Softbacks, limited runs and the schedule

[Balgin Stondraeg]

I don't know if any of you have been checking the Mongoose boards recently but there's been quite a few posts over the last few days including these:

From Matt Sprange:

1. Books 1-4 are currently being reprinted, and will be in our warehouse around the middle of June. These are being printed using traditional offset methods, hence the time delay, but the quality will be unsurpassed.

2. Book 5 will follow a week after these for, with the two novels, and Book 6 2-3 weeks after that. After this, we will be back on schedule, with one book appearing every 6-8 weeks as promised.

3. We are no longer taking orders for the Mega-Deal, and each new run of books will be limited to just 500 copies, making your Collector's Editions truly exclusive.

4. We are just concluding a deal that means the softback books will be appearing in book stores in both the US and UK, starting in January next year. No solid plans yet for the novels and 'multiplayer gamebook', but things are looking good.

About the LWRPG:

msprange

fly80 wrote:

You are a RPG publisher and LW has not an official RPG release (the old one is aborted and eliminated). Why this? Are we (LW fan) less important than, i.e., Conan fan?

No - absolutely not. It all comes down to the change we made in printing at the start of this year, and the knock on effects from that. As soon as the gamebooks themselves are back on schedule (should be a matter of a month or so), we'll be tackling the novels, and then the RPG will be back on the cards.

The RPG is an important component to the Lone Wolf range for us, especially as we move the softbacks into the main stream book trade, as it will hopefully serve as a springboard to bring new blood into the hobby!

EDIT: Modified by BC just for sake of clarity.

[Beowuuf]

Mod powers engaged

[Black Cat]

Journalistic powers engaged! ;D To make things clearer, I have modified Balgin's post to catch more the attention on the important matters.

[zipp]

May 15, 2008 9:24:12 GMT -5 Balgin Stondraeg said:

3. We are no longer taking orders for the Mega-Deal, and each new run of books will be limited to just 500 copies, making your Collector's Editions truly exclusive.

Well, fuck. Excuse the language, but I knew that one would die out sooner or later, and I JUST got a job which I could actually use to put money towards it.

Oh well. That means I'll probably never see the new versions of LW

[Beowuuf]

The paperbacks will start next year I believe, who knows there might be a lesser deal for the paperbacks, or a second megadeal if the outcry is enough

[Doomy]

Does that mean the Collector's Editions will become unavailable for individual purchase?

[Beowuuf]

I guess not, I don't know if they would have got bang on 500 megadeal orders

[eviltb]

Well I put in my individual orders for book 5 & 6. The system took my cash, so looks like its working! Guess from now on, those on individual ordering will have to pre-order asap to guarentee a book!

[Black Cat]

Posted by Matthew Sprange:

Any idea how quickly we'll have to order before they run out?

At the current time, we do not foresee this to be an issue, as we are printing enough to service all current customers, plus keep a few put by for new readers. If this changes and books start disappearing quickly, we may institute a system whereby previous customers are given priority.

However, as things stand, if you are pre-ordering books, you _will_ get them.

[Agrarvyn]

Well, I just tapped the credit card to buy the Mega-deal and I've waited so long that I've easily paid it all off by now! That said, when they go to the trouble of special quality hardbacks entitled "Collectors' Edition", I doubt it will stay around for long.

You could also always buy a couple of copies each of the softbacks when they come out, so that you can lend them out to to the uninitiated, something us hardback owners won't be doing!

[Beowuuf]

The mongoose forum had some downtime yesterday, and now they seem to have lost posts before 12th May on the Lone Wolf forum.... just incase the above causes confusion to people checking the other forum out

[Aguila Saber]

Hmmm.... Book #5 and the Legends are still slated for a May release.

I assume that they should have updated it to Jue given the stated delivery date.

I truly wish that this is the last delay for the Legends. They are long and far overdue by now.

[Black Cat]

To avoid confusion, we should call these novels the Chronicles (since the full name is The Magnamund Chronicles) to avoid people thinking that these novels are Paul Barnett/John Grant's stuff.

EDIT: Say, what's interesting in Matthew Sprange's post is the mention that books will be coming out every 6-8 weeks. That's a book roughly every two months, or 6-8 books a year. At this rate, since there's 34 books left to be published (28 gamebooks, 6 novels), we can expect the last book (probably the new Hunger of Sejanoz since 29-32 will be published out of sequence) in 2012... 2011 if you think that novels might be going out at the same time than gamebooks (like it is the currently the case with the first two).

[Balgin Stondraeg]

May 20, 2008 14:05:29 GMT -5 Black Cat said:

Say, what's interesting in Matthew Sprange's post is the mention that books will be coming out every 6-8 weeks.

That was the original plan. Most of us knew we'd be looking at a 5 year release plan to cover 32-38 books .

[Agrarvyn]

Well, even at one book every month as originally suggested, the Megadeal wasn't going to take less than three years to complete anyway.