Cemetery Dance discussion thread

[webstar1000]

Awesome that you disagree. What I said is true.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Having seen your previous posts, i realise the futility of trying to argue with you, but wrong is wrong. It's clearly not true as Dan has already attested to with his response. It DOES mean something to them, that is irrefutable.

It does not mean anything to them in regards to a guarantee. Irrefutable.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Did they not match something for you in the past and you lost your number? You seem upset is why I ask...

[Black Miau]

Awesome that you disagree. What I said is true.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Having seen your previous posts, i realise the futility of trying to argue with you, but wrong is wrong. It's clearly not true as Dan has already attested to with his response. It DOES mean something to them, that is irrefutable.

It does not mean anything to them in regards to a guarantee. Irrefutable.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Did they not match something for you in the past and you lost your number? You seem upset is why I ask...

Everyone has a reason to believe something and it is legitimate. Some work asking for a favor and others don't.
I remember making a list of favorite numbers for Suntup to give me one. He said it was impossible to choose a number. I had bought The Road, Brother, and I am Legend (none were shipping at the time). Then I found out that Suntup had given someone a number that coincided with their birthday. I don't know if that was true. The point is that not everyone can be satisfied. Everyone has a reason to believe in something.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

I believe in magic in a young girl's heart.

Damn, I should have been a songwriter!

[Brian861]

I believe in magic in a young girl's heart.

Damn, I should have been a songwriter!

Insert comic relief here

[Brian861]

if you're looking for a full matching set, shoot me an email I might be able to hook you up (no promises though)

Edited for content and to run in the time allowed, but this speaks volumes. And to echo Jeff's statement, it's always best to go to the source vs asking opinions outside of it. Because that's what you're going to get, opinions vs facts or effort. The answer's always no if you don't ask.

[DanHocker]

if you're looking for a full matching set, shoot me an email I might be able to hook you up (no promises though)

Edited for content and to run in the time allowed, but this speaks volumes. And to echo Jeff's statement, it's always best to go to the source vs asking opinions outside of it. Because that's what you're going to get, opinions vs facts or effort. The answer's always no if you don't ask.

I always tell people to just email / pm and ask. Worst that's gonna happen is I'm going to say I don't have that. But you never know what I might have sitting around.

[Brian861]

if you're looking for a full matching set, shoot me an email I might be able to hook you up (no promises though)

Edited for content and to run in the time allowed, but this speaks volumes. And to echo Jeff's statement, it's always best to go to the source vs asking opinions outside of it. Because that's what you're going to get, opinions vs facts or effort. The answer's always no if you don't ask.

I always tell people to just email / pm and ask. Worst that's gonna happen is I'm going to say I don't have that. But you never know what I might have sitting around.

Yep. I've seen you come through for several folks on several occasions.

[andyg75]

if you're looking for a full matching set, shoot me an email I might be able to hook you up (no promises though)

Edited for content and to run in the time allowed, but this speaks volumes. And to echo Jeff's statement, it's always best to go to the source vs asking opinions outside of it. Because that's what you're going to get, opinions vs facts or effort. The answer's always no if you don't ask.

I always tell people to just email / pm and ask. Worst that's gonna happen is I'm going to say I don't have that. But you never know what I might have sitting around.

Yep. I've seen you come through for several folks on several occasions.

+1 here. Dan has come through for me on at least 4 separate occasions with various requests. Even when he’s not been able to locate something, he’s always let me know.

[Aremag]

Dan hooked me up after I mentioned in a thread how I was missing certain books. He went above and beyond in my estimation.

[Dolan]

Just to hopefully put a bow in this little present today, Dan helped a lot with the information I was looking for. Thanks a lot, Dan!

[jeffingoff]

Dan hooked me up after I mentioned in a thread how I was missing certain books. He went above and beyond in my estimation.

Dan once put a Bentley Little book in a paper bag, set the bag on my porch, lit the bag on fire, and rang my doorbell. It was the dead of night on January Something, Two Thousand Something and it was as cold as a Bentley Little plot. I ran down the stairs as the Dragon Lord was opening the door. When I saw the flames, I did the only thing I could think of, I stomped them. I got Bentley Little all over my right slipper and I singed off a goodly portion of my leg hair. My robe got a taste of the flames too. When I saw it was a Bentley Little book in there, I set the bag back on fire and went to bed.

[Randall Flagg]

Funny.
Rep coming.

[Brian861]

Funny.
Rep coming.

+1.

[Tommy]

Just to add to the lovefest, Dan has helped me and my ridiculous requests for quite some time now and deserves a medal in my opinion.
BJF ain't half bad either....

[stroppygoblin]

Awesome that you disagree. What I said is true.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Having seen your previous posts, i realise the futility of trying to argue with you, but wrong is wrong. It's clearly not true as Dan has already attested to with his response. It DOES mean something to them, that is irrefutable.

It does not mean anything to them in regards to a guarantee. Irrefutable.

seeking: anything DT related #246

You made 2 statements:

1. There are no rights.
2. So you can have matching numbers on all four current DD books and means nothing to them

I have agreed with the first statement and stated that NO publisher offers a guarantee that could be enforced by the buyer.
Your second statement is 100% wrong.

You cannot keep referencing your first statement as evidence that your second statement is correct.

[stroppygoblin]

Everyone has a reason to believe something and it is legitimate. Some work asking for a favor and others don't.
I remember making a list of favorite numbers for Suntup to give me one. He said it was impossible to choose a number. I had bought The Road, Brother, and I am Legend (none were shipping at the time). Then I found out that Suntup had given someone a number that coincided with their birthday. I don't know if that was true. The point is that not everyone can be satisfied. Everyone has a reason to believe in something.

Lets just stop to think about what it means to match someones number for a minute...

There is the easy view. "I bought the last book xxx published and I would like to match my number to that" Nice and simple right? and if everyone who bought the last book xxx published, bought the next book as well it really would be just a case of keeping a list of names and sending out the same # to the same person every time.

But that is not the case, people don't always buy the next book, sometimes they skip a few and so the # they had will be released and passed on to someone else and then that person passes on a book and someone else gets the number, etc. Now let's take into account limitations. Book A is released with a limitation of 250. The next book B is released with a limitation of 350. we now not only have another 100 designations to track, but now we have 2 tracks to monitor designations for. If Book C is also 250, then we cant match designations for any owners of Book B > 250, BUT we can if the next book is > 250. But what if it's only 300? You see how quickly this can get out of hand?

For someone like CD, with the time they have been publishing, the number of books they have published and the variations in limitation, this is just an impossible task to track everyones number. This is why they have gone down the "Please let us know your number and we will TRY to match it for you" I cannot imagine the amount of effort Dan, Brian and co have to put in with lists of buyers and their previous designations.

With regards to the special requests, sometimes the stars align, if someone asked for a number that matched their birthday AND the person who bought the last book with that designation didn't buy this one, then it would have been possible for Paul to give them that #. But again thats extra effort on Paul's part and not something that is sustainable for a lot of requests.

[DanHocker]

Everyone has a reason to believe something and it is legitimate. Some work asking for a favor and others don't.
I remember making a list of favorite numbers for Suntup to give me one. He said it was impossible to choose a number. I had bought The Road, Brother, and I am Legend (none were shipping at the time). Then I found out that Suntup had given someone a number that coincided with their birthday. I don't know if that was true. The point is that not everyone can be satisfied. Everyone has a reason to believe in something.

Lets just stop to think about what it means to match someones number for a minute...

There is the easy view. "I bought the last book xxx published and I would like to match my number to that" Nice and simple right? and if everyone who bought the last book xxx published, bought the next book as well it really would be just a case of keeping a list of names and sending out the same # to the same person every time.

But that is not the case, people don't always buy the next book, sometimes they skip a few and so the # they had will be released and passed on to someone else and then that person passes on a book and someone else gets the number, etc. Now let's take into account limitations. Book A is released with a limitation of 250. The next book B is released with a limitation of 350. we now not only have another 100 designations to track, but now we have 2 tracks to monitor designations for. If Book C is also 250, then we cant match designations for any owners of Book B > 250, BUT we can if the next book is > 250. But what if it's only 300? You see how quickly this can get out of hand?

For someone like CD, with the time they have been publishing, the number of books they have published and the variations in limitation, this is just an impossible task to track everyones number. This is why they have gone down the "Please let us know your number and we will TRY to match it for you" I cannot imagine the amount of effort Dan, Brian and co have to put in with lists of buyers and their previous designations.

With regards to the special requests, sometimes the stars align, if someone asked for a number that matched their birthday AND the person who bought the last book with that designation didn't buy this one, then it would have been possible for Paul to give them that #. But again thats extra effort on Paul's part and not something that is sustainable for a lot of requests.

Too add to that complication, it's really easy to just assign numbers when a book sells out pre-publication. But when a book doesn't and ends up being in stock and trickling the rest of the stock out over several months and in grab bags and what not, then keeping track becomes very difficult. On top of all of that, largely most people don't actually care about matching numbers. Even on something like the 3rd book in a trilogy or one of the Double Day Years series, there's maybe at most 50% of people who order requesting matching numbers. You get outside of series and you look at something like Brian Keene's "End of the Road" and if I remember correctly (other than lifer numbers), there were no number requests at all on that book, and that's normal for most of what we publish.

[jeffingoff]

I think we need to conduct a poll to determine how much collectors want matching numbers. Because I think a lot more than 50% of collectors want them.

And maybe that word collector is the key. Maybe 50% of customers overall--including both casual and collector--want them, but 90% of collectors want them.

Anyway, I think it's hugely important for books in a series or books from the same author and publisher to have a matching number. I've seen people try to match their numbers across publishers to keep the same number with the author. I just sold the first two CJ Tudor books and the buyer asked me to let Bill know he wanted the number on her third book to match the first two. I've no doubt that the matching numbers are why my auction sold near the published price and the other auctions went unsold.

This Forum is full of people looking for specific numbers.

[stroppygoblin]

I think we need to conduct a poll to determine how much collectors want matching numbers. Because I think a lot more than 50% of collectors want them.

And maybe that word collector is the key. Maybe 50% of customers overall--including both casual and collector--want them, but 90% of collectors want them.

Anyway, I think it's hugely important for books in a series or books from the same author and publisher to have a matching number. I've seen people try to match their numbers across publishers to keep the same number with the author. I just sold the first two CJ Tudor books and the buyer asked me to let Bill know he wanted the number on her third book to match the first two. I've no doubt that the matching numbers are why my auction sold near the published price and the other auctions went unsold.

This Forum is full of people looking for specific numbers.

Much as I hate to admit it, Not every book collector (or even King Collector) is a member of this site. We are a small % of CD's customers.

[jeffingoff]

Much as I hate to admit it, Not every book collector (or even King Collector) is a member of this site. We are a small % of CD's customers.

Very true. That's why I included the distinction between casual and collector in my post. But you're right, among collectors there are also degrees of collecting.

[kingfan2323]

Awesome that you disagree. What I said is true.

seeking: anything DT related #246

Having seen your previous posts, i realise the futility of trying to argue with you, but wrong is wrong. It's clearly not true as Dan has already attested to with his response. It DOES mean something to them, that is irrefutable.

It does not mean anything to them in regards to a guarantee. Irrefutable.

seeking: anything DT related #246

You made 2 statements:

1. There are no rights.
2. So you can have matching numbers on all four current DD books and means nothing to them

I have agreed with the first statement and stated that NO publisher offers a guarantee that could be enforced by the buyer.
Your second statement is 100% wrong.

You cannot keep referencing your first statement as evidence that your second statement is correct.

My first statement was there are no "rights"
My 2nd statement is 100% right. As I stated in my first reply to you (regarding my second statement): "As far as a guarantee right now it means nothing."




seeking: anything DT related #246

[webstar1000]

I think we need to conduct a poll to determine how much collectors want matching numbers. Because I think a lot more than 50% of collectors want them.

And maybe that word collector is the key. Maybe 50% of customers overall--including both casual and collector--want them, but 90% of collectors want them.

Anyway, I think it's hugely important for books in a series or books from the same author and publisher to have a matching number. I've seen people try to match their numbers across publishers to keep the same number with the author. I just sold the first two CJ Tudor books and the buyer asked me to let Bill know he wanted the number on her third book to match the first two. I've no doubt that the matching numbers are why my auction sold near the published price and the other auctions went unsold.

This Forum is full of people looking for specific numbers.

Geez I would say number is (at times) important to well over half. I would go so far as to say... 70%+

[DanHocker]

I think we need to conduct a poll to determine how much collectors want matching numbers. Because I think a lot more than 50% of collectors want them.

And maybe that word collector is the key. Maybe 50% of customers overall--including both casual and collector--want them, but 90% of collectors want them.

Anyway, I think it's hugely important for books in a series or books from the same author and publisher to have a matching number. I've seen people try to match their numbers across publishers to keep the same number with the author. I just sold the first two CJ Tudor books and the buyer asked me to let Bill know he wanted the number on her third book to match the first two. I've no doubt that the matching numbers are why my auction sold near the published price and the other auctions went unsold.

This Forum is full of people looking for specific numbers.

Much as I hate to admit it, Not every book collector (or even King Collector) is a member of this site. We are a small % of CD's customers.

This is the real thing here. Think of the active members here and even on the Facebook groups who actively buy even just SK special editions and compare that to the print runs on those special editions. It's a really small percentage. Honestly I was probably being generous when I said 50%, it's probably less than that, because (at least with the Doubleday Years) I don't even think 50% of people are actually even buying every book in the series.

Edit: I'd also like to add to this, that I largely think matching numbers is more of a collector thing than it is a value thing. Because monetarily your books are probably worth more sold individually than they are as a set (with some few exceptions).

[Hunchback Jack]

That's very true. There's a "bulk discount" expectation even with a matching set.

HBJ

[andyg75]

I think we need to conduct a poll to determine how much collectors want matching numbers. Because I think a lot more than 50% of collectors want them.

And maybe that word collector is the key. Maybe 50% of customers overall--including both casual and collector--want them, but 90% of collectors want them.

Anyway, I think it's hugely important for books in a series or books from the same author and publisher to have a matching number. I've seen people try to match their numbers across publishers to keep the same number with the author. I just sold the first two CJ Tudor books and the buyer asked me to let Bill know he wanted the number on her third book to match the first two. I've no doubt that the matching numbers are why my auction sold near the published price and the other auctions went unsold.

This Forum is full of people looking for specific numbers.

Much as I hate to admit it, Not every book collector (or even King Collector) is a member of this site. We are a small % of CD's customers.

This is the real thing here. Think of the active members here and even on the Facebook groups who actively buy even just SK special editions and compare that to the print runs on those special editions. It's a really small percentage. Honestly I was probably being generous when I said 50%, it's probably less than that, because (at least with the Doubleday Years) I don't even think 50% of people are actually even buying every book in the series.

Edit: I'd also like to add to this, that I largely think matching numbers is more of a collector thing than it is a value thing. Because monetarily your books are probably worth more sold individually than they are as a set (with some few exceptions).

Matching numbers only appeal to me if it’s part of a set, ie the Doubleday Years set or the DT set. Other than that, I’m not really bothered about matching numbers. It’s not really about re-sale value, more that it’s just nice to have the matching set. Just my opinion