Before They Are Hanged -- Curious King

Looks awesome! I know some people are not going to be a fan of the art which is bright and in your face, but I feel it's great and apropos for the book and style --
https://curiousking.co.uk/book-release-before-they-are-hanged-by-joe-abercrombie...

I’m very excited to release the production details of Joe Abercrombie’s “Before They are Hanged”, illustrated by the amazing Vance Kovacs. This is the second instalment in Joe’s “The First Law” trilogy, and I’m very pleased to crack on with the first series CK secured. As usual it’s been a pleasure working with Joe and Vance on this, and we’ve worked really hard to make the release fit in nicely with The Blade Itself (it has to look cohesive on the shelves) and hope this edition is as loved as the first. Joe has been incredibly supportive from the very start of Curious King and we’ll publish as much of his work as he will allow (which looks like all of the books in his First Law world). Without further ado, our latest edition – Before They are Hanged:

Shipping costs are £64 to the US now? That’s up 50% from the last book, and is even £9 more than Lyra’s Coraline. The shipping costs are more than 25% of the cost of the standard edition itself.

>3 jsg1976: Yeah, that's brutal. That said, it's still going to be far cheaper than on the second-hand market.

>4 astropi: I know. And it’s not like I’m going to drop out of the series now. But it’s frustrating nonetheless.

I appreciate the use of a different artist for each book. The art in the first was incredible (although Logen was too pretty) and I love the depiction of Glokta and the three practicals that are with him in Dagoska.

The art looks great. Reminds me a bit of the concept art for the Dishonored games.

I will buy these books no matter what and I love that they whole set will become available like this. They books so far are / will be gorgeous. But I do wonder why on earth Ludlows (I assume it's them) can't find ways to ship at a decent price. For comparison's sake, I'm buying regularly from some US and UK book clubs / shops that have deals where they can ship safely, tracked, and at very competetive prices. The US club uses a bulkshipping method that works a treat at a very good price even for intercontinental shipping. For comparison's sake, I paid 62$ for a six-bok set being shipped from the US to Germany, as opposed to 60 Pounds for one book from the UK. It is possible, but most small publishers don't seem to bother to even look into alternatives to the most expensive shipping options. I understand that you need a certain amount of books being shipped to get the really good deals, but they clearly ship several thousand books a year across several publishers, as do Suntup, Grim Oak Press or Subterranean Press. It can get pretty frustrating, I must admit.

>8 SF-72: Does the price include packaging? Ludlow packaging is pretty good and usually specially made but not cheap.

>8 SF-72: Doesn’t seem right to put this at the door of Ludlow - they’re a binder, they’re not a shipper (a very low-value task). The time they spend packing books is time they could spend binding books, so the opportunity cost has to get paid for.

The publisher has many options for fulfilment, and he’s chosen this one. That’s what we have to live with, or not.

Having said that, fulfilling the books is a lot of work, from numbering them, matching rights, wrapping in gift paper (can’t remember if they do that), bagging, custom foam, sturdy box, and the finally shipping. You’re not paying £64 for shipping, you’re paying £64 for fulfillment.

I’m not a fan of it myself, I wish another option was chosen that’s less expensive.

Also, some publishers put part of that cost into the price of the book, but then the book would be more expensive.

The shipping is absurd. Are they shipping from Australia? Haven't bought anything from Folio, but wondering if their shipping prices have also dramatically jumped? Maybe insurance is being included? No way I can justify paying $80 to have a standard shipped to me.

>12 Undergroundman: Sounds like next time he should add 60GBP to the price of the book and offer free shipping lol.

In reply to some things mentioned here:

Yes, Litjoy packages box sets very safely, among the best packaging I've had. The same goes for The Broken Binding, in that case for every single book I buy through their special editions page. It's safe to assume that the price for fulfilment is included somewhere, be it the shipping fee or the books, though I would bet on the first considering the book prices.

I do get my Evri packages from the UK very reliably, never a lost one among several dozen so far, fast, in the case of companies using them customs can be pre-paid, so that service is also included. I'm very happy with them, actually. But we already discussed elsewhere that the service quality of any given shipping company can vary depending on one's location. Where I am, Evri is doing an excellent job.

And I'm not putting anything at the door of Ludlows, just comparing their prices with other companies that also ship internationally, and also have to package things safely, deal with customs etc.. They are offering this service and it's a lot more expensive than others. I assume it's at least partly due to the choice of services like DHL Express and UPS, which are a lot more expensive than others, without being less hassle or safer in my experience in my location. I can't speak for others. And honestly, I'd rather put part of those shipping fees into more books. Who wouldn't.

>13 What_What: He should, and a $300 standard will be an easy pass for me. Wouldn't mind paying the shipping for numbereds though.

>7 Levin40: It really does :)

As for shipping costs, it's pricey but no publisher is out to make money off shipping. As someone that recently shipped one single CD in a tiny package to the UK from the USA which was $20, I fully understand why it costs so much to ship. It's no secret that postal services have lost billions since nowadays people don't send letters, so they have all greatly raised shipping prices and the pandemic was just another excuse to raise them again. Point is, the cost is fair even if it's higher than all of us would want. And of course, no one is forcing anyone to purchase. I'm curious how many people with rights will opt-out? I'm sure there's a long list of people who will gladly purchase a copy.

>15 Undergroundman: Then the griping would be about the price of the book. There’s no winning here!

>18 What_What: Depends on edition. I'd be annoyed if the next Broken Earth books were $300 now. I would pay though since I already payed for the first one.

>16 astropi:

"As for shipping costs, it's pricey but no publisher is out to make money off shipping."

I know and I'm not accusing anyone of that. But some publishers, book clubs etc. are looking harder for good alternatives to the most expensive options than others. I remember a German artist doing a Kickstarter who was bowled over by how much the German postal service was charging for international shipping. She then found a bulk option elsewhere at a very reasonable price. That's all I'm saying - I wish more people in the book business would look beyond the traditional / usual options for the benefit of customers.

>20 SF-72: One question I would also ask is how much were the books the German artist was selling? I feel that if you're paying hundreds of dollars (or more) for a book, at that point you don't mind paying $60+ to make sure it arrives safely! Here in the USA we're spoiled because we can ship books domestically for dirt cheap (media mail), but anything international skyrockets in cost. That said, I'm sure everything varies from country to country.

>21 astropi:

I honestly don't remember the price, but definitely not in the hundreds of Dollars range. You're absolutely right, I certainly wouldn't have paid over 60 Pounds for a regular 10$ paperback, inhibitions are lowered when a purchase is already quite expensive. But the reason I mentioned all this really wasn't to complain about a specific fee or shipper. I like Ludlows, for example, they're making wonderful books. It's just really strange to me that there are clearly excellent international shipping options at a good price, and quite a lot of publishers and shops just don't look into these but stick with really expensive, usually more traditional / generally-known options. I've sometimes had to tell people I bought something from about alternatives and they were quite happy with them then. A good example was an artist in the US who sold me a painting through an art website that charged a shipping flat rate, and the options she looked into would have cost at least double what had been charged. There were better options that were covered by the flat rate, she just didn't know about them. I'm sure it's the same for a lot of the publishers etc. with more expensive shipping. My impression is that especially book clubs are more likely to look into those since very few people would be willing to hand over very high shipping fees to them per book and on a monthly basis.

>22 SF-72: Fair point. I've only shipped internationally with USPS, but of course if I was shipping hundreds of books I would look into working with some fulfillment company -- that said most packages I've received internationally are from DHL -- and if you look at their website they quote this for books: 1kg £43.16 -- 5kg £66.33.
I'm sure they have a bulk rate, but yeah, it's not cheap anyway you look at it.

>23 astropi: I've gotten stuff from England shipped in large flat rate boxes from UPS, and Fed Ex. Those boxes can easily fit most books inside of another box.

>23 astropi: How much was shipping? I always heard that they're crazy expensive internationally. I used to have a UPS mailbox and shipped with them often. I will say the folks I worked with were really professional and great, but they even told me to use USPS to ship internationally since it was much cheaper.

Have no idea. Since it was "free shipping." In the past for very large boxes I was charged 30 GBP using DHL. That was prior to COVID though.

>26 Undergroundman: I suspect those 30 GBP days are long gone. Heck, pre-covid you could purchase a half-leather bound book from Thornwillow for around $300 -- prices now are about $700. SIGH, still can't really complain. The past few years with Curious King, Conversation Tree Press, Lyra, etc. we're seeing a renaissance in fine press printing, so we should be happy despite shipping costs :)

>27 astropi: The past few years ... we're seeing a renaissance in fine press printing,....

True, but it is noticeable only within a very small community. The rest of the world remains largely unaffected. Unfortunately.

>28 Glacierman: But isn't that the case with anything niche? I mean, I would have no problem if millions of people all fell in love with fine press printing (would probably drive prices up a ton though :)

>29 astropi: It is, but it is often very easy for us to loose sight of the truth and get to thinking that our little niche is much more important than it really is. It is very important to us, of course. And we are what keep the little world of fine printing alive.

I heard that during the public pre-order today the Standard sold out in 5 minutes, and the Deluxe not long after.

I noticed that copies (or a copy) of the Lettered Edition are still available. The Lettered are usually the first ones to go. Could this be a slight flaw the 'splitting rights off for series' model? It's fine if people keep buying, but if anyone drops out it's much harder to sell the remaining books at that price. Why would anyone buy a Lettered when 1) they won't have the whole series and 2) won't get rights to future titles outside that series? Still, hopefully they'll sell eventually.

>33 Levin40: Yes, if there were copies of the first book available for a similar price on the secondary market then I’m sure these lettered copies of the second book would have gone immediately. I might have been tempted but there have been series in the past where I was just missing the first book as it was far too expensive to obtain!