Stephen King and Joe Hill appearing together...

[RichardX]

You might think some consideration would be made to obtain a few more signed books and just sell them to folks who they oversold tickets. The book store could explain the situation to King. How difficult would that be? The event is a month away. If King signed ten extra books a day for the next month, that would cover it. On some of these recent book tours, he signed 500 or so per event (and there were multiple events). Everyone would have walked away happy. I'm sure that won't happen, though.

Yeah no chance - these bookstore people think they are hot shit when it comes to these events.

It is mostly incompetence. They also have little reason to care. It is a one off type event. Most people who got screwed over are not customers of the bookstore but people from all over. Probably good intentions gone awry. King wants to help Hill and a bookstore out. He agrees to the event and leaves the details to them. They screw it up. King never knows otherwise because they are terrified of him. He shows up and does the gig. Never gives it a second thought. Thinks everyone is satisfied.

What are they supposed to do? Yeah, it sucks that their system crashed (apparently after their system folks reviewed it and said it should be fine), but it's not like they intended for that to happen. And it's not like they want bad press for themselves or King.

And most independent bookstores I know of bend over backwards and forwards to accommodate people - its why they are still around in this day and age.

This is not a discussion as to the overall merits of independent bookstores to society but how this event was handled today by one store. What could they do? Maybe Ask King to sign some extra books and offer those to anyone who purchased tickets. He signed thousands in a recent tour. The notion that because they are an "independent bookstore" somehow exempts them from criticism doesn't cut it. They were obviously unprepared for this kind of event. It should not have come as a surprise that there was a large demand. The biggest screw up was not just the system crashing but telling people who tried for hours that they had finally purchased tickets and taken their money only to find out later they were out of luck.

[Kingfan24]

I still haven't received a confirmation or a cancellation. What a fuck up

[Randall Flagg]

He signed thousands in a recent tour.

In 2017 he did a tour and signed thousands of books. That tour (and the co-written book) was to promote Owen King (Stephen didn't need the tour).

Post that tour, King has made it clear he wants to spend his time writing, not signing.

I'd love it if King did more signing tours, but if given the choice of where I'd like to see King spend his golden years, I'd much rather more novels than tours.

[Kingfan24]

He signed thousands in a recent tour.

In 2017 he did a tour and signed thousands of books. That tour (and the co-written book) was to promote Owen King (Stephen didn't need the tour).

Post that tour, King has made it clear he wants to spend his time writing, not signing.

I'd love it if King did more signing tours, but if given the choice of where I'd like to see King spend his golden years, I'd much rather more novels than tours.

I would love to agree with you but his last few books have been flops for me. Really hoping the institute doesn’t suck.

[DoctorZaius]

I live 45 minutes away and couldn't get a whiff of a ticket - ugh.....

[Randall Flagg]

The Outsider was a good read. Obviously no signing tour. Elevation was a money grab (probably by the publisher, not King). Elevation should have been a bonus new story in a King short story collection, but of course the stand alone chapbook (hardback) made more money for all the parties involved (not the Constant Reader).

[Garrell]

Enjoyed Elevation. Loved The Outsider.

[Kingfan24]

The Outsider was a good read. Obviously no signing tour. Elevation was a money grab (probably by the publisher, not King). Elevation should have been a bonus new story in a King short story collection, but of course the stand alone chapbook (hardback) made more money for all the parties involved (not the Constant Reader).

I thought Outsider was just meh. I think it was predictable and twice as long as it should have been. I share your same feelings on elevation.

Just got my cancellation

[redsoxfan565]

It is mostly incompetence. They also have little reason to care. It is a one off type event. Most people who got screwed over are not customers of the bookstore but people from all over. Probably good intentions gone awry. King wants to help Hill and a bookstore out. He agrees to the event and leaves the details to them. They screw it up. King never knows otherwise because they are terrified of him. He shows up and does the gig. Never gives it a second thought. Thinks everyone is satisfied.

I agree with your incompetence assessment (Incompetence: inability to do something successfully; ineptitude.). I disagree that they have little reason to care. I'm sure they are very unhappy with how the process went, however they have no one to blame but themselves Thus sincerely apologize and move on.


I agree that King himself (unless Marsha tells him) is unlikely to know about the fiasco, as the bookstore owners will be reticent to bring it up to the PTB in King's world. Plus, King in his new attitude about signing will flat out refuse to sign ~400 more books. He literally will be the cantankerous old man he has become and think or say "Tough Shit people. That's the new digital way. Next time go for a walk".

Joe tweeted out about the crash, and Stephen retweeted him, so they know about the issues.

As much as you want to give the bookstore leniency here, they were ill-prepared for this, and decided to try to save money by doing it on their own. Anybody who knows anything about IT would tell you, that a little website like that would not be able to handle tens of thousands of requests per second.

[Kingfan24]

It is mostly incompetence. They also have little reason to care. It is a one off type event. Most people who got screwed over are not customers of the bookstore but people from all over. Probably good intentions gone awry. King wants to help Hill and a bookstore out. He agrees to the event and leaves the details to them. They screw it up. King never knows otherwise because they are terrified of him. He shows up and does the gig. Never gives it a second thought. Thinks everyone is satisfied.

I agree with your incompetence assessment (Incompetence: inability to do something successfully; ineptitude.). I disagree that they have little reason to care. I'm sure they are very unhappy with how the process went, however they have no one to blame but themselves Thus sincerely apologize and move on.


I agree that King himself (unless Marsha tells him) is unlikely to know about the fiasco, as the bookstore owners will be reticent to bring it up to the PTB in King's world. Plus, King in his new attitude about signing will flat out refuse to sign ~400 more books. He literally will be the cantankerous old man he has become and think or say "Tough Shit people. That's the new digital way. Next time go for a walk".

Joe tweeted out about the crash, and Stephen retweeted him, so they know about the issues.

As much as you want to give the bookstore leniency here, they were ill-prepared for this, and decided to try to save money by doing it on their own. Anybody who knows anything about IT would tell you, that a little website like that would not be able to handle tens of thousands of requests per second.

It’s sill unlikely anything is done about it.

[becca69]

My cancellation finally came thru.

[zelig]

My cancellation finally came thru.

What!? Don’t they know who they’re dealing with here???

[surly]

as one of the unlucky ones, im a little surprised at the backlash as the experience unfolded exactly the way i expected it would - better even. in all the time i have been at this, i dont know that there has ever been a King sale that didnt crash the system. in this case, however, the store did something unexpected: it seems pretty rare that users would still able to check out much later if the item was in the cart. to me, that means despite a little delay, the quickest people got the tickets which would have been the case whether the system crashed or not, so in my opinion the store should get some recognition rather than be chastised.

of course i am disappointed i didn't get a ticket but if i am honest with myself, my luck is the exact opposite of Ari’s and it was always a long shot. im content because i know now that there will be copies on the secondary market and maybe my luck will be better there.

either way, congrats to everyone that got a ticket. im a little envious but still happy for you and hope to finally get the chance to meet some of you there.

[becca69]

My cancellation finally came thru.

What!? Don’t they know who they’re dealing with here???

[Randall Flagg]

Do you think it would be a nice gesture to hold a lottery for the ~400 people that were oversold and perhaps give out 10 signed books?

[Kingfan24]

Do you think it would be a nice gesture to hold a lottery for the ~400 people that were oversold and perhaps give out 10 signed books?

I think that would piss people off even more seeing as if those people would have successfully gotten tickets they were guaranteed a signed book.

[Randall Flagg]

Do you think it would be a nice gesture to hold a lottery for the ~400 people that were oversold and perhaps give out 10 signed books?

I think that would piss people off even more seeing as if those people would have successfully gotten tickets they were guaranteed a signed book.

I suppose you could always decline to be in the lottery, and thus continue to be pissed off forever. It was just a thought, and I did ask for opinions. Hopefully a few more people will chime in.

[becca69]

Of course I think any gesture of good faith is welcome. There will always be those who can’t be appeased.

[Aremag]

I think a lottery for a few consolation prizes would be a positive gesture due to not the server crashing but the fact that inventory control broke. I also don't think some of the people crying about it don't deserve it. After reading the Facebook comments and people knowingly buying tickets when it said there was negative tickets available, crying and stamping their feet like spoiled children and just acting like they were owed a ticket no matter what.

I think I'm one of the people that some people were crying about that got in "early" but I thought most people knew that you never hit the link at exactly noon or whatever time. Be it concert tickets, limited edition records, Stephen King events, etc...you always start refreshing that page a few minutes before the scheduled time.

[lotuz]

Do you think it would be a nice gesture to hold a lottery for the ~400 people that were oversold and perhaps give out 10 signed books?

It seems to be the consensus that King will either be insulated from this whole incident and not know, or find out about it and not give a shit. Given that, I think a scenario where they say (a) "Hey Mr. King, please sign 400 books to make everyone happy" is impossible while a scenario where they say (b) "Hey Mr.King, we had some issues, will you please sign 10 more books" might actually happen. So for the sake of everyone in this thread I hope it's (b)!

Also, this was a crazy thread to follow... what a rollercoaster (and I didn't even have potential tickets on the line)

[burial]

Do you think it would be a nice gesture to hold a lottery for the ~400 people that were oversold and perhaps give out 10 signed books?

at first glance it's a nice idea but...
I tried to get two tickets and wasn't able to checkout... and i was there in first minutes, tried few times. I tried, and tried i meantime i have seen some comments of people who succeeded...

Of course, as some of us mentioned, we are used to such things when it comes to lotteries of S/L's (etc "11/22/63") or event tickets. I wasn't surprised that there were problems.
I was not complaining, I was not crying... I kept in inside ;(

Then, they said that they oversell and not everyone who successfully made payment will receive their tickets. Wow - that sucks. But still - it was predictable.
If Scribner wasn't prepared for the lottery of SL "11/22/63" mentioned above and had to change the rules of the "lottery" in the middle of the process I'm not surprised now.

If there was supposed to be an additional lottery for those who paid and finally didn't qualify for tickets... well... why not for those who, most likely were at the ticket system first, and wasn't able to checkout?

I think some people (organizers and attendees) should leave it be and swallow this bitter pill...

I wish I was there with all of you (and this would be my first trip to US)... maybe another time

[RichardX]

It's interesting that so many people think it would be an enormous burden for King to sign 400 books. To such an extent that it would even impact his ability to write. My understanding is that on the last tour King would arrive before the event and sign the 500 books to be handed out that night. Someone opens them, slides it in front of him and he signs it. Like a machine. An hour or two max and it is done. I have no illusions whatsoever that will happen though. If everyone who wanted a signed book could get one, that would be great for us but the frenzy is something that is good for the book company and King's brand. I not saying it is intentional (the dreaded conspiracy theory) but a frenzy that crashes a server is good to promote his popularity.

With that said, I've still never received a confirmation or denial email from the store. They took my money though per my bank account. So I have no idea days later where it stands although 99.9% sure I'm of luck.

[tippy4]

It's interesting that so many people think it would be an enormous burden for King to sign 400 books. To such an extent that it would even impact his ability to write. My understanding is that on the last tour King would arrive before the event and sign the 500 books to be handed out that night. Someone opens them, slides it in front of him and he signs it. Like a machine. An hour or two max and it is done. I have no illusions whatsoever that will happen though. If everyone who wanted a signed book could get one, that would be great for us but the frenzy is something that is good for the book company and King's brand. I not saying it is intentional (the dreaded conspiracy theory) but a frenzy that crashes a server is good to promote his popularity.

With that said, I've still never received a confirmation or denial email from the store. They took my money though per my bank account. So I have no idea days later where it stands although 99.9% sure I'm of luck.

I don't think anybody here thinks it would be an "enormous burden"......he just does not want to do it and that is his prerogative.

Most of us here could probably afford to give $20 a week to a random homeless guy on the street and it would not be an enormous burden either (we've all seen each other's collections), but I doubt most of us do it.

No matter what......in either example there would be somebody who wants more.......and we all have to draw a line somewhere.

[Kingfan24]

It's interesting that so many people think it would be an enormous burden for King to sign 400 books. To such an extent that it would even impact his ability to write. My understanding is that on the last tour King would arrive before the event and sign the 500 books to be handed out that night. Someone opens them, slides it in front of him and he signs it. Like a machine. An hour or two max and it is done. I have no illusions whatsoever that will happen though. If everyone who wanted a signed book could get one, that would be great for us but the frenzy is something that is good for the book company and King's brand. I not saying it is intentional (the dreaded conspiracy theory) but a frenzy that crashes a server is good to promote his popularity.

With that said, I've still never received a confirmation or denial email from the store. They took my money though per my bank account. So I have no idea days later where it stands although 99.9% sure I'm of luck.

I don't think anybody here thinks it would be an "enormous burden"......he just does not want to do it and that is his prerogative.

Most of us here could probably afford to give $20 a week to a random homeless guy on the street and it would not be an enormous burden either (we've all seen each other's collections), but I doubt most of us do it.

No matter what......in either example there would be somebody who wants more.......and we all have to draw a line somewhere.

Nobody "wants more". What people wanted was a fair shake at getting tickets.

[tippy4]

It's interesting that so many people think it would be an enormous burden for King to sign 400 books. To such an extent that it would even impact his ability to write. My understanding is that on the last tour King would arrive before the event and sign the 500 books to be handed out that night. Someone opens them, slides it in front of him and he signs it. Like a machine. An hour or two max and it is done. I have no illusions whatsoever that will happen though. If everyone who wanted a signed book could get one, that would be great for us but the frenzy is something that is good for the book company and King's brand. I not saying it is intentional (the dreaded conspiracy theory) but a frenzy that crashes a server is good to promote his popularity.

With that said, I've still never received a confirmation or denial email from the store. They took my money though per my bank account. So I have no idea days later where it stands although 99.9% sure I'm of luck.

I don't think anybody here thinks it would be an "enormous burden"......he just does not want to do it and that is his prerogative.

Most of us here could probably afford to give $20 a week to a random homeless guy on the street and it would not be an enormous burden either (we've all seen each other's collections), but I doubt most of us do it.

No matter what......in either example there would be somebody who wants more.......and we all have to draw a line somewhere.

Nobody "wants more". What people wanted was a fair shake at getting tickets.

Not trying to be argumentative, and I am sympathetic to those who tried to get tickets and did not....but everyone did have a fair shake at getting tickets....as everyone had to deal with the same inadequate website.

Reading some of the posts here....it feels like a lot of folks feel that had the site worked properly, they would have gotten tickets.....and that is not necessarily the case.

I know it sucks that some people got confirmations only to then get an email saying that they didn't actually get tickets........but at the end of the day not getting tickets is not getting tickets....no matter how it happens.