Not Coming Soon - Authors we want mor of!

[DukeLeto69]

And all this goes some way to explain why some authors no longer write for BL (or at all). They simply cannot earn a living from it and it can only ever be a “side gig” to their main income.

 

In Fehervari’s case that is work as a TV editor.

 

Rob Sanders was a teacher I believe?

 

It also explains why folks like Peter McLean and James Swallow may never write for BL again. Each has a successful original fiction series going. So that is where they will focus their efforts to earn maximum £$€.

 

To earn a living as a jobbing author you need to take on as many projects with as wide a variety as possible. You need to write fast too so you can squeeze in a lot of work.

 

The likes of Dan Brown and J K Rowling totally skew the reality of being an author.

 

I am really curious about BL sales figures. Guess we will never know but it is clear most authors who write for them never earn out their advance. That means they need to live on their advances and therefore take on as many commissions as possible.

 

They will also take on fixed fee work such as script writing for computer games and background writing for RPGs etc. Abnett does all of that as well as comics. He says it keeps him fresh but diversification is also a good business decision.

 

I know this is a naive statement (or nirvana seeking at least) but with GW soooooo successful, it would be great to see them not only being the biggest TT miniature game company but also the best. To see them pay above industry standard to attract and retain the best talent.

Edited August 24, 2021 by DukeLeto69

[Taliesin]

The trouble then also comes in the form of incredibly small print runs, and direct-only sales. Heck, BL themselves don't even sell print editions via their own site anymore, instead pushing folks through even more hoops to get them from GW directly, which has localized stock on a lot of items and is terrible to browse for these products, all while Amazon and co don't have anything but the ebooks and far, far, far later paperbacks, which have lower margins to recoup royalties on.

 

This is one of those consistently irritating things. The incredibly small print runs, even on regular hardbacks.

For example Helwinters Gate, the regular hardcover that came out 9 months after the incredibly expensive 120 EUR limited edition that almost no one could buy. Its now sold out, within 1 week, the regular hardback. 

 

Then they stopped selling books through BL.com. Why? Never any explanation given but it is annoying because I used to buy from there and it doesnt localize stock the way the main site does so you had more of a chance of actually buying your product.

[DukeLeto69]

So some other writers I would be keen/intrigued to see return to the BL fold include:

 

Gordon Rennie - finish the Gothic War trilogy damn it! Execution Hour and Shadowpoint were awesome!

 

Richard Williams - Relentless was excellent and apparently Imperial Glory is really good (need to track this down)

 

Ian Watson - yes I know! But come on who doesn’t want some more farting Squats and bizarre mind bending weirdness? At the very least it would be...interesting!

[mc warhammer]

i'd love a watson book in modern 40k lit. his vision of the current imperium would actually feel sufficiently deviated from the 30k imperium. i get that guilliman is bummed by how different things are for humanity since he woke up...but just imagine if he was in the same world as watson's depraved imperial fists. Edited August 24, 2021 by mc warhammer

[cheywood]

I’d love to see an alternate universe anthology where authors from different genres are given free range to write short stories reinterpreting the setting’s fundamental themes. Minimal editing for content and no expectation of adherence to setting’s mountains of lore. No way it will ever happen, but it’s an idea I keep coming back to.

[Felix Antipodes]

There are so many authors (and artists too for that matter) that I would love to see back in the BL fold.  Second the above call for Ronnie, Williams and Watson - although I have a feeling that he, like Stableford (Brian Craig) may no longer be actively writing.

 

if we are a returnee out of left field, I would love to see Charles Stross have a crack at the current mythos.  He had a short in one of the early anthologies when he was still an upcoming young author and a look though older, wiser eyes would be interesting imho.