You guys know how I hate personal promotion, but allow me to let slip for just a moment my shiny creative veneer and proudly display the rotten commercial heart that beats within.
I note that amazon.co.uk are now offering The Heroes for pre-order with a 50% discount. That’s right, I can hardly believe it either, possibly the finest British fantasy novel set over the course of a three day battle that will be released in the second half of January 2011, delivered unto your hot little doorstep and into your hot little hands on the day of publication (or other similar day) for the scandalously reduced price of £7.49! Someone call the police, you lot are ROBBING ME.
And, as I was pointing out in the comments section of the last post, this is no ordinary edition, oh no, this is the extra special first edition Gollancz hardcover UK unlimited special edition edition, featuring fully typeset text of Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes, entirely written by the author except for the bits his mum helped him with, five exclusive maps of the battlefield, order of battle, wraparound grip-friendly textured, embossed, and foiled battlefield cover with axe and bonus blood, copy and author photo, over sixty chapter headings, fully centred page numbers, ready-cut smooth easy turning edges, dedication, acknowledgements, and much much more.
Alright, it’s the UK hardcover. And those of you who have already been dedicated enough to order, do not despair. I believe amazon have a policy whereby if the price drops after ordering, they refund the difference. Don’t quote me on that.
EDIT: I have been reliably informed that Waterstones.com are offering this same incredible deal along with free postage in the UK. You could buy a copy of the Heroes from amazon and another from Waterstones and have them both delivered to you, free, and still have 2p change left over from the recommended retail price! Oh, happy day.
47 comments so far
That’s great Joe, but we want your hot little handses to sign the beauties for us. So see you at Forbidden Planet?
I got me a little Amazon birthday voucher and I was wondering just what to buy! Nice timing with the update Joe!
Mark C
Sorry Joe, I refuse to pay less than full price. Just doing my little part to make sure you can continue writing full time!
Oh Christ, just after I preorder it, right?
Davieboy,
I think I’ll be there in January. Details when I have them.
Dan,
How about buying two copies, then? You get to pay full price, I get twice the sales. Everyone wins!
Maps!
Are you going to release a map-less version for those who are allergic?
Your subtle advertising has won me over. Didn’t realise it was out so early in 2011 – just short of maintaining a book every year.
Is the audiobook out at a similar time? My girlfriend claims that listening to the first law over the last month has been the only thing that has kept her same while resubmitting a cancer research paper. There’s another accololade you can add to your books, “helps cure cancer” 🙂
You got it Joe! I’ll buy one for a friend:)
Bob,
I’m afraid the map allergic will just have to keep popping the antihistamines.
Enjai,
The audiobook should be available for download on audbile the same day. Steven Pacey again slated to do the reading, I believe.
Dan,
Good man.
You had me at fully centred page numbers.
Strangely enough the price at the bookdepository seems to have gone up. I’m glad I pre-ordered before for the lower price. 🙂
It dosnt say its the special limited edition one. or are they all like that and i missed it.
“featuring fully typeset text of Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes, entirely written by the author except for the bits his mum helped him with, five exclusive maps of the battlefield, order of battle, wraparound grip-friendly textured, embossed, and foiled battlefield cover with axe and bonus blood, copy and author photo, over sixty chapter headings, fully centred page numbers, ready-cut smooth easy turning edges, dedication, acknowledgements, and much much more.”
This paragraph was great. 😀
Anyway, I haven’t preordered yet, usually wait until a few weeks before. So I went to amazon.ca (I’m in Canada) and it was the same as always. Then I came back and saw it was amazon.co.uk. 🙁
But while I was there I saw this:
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/7028/amazonm.png
Is this date true or more amazon crap? They tend to like to make up dates it seems.
Wilfred,
A left or right justified page number can ruin an otherwise excellent read, I find.
Brandon,
Sorry, I was kidding. There is no special edition hardcover. They all have the maps and the order of battle, and the rest is all stuff you’d probably hope to get in any book. Like the page numbers.
Matt,
Often they put in placeholders which are automatically downloaded from publishers schedules, so that’s probably some ghost left over from way back when. The date is January 20th in the UK, and very shortly thereafter in the US. Providing distribution is working in Canada (which it doesn’t seem to have been doing all that well of late), you should get the UK edition in January.
Joe, can you confirm that this: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/book/9780575083837/The-Heroes is also the fantastic special edition? Living in Australia, the shipping from Amazon would end up costing more than the book itself, therefore rendering the half price…full price and then some. Can’t wait until January!
You have just made my day Joe, I shall be pre-ordering a copy tomorrow (pay day!).
One question for you though almighty Mr Abercrombie…
Will you be doing any signing dates??
If you are, anywhere near Nottingham?
Please say yes! If you are that will be 3 copies I shall purchase, yes you heard right I said 3!
One for me, One for my dear old mum, and one for my Brother who loves your books, but doesn’t actualy own any, he keeps stealing my copies!
I’ve got my 2. Plus the 4-6 I’ll buy at signings, I should have my full complement of “a shelfload” by February.
Off to clear some space… any nominees for the other, inferior, authors that should be discarded to make room?
Gah. Where’s the love for the US?
Love for the U.S.? I don’t know, maybe despite our perceived megabucks (eyeroll) the sales are not as high here as in the UK. I have no access to this information. It still seems a reasonable price, just later release and dare I mention…the different cover! Gasp.
I’ll probably still import it from Book Depository because of the free shipping to the US and 25% discount. Looks like they have the publication date as February 7, though, for some reason.
KA-CHING!
Hello Mr. Abercrombie,
I’m a fairly new fan, having just read The First Law trilogy about 2 months ago, and Best Served Cold last month. Thank you very much for writing such highly entertaining books. I have a few quick questions, all involving Heroes (at least tangentially).
You previously contributed to an anthology, Swords and Dark Magic, and what I’m wondering is if that story is to be a part of Heroes, or is independent of it and just involved some of the same characters?
Secondly, I currently reside in the U.S. and have never ordered a book from elsewhere. But I quite dislike the U.S. cover to Heroes. I can live with it, but I’ve found the UK edition to be much more aesthetically pleasing. So I am contemplating ordering that version, but am wondering if both versions will be otherwise identical, or if there are any other differences that I should be aware of before making a decision?
Any answers that you might provide would be most appreciated. Thank you.
Damnit, I wish I lived in the UK right now… I really want this cover, and 50% off is such a… succulent deal. As Logen might say, shit. Shit shit shit.
James Brown,
Any and all UK hardcover editions are the extra-special unlimited edition.
Brett,
Certainly will be doing some UK signing dates. Hopefully I’ll have a better idea of where in the next few weeks. As soon as I know, I’ll post here.
Jared,
Discard any and all other authors. As you well know.
NickSharps, Sedulo,
My love for the US is great indeed, but this is more of a publishers decision than mine. I do OK in the US, but I sell somewhere between one and two times as many books in the UK, and given that the US market is five times the size, I sell somewhere in the region of 5-10 times more books per head of population in the UK, which means, understandably, that I think it’s fair to say I’m a higher priority for my UK publisher than my US one, and hence that I’m more likely to benefit from publisher and bookseller largesse such as heavy discounting. Though you never know, my US publisher may well react or, entirely on their own initiative, decide to discount equally. Or it may just be that in the US discounting of hardcovers in this way just isn’t considered especially cost effective. Maybe they spend the money on advertising or publicitiy of one kind or another instead. Different publishers have different markets, and hence different strategies as to how they might best balance cost and profit.
Ao,
The story in swords and dark magic features some of the characters from the Heroes, but is in no way essential. The US book will probably be set differently, but I imagine will contain the same five maps as the UK edition, and will definitely contain exactly the same actual text. I’d always advise americans to support their local publisher and therefore encourage them to continue to publish me and others, but if you absolutely had to, say, buy a UK edition as well as the US one, I hear the book depository is a good way of doing it, as they offer free delivery…
Thanks for this Joe, I have joined the scamper over to Amazon to pre-order, but this does highlight the dilemma resulting from one of your earlier posts…
Now I am sure you are going to do another Bath Waterstones signing (the only signing where you can stroll home afterwards) so I know you will be gutted if I’m not there, so I will have to sneak in with my book and ask you to furtively sign it, you’ll convince me to buy another one, and Waterstones will try to charge me for both, or arrest me for shoplifting.
And then there is your e-book wonder version as well, so how does that compare to the cheap or the sexy signed ones? Blimey, choices, choices choices. Remember the old days when you just ‘bought a book’?
Would you come to Guildford? We have a Waterstones with a Costa Coffee on the top floor. Just the other day Alan Tichmarsh was signing there (i didn’t go).
Can’t wait to get my hands on The Heroes!
Bampf!
Didn’t want that pesky money in my account anyway. Urgh.
Hey Joe,
That’s quite a deal for what is sure to be a great read! I’ll post the info on the Hotlist later today or tomorrow!
Tried to email you, but the address I had no longer works. Drop me a line or check our Westeros PM so I can ask you something… =)
Can’t wait to read this one!
Patrick
Hey Joe —
Just pre-ordered. Can’t wait. I have one question, however. Will there be any more novels set within the world of First Law? I know you were contracted for the trilogy and two spin-offs, and since Heroes is the second, can we expect to see more?
Amazon doesn’t have the half price offer in Germany. I will have to cut me own throat and pay 18,99€. I don’t add “it had better be worth it” because I know it will be.
Michael,
Yeah, barring massive disasters, there will be more books.
Daft Sod,
Bookdepository may be a better bet for you. Free delivery to most countries.
For those that can’t wait, it looks like proofs are already appearing on eBay (for substantial prices… crikey, Mr Abercrombie!).
Thanks for the tip Jared, I bought it 😉 Yej 🙂 !!
Hey Joe,
What is your stance on UNCs appearing on ebay? I hope your not cross with me for buying it, someone would have … But it should be unread, unopened which goes against what UNCs are made for right? Nobody will have read and reviewed that copy…
Any chance for you doing a tour/ book signing in Belgium soon?
you’ve guessed it, kindest regards from your (probably not the only one 😉 belgian fan!
ps; I’m still pre ordering the UK hardback also.. to actually read 😉
Sheee-it, Sven, you paid ninety quid for it? I mean, I’m not at all pissed off with you, I’m quite touched that it means that much to you, in fact. But I am a little fucked off with whoever sold it. I was saying about e-book piracy that you have to deal with the world as it is not as you want it to be, and proofs go out there, it’s inevitable that some will be sold on, so I ain’t tearing my hair out. But it galls me to think of someone making what is really quite a lot of money out of something they were sent for free in good faith, and that they had absolutely nothing to do with making.
Pardon my ignorance, but what does UNC stand for? I’ve heard of ARC’s. Are the UNC’s also used for feeding the grapevine?
I’ve got mine pre-ordered now. Must be the earliest I’ve ever ordered a book!
Mark C
Pre-order +1 🙂
Just FYI, Amazon US has The Heroes pre-order on sale, too. It’s not half off, but I’ll gladly take the $8.50 off, thanks. Pre-orders are supposedly protected by price guarantee, so if they decide to do that half-off version for the Abercrombie faithful here, we should still benefit. 🙂
Yup i already have mine pre-ordered. Will be getting the audiobook as well for those long drives to work and back. Glad to see steven pacey is coming back for this one! I really enjoyed his work in the first law trilogy!
Damn it! Selling this proofs is a punishable offense!
Beyond that it`s an abuse for the author!
Guys, don`t buy those unofficiall versions,
because if nobody buys = nobody makes money with it.
Those sellers should be reported to the police.
At the risk of a plug, we at Waterstone’s are also eagerly anticipating the release of The Heroes and have it to pre-roder at half price (gasp!) with FREE delivery (double gasp!).
Ok plug over. Thanks for making it so easy to convert people to the fantasy genre in general and your books specifically. Our assistant manager Kevin is a HUGE fan and is steadily developing an Abercrombie cult of readers in Guildford!
Damn you Abercrombie for making such amazing books. This is the first time I’ve preorded a book, EVER and it’s months until I get it. I might actually forget I ever orded it… or maybe not.
First time I read through the extract I thought Shivers had become a big time chief when I read about Ironeye, but to my dissapointment discovered it was Ironhead. Sure that ain’t a typo on your part;)
I’m trying to decide if it would be a good idea for me to import this to the States. Should I order this now or just wait?
Hello Joe
Really looking forward to getting my copy, which will probably be next year in Australia. So will again, not be able to join in the discussions about your book at the Chrons.
I know about book depository but unable to cover the cost of a credit card 🙁
Any chance of having a few words with your publishers about getting it released here a bit sooner. You know you have loads of fans down here.
Best wishes
Rosie, The Wicked Sword Maiden
I intend to get a copy of both the US and UK versions but would prefer my UK version signed.
Do you recommend a seller in the UK that will be selling signed editions?
As much as I’d like to go to a UK signing it would be a bit costly coming from the US.
BTW Can’t quit reading the first four books – absolutely brilliant!
Hi Joe, read and loved all your books so far and cannot wait for Heroes to be released!
Do you know if an ebook version will be released at the same time as the hard back? Call me mad but I have pre-ordered the hard back, but I also want the ebook for easier reading on the train/at work.
Michael,
Goldsboro Books and Forbidden Planet should both have some signed stock shortly after release, but will probably be taking preorders.
Andy,
Buying my book twice? You, sir, are in the sane minority. Yes, the plan is for the ebook to be released simultaneously with hardcover and audio versions, and the ebook will be in normal, enhanced, and enhanced with audio versions, with any luck.
Hurrah! Finally pre-ordered my copy of The Heroes. Dont suppose as a thank you for my effort and expense you’d consider a little book-signning tripette to Belfast? Im sure it would be your kind of place, everyone swears like Northmen and drinks like fishes.
Joe, I have a few questions, hopefully you can help me 🙂
First off, will you be doing any signing in Manchester? I mean, It’s very Northern, I’m sure I saw Black Dow pass me the other day. He had a bloodied axe, that’s for sure.
Also, I desperately wanna pre-order it, but I feel cheeky paying half price when the four books before it were so amazing to read. It’s amazing how Bayaz and ‘Arch Lector’ Glokta (the best character ever invented) still seem to be controlling even Best Served Cold, which was pretty amazing. Okay, the second bit wasn’t much of a question at all, however, this bit is: when does the paperback copy come out? I only found the Blade Itself in June, but now I’ve read all 4 of your books, and I wanna have The Heroes in Paperback as well as Hardback.
You should definitely do a signing in Manchester, Black Dow is waiting. 😉