He is Legend (w/ "Throttle" by King & Hill) - Gauntlet Press

[Patrick]

Patience pays off. This just in:

Thank you for your order. Our Stephen King elist newsletter will keep you updated on the status of your book and remind you that your card will be charged the first week in January 2009. You will need to provide a new expiration date for your credit card as we are not charging until January 2009.

Best,
Barry Hoffman
Gauntlet Press

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

Now you can relax patrick.

[Clacke]

I'm not sure if this is a worrying development for those who ordered lettered editions, but somebody on the Horror-mall forums posted an email reply from Gauntlet in answer to a payment query. In the reply though, was reference to a lottery for the lettereds, which is a new development in the situation. Below is the post:

I have just had a reply to my order from Barry at Gauntlet which I have posted below and the good news is that they take credit card for us buyers overseas.

The other interesting part of the email is the comments made regarding the lettered edition:

"We take Visa/MasterCard from anywhere in the world. We DON'T take PayPal. As to your order we have 90 orders (so far) for the lettered so we'll have to conduct a lotterry when all have been processed. Since you've also ordered the numbered you're guaranteed that book. You will be informed (as soon as all orders are processed -- I have 500 in my inbox and have processed 150 before that) of the results of the lottery when all orders have been processed."

[Brice]

While I don't think a lottery is a bad idea. I think this really could (and should) have been stated openly before orders were placed. Not having done that I feel they should have gone by whoever ordered first (even though I may have missed out that way too).

[carlosdetweiller]

That lottery business is weird. According to the Gauntlet website you can still order the lettered edition. What is he planning to do? Wait until he has 300 orders for the lettered edition before he cuts off the ordering and has the lottery? If he sends out confirmatory e-mails to the 300 (or whatever) who ordered lettered editions and then sends out "So Sorry!" e-mails to the 250 who didn't "win" the lottery he will have created a great deal of ill feelings toward his press. He really needs to stop accepting orders for a book that is already sold out.

[Brice]

I'm just guessing here, but maybe (hopefully) he is just doing the lottery from the emails he's already sifting through.

I sincerely hope they honor those orders they've ALREADY confirmed at least.

[jhanic]

I wonder if he expected the number of responses he's received. Don't forget that the slipcased edition must be ordered before November!

John

[Cutter]

I agree the lottery is a bad idea. Why should someone who was the first person to order a Lettered Edition have to be put into a lottery with someone who ordered 4 days later? I just think people will be more understanding if they get an email back saying, sorry the lettered Edition has sold out, but they'll get ticked off if they are in a lottery and don't get a copy and they ordered on the day it went on sale. It just seems like you'll anger more people with the lottery.

but I will say none of the Gauntlet books sell out this fast. The Lettered Editions for Bradbury take a month at least to sell out, or if they're more expensive they are still for sale. So he's probably unprepared for this onslaught of orders.

[Randall Flagg]

So, has anyone here received confirmation on an order for a Lettered?

[Rahfa]

I dunno...I'm in the minority here, but would you be THAT disappointed if you didn't get a lettered?

With Matheson being the only additional sig, this will not be an investment property for the long term...in fact, it could easily go the way of Quietly Now, and sell for less than issue (though I think that was $750 issue price).

I think for King/Hill fans the numbered is the way to go, and leave it that.

But...who am I kidding...I know the completists won't be satisfied without it on their shelves! For them, I completely understand the desire...

[Mr. Rabbit Trick]

So, has anyone here received confirmation on an order for a Lettered?

Me.

[midnightrambler34]

So, has anyone here received confirmation on an order for a Lettered?

Me.

Me too.

[Randall Flagg]

I suppose I should have also asked what time your automatic confirmation (not the official e-mail) time stamped your order.

[Sir_Boomme]

"We take Visa/MasterCard from anywhere in the world. We DON'T take PayPal. As to your order we have 90 orders (so far) for the lettered so we'll have to conduct a lotterry when all have been processed. Since you've also ordered the numbered you're guaranteed that book. You will be informed (as soon as all orders are processed -- I have 500 in my inbox and have processed 150 before that) of the results of the lottery when all orders have been processed."

i'm sorry, but this is NOT the way to do it...
if this is trully the case... it stinks almost as bad as the simon and schuster TGWLTG limited ed. popup fiasco.... ie. the one limited i will NEVER add to my collection - even if someone gave it to me (and i'll never order another limited from S&S in this lifetime)

bottom line... the first that ordered the lettered...needs to be the ones that get the lettered. and i state that with the knowledge that i may NOT have been one of the ones to be first. i could live with that and only kick myself in the butt for not being faster on the draw.... but...
this lottery thing would turn me off on Gauntlet forever...
it's very very unprofessional to:
1) accept orders for books that can't be delivered
2) to send out verification emails and not honor them

and then... change the rules and have a lottery????
- WOW! talk about unprofessional.

just like simon and schuster's multiple price raising of TGWLTG limited... testing the market to see what it will pay might be fine for individuals on ebay... but an established publishing company doing it was the most unprofessional behaviour i have ever been witness to.

barry really needs to rethink this.... he's looking like an RANK amateur.
rank as in P.U.

[Brice]

I agree personally...although I'll still buy if I get the chance. My chances of getting one if it were done on a first come first served basis are slim since I didn't get my order through till roughly 3PM EST and I'd be very disappointed if I'm right about that, but the only right way to do this IS to give them to those who ordered first. This is wrong on Gauntlet's part.

[Clacke]

From Horror-Mall forums, clarification from Gauntlet in reply to a query confirming the lottery:

The following is copied from an e-mail I sent Barry earlier today. The lottery is for ALL copies of the lettered edition:

Question from me: Just out of curiosity, why have a lottery instead of just filling the first 52 orders that came in for the Lettered?

The response from Barry:

I spoke to a number of publishers before going the lottery route. The problem with first-come, first-served is that word spread through a number of different websites, bulletin board, and of course, word-of-mouth. Word began spreading Monday morning and many people were at work. So, a first-come, first-served wouldn't have been fair, in my view. Best, Barry

I can see Barry's point concerning people finding out at different times and timezone problems, but he could have saved himself a lot of pain by mentioning upfront on the order page that a lottery was to take place for the lettereds

[Nerak]

I finally got a confirmation of my order!!! woo hoo!!!!

I agree about the lottery being not fair. It should have been on a fc/fs basis!

But that's just my opinion!

I got a numbered!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! woo hoo

[goheat]

Got my confirmation for the S/L too!

[Sir_Boomme]

ok rahfa (see below)... i'm now taking a step back... i'll try to tone down my rants from now on.... but my opinion remains the same....
having a bad day and shouldn't push it off on everyone else.

[super sam]

I´m not at home this weekend so´i´m reading this thread at the hotels computer, standing in the lounge..

But is it right that EVERY lettered order (though confirmed order) will be in a lottery?

[Brice]

No, not really. At the very least those that were told they were getting one should.

[Randall Flagg]

I´m not at home this weekend so´i´m reading this thread at the hotels computer, standing in the lounge..

But is it right that EVERY lettered order (though confirmed order) will be in a lottery?

Right now it is very unclear.
The only person i am aware of here who has received a Lettered confirmation is Mr. Rabbit Tick.
The rest of the information is coming fast and furious, but since Gauntlet isn't answering e-mails, nothing is truly confirmed.

[midnightrambler34]

This what my email states:

Thank you for your order. Our Stephen King elist newsletter will keep you updated on the status of your book and remind you that your card will be charged the first week in January 2009.

Best,
Barry Hoffman
Gauntlet Press

So, am I to understand that I am getting one? The other thing is, I recieved my confirmation 4 days after I placed the order, so does that put me lower on the list? I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

[Rahfa]

I'm sorry, but all these posts here really remind you of the problem of blogs and message boards...a lot of people spreading rumors that build upon rumors and spread confusion and mininformation...

Nobody knows what Gauntlet is or isn't doing, because they haven't actually confirmed anything. All these rumors are based on posts to other message boards or emails or basically everything except first-hand information.

Nobody's credit card's been charged, the book's not coming out for six months, Gauntlet has been in business for a long time. One way or the other it will work out.

Let's take a step back, let him officially tell people what the situation is THEN decide to get annoyed or not. There's always time to be upset, there's no reason to rush to it.

[midnightrambler34]

I'm sorry, but all these posts here really remind you of the problem of blogs and message boards...a lot of people spreading rumors that build upon rumors and spread confusion and mininformation...

Nobody knows what Gauntlet is or isn't doing, because they haven't actually confirmed anything. All these rumors are based on posts to other message boards or emails or basically everything except first-hand information.

Nobody's credit card's been charged, the book's not coming out for six months, Gauntlet has been in business for a long time. One way or the other it will work out.

Let's take a step back, let him officially tell people what the situation is THEN decide to get annoyed or not. There's always time to be upset, there's no reason to rush to it.

Ok, you can now officially get annoyed. This was posted on the Horror Mall forums:

Did you receive a confirmation signed by me (as below) saying that your copy was confirmed? The server generates an automatic order, but that is not a confirmation. I've checked my orders and (1) I have at least 90 for the lettered (with others I have net to even check -- I have 400+ orders in my inbox even after processing 200) and (2) yours wasn't among the first 52. So, a lottery works out best for you. If it were by first-come, first-served you wouldn't get one. I don't believe in first-come, first-served in this case as the announcement went out in numerous newsletter and bulletin boards and most of the orders prior to yours were during the workday Monday. That kind of hurts those who worked Monday and didn't hear about the announcement until they got home. So, a lottery to me sounds fairest. It won't take place for at least a week. If you, in the interim, want to order a copy of the other edition, to guarantee yourself a copy, I suggest you do so. In the Comment's section mention "Cancel if I get a lettered edition through the lottery." It's up to you. Barry Hoffman Gauntlet Press (this is how I sign MY confirmations which are different from the server)