The Black Prism Mass Market Paperback Shipping Now!
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O ye of fragile wrists, afraid to read in bed with a hefty hardcover, lest ye drop it and break thy nose! Thy salvation is nigh! O hardcover-haters, who despise 11 point Sabon! Thy whims are about to be granted! The Black Prism mass market paperback is shipping now, and you may well be able to find it on your local booksellers’ shelves already. If you haven’t had a chance to see the blurb yet, here it is:
With over one million copies sold, Brent Weeks has become one of the fastest selling new fantasy authors of all time. THE BLACK PRISM begins a brand new action-packed tale of magic and adventure … Guile is the Prism, the most powerful man in the world. He is high priest and emperor, a man whose power, wit, and charm are all that preserves a tenuous peace. Yet Prisms never last, and Guile knows exactly how long he has left to live. When Guile discovers he has a son, born in a far kingdom after the war that put him in power, he must decide how much he’s willing to pay to protect a secret that could tear his world apart.Also, those of you who love e-books, you should see the prices for the e-editions drop correspondingly in the next week. The official launch date is September 1st, so you may not see the lower price until then.
For more news, an excerpt, and the full book trailer tomorrow, go to www.facebook.com/blackprism.
I don’t always feel like getting on a soapbox about this but since you mentioned the e-book and how the price would go down, I can’t help it.
I love your work Brent – but until your publisher gets their head out of the sand and starts pricing e-books appropriately, they’ve (and thus, unfortunately you) lost my business. The Night Angel Trilogy costs *more* for the Kindle than the physical box set. Individually, the books are the same price for the DRM restricted e-books as the freely lendable, fully ‘ownable’ physical copies. So when you say the price will go down – yes, it will – to the same price as the physical paperback. Charging the same price for a medium that costs the same if you sell 5 copies or 5 million copies and with hard limitations on ownership and overall ‘use’ vs something with distinct printing, distribution, stocking, return handling, etc. etc. costs is a huge insult to us e-book readers.
All I can do is vote with my wallet and until great authors like you notice how much your publishers are harming you [and how they want ebooks to just ‘go away’] then I’ll have to continue buying from independent authors and more modern publishers.
Borders went out of business for a reason – as did 8-track, record, cassette, and CD stores. The novel business has changed virtually overnight and many publishers are refusing to change with it – holding their authors back with them. Hopefully you’re putting what pressure you can apply to Hachette about this.
Thanks…
Patrick
Patrick, even if everything you say were true, your points could equally demonstrate that publishers are under-charging for paperbacks, rather than over-charging for ebooks. Are you familiar with the actual profit margins of the industry, both now and historically? With the proportion of book production costs that are labor and taxes and marketing versus materials and shipping? With how much Amazon demands for simply maintaining those Kindle servers? If not, why are you lecturing me?
But you know what? Let’s skip all that.
The ONLY question that should matter to you is, “Do Brent’s books give me $8 of entertainment?” You’ve read my work; you have enough basis to judge.
My only complaint with ebooks is that I’d like to see them lighten up on the DRM. I understand why they do it, but in its current form I think it’s a bit much. The prices for the most part are pretty reasonable to me; they’re comparable to paperbacks (which reflect my perceived value of a “book.” Right, enough economics…), and usually 30-50% cheaper than the hardcovers when they first come out. Not such a bad deal. But enough of that.
What struck me as odd is that they removed Gavin’s first name from the synopsis. What’s up with that?
I Payed full price for this last book and have patiently stalked the website for updates. Worth every penny and will happily keep spending said pennies each time. I look forward to each lunch when I get to sit down and read myself into another world.:)
I do have paid full price for my book and Just finished reading the Black Prism and fervently need to congratulate you on another stunning novel which has captured my imagination. I can’t wait for the next book!!