Upcoming BL Stuff - 2023

[grailkeeper]

On 10/11/2023 at 10:39 PM, wecanhaveallthree said:

On the subject of Honourbound and Gaunt/Cain, the big marketing push felt 100% that Raine was going to be the Next Big Thing on that line. I don't feel like it was a victim of the new edition coming through as it's solidly set in Era Indomitus. Has anybody put Harrison in the Boston Crab and demanded she reveal why we don't live in Raine World right now?

It was a good first novel but there have been better since which didn't get the same treatment. At the time I thought she was getting such a heavy push because she was a female author. I think now it's because of her job in BL. Other female authors have had books since but no-one got the same treatment. Not even long anticipated books which are sure to sell better than a debut.

[63-19]

At least you had a chance before. I would sit there with a refresh macro until I saw it go live and would buy it in less than a minute. Now it's random? Thank you for giving the slowpokes a chance GW.

[m_r_parker]

6 minutes ago, 63-19 said:

At least you had a chance before. I would sit there with a refresh macro until I saw it go live and would buy it in less than a minute. Now it's random? Thank you for giving the slowpokes a chance GW.

Honestly, you’re more likely to get it with the queue than without. The sheer amount of bots trying to get access to the site would trigger a DDoS response from the site and shut it down (else it would just fall apart). I’ve had a few times where the response of the store would crumble as I’ve been checking out from the sheer weight of traffic.

Ill take my chances with the queue any day of the week.

[System Sound]

There won't be a queue system in place. These days it's reserved only for very big launches, like new editions. Since it cost them money to deploy it.

[skylerboodie]

I've bought limited editions from GW site for years now, always logged on and ready to refresh when they go live on a Saturday. The only two times I've NOT been able to buy one I wanted due it selling out too fast were both when the queueing systems were in place, and it didn't let me in until c.10:40 each time. I hate the queueing system and really hope it is not there on Saturday.

[Ubiquitous1984]

I wonder if the new SoT will leak out before the official release, especially if it is a two-week pre-order window?  

[cheywood]

Fnac has some new books listed, coming out on November 11th. With the new system that means preorder on the 28th, though I doubt these particular products will sell out right away.

 

For AOS there’s the new Blacktalon novel and an anthology of short stories.

 

For 40k you’ve got:

 

Da Red Gobbo Rides Again by Rhuairidh James: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a18791794/Rhuairidh-James-Da-Gobbo-Rides-Again#omnsearchpos=16

 

and Galaxy of Horrors collecting a number of previously released short stories: https://www.fnac.com/livre-numerique/a18791820/Rob-Young-Galaxy-Of-Horrors#omnsearchpos=13

 

Glad to see they’re continuing Da Red Gobbo stories. The first two have been fun and mildly festive little jaunts. Perfect for the holidays. I think this is James’ first long form work for BL too. 

Edited October 17, 2023 by cheywood

[aa.logan]

Sum of it’s Parts is one of the very best 40K shorts, full stop, so my hopes are high for the new Red Gobbo book

[grailkeeper]

I've only read two short stories by rhu and they were both amazing. In particular his AoS short story was incredibly imaginative. This is an auto buy for me.

[Bestkeptsecret]

https://amzn.eu/d/7ntTSuY

 

Chris Wraight's Dawn of Fire Sea of Souls launching in January 2024 according to German Amazon.

Edited October 18, 2023 by Bestkeptsecret

[DarkChaplain]

There are a few more listings via Amazon, including some returning omnibuses:

 

Yarrick Omnibus in February.

 

The End and the Death part III listed for January 30.

 

The End Times coming in two omnibus volumes, now with a bundled Sigmar's Blood, which was an unofficial prequel; Phil Kelly battlereport-style, but at least it's now officially getting collected in a logical way.

Tyrion & Teclis omnibus reissue.

If you've missed the last prints of the WHC Gotrek & Felix omnibuses (I missed some myself, due to low print runs), they're starting again with vol.1 in January

Really happy that they seem to be bringing their backlog back at last, at least for now.

 

General release of The End and the Death Part II is in November (hardback) and December for the translated editions.

 

God-Machines omnibus in December, includes the Knights of the Imperium novella by McNeill, Imperator: Wrath of the Omnissiah, Warlord: Fury of the God-Machine and Knightblade/Kingsblade by Clark. Big chunker, also adds the short stories.

 

Word Bearers omnibus is slated for November 7, which seems a bit early for a 14-day preorder schedule? General release is usually a little delayed, after all.

 

Salamanders omnibus getting a new edition, slated for April.

 

Also a potential reissue of Visions of Heresy, though this may be a placeholder.

[Kelborn]

Salamanders omnibus in English or German?

Got the English one here but never finished it.

 

Currently catching up on DoF and I'm very excited for Chris take on it!

[theSpirea]

1 hour ago, Kelborn said:

Salamanders omnibus in English or German?

Got the English one here but never finished it.

 

Currently catching up on DoF and I'm very excited for Chris take on it!

English, ISBN 9781804075562

[Preliminary Bombardment]

End and the Death vol 2, think it will be £50 again?

[Ubiquitous1984]

8 hours ago, Preliminary Bombardment said:

End and the Death vol 2, think it will be £50 again?

We believe so but nothing official yet (LE).

[theSpirea]

10 hours ago, Preliminary Bombardment said:

End and the Death vol 2, think it will be £50 again?

It's that cheap? What a rip off for other currencies 

[Nagashsnee]

Lets be honest they could release end and the death part ii le for 100 pounds with a banner saying 'what are you going to do not buy it? lmao' and it would still sell out in under 5 mins. 

 

Triple that with a personalized insult for part 3 and still under 5 min no issues. 

Edited October 19, 2023 by Nagashsnee

[Ubiquitous1984]

6 hours ago, Nagashsnee said:

Lets be honest they could release end and the death part ii le for 100 pounds with a banner saying 'what are you going to do not buy it? lmao' and it would still sell out in under 5 mins. 

 

Triple that with a personalized insult for part 3 and still under 5 min no issues. 

I know many disagree with this, but I am still really surprised that BL didn't pump up the SoT LE numbers when the success of the series became apparent.  An extra 2500 LE's (5000 total) would yield an extra £125,000.  I think they should have done this for the three volume 8 novels as some people might just have wanted the 'final trilogy' in LE format.  Plus it would have taken some of the stress from those of us who are trying to complete our SoT LE collection!

[Sothalor]

Given how historically Black Library publications make up a very small percentage of Games Workshop's revenue, they probably don't see it as a priority to make the extra logistical effort.

[DarkChaplain]

On the flipside, they had years where BL was among their most profitable parts, relatively speaking, with the biggest increases in performance. They're hamstringing that with artificial scarcity, choosing to not meet an obvious demand.

 

You could've argued that dialing the importance of print back during the pandemic time, when we faced massive paper shortages, might have made sense. But the industry has largely recovered by now, and it's not like BL hasn't chosen to raise prices anyway.

 

On top of that, they struck down most of their digital offerings, like eShorts, at the same time. We went from at least a weekly short story being published digitally to getting 5 over the course of a week maybe thrice a year for a bigger product launch. They nuked Inferno! as well, even though that especially would've been appealing as an early digital format to be omnibus'd in print once a year. Then, that'd require consistency from this corporation, and not the frequent flip-flopping between policies and strategies.

 

And let's be honest, if BL puts a strain on GW's logistics, they shouldn't have decided to handle it all internally in the first place. They could be making use of Amazon, B&N, all major book retailers' marketing and distribution channels worldwide, but apparently don't consider the massive increase in reach worth it - less for the revenue split than trying to push book customers to hopefully adding a miniature kit to their cart too, to dodge the high shipping fee. Not just that, they made the deliberate decision to move a lot of printing efforts in-house, with... middling quality. That this would bottleneck them should've been apparent to everyone in the business. Again, this is something self-inflicted.

 

I still find it funny that pretty small light novel translation publishers without comparable capital, which also have to split revenue with the original property holders and not just their authors, printers and so forth, have managed to grow their businesses exponentially despite a pandemic & printing crisis hitting them just as much if not more so due to smaller weight in the industry, while BL, at the same time, either downsized or stagnated in almost all areas.

[aa.logan]

New Zealand EatD up added at around five to; website has no queue and seems to be holding up. Not listed under ‘Abnett’ though, so if you usually search by author (like I do), maybe try the title.

 

Still listed as being in stock at 10.23 local time

 

 

 

Edited October 20, 2023 by aa.logan
Updated

[Felix Antipodes]

Literally gone in 30 seconds on the Oz website.  They must have known something, as the LE wasn’t even shown on the release email, just the HB edition…

Edited October 21, 2023 by Felix Antipodes
Added line

[Ubiquitous1984]

Australia has a big scalper problem, there is a guy from there who posts in BL Sales literally bragging about all the multiple LE’s he buys and makes money off…

 

Anyway I’m up early and a bit anxious about today’s LE.  Fortunately the family are out of town so I have a clear run at securing it.  Just need a stable connection and will hopefully be ok.  

[Felix Antipodes]

1 hour ago, Ubiquitous1984 said:

Australia has a big scalper problem, there is a guy from there who posts in BL Sales literally bragging about all the multiple LE’s he buys and makes money off…

 

Anyway I’m up early and a bit anxious about today’s LE.  Fortunately the family are out of town so I have a clear run at securing it.  Just need a stable connection and will hopefully be ok.  

 

Yeah, I was straight in as soon as it was time, but it said unavailable as soon as I clicked on it.  Got the HB as a consolation.  Out of curiosity, I did a quick check on eBay.  One was already up on offer - for a grand AUD!  You’d have to be desperate to pay that kind of money.

Anyway, I hope your quest goes well for you when your window opens!

[System Sound]

God speed, you poor souls.