Black Library App / Free eBooks / BL Site Closure / Celebration 2026

[Magos Takatus]

Oh god.... I've just realised I set up audible over a year ago, bought The Infinite and the Divine and still haven't got round to finishing it. I didn't cancel Audible so I must be sitting on a small pile of their silly tokens. I'd best get spending them. I also need to finish The Infinite and the Divine.  Considering that I was enjoying it, it's odd that I've just not managed to insert audiobooks into my lifestyle. I could put them on while I'm painting instead of Youtube.

[Firedrake Cordova]

4 minutes ago, Magos Takatus said:

I didn't cancel Audible so I must be sitting on a small pile of their silly tokens

You can roll over up to 5 credits - after that they don't roll over. It might be worth trying their customer services and pleading your case to see if they'll give you the others.

[Felix Antipodes]

3 hours ago, Firedrake Cordova said:

Hopefully that won't happen. The FAQ says, "You can still purchase Black Library eBooks and Audiobooks through alternative vendors to use with your preferred eReader.", which indicates there'll be non-Black Library sources for them. I've had audiobooks that were "pulled" from Audible and they remained in my account after they were removed from the store.

 

I’ve had a poke around the interwebs and all the alternate 3rd party venders (amazon, iBooks, etc) all use DRM and/or lock you into their proprietary software, so not sure the alternate sources they claim actually exist wrt ebooks.  Audible should have a contract with GW, so should be okay until it runs out.

 

Do the eShorts get released via the alternate sites?  I didn’t see any while checking, so they may be siloed behind the app if they continue that format.  For those planning on using the app, let’s hope it has a better interface than the Vault.

[Firedrake Cordova]

36 minutes ago, Felix Antipodes said:

all the alternate 3rd party venders (amazon, iBooks, etc) all use DRM and/or lock you into their proprietary software, so not sure the alternate sources they claim actually exist wrt ebooks

I think they more meant if you want it on your Kindle you can buy it from Amazon, rather than there being a DRM-free option.

[firestorm40k]

2 hours ago, Magos Takatus said:

Considering that I was enjoying it, it's odd that I've just not managed to insert audiobooks into my lifestyle. I could put them on while I'm painting instead of Youtube.

Audiobooks are a great accompaniment when painting, I can confirm  Infinite & the Divine was an enjoyable listen  Jonathan Keeble and Toby Longworth do a great job of narrating Black Library novels, they've made series like Eisenhorn, Gaunt's Ghosts, Black Legion and Siege of Terra all enjoyable listens. I particularly enjoyed Keeble's take on Telemachon in the Black Legion books, for whom he sounds like he's channeling Roger Moore 

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

I know little about women and even less about technology. However, if I understand this right, rather than being able to buy an epub I can download and put on my Kobo, I'll only be able to read ebooks through their app?

 

If so then that's incredibly anti consumer and I'll simply move to the seven seas. 

[Firedrake Cordova]

10 minutes ago, The Praetorian of Inwit said:

However, if I understand this right, rather than being able to buy an epub I can download and put on my Kobo, I'll only be able to read ebooks through their app?

It comes down to:

1. You can buy a book via their app and read it only on a supported iOS/Android device
2. The book may also be available on Amazon/Kobo store, in which case you can buy it there instead, and sync it to your Kindle/Kobo (respectively)

For me, it's a retrograde move.

Edited February 19 by Firedrake Cordova

[Viridia]

One of the things I find annoying about this is why as a PC user do I need to set up an app on my phone to access my already-bought content? The website is perfectly servicable and can be accessed on tablet/phone/computer. It is very anti-consumer and as much as I was already pulling away from buying GW models, I'm going to have to do the same for their books as well now.

[Gorgoff]

As long as they finally make payment systems available which are common outside US and UK I think it could be an upgrade to me. 

[The Praetorian of Inwit]

I've been taking a look at the books available on Kobo. The selection is much smaller than Black Library's website. Far fewer short stories too. I'd say a good 30% - 40% of my bl purchases aren't on kobo. This doesn't make me confident about future availability.

 

No matter. It just means I'll take the Jack Sparrow approach in the future and BL lose a paying customer. 

[Blissful Brushes]

It’s quite on brand for GW to do something stupid when it comes to digital content. Whoever is responsible for their website architecture should have been put out to pasture long ago. It also aligns with their zealous desire for exclusivity, to me this feels similar to their attempts at shutting down anybody who uses plastic, resin, miniature and space in the same sentence.

 

I think that back when BL started their ebook stuff it was pre-Kindle monopoly so it made sense that they could compete in this genre but you could - or at least I managed to - import all my BL titles to my kindle app at the time. They’ve been there for years and I’ve not bought anything for years so I will admit I’m out of touch on that front.

 

[Felix Antipodes]

While the new app isn’t due to appear until the 18th, it worries me that they have stopped adding the pre-orders/new releases to the BL website, even though they promised there would be several months of co-existence before nuking the site.  More GW confusion where IT is concerned?

 

[Vassakov]

6 minutes ago, Felix Antipodes said:

While the new app isn’t due to appear until the 18th, it worries me that they have stopped adding the pre-orders/new releases to the BL website, even though they promised there would be several months of co-existence before nuking the site.  More GW confusion where IT is concerned?

 

 

 

From the FAQ - no new purchases from Wednesday, and it seems they haven't added this weeks preorders (though I must confess, I don't know if they ever added preorders to the BL website or if they just appear on release day.)

For what it's worth, Ghost Legion and Death Rider are on there and they were officially the most recently releases?

[Felix Antipodes]

They have always put up pre-orders on the BL website, although they usually go up later than the physical books on the main website.  In fact, they recently started putting the digital editions up on the Friday, before the usual Saturday bunfight.

There were several books up for pre-order this week due to the BL ‘Celebration’, including Chem Dogs & Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, which should have been up for purchase before the 18th cut off date.

[irlLordy]

New app is available to download now. Looks like my library at least ported over, though haven't confirmed everything. Sadly not able to download anything yet, and library definitely needs filters by setting.

 

Now with link to article

 

https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/ftfv93jv/download-the-brand-new-black-library-app-today/

Edited March 18 by irlLordy

[Subtleknife]

The problem I have is nearly all my audio book usage is when commuting. Audible is accessed directly from my car. I doubt BL will be.

[darkhorse0607]

13 minutes ago, Subtleknife said:

The problem I have is nearly all my audio book usage is when commuting. Audible is accessed directly from my car. I doubt BL will be.

I mean, I cant see a reason for someone that has a bunch of stuff on Audible to convert to the BL app in general

 

-not supported by cars

-BL is more expensive by far

-I havent dug into it yet, but I doubt BL will have the return system that Audible does if you use credits (someone correct me here if I am wrong)

-all the audio options that Audible has

Etc

 

I dont love Amazon by any means, but I cant think of a reason to switch 

[TheWarmaster]

It looks like you can download the ebook/novel AND the audio for each of the offerings. Except the Gortrek one which doesn’t have a novel and is only available as the audio drama. 
 

Not sure if this is an error though, as the article says you can download the book OR the audio? 
 

But the app let me download both book and audio for each.. 

[irlLordy]

So one obvious thing missing is that any of the collections previously sold on the BL website (e.g. advent calendar, horror week, eshorts collections etc) don't appear as they're not being sold any more - but the individual short stories or audios from those collections don't appear in your library in the app. You'll need to buy them again individually if you want to reread them via the app (or download them from BL website and read on another reader).

[Corswain]

All of my previous purchases are missing. I have emailed to have that rectified because otherwise this app is a non-starter.

 

Edit: I'll be asking for a solution to the bundle issue as well. I bought a Heresy bundle a few years ago which would cost hundreds of dollars to buy individually.

Edited March 18 by Corswain

[Felix Antipodes]

Transferring over your BL files was a bit of a pain.  The instruction vids they provided were perfunctory at best or useless (the iOS one works for iPhone but not iPad).

Finally got it sorted and my files turned up this morning, minus the stuff already pointed out by others above.

 

The latest pre-orders (Chem Dogs, etc) are still not on the app.  I think the new regime will be releases will just appear on the app on the actual release date, but time will tell I suppose.  I’m still not sure I will transition from website to app now it’s a paywall system.

[joschlumpf]

Is anyone else not able to get all the free stuff? 
4 books are available (Dominion, Avenging Son, Mark of Faith, Sanguinius), the others are not even in the catalogue for me

[joschlumpf]

1 hour ago, joschlumpf said:

Is anyone else not able to get all the free stuff? 
4 books are available (Dominion, Avenging Son, Mark of Faith, Sanguinius), the others are not even in the catalogue for me

I....found the problem. GW is automatically linking my account to german, and the other books seem to not have a german translation so they aren´t shown. 
Need to manually change the App language to english to browse the (and therefore recieve the offered free) books.

[Corswain]

8 hours ago, Felix Antipodes said:

Transferring over your BL files was a bit of a pain.  The instruction vids they provided were perfunctory at best or useless (the iOS one works for iPhone but not iPad).

 

Is there a trick to it I'm missing? I'm using Android and the menu button they navigate to isn't even present.

[irlLordy]

I synced the accounts via the web instructions and didn't have any issues.