Hello, Brian!
Don't forget about my email please
Hello, Brian!
Don't forget about my email please
Wanted list:
Ubris
Rich posted about this to Twitter, Facebook and Instagram yesterday: Stephen King Revisited - Volume One
Author of The Road to the Dark Tower, Stephen King: A Complete Exploration of His Work, Life, and Influences and The Dark Tower Companion. Co-editor with Stephen King of the anthology Flight or Fright.
Just ordered it
Wish List:
Any of the following flatsigned or inscribed-
It, Shining, Salem’s Lot, Mr. Mercedes, The Stand
Brother ARC, Seed ARC
Any updates on when the limited and lettered GWENDY'S MAGIC FEATHER might be shipping (along with the free ARC that I received in a dream I had the other night).
I'm sure if there is intelligent life somewhere out there in the universe, they are wise enough to stay away from us.
And the people bowed and prayed, to the cell phone god they made...
Wanted:
'Salem's Lot Portfolio #606
Fairy Tale UK S/L
Founder and publisher of Lividian Publications. My other website is BrianJamesFreeman.com. Please always feel free to email me or send me a PM if you have any questions about either!
I think these editions will go to the printer after The Best of Cemetery Dance 2 and Night Shift have been completed and shipped to us. We'd like to see how those two bigger projects turn out before sending anything else big to the new printer. (Less complicated projects are continuing to be sent to our small local printer that we've worked with for years, but they cannot print a "regular" Lettered Edition, let alone something on the scale of these SK projects.)
Brian
Founder and publisher of Lividian Publications. My other website is BrianJamesFreeman.com. Please always feel free to email me or send me a PM if you have any questions about either!
Founder and publisher of Lividian Publications. My other website is BrianJamesFreeman.com. Please always feel free to email me or send me a PM if you have any questions about either!
I have to admit, unfortunately, that my first thought upon hearing that there is another Richard Chizmar book, was that it will almost certainly be printed, bound, and released before the book I pre-ordered in October 2015, or the one I pre-ordered in May of 2016, or the one I pre-ordered in September of 2016...
Spoiler:
Widow's Point was announced in November 2017, after five of my pre-ordered books were already paid for, and made it to release in February 2018, just as I was pre-ordering The Southern Reach Trilogy (still not released).
Gwendy's Magic Feather was announced in May 2019 and the trade was published in November (yes I remember that this was a different case, as both the numbered and lettered are experiencing the usual delays).
Yesterday I get an announcement that Stephen King - Revisited is up for pre-order and scheduled for Fall 2020. Would anyone like to take bets that this book, through some miracle of printing and binding prowess, will not see any delays at all?
I have a spreadsheet of all of my pre-orders. If all of my CD pre-orders were to arrive today, the average time between pre-order and release would be 459 days. The longest is 1613 days and counting. The average time would actually be longer, but earlier this year I cancelled 4 different orders that were between 575 and 1155 days past pre-order.
For comparison, the average time between pre-order and release for Sub Press is 165 days, and the longest outstanding is 303 days (156 days shorter than the average CD release).
Brian, Dan, I believe that both of you are doing the best job that you can do. I believe that you are trying to make up the deficit as best as you can, and I recognize that for obvious reasons, this deficit is likely to grow rather than shrink this year. I appreciate, Brian, that you have taken some of the lessons learned from CD and tried to use them to make LetterPress a better small press. I appreciate, Dan, that when the books actually arrive, you have to make decisions about what to ship first and thus which customers to make angry, and I think you handle this very well. So please know that I (and I think most of us) recognize that this is not you guys messing up, and that I (and I think most of us) are actually very happy with the support and help that you two provide.
But at what point do you think this starts to look like 2007, when this thread started?
At what point can you reasonably say to Richard "this press is badly mismanaged and we need to make some fundamental changes?"
The announcement of Stephen King - Revisited was my catalyst here. What absolutely horrible optics, announcing and releasing Chizmar's books on time, while literally every high profile author CD publishes (Clvie Barker, Gillian Flynn, Anne Rice, Stephen King, Joe Hill, Jeff VanderMeer) has delays ranging from 1 to 5+ years
Spoiler:
EDIT: I should be clear - I'm not fishing for a "this will all be done ASAP, we are gonna get so much out the door, etc" response. I know you guys are working hard. For the purposes of this thread, you can treat my questions as rhetorical. What I really want to know, but what I don't expect you to post here, because it's CD's internal company business, is at what point do these delays upon delays upon delays actually result in real, actionable changes in the way that CD operates? Again, you can treat this as rhetorical. I mean, we'll see that change, if it ever happens. I promise, I'll notice when my delayed books start showing up. I'll notice when the lag between pre-order and delivery is 6-12 months, instead of 15-60 months.
Yup, me too. I roll my eyes every time I get a CD newsletter that says another Chizmar book is being announced and printed while there's books I've had on order for years that are likely to not see the light of day anytime soon.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We always forward your feedback in case it might prove helpful for the decision makers, which Dan and I are not.
Brian
Founder and publisher of Lividian Publications. My other website is BrianJamesFreeman.com. Please always feel free to email me or send me a PM if you have any questions about either!
Not that I am recommending it, but people boycotting the purchase of Chizmar books (with a specific note indicating why you are not buying the book) would send a clear message.
Based on your dates, I think you and I have more or less the same titles on preorder, lotuz.
“If you don't know what you want," the doorman said, "you end up with a lot you don't.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Looking for SubPress Lettered::
Angel's Game and Prisoner of Heaven (Zafon)
Ilium (Simmons)
I think i might die if TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS ever ships. It will at least make me question who I am. Because for so long I have been The One Who Waits for TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS. I don't know how to be The One Who Holds TURN DOWN THE LIGHTS. My tremendous patience for TDTL has underscored my identity as a collector. Once I have the book, I won't be able to point to Order #218768 from November 22nd 2013 as testimony to my loyalty and self discipline. For that, I'd have to turn to Order #288275 from November 2nd 2015 for FOUR HALLOWEENS 2.
Brilliant minds, etc....
thedarktower.org-Cemetery-Dance=post961844
"One day you're going to figure out that everything they taught you was a lie."
I did a mental count of how many books I have coming, bought and paid for, from various publishers, and came up with 15, which may or may not be accurate. About 4 of them are from Cemetery Dance (including one slipcase). To me, that's not too bad. The other publishers are Subterranean Press, PS Publishing, Meteor House, Charnel House and Suntup Press.
I'm sure if there is intelligent life somewhere out there in the universe, they are wise enough to stay away from us.
And the people bowed and prayed, to the cell phone god they made...
“If you don't know what you want," the doorman said, "you end up with a lot you don't.”
― Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club
Looking for SubPress Lettered::
Angel's Game and Prisoner of Heaven (Zafon)
Ilium (Simmons)