Random thoughts...

[Martin]

Bitter taste for sure. Personally I don't see why the Misery purchasers would give up their number on the second book out. If I had been lucky enough to get a number, I'd try to keep it. Who knows if any will be available to preorder. With however many Misery purchasers who pass, that will at least open the door for people to become Suntup insiders.



True. But if I bought a subscription and still had to elbow out the competition to get a Suntup book, I'd wonder what good the subscription did for my collection. What if there are no gift editions for the next four books?

I am someone who purchased Misery and am not purchasing this book. It makes no sense to me to spend $350 on a book that I do not value in order to keep my 'place in line'. It is just not how my mind works.

[jeffingoff]

I am someone who purchased Misery and am not purchasing this book. It makes no sense to me to spend $350 on a book that I do not value in order to keep my 'place in line'. It is just not how my mind works.

My mind would torture me over possibly being pushed out of future books I'll really want. Though if I had Misery, I'd be able to relax knowing the future King editions were secure. My reasoning would work this way: if there was a book that I didn't really want but only purchased to hold onto my number, then I'd feel safe recouping some (if not all) of that cost on the secondary market since the print run is so low. It would be a safe investment and I'd keep my number.

[Martin]

My mind would torture me over possibly being pushed out of future books I'll really want. Though if I had Misery, I'd be able to relax knowing the future King editions were secure. My reasoning would work this way: if there was a book that I didn't really want but only purchased to hold onto my number, then I'd feel safe recouping some (if not all) of that cost on the secondary market since the print run is so low. It would be a safe investment and I'd keep my number.

I can honestly say I have never bought a book with "selling on the secondary" on my mind. Truth is once I have the book in hand it would be very hard for me to part with it. I have bought grab bas assuming I would take some to Powell's for trade, but buying a book to sell it will not happen for me.

[jeffingoff]

I can honestly saw I have never bought a book with "selling on the secondary" on my mind. Truth is once I have the book in hand it would be very hard for me to part with it. I have bought grab bas assuming I would take some to Powell's for trade, but buying a book to sell it will not happen for me.

To be clear: buying an undesired book with the intention of selling it on the secondary market in order to preserve my number would be my reasoning. My actions would be another thing altogether. I would probably keep the book.

The interesting thing is that I want all the Graveyard Editions except the ones from Bentley Little. So that's a situation where I will skip and lose my number and be ok with it. I bought Orphans of Wonderland and it is a really beautiful production. I'd love to have a set. But I don't want to buy Little.

[Brian861]

To be clear: buying an undesired book with the intention of selling it on the secondary market in order to preserve my number would be my reasoning. My actions would be another thing altogether. I would probably keep the book.

The interesting thing is that I want all the Graveyard Editions except the ones from Bentley Little. So that's a situation where I will skip and lose my number and be ok with it. I bought Orphans of Wonderland and it is a really beautiful production. I'd love to have a set. But I don't want to buy Little.

I'll probably never read any of the Graveyard Editions outside of a few authors. There are series I collect just simply for collecting. This series is one of them.

As far as Centipede and Suntup; easy pass. No interest whatsoever.

[Dan Hocker]

For what it's worth. 90% of collectors do not care about matching numbers in the least. Also the secondary market only cares about those matching numbers if they happen to be in a multi book set (series is generally irrelevant). So for example a IT matching a Doctor Sleep is irrelevant, but say if there where limited of The Bill Hodges trilogy and those where matching that'd be relevant.

So if we look at a normal release of ours, let's say Headhunter. Headhunter maybe had 1% requested numbers. That number goes up with a series like Graveyard Editions, Novella Series, and Signature Series, but generally still not that high maybe 20% at most. It gets a bit higher with the King Stuff maybe 30 - 40% depending on the title. Carrie was maybe 20% at most while Shining was closer to 40%. Then where it really ramps up are books that are part of a continuous story. We don't actually have very many of these under the CD line. The Twelve being the most recent "book 2" that probably had a 50 - 60% number request.

Kinda off topic, but this is basically the off topic thread.

[RonClinton]

Well, if we were all hoping for a cheaper alternative of the The Haunting of Hill House from Centipede, we were wrong:

http://centipedepress.com/horror/hau...hillhouse.html

It will have a price around $450-495. Even with my subscriber discount this is going to be one expensive book.

Jesus. Well, I guess a deluxe edition of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE just isn't in my future. If I wasn't going to pay $350, I'm certainly not going to pay even more.

I *thought* I remembered that Centipede was publishing *two* Shirley Jackson books -- THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE -- and the set was going to retail at ~ $300, or $150 each. Clearly my memory was wrong with at least half of that belief.

A real shame. I get that publishers can charge whatever they want and consumers can then make budgetary decisions, but still... Perhaps the high-dollar price reflects a guaranteed royalty return to her estate for giving its permission, I don't know. Either way, I'm out...I'm sure both the Suntup and Centipede editions will be beautiful, but I'll just grab this 2013 hardcover for $10 and call it a day...and will have fun spending the $450+ I saved:

[Dan Hocker]

Jesus. Well, I guess a deluxe edition of THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE just isn't in my future. If I wasn't going to pay $350, I'm certainly not going to pay even more.

I *thought* I remembered that Centipede was publishing *two* Shirley Jackson books -- THE HAUNTING OF HILL HOUSE and WE HAVE ALWAYS LIVED IN THE CASTLE -- and the set was going to retail at ~ $300, or $150 each. Clearly my memory was wrong with at least half of that belief.

A real shame. I get that publishers can charge whatever they want and consumers can then make budgetary decisions, but still... Perhaps the high-dollar price reflects a guaranteed royalty return to her estate for giving its permission, I don't know. Either way, I'm out...I'm sure both the Suntup and Centipede editions will be beautiful, but I'll just grab this 2013 hardcover for $10 and call it a day...and will have fun spending the $450+ I saved:

I can't say for sure, but knowing Centipede and what Suntup is doing. It's the low print runs. You can't produce books to the standard that they try to with such low runs without pricing them high. That'd be my guess. Generally speaking though the lower the print run the more it costs to print.

[RonClinton]

I can't say for sure, but knowing Centipede and what Suntup is doing. It's the low print runs. You can't produce books to the standard that they try to with such low runs without pricing them high. That'd be my guess. Generally speaking though the lower the print run the more it costs to print.

Except that Centipede has published many other volumes at a similar small limitation (200'ish) for far, far less -- many for less than a third of what this Jackson volume will be. That makes me suspect the estate is probably demanding a higher return than Centipede typically contracts for...but that's just a guess, of course.

[Sock Monkey]

I can't say for sure, but knowing Centipede and what Suntup is doing. It's the low print runs. You can't produce books to the standard that they try to with such low runs without pricing them high. That'd be my guess. Generally speaking though the lower the print run the more it costs to print.

Except that Centipede has published many other volumes at a similar small limitation (200'ish) for far, far less -- many for less than a third of what this Jackson volume will be. That makes me suspect the estate is probably demanding a higher return than Centipede typically contracts for...but that's just a guess, of course.

Could be a little of both. From the description this doesn't look to be one of Centipede's "regular" titles; more along of the their higher-end books. The question is how much demand is there for two high end editions? Both Centipede's and Suntup's editions are priced in the range of "normal" lettered editions (I'm using CD and Subterranean for references here) which would price out a majority of collectors, I'd think. Not to mention Suntup's $2,500 (!!) lettered edition. I'm assuming that most collectors who are in the market for one of these is going to choose one or the other and not go for both, unless the are press completists.

[Sock Monkey]

Now that Centipede has released the information for their edition of Hill House, I find myself in a little more of a predicament. I'd love a nice high-end version of Hill House and was planning on not going for Suntup's due to the price, hoping that Centipede would be a little more on the reasonably-priced side. Now that ANY limited edition I buy will be that pricey, I'm contemplating Suntup's edition because (a) it is cheaper and (b) from what I see from both editions, I'm leaning towards liking Suntup's edition a little more. On the flip side, Centipede books have a track record of holding/increasing value which Suntup has yet to establish (though they could; this is nothing against the press) and, while I'm not completely bowled over by what Centipede has shown of their edition (the cover looks cool!), I tend to feel that way about Centipede's stuff until I see it in person and wind up loving it.

This could be taken out of my hands as there might be no copies of Suntup's left upon opening it up to the public tomorrow. I don't know...on the third hand (?) both are a LOT of money. Decisions, decisions...

[TacomaDiver]

I’m not buying my copy from Suntup so there will be at least one copy. And I think it was Martin who said he wasn’t either, so two copies!

[Martin]

To be clear: buying an undesired book with the intention of selling it on the secondary market in order to preserve my number would be my reasoning. My actions would be another thing altogether. I would probably keep the book.

The interesting thing is that I want all the Graveyard Editions except the ones from Bentley Little. So that's a situation where I will skip and lose my number and be ok with it. I bought Orphans of Wonderland and it is a really beautiful production. I'd love to have a set. But I don't want to buy Little.

I do not think I thought to request a matching number on my second Graveyard book. Will know for sure next week when I get it.

[Tommy]

omit

[bookworm 1]

Well, if we were all hoping for a cheaper alternative of the The Haunting of Hill House from Centipede, we were wrong:

http://centipedepress.com/horror/hau...hillhouse.html

It will have a price around $450-495. Even with my subscriber discount this is going to be one expensive book.

That really sucks. Guess I don't get a limited edition of one of my favorite books.