Aurelian - A model display of how not to sell a book

[Wildeybeast]

Release it in limited quantities, all in one go, only through your website. A website that struggled to cope with dramatic increase in traffic last time you did this, a problem you have apparently made no attempts to fix. Then make your customers spend 6 hours trying to get onto said website, only to tell them that your website couldn't cope and you will try to fix it and sell the book again later.

Suggestions going forward:
1) Sell the book in actual physical book stores/Games Days etc
2) Make more copies available
3) Release copies in staged batches
4) Organise a random allocation system that is fair and does not rely on the vagaries of interent access.
5) Spend some bloody money on servers that can actually cope with the volume of traffic you know this sort of event will generate.

I do sometimes wonder if part of the contract of employment for GW is to have the section of your brain which controls common sense surgically removed and ground into squig food.

[bginer]

I have to agree with you on all counts here. That was an absolutely appalling display of technical incompetence. I got on my computer at 12:50 (Eastern time in the US), expecting it to be a bit sluggish, but when I couldn't even get a graphic to load... Well then.

Then to add insult to injury, about 13:10 an e-mail comes through from GW letting me know that Aurelian is up for sale on the website! Well that was the only way I would be able to know.

It was around 6 and a half hours later when I was able to get on the home page and saw the post about trying again in about 72 hours.

What the hell were they thinking? I wasn't involved in the last debacle, but I heard it didn't go smoothly.

I really want this book as Mr. Dembski-Bowden is fast becoming one of my favourite authors. With the display earlier today in mind though, I'm not hopeful of acquiring a copy.

Oh, and as for feeding anybody anything from a GW staffers brain, you'd get more nourishment from biting your lip.

[energongoodie]

I tried logging on at 17:40pm. It was already in melt down. I stayed at a computer for 3 hours and managed to add a copy to my basket but did not manage to log in or go to check out. I gave up and went home. The journey was 45 minutes. I then spent the rest of the evening watching the screen and refreshing when necessary.
At 23:45 ish, the checkout and payment details finally loaded, I paid for my item and had to input my security code for my bank to verify the payment. I pressed return and then nothing...
The black library website states this:

'Those of you who have managed to pay for a copy will likley not have received a confirmation email. Don't worry, we will email you tomorrow.'

I have not had a confirmation e-mail yet and my account wouldn't be showing the payment just yet but I believe I paid for it and will receive my confirmation mail soon. I hope so.

This situation is ridiculous and must be sorted out if they intend to continue with this sort of limited edition product. But ultimately, do they care? They will still sell every copy eventually so why bother spending money making it easier for us?

[shyft87]

couldn't agree more..

I also hate the fact that i'm going to miss a chunk of the heresy story simply because I can't justify spending £25 on a hardback witha few hundred pages in it... I mean the other novels are about 4-500 pages a piece, and cost a fifth of the price.

[energongoodie]

I can't justify spending £25 on a hardback witha few hundred pages in it

It's £30 with an additional £10 postage I'm afraid.

[shyft87]

It's £30 with an additional £10 postage I'm afraid.

no idea where i got £25 from then lol...

well, point proven: £40 for about 200 pages... and another chunk of the story I'll be missing

[iheartgrimdark]

Also, this and Promethium Sun will be mass released after two years anyway. These two won't be the only releases like this.
I'm an HH completsist but reckon I can wait for the Tales of Heresy/Age of Darkness style short story collection to come out.

[shyft87]

that still leaves the audiobooks to be transcribed though...

I can't get my head around why they went with audiobooks: i like to have the book in my hand, to be able to reread parts as need be... I'm an adult, I haven't had an audiobook since I was a child!

[energongoodie]

Just got this

'We wanted to send you a quick message to apologise for the difficulties you experienced last night whilst trying to order Aurelian and to confirm that we have received a payment from you. At present we are verifying all details and will be in touch shortly with further information with regards to your specific order.'

Excellent.

[Wildeybeast]

Just got this

'We wanted to send you a quick message to apologise for the difficulties you experienced last night whilst trying to order Aurelian and to confirm that we have received a payment from you. At present we are verifying all details and will be in touch shortly with further information with regards to your specific order.'

Excellent.

Lucky you. I got the website up once, but it quickly disappeared. Things were actually better with Promethean sun, but I suspect that was because they released it in the middle of the day UK time when most folks were at work (I happened to be off so I managed to grab a copy). A good decision to move it ot later when more people would have access to it making it fairer, but everything else about it was sheer incompetence. I also got the email reminder around the same time, but what was the point in that? Even if the site was working, they would have all been gone by that stage anyway.

[energongoodie]

Hopefully 6 hours of perseverance will pay off.

Getting Promethean Sun was indeed much easier.

It makes me wonder what the next one will be like :(

[david5th]

http://www.blacklibrary.com/Blog/Aurelian-update-more-copies-and-free-shipping.html

[energongoodie]

Just read this and thought I'd been done out of postage but then checked facebook and they are saying it will be free shipping for those who have already paid as well. Does this mean a £10 refund do you think?

What are you guys thoughts about a silver edition? I'm thinking as a collector and hoarder I do not like it. I like things as limited as possible.

[wittdooley]

Just read this and thought I'd been done out of postage but then checked facebook and they are saying it will be free shipping for those who have already paid as well. Does this mean a £10 refund do you think?

What are you guys thoughts about a silver edition? I'm thinking as a collector and hoarder I do not like it. I like things as limited as possible.

There are still only 6,000 copies.....

[Wildeybeast]

I think it's a great idea. People that just want to read the book can do so at (fairly) reasonable cost, those who want the full on collector's edition can still have it same as before. And free psotage is a reasonable recompense for the inconvenience caused (though £10 was outrageous). If they have indeed fixed the servers as promised this is a welcome response to fan power and a good sign that GW (or at least BL) do actually give a stuff about their customers. Well done.

[wittdooley]

The free shipping is huge. I believe the express shipping for me last time was around 26 bucks. And I don't give two poops about the art. And guess what? I'll probably still spend $50 bucks; only now, I can add a few more goodies to the mix.

[bginer]

Thumbs up for the silver edition!

I'll buy gold if I can get it, but I just want to read the damn thing! I'll take whatever I can get.

Of course the other way is to wait for the copies to start showing up on Ebay for 2 to 3 times the price <sigh>

I may end up waiting 2 bloody years!

Do like the audio books though. Good to listen to when I'm driving and painting. Not at the same time of course! :-)

If you was to give one a try, I recommend throne of lies, also by Mr. DB. Truly excellent!

[Firebird]

It doesnt even let me preorder it from all the talk here you all seem like you can. But it isnt for preorder yet

[wittdooley]

It very clearly says it will be on sale Monday, October 17.

[energongoodie]

Just had an e-mail in response to my question to black library regarding my order and the fact I have paid for postage.

'Postage is free for everyone.
Someone will contact you over the next few days to confirm that you want to purchase the gold edition and to reimburse you for the cost of shipping if you choose to.'

So they will check which edition I want and then give me the appropriate refund. Seems very fair to me. I wonder how many people will switch to silver from gold. Did any one else on here get through to the payment section?

NEW EMAIL UPDATE

I am pleased to confirm that your order and payment for Aurelian, reference XXXXXXX, has been received and you have reserved 1 copies of the Aurelian Gold Edition. This is hardback, signed, hand numbered with internal colour art and a marker ribbon. I can also confirm that we will be offering free shipment on this product. You will receive a refund for the shipping you have already paid shortly.
The remaining copies of Aurelian will go on sale on the 17th of October and, in addition to the Gold Edition we will be releasing 3000 copies of a Silver Edition, which will neither be signed, hand numbered or contain internal colour art. You are of course welcome to cancel your order for the Gold edition if you would instead prefer the Silver edition. However, please be aware that I am unable to amend your order to guarantee a Silver Edition copy.
Due to the new release date of the Gold Edition, we will hold your order until October 17th when we begin despatching. Your order will be with you within 28 days of despatch.
At this time we would like to ask you to confirm by reply that you wish to keep your order as placed and are happy to await despatch as specified above.

NEW EMAIL UPDATE

Friday 18:09

'Hi Barry,

We just wanted to let you know that your order has now been despatched from Black Library.'

excellent :D