In which LKH baits the line a little more

[pith]

I know publishing is full of buy-more ploys, and that it's not just LKH. It just sickens me how she's using comics as her new little toy, because comics get very little respect as is; they don't need those craptastic "posters" dragging them down further into the mud.



1) For the hardcover trade which collects GP 1-6, there's an exclusive story. Or, as Marvel crows, "As a special treat, Anita Blake fans will also discover an original side story featuring Anita and Dolph written especially for the hardcover edition by Laurell K. Hamilton."

Oh, goodie! It's not just a treat; it's a special treat. And we get to discover it! Is this like looking for easter eggs? Or is it going to be yet another round of Find the Plot, which we always seem to lose, since it's a rigged contest and there's no plot to find.

But then there's the whole "if you want the WHOLE Anita story, you have to buy this and this and this…." angle. Like I said, I know it's not exclusive to LKH, but it's still a pain in the ass—especially when you know it'll just be published in another LKH anthology in 2 years or so.

2) For the Strange Candy trade paperback, "This collection also includes a new Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter story.

I don't own the HC of Strange Candy, so I don't know if it has this "new story", but if it doesn't, that's pretty low. Hardcovers are damned expensive these days, and if any readers deserve perks, it's the readers that are willing to shell out the money for a brand-new hardcover.

And then there was an ad for The Harlequin (which they initially typoed as The Harlequinn) amusingly categorized under "Horror". Riiiiight. The only scary thing about LKH's books these days (aside from the fact that they're still getting published) is the quality of the writing.

And completely unrelated, but I felt the need to share. Many of us have commented on how LKH seems to talk about her child as a burden. Compare to Neil Gaiman, who would quite possibly be the coolest dad ever (except I have a litcrush on him, and crushing on your dad is just… not good):

"You know dad," said Holly, who has turned up for the day to make sure I'm alive and get hugged. "Your hair is doing some really interesting things today." By which she means it looks like it's getting ready to escape from my head and go hunting for weasels.

Comments

[pith]

I know. That's why I'm highly suspicious of this whole "The first edition sold out, so we'll print a second one with an alternate cover" scheme, because honestly, at the stores I go to, there are still tons of comics left, so unless Jon is enlisting all his RPG buddies to go out and buy them in target markets, their numbers are skewed.

And honestly, ever since LKH got moved from fantasy to fiction, there hasn't been half as much media attention that I've noticed. Which makes me wonder if that's not why she's doing the comics and working on a movie, because goddess-forbid the spotlight's not on her for more than 2 seconds.

[shadwing.livejournal.com]

You gotta remember what the definition of 'Sold out' is in the comics world. It doesn't mean "Every Comic Retailer doesn't have any more" it means "The main distributer warehouse is out".

When Retailers sell out of stock they can place another order with Diamond and they ship out whatever stock they have on hand, once they are out they put out a notice that they are "Sold Out". The comics have had a very low initial print run, the warehouse had very few copies left over after shipping the initial orders.

So all that needed to happen was the comic to sell really well in a few markets and BAM! Sold out. Usually you need a HELL of alot of requests post the initial sell out to warrent a reprint, but since Dabel Bros. is calling the shots their standard is much lower than Marvel's or DC's.

Note that there hasn't been a re-print since Issue 3, so they either upped the Print run or the sales are dropping.