An issue with BL

[The Red Thirst]

Good morrow Brothers, firstly let me state that this is not a 'hate' rant, I am merely trying to convey my frustration at the 'apparent' lack of content / release information from Black Library

As I assume some of you may understand, I used to be an avid Black Library lurker, almost every day I would boot up the PC and check for new releases on GW, BL and FW, and if there was nothing new to read about or look at id just go to the 'coming soon' section and get stoaked about upcoming items, there release window and what they would contain. Unfortunately this Golden Age of information came to an end as BL stopped actively 'hyping' their consumers expectations and shut down their 'coming soon' section all together... 

Iv found that this 'buisness practice' has killed my excitement level toward any future BL material as I have nothing to look forward to, sure theres the odd whisper about Warmaster or A D-B's Master of Mankind but they seem so distant and as someone living all the way down here in the 'upsidedown land of nope' traveling to an open day or convention will literally be a once in a lifetime thing and wont be anytime soon, so its not like I can ask the authors directly what there working on or when to hopefully expect a release. 

 

Not having a relevant release schedule also really plays havok with my savings, I as a middle income earner with a mortgage and 2 kids cant throw $70 at the screen when something new releases without prior knowledge of said release and as a result must 'miss out' and dodge relevant forum posts like the plague so I dont spoil anything.

 

Am I alone in this? Am I being too petty or impatient? Do these view points make me a bad customer? 

Sorry if this seems like a wasted post but this has been a problem for me for about 6 months now and im really starting to look to other places to keep me entertained. I dont want to do that as I love the 40k / 30k IP in general, its just feels 'lacking' right now and I just cant seem to get around it. 

[bozo69pd]

Black Library died finally for me when I just bought All is Dust yesterday for $1.99 and it was less than 1 page of story text. Unbelievable.

 

About more story line addiction I have simply looked into other series (even fantasy gasp) and buying older books on amazon/used book stores. I prefer to buy new stuff from barnes and noble because they give me 20-40% off. They are pretty good about keeping me updated on release dates. I try not to be too impatient because enjoyable books can only be written so fast.

[Sothalor]

You're hardly alone on this front. I can relate: I used to check their site every Friday for the new releases and happily load my Kindle up. Now? I honestly cannot remember the last time I purchased a BL publication. I think it might have been Unremembered Empire, not sure.

The combination of zero communication, higher prices, less content per unit (the new "standard" format appears to be ~128 pages), incessant reprints (for higher prices), random audio drama/two-page stories, and a seemingly increasing focus on direct tie-ins designed to show off "Ooh, look at this thing you can buy a model of" instead of telling good stories totally turned me off.

I don't understand their business strategy. First Edition this. Limited Edition that. Deluxe hardcover novella here, there, everywhere! They appear to be treating their products as ridiculous high-end collectibles. That's not what they are. They never were. Come on, BL. You produce pulp genre fiction. There's nothing wrong with that! Remember when the Horus Heresy novels were routinely hitting the NY Times Bestsellers list? Remember what format those were in? That's right, mass market paperbacks! Now it's special first edition hardcovers you can only get direct from BL, followed six months later by clunky trade paperbacks, and then, maybe, eventually, when they're not busy reprinting the Ultramarines novels in trade paperback format there might be a mass market paperback.

And I think the cracks are showing. That recent 6 month GW trade report mentioned that there were "declines in some non-core activities that are grouped with core activities in our reporting."

I'm pretty confident that means BL. The fact that their Limited Edition releases used to crash the server because of people trying to purchase them compared to now, where it seems to take them months to sell, is rather telling.

[Scribe]

They have completely ruined their business from the popular opinion stand point. The HH series was on the best sellers list, and now? Limited Editions from all but ADB sit and take up space. Next to every release is tied into the flavour of the week from GW (who has money for models AND books AND rules?) and the e-shorts are as noted, micro, taking all of 10 minutes to read.

 

Its a disgrace, and a bloody shame. The only hope I have left is FW being too expensive, to 'premier' to cut on the quality of the HH line, and so that will always get my money (like CLOCKWORK for the last couple months, every 2 weeks) while BL is a faded memory, and GW is next to useless.

 

Fix your :cuss Black Library, you used to be doing great things.

[Hyaenidae]

=][=

 

 One may not have had the intention to create a whine-fest thread, and legitimate concerns are welcome, but this has the potential for harm, and will be watched diligently. I request that those partaking in this thread kindly refrain from heated discussion, and to be cautious that this doesn't lean into chronic complaining without constructiveness, lest I am forced to salt the earth.

 

Please keep the discussion civil.

 

Thank you.

 

=][=

[Atia]

i think the main problem is that BL is now more a part of main GW than before^^ i remember the time when there were only a few books about a few chapters, where the fluff was mainly in the codices ... now you have more or less bland fluff in the rulebooks, but a bunch of novels - tied in with the release schedule^^ (which means no/lesser release information :/)

 

that's both good and bad - good 'cause you have more fluff at the end, bad 'cause a newcomer needs to buy a bunch of thick novels in order to know the lore of his faction in detail :/

[Ozeryk_Sleipnijr]

I have to agree here. I have downloaded a couple of the latest stories on my i-pad and I caught that distinct whiff of b%ç*!£"t. Its like when I went to a GW store in London, the sales people made such a great effort to get me to buy stuff that I got put off. It was that hint desperation behind their eyes. 

I think it has to do with the concept of eternal growth and expansion. Why cant people be happy with what they have got.

 

But I guess the epitaph upon the gravestone of the greedy will say<: Too much was just not enough.

[deathspectersgt7]

The OP was great . I always checked the BL site every Friday . I have not purchased a BL product in 6 months. I'am not complaining but I feel the stories are predictable of late.

[Rain]

Heh. I have stopped buying anything from BL that isn't ADB. Most 40k fiction is mid-tier sci fi pulp at best, but priced at 2-3 times the cost of many mass market paperback "popcorn reading" novels. I guess some people just feel compelled to read all there is on their faction, but I gave up on that after being unable to finish Siege of Castellax on account of it being a plodding and barely connected series of battle scenes full of interchangeable Big Mean Chaos Marines written by someone who was obviously unfamiliar with the faction and setting he was writing about.

[Hyaenidae]

To be fair, from time to time I like reading a Beer & Pretzels novel, just a wall of bolter-porn and shattered ceramite. It's a galaxy at war, after all, and that's what drew me into the hobby in the first place.

 

But I'm only going to pay as much for a book as i think it's worth. If it looks overpriced for it's content, I'll step away and wait for a paperpack version. Votin' with my dolla' bills, y'all.

 

I guess my main issue with BL is audiobooks. I can't hear worth a damn, so I have to wait for the Transcripts Novels. They are pretty good to read, but I have to wait for-freakin-ever. Years, sometimes. That's really :cuss ing annoying.

 

Release the transcripts more frequently, please. There's enough material.

[Wade Garrett]

Castellax was a let down for me, because I've liked C.L. Werner's Warhammer Fantasy stuff. Brumner the Bounty Hunter, Matthias Thulmann, Witch Hunter, even Grey Seer Thanquol.

 

The problem was he wrote the Iron Warriors as big power armored skaven. Which could work for some Legions (Night Lords, Alpha Legion) but not the Fourth.

[The Red Thirst]

I guess my main issue with BL is audiobooks. I can't hear worth a damn, so I have to wait for the Transcripts Novels. They are pretty good to read, but I have to wait for-freakin-ever. Years, sometimes. That's really ing annoying.

Release the transcripts more frequently, please. There's enough material.

I've always wondered about this, and im usually reminded of the issue mainly from yourself, Hyaenidae. Wouldn't it seem appropriate to release a transcript for all audios as an option for the hearing impaired alongside the initial release if not shortly after? Id imagine there's more out there than most seem to realize, shouldn't any publisher of books know this... Is this practice common with other publishers that dabble in audio-drama?

I realize that they incorporate the script digitally onto the disc and can be accessed when you run it on a PC however paying $30 (aus) for an audio you wont be listening to just for a script seems pretty steep.

[Hyaenidae]

Pretty much my line of thought. I've never really said 'boo' to BL about issues before, because...well, I get it. They gotta make the bills meet too. Making money is why they do what they do.

 

But not releasing transcripts with their audiobooks for we folks who are hard of hearing is just a straight-up money grab, and a dishonest one at that.

 

Other companies do, though sometimes not in a novel form (more like a follow-along actors' script). I'd take that, but not at the price.

[Sothalor]

I've never read any of their audio drama transcripts, but from what I hear/understand they're actually rewritten fairly extensively from the scripts used for audio production, to more closely fit a standard prose format. That probably explains in part the delay.

[Hyaenidae]

Oh, don't get me wrong, I really do love the Script books, they're really good.

I just want them more often.

[Prodigal Son of Magnus]

To me it seems BL is trying to nickel and dime people for less content, which, surprisingly, blew up in their face. Just like every other get Rich quick scheme GW has tried. (I'm looking at you Lord of The Rings and exclusive 40k data sheet rules)

[Marshal Rohr]

I don't think it's them nickel and diming that's getting everyone less content, it's author apathy. If the authors don't wanna tell the stories, you get no stories.

[A D-B]

Heh. I have stopped buying anything from BL that isn't ADB.

 

That guy sucks.

[Marshal Rohr]

Heh. I have stopped buying anything from BL that isn't ADB.

 

That guy New York Times disagrees

[Scribe]

Just tell me when its going to get better again...

[The Red Thirst]

Just tell me when its going to get better again...

And by that we mean when will your next glorious account of the heresy grace our eyes?

[tgjensen]

 

That guy sucks.

 

FINALLY somebody says it.

[Jimmy Carmine]

Part of the problem (at least as far as I can tell) is that BL doesn't seem to exist anymore as an independent entity, as everything seems to be lumped in one team with the rest of publications, as a result rather than getting fiction that is set in the 40k setting we are getting a lot more stories that are specifically written to tie into the new releases coming out of the studio. 

 

They also aren't helped by the fact that three of their big name brand NYT bestselling writers are off busy doing other things. Dan's doing a lot with the big comic companies, Graham is off to LA, and Aaron had side projects outside of BL on his plate that's going to eat into Talon of Horus 2: Electric Boogaloo writing time. This makes me sad as I was looking forward to some boogaloo. 

 

Black Library seems to be lacking ambition at the moment* with this long run of reprints of previously released stories, and miniature release tie-ins which is a shame as they have a several good freelance writers in the stable, and if they would just turn Guy Haley or Josh Reynolds loose to write something in the vein of Eisenhorn or The Night Lords series, by which I mean good stories set in the 40k setting rather than something specifically written to sell a specific plastic kit, I'd like to think that this could only work out well for them. 

 

But I'm a pessimist, that Black Library seems to have abandoned the Weekender suggests to me that they are going through a period of contraction of their ambitions.

 

*Or at least from where I'm sitting on the outside, I know nothing about what's actually going on inside Lenton and what they have planned, especially with Age of Sigmar creeping up on us.

[Rime]

Bad business practices have been on-going for years. This isn't news sadly. Only thing for it is to raid the BL site for classics and stories that weren't meant to hype sales.

On the topic of the works of A-D-B. He's a down-to-earth writer. Sometimes his stuff works, other times it doesn't as it's too heavily influenced by RPG sessions or its just plain bland (Cadian Blood, Prince of Crows).

 

And stick to the e-books! They are half the price, or less, compared to paperback. You can download a free reader off Amazon under the Kindle section. It softens the blow when you find out the book isn't all that.

[Hyaenidae]

A lot less when the battery dies.  :P

 

I use my e-reader for shorts only. For novels, I usually come here to the B&C and get some reviews. That's helped keep me from buying poor ones. 

 

After getting bit in the ass by the Tallarn: Ironclad LE novel (and it's hideous hardcover), I learned my lesson the hard way. Even good authors have bad days.