A Real Concern re: Black Library

[TheGreatEnchanter]

So today I discovered that the Eight Lamentation sequel - marketed as a new ongoing series that focuses on a small band of heroes - is now solely and audio-drama. 

Marketing this series as a novel then changing the medium on the second book seems ridiculous.  The fact that the return of Gotrek was also a stupidly priced (50 AUD FOR AN MP3!) audio-drama just adds insult. 

Is this the future of Black Library? It seems like such a bizarre business model to have. I want to buy their fiction, but this expensive, cross-media labyrinth is just weird. Has anyone else noticed this? 

[Greyshadow]

This series wasn't marketed as a series of novels. First came two (edit - one, got mixed up with The Silver Shard sorry!) novels sure but doing something different isn't unexpected. I think this might be the first audio drama I buy. Yes, the audio dramas have always been pricey. On the bright side they have been hiring A grade talent, including the likes of the inimitable Brian Blessed and I have heard they are great.

Is this the future of the Black Library? Audio Dramas only? No. They have been doing audio dramas along side their novels for many years now (e.g. Horus Heresy). If you want to skip the audio dramas, Tyler Mengel does some great reviews that should be enough to track the ongoing narratives into your next read.

[Charles]

Or sign up to audiable and get them for £7.99 a month.

[The Jabber Tzeentch]

The audio drama is priced in line with other similar brands. But as Charles stated, get Audible if the price bothers you.

Personally I love the audio books, and it’s voiced by Brian Blessed! They have to pay these people you know. 

[stato]

I’ve read that War-claw was not written as a sequal, more of a what happened to the characters next.  I read something from the writer which explained there should be more books but this wasn’t a planned/integral part of a trilogy or series. 

Producing additional short stories or novella for series has been something GW/BL have done since they stared BL, the stories come out in a range of mediums including audio.  It’s just a bit more obvious in this case as it has been released after the first book. 

I was, like you, disappointed when I first heard they were making an audiobook, as I’m not a big fan of them, but I’ll take it as it’s sounds like it was a request that lead to more of the characters story being told that would otherwise not have been. 

[Chikout]

Of course it is not the future of black library. A new Aos novel, 4 novellas a collection of short fiction and an audio drama have all come out in the last couple of weeks. Next week has the war claw audio drama but also another Aos novel. 

If you are not a fan of audio dramas,  there is still plenty of regular written fiction to enjoy. 

In the next three months we've got two more novels and another short fiction collection on the way. 

[Sleboda]

1 hour ago, TheGreatEnchanter said:

The fact that the return of Gotrek was also a stupidly priced (50 AUD FOR AN MP3!) audio-drama just adds insult. 

I agree with the rest of your post, but that's a bit off. It's like saying $30,000 for some metal and plastic (car) or $50,000 for some rocks you dug up (diamonds).

It's not really fair to diminish the value of something so dismissively.

[Overread]

I think Black Library does a lot of scattergun approach when it comes to short series. Ergo they fire a load of ideas at the market in the form of short stories and short novels and one off novels and they see what sticks and is popular and run with that. It can mean that some of your favourite characters might never see use again, or only see mention in passing within other stories (often only those penned by the same author). For them I think it works because they can try out things and then see what works and fails and go with the flow of the market.

 

BL is also very pricey. They charge above what most publisher charge - with most paperbacks in the £5ish bracket, whilst BL is in the £10 and £15 brackets. I suspect their audiobooks are similarly price, however Audio books (and audio dramas) have always been a very pricey product. Amazon has punched that price way down and their subscription makes it more manageable if you're a big fan of them (which is why it works so well). 

That said I've never known the sales difference and I'd wager beyond a few series like Horus Heresy, most of the BL books don't sell in the same volume as big publisher novels. 

 

Plus they have done several big bundle deals through Humble Bundle - there's one going on right now https://www.humblebundle.com/books/voices-from-the-worlds-of-warhammer-audio - which smash the prices right down to very tiny values. So there are deals out there. 

[HollowHills]

I suspect putting together an audio drama is a lot quicker than writing a novel. You also have the opportunity to reach out to a broader audience than otherwise. For example, the number of people who just don't read / don't feel they have time to read might well be more open to an audio drama. 

If you think about it an audio drama works quite well with the hobby because you can listen while you paint. 

If they hire well known names like David Tenant or Brian Blessed again they are bringing in a wider audience. 

Personally I'm in favour of any lore stuff that doesn't require me to wade through the writing of many of the BL novels. A lot of the prose is truly dreadful. 

+++MOD EDIT+++ Piracy is not condoned here in any format.

[Still-young]

57 minutes ago, Overread said:

I think Black Library does a lot of scattergun approach when it comes to short series. Ergo they fire a load of ideas at the market in the form of short stories and short novels and one off novels and they see what sticks and is popular and run with that. It can mean that some of your favourite characters might never see use again, or only see mention in passing within other stories (often only those penned by the same author). For them I think it works because they can try out things and then see what works and fails and go with the flow of the market.

 

BL is also very pricey. They charge above what most publisher charge - with most paperbacks in the £5ish bracket, whilst BL is in the £10 and £15 brackets. I suspect their audiobooks are similarly price, however Audio books (and audio dramas) have always been a very pricey product. Amazon has punched that price way down and their subscription makes it more manageable if you're a big fan of them (which is why it works so well). 

That said I've never known the sales difference and I'd wager beyond a few series like Horus Heresy, most of the BL books don't sell in the same volume as big publisher novels. 

 

Plus they have done several big bundle deals through Humble Bundle - there's one going on right now https://www.humblebundle.com/books/voices-from-the-worlds-of-warhammer-audio - which smash the prices right down to very tiny values. So there are deals out there. 

Paperbacks haven’t been in the £5 bracket for a few years now, not RRP anyway. Black Library paperbacks aren’t any more than any others really. 

[Overread]

I'd wager an Audio drama takes longer for the same length of writing. In theory the audio drama needs just as much build up to the writing as a book does (of the same length), plus you then need to pay an editor to go over the work (just like a book); but then you've also got to pay at least one if not more for the voice acting; someone to edit and monitor the recording; compile it and put it all together and then produce the final audio drama. 

A book mostly needs the writer to write, then a back and forth with the editor then onto publishing. So I would say that, for the same length of writing, an audio drama costs more. 

 

[sorokyl]

Realmslayer is not like any other audiobook you've listened to, I don't think it even should be lumped into the same category as "dudereadsbook.mp3" it's expensive but free with audible trial... 

[Xasz]

No book seems like a downgrade for the series, which I really enjoyed as it didn't revolve around Stormcasts and the "order good/chaos bad" loop.

Although GW audiobooks are often high quality, I thought they were always accompanied by paper.

[Captain Marius]

BL have tried many different formats over the years and seem to have successfully created different audiences. Some people will shell out for limited editions, some prefer to listen to their fiction, and some like me will patiently wait 2 years and grab their fantastic value omnibuses. Im reading Realmgate Wars vol 2 right now, and have Beast Arises next on the list, along with any number of the Warhammer Chronicles collections theyve been rapidly releasing! I think its a pretty solid business model for an extremely niche publisher.

[stato]

5 hours ago, Xasz said:

No book seems like a downgrade for the series, which I really enjoyed as it didn't revolve around Stormcasts and the "order good/chaos bad" loop.

Although GW audiobooks are often high quality, I thought they were always accompanied by paper.

There have been plenty of Audiobook only BL publications. It’s not a new thing. Often they are a side story, but mostly an independent story.

[Xasz]

3 minutes ago, stato said:

There have been plenty of Audiobook only BL publications. It’s not a new thing. Often they are a side story, but mostly an independent story.

Sure, but Eight Lamentations was advertised as book series.

[AGPO]

The audio books are generally recordings of existing novels. Their audio dramas are ful cast and have occasionally been novellised but are generaply stand alone products.

Personally I love the audio products as I can enjoy them hands free alongside the gym, commuting or washing up, as opposed to cutting into my hobby time.

[michu]

Remember @Xasz that even @JReynolds said that War-claw is not considered a sequel to Spear of Shadows, that will be completely different book.