Black Library Era of Ruin Special Edition: Print-on-Demand! (13/12 - 24/12)

[Lord Marshal]

Good news for those who missed out. 

 

Quote

Order it between Saturday and 8am GMT on Christmas Eve, and you’ll be on the list to receive a copy of this sumptuous edition capping off the Siege of Terra series.
 

As a guaranteed stock product, you will be able to order it from Saturday until Wednesday the 24th December at 8am GMT.  Note that because we’ll be printing these books based on demand, production and delivery can take up to 180 days.

 

Figured it was worth it's own thread for that reason. Hopefully they'll retroactively do this for earlier SoT copies.

 

 

Edited Wednesday at 02:58 PM by Lord Marshal

[Subtleknife]

Excellent. It is great to see that GW have listened to the community on this one. 

 

This, plus the recent approach to the scouring series is great. Hopefully, this puts the dirty scalpers out of business - or at least harms their ability to scalp.

 

 

[fudblinker]

They should have done this from the start with all the limited edition books. I never understood why they kept releasing a small number of them and lined the pockets of the scalpers, leaving money on the floor. Very glad to see this change.

[Dried]

Excellent news!
Now I need to find the End & the Death vol 3 which is the only one I missed...

[Robbienw]

They should do this for the whole SoT series.  That style of cover looks so nice on the bookshelf.  Secondary market price would probably go down a bit on the original run then as well.

[Vassakov]

28 minutes ago, fudblinker said:

They should have done this from the start with all the limited edition books. I never understood why they kept releasing a small number of them and lined the pockets of the scalpers, leaving money on the floor. Very glad to see this change.

 

Because the logistics and costs of print-to-demand when you are a low volume publisher with a rapid production schedule likely makes it a nightmare.

 

Remember, this isn't being printed by GW so they've most likely got a slot for production and a minimum volume. It then need to be produced and shipped, either direct to the consumer or more likely to GW and then on from there.

 

I will also look forward to the people complaining in March that they haven't got Era of Ruin yet, because that's the reality of print-to-demand. Weirdly, people waiting for product and whining about it is almost worse for companies than people upset they can't get something because its sold out. (See also: Secret Lairs from Magic: The Gathering).

 

I'd expect this to remain the exception not the norm. For things like The Scouring, maybe. For your general one-and-done novels, not a chance. 

[Mechanicus Tech-Support]

God I'd love to get a version of Vol3 of the end and the death, fingers crossed they backtrack through the series.
Am I misremembering that the previous attempt at releasing this was still signed special editions?

[Neil H]

Hooray!  Common sense approach to printing these at last!  Yes, the failed release was signed and numbered, I wonder if they have scrapped them?  Also the leaked/stolen Scouring first book was signed and numbered and as far as I can tell these have not been issued in the initial 3500 print run? Will happily  finish off my set now.  No rush to receive as read the normal release and to be honest wasn't that impressed apart from the last story.

Neil

[Matcap86]

Glad for those people who will manage to finish their collections!

[Waaagh?]

Those lucky few who bought a copy from Warhammer Citadel or whatever in America probably now have one of the rarest GW books in existence! I doubt the print on demand will be numbered and signed.

[Tolmeus]

21 hours ago, Waaagh? said:

Those lucky few who bought a copy from Warhammer Citadel or whatever in America probably now have one of the rarest GW books in existence! I doubt the print on demand will be numbered and signed.

 

You are probably right that these earlier "limited" versions are numbered. But I doubt that they were signed. By whom? Its an anthology with various authors.

[Neil H]

I stand corrected about stating that the book was signed and numbered as looking back at the original release info and looking at both the leaked and ebay sold copies, neither seemed to have this.  If all original print run are blank then no financial hit, just a delay in receiving a return.  As there were only 2500 copies produced of all the previous 13 books, will there be a increase in sales?

Will be ordering tomorrow morning.

Neil

[Subtleknife]

Well having ordered the book today, all I can say is this is the way it should be for LEs going forward.

[Dark Shepherd]

Even with costs of POD theyd still have a savage margin on HH related limited editions. Same on say Dan Abnett books, ADB etc

 

For smaller releases they could increase the number in initial run. In their partial defence they probably agreed a contract with the printer a while ago

 

Someone snapped the ltd edition section on warhammer world before, but I can only think of/remember one author whose last ltd edition didnt sell out

Edited Saturday at 01:22 PM by Dark Shepherd

[Matcap86]

52 minutes ago, Dark Shepherd said:

Even with costs of POD theyd still have a savage margin on HH related limited editions. Same on say Dan Abnett books, ADB etc

 

For smaller releases they could increase the number in initial run. In their partial defence they probably agreed a contract with the printer a while ago

 

Someone snapped the ltd edition section on warhammer world before, but I can only think of/remember one author whose last ltd edition didnt sell out

 

I'll be curious to see now the "investment/resell value" is decreasing due to the less rarity if stuff will stop selling out. 

 

[Wibbling]

I collect rare books - they're bought and put in a climate controlled deposit box.

 

I am not convinced here there will ever be an appreciation of value as, for example, Watership Down or The Crucible. They're pretty but I think people are paying huge amounts for some stiffer card wrapped fake leather binding. I don't mean to be an oik, but the gold edging is a tape put on the paperback blocks and heated - it's the same book block (a lot of misconceptions about books are dissolved from working in a bindery). To have value there needs to be a cultural acknowledgement of merit (for want of a better phrase). 

 

What annoys me most about Workshop's publications is they produce the special edition, then hard back, then trade paperback (which is the wrong size at 23cm high), then mass market paperback (the 17cm version) in 6 month divisions.

[Subtleknife]

I don't think most people who buy the LEs do so as an investment. I think most people who buy LEs from GW do so because they look nice on a shelf. This is purely an opinion.

 

I think there are some books from GW that will appreciate in value, but there will be very specific reasons and they will be the exception not the rule.

 

If you are looking for an appreciable asset, then there are a lot more efficient methods than GW LEs.

Edited Sunday at 09:24 AM by Subtleknife

[Interrogator Stobz]

Scalpers do look at them as an investment. But absolutely, the rest of us book lovers just like nice thongs and ordered bookshelves.

 

I 100% support Brother Wibbling on the problem that producing excessive multiple formats creates. It is very easy for a normal person to miss out getting the same format across a collection. Then being left with gaps and/or irregular format ruins the entire concept of a collection. 

I sold 40 HH books as it's impossible tto complete it, and I will never buy another collection from BL. Their supply strategy is absolutely awful, even for non special edition products. 

Good to hear they have acknowledged the problem, but it remains to be seen whether they're actually going to address it long term. Very interested to see how they release the other formats....

[Scribe]

4 minutes ago, Interrogator Stobz said:

lovers just like nice thongs and ordered bookshelves.

 

[Interrogator Stobz]

Those too