I don't think resellers/scalpers are the reason, definitely not the main reason. First of all, the second market would be flooded with hardback copies. That's not the case. With Lion yes, there are more than usual hardback copies on eBay/etc but for other titles, there are barely any copies listed/sold.

 

What really shows BL is reducing the print runs is how many copies they provide retailers. I get to travel a lot due to work/family so I visit plenty of bookstores/LFGs both in NA and EU.  Regular bookstores don't have any BL titles anymore or it's extremely rare, heck, often they've never even heard of it. Wasn't the Crime/Horror Imprint supposed to target these stores? You don't attract new fans in your GW/LFGs stores...

The LFGs have reduced the BL sections to an absolute minimum. When I chat with the workers/managers, they simply don't receive that many copies anymore. Often for new titles, even popular ones, some stores get only one or two copies.

 

 

 

 

[Sothalor]

I don't think I travel nearly as much as you, but from anecdotal experience with the regular book and hobby shops I peruse, this is the case with the stores near me as well.

 

The allocations of physical books has just shrunk and shrunk and shrunk.

[burnside986]

4 hours ago, theSpirea said:

I don't think resellers/scalpers are the reason, definitely not the main reason. First of all, the second market would be flooded with hardback copies. That's not the case. With Lion yes, there are more than usual hardback copies on eBay/etc but for other titles, there are barely any copies listed/sold.

 

What really shows BL is reducing the print runs is how many copies they provide retailers. I get to travel a lot due to work/family so I visit plenty of bookstores/LFGs both in NA and EU.  Regular bookstores don't have any BL titles anymore or it's extremely rare, heck, often they've never even heard of it. Wasn't the Crime/Horror Imprint supposed to target these stores? You don't attract new fans in your GW/LFGs stores...

The LFGs have reduced the BL sections to an absolute minimum. When I chat with the workers/managers, they simply don't receive that many copies anymore. Often for new titles, even popular ones, some stores get only one or two copies.

 

 

 

 

Youre absolutely right on that. Local Barnes and Nobles (1 hour radius of me so like 5 stores) have drastically reduced their BL offerings/space. What used to be 2 rows of shelves (at the smaller stores) are now 1 half or even a quarter of a shelf. I never saw End and the Death V1 nor Echoes of Eternity HB in store. When that was the place I have been getting them up to that point. 

BLs decision to only have some HBs at major retailers is baffling as well. Take the newest Sororitas HB or the Lion for example. Never came up for order on places like Amazon. They only had the Audible or Kindle version avaliable. But then you look at Cypher and lo....you can preorder that right now in HB on Amazon. Its astounding whats happened in the last year/year and a half with the publishing arm. 

[Ubiquitous1984]

Look no further than Warhammer World for how drastically stock has declined.  Pre-covid there was a decent sized corner of the shop floor dedicated to BL.  I still felt it was under-sized, but compared to what we have now (basically a few rows of paperbacks and unpopular hardbacks, a few unsold LE’s) it was ten times better.  

 

Having recently attended Warhammer Fest it was no better there.  No hardbacks at all and a few mainline paperbacks available.  Forget about any event exclusives or early-releases like we had in the glory days (I remember driving two hours to a HH event with my newborn just to get a copy of the event exclusive Scions of the Emperor, only to find out that scalpers had bought up all the stock by 10am lol).  

 

If the biggest events and the biggest WH location in the world has no stock, what hope does anywhere else?

Edited May 7, 2023 by Ubiquitous1984

[chevalierdulys]

24 minutes ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Look no further than Warhammer World for how drastically stock has declined.  Pre-covid there was a decent sized corner of the shop floor dedicated to BL.  I still felt it was under-sized, but compared to what we have now (basically a few rows of paperbacks and unpopular hardbacks, a few unsold LE’s) it was ten times better.  

 

Having recently attended Warhammer Fest it was no better there.  No hardbacks at all and a few mainline paperbacks available.  Forget about any event exclusives or early-releases like we had in the glory days (I remember driving two hours to a HH event with my newborn just to get a copy of the event exclusive Scions of the Emperor, only to find out that scalpers had bought up all the stock by 10am lol).  

 

If the biggest events and the biggest WH location in the world has no stock, what hope does anywhere else?

don't they understand that to change their bussiness model? they could be selling more books, having more people happy etc... because they fear that one of the books will sell less? Well that's where the market specialists enter. Ok Sigmar stuff and necromunda sell less... books for Abnett and X / Y sell more no matter what... Etc. They could study trends... If this novel sold in 5m then probably the next 5 you should print more X copies. Don't sell? Sell in the stores. one day it will sell. Enfin. don't understand BL logic. Has anyone ask them about this kind of stuff in an event or an email?

[Tolmeus]

Altough I understand the frustration (its the same for me, despite the fact that I am not nearly as long in the hobby as most of the other fraters), this discusion is recurring on every release nowadays. 

 

There is not much one can do about it and Games Workshop certainly is either unwilling to alter something or simply lacking the ability to do that (ergo, the whole marketing section for BL is incompetent).

 

I would say that is the final statement to it, but surely this will come around by the next standard release again and will certainly be a matter by the release of the next SoT installment.

Edited May 7, 2023 by Tolmeus

[chevalierdulys]

So next week we got a new HB (Blightslayer) and one paperback released of previous published stuff (Prince Maesa). Freeguilds was forgotten?

 

[theSpirea]

Now look at that: https://twitter.com/GavThorpeCreate/status/1655481596491776000/photo/1

[System Sound]

Hopefully its gonna last longer than the Ynari series...

[lansalt]

1 hour ago, theSpirea said:

Now look at that: https://twitter.com/GavThorpeCreate/status/1655481596491776000/photo/1

 

It's about time. The Leagues of Votann really need their own BL series and narrative. I just hope that Thorpe doesn't repeat again his tendency to make the protagonists of a faction to be unlikeable or stupid in their own books. More like Luther and less like The Wolftime, please.

[phandaal]

3 hours ago, theSpirea said:

Now look at that: https://twitter.com/GavThorpeCreate/status/1655481596491776000/photo/1

 

Well that is a monkey's paw, no doubt about it.

[wecanhaveallthree]

Thorpe is exactly who I wanted for the frontrunning Votann novel(s).

 

He's absolutely not afraid to try new things or write unexpected angles, and I'm 100% down for it. The Votann on their face are pretty uncontroversial, it's their culture and interpersonal relationships that really drive interest in the faction and I think Thorpe is exactly the author to bring that out. Wild Rider and Ghost Warrior are - love them or hate them - fantastic 'internal conflict' novels, where subfaction bashes into subfaction and their differences are made most evident. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Uthar on the cover of this one, and he's a character just ripe to explore what 'the destined' really means in the context of the Leagues (and, of course, the context of 'Uthar').  Very pleased.

[Lord Marshal]

Looks like the Tweet's been deleted?

 

Guess somebody upstairs didn't want him revealing it. 

[cheywood]

Can’t say I’m especially thrilled about Gav Thorpe being the first author to tackle the Votann. His novels almost always bore me. However, he does an excellent job with world building and I’m sure he’ll include lots of engaging ideas about how the Leagues live day to day. Ideas that other, more compelling authors can later exploit in their own books.

[Kelborn]

Am I glad to see a Votann representation? Yes

 

Am I somewhat surprisedabout Gav being the first to cover them? Yes

 

Did Gav put out stuff I really really enjoyed and which were great in terms of worldbuilding? Yes

 

Will I get this novel asap? Absolutely!

[phandaal]

7 hours ago, Kelborn said:

Am I glad to see a Votann representation? Yes

 

Am I somewhat surprisedabout Gav being the first to cover them? Yes

 

Did Gav put out stuff I really really enjoyed and which were great in terms of worldbuilding? Yes

 

Will I get this novel asap? Absolutely!

 

On the bright side, Gav may dislike elves as much as any proper Votann. So we've got that going for us at least.

[darkhorse0607]

Interview with Hinks about the upcoming Leviathan novel

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2023/05/10/darius-hinks-interview-what-happens-in-the-leviathan-novel-and-why-is-the-galaxy-doomed/

 

Still cautiously optimistic for this. I don't expect it to be anything more than "look at all the models in the box now in this book so you can buy the models," but I do like his viewpoint of an older school apocalypse movie for the framing of the book.

[cheywood]

Black Library’s doing another short story week at the end of May. It’s mostly new authors, but also includes a new Fehervari story, Altar of Maws: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a18153168/Peter-Fehervari-Altar-of-Maws#omnsearchpos=1

 

Very excited for this!

[lansalt]

8 minutes ago, darkhorse0607 said:

Still cautiously optimistic for this. I don't expect it to be anything more than "look at all the models in the box now in this book so you can buy the models," but I do like his viewpoint of an older school apocalypse movie for the framing of the book.

These explicit tie-in novels have random quality. I disliked Indomitus, but I found that Blood Rite was great IMO (about the Space Marine Heroes BA terminators)

[System Sound]

4 hours ago, cheywood said:

Black Library’s doing another short story week at the end of May. It’s mostly new authors, but also includes a new Fehervari story, Altar of Maws: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a18153168/Peter-Fehervari-Altar-of-Maws#omnsearchpos=1

 

Very excited for this!

New Fehervari short!? It's about Tau!?

[Jscarlos18]

4 hours ago, lansalt said:

These explicit tie-in novels have random quality. I disliked Indomitus, but I found that Blood Rite was great IMO (about the Space Marine Heroes BA terminators)

How good is Darius Hinks? The interview looks promising but would be sad if tyranids end up looking pathetic in the book.

[lansalt]

3 minutes ago, Jscarlos18 said:

How good is Darius Hinks? The interview looks promising but would be sad if tyranids end up looking pathetic in the book.

His Mephiston books are acceptable, just a bit over the top.

[Jscarlos18]

7 minutes ago, lansalt said:

His Mephiston books are acceptable, just a bit over the top.

Is he the author that gave him the power to stop time to freeze a hive fleet in place and fly with blood wings, or was it Haley?

Edited May 10, 2023 by Jscarlos18

[lansalt]

16 minutes ago, Jscarlos18 said:

Is he the author that gave him the power to stop time to freeze a hive fleet in place and fly with blood wings, or was it Haley?

I don't remember it, but I do recall Mephiston being pretty much a Dragon Ball character in those book, yeah

[Tolmeus]

1 hour ago, Jscarlos18 said:

fly with blood wings, or was it Haley?

 

That was Haley in 'Devestation of Baal'