A Dance with Dragons - July 12!

[Werthead]

I can see Rane's point though. THE WISE MAN'S FEAR and THE WAY OF KINGS were a bit shorter than ADWD will be and were both £20. THE CRIPPLED GOD was 150 pages shorter but still a long book at 910 pages or so in hardcover and still £20 (down to £10 in some outlets).

Voyager do seem to be slightly more expensive with long books though. SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH was also £25 in hardcover, IIRC. Combined with their split-happy policies, it seems to back up the idea that of the major SF publishers, they're one of the ones with the fewest resources (though you'd think with GRRM, Goodkind, Feist and Hobb on their books they could afford to splash out a bit).

You'd easily be able to find the book for £15, but £10 I think will be pushing it (since that's less than 50% off retail).

 

[The Imp]

I can see Rane's point though. THE WISE MAN'S FEAR and THE WAY OF KINGS were a bit shorter than ADWD will be and were both £20. THE CRIPPLED GOD was 150 pages shorter but still a long book at 910 pages or so in hardcover and still £20 (down to £10 in some outlets).

Voyager do seem to be slightly more expensive with long books though. SONGS OF THE DYING EARTH was also £25 in hardcover, IIRC. Combined with their split-happy policies, it seems to back up the idea that of the major SF publishers, they're one of the ones with the fewest resources (though you'd think with GRRM, Goodkind, Feist and Hobb on their books they could afford to splash out a bit).

You'd easily be able to find the book for £15, but £10 I think will be pushing it (since that's less than 50% off retail).

I think the vast mojority of people buying ADWD will be people who read the first 4 books. There may be a few here and there who make the mistake of buying the book and not being familiar with the series, but those will be the exception, not the rule. If people think the book is too expensive they won't buy it. I personally think that 19 bucks (American) for an 1100 page book that I've been waiting years for is a bargain. You can't even go out to dinner at a decent restaurant for that price, and GRRm has worked for years on this book. I'm happy to pay whatevver i have to. The audiobook is going to cast me $44 and I'm not at all complaining. And again, there are less expensive options.

 

[viZion]

I didn't even look at the price when I preordered it on Amazon. I still have no idea how much I paid. Oh, it's $18.90. Whatever. After so many years of waiting and whining about waiting there was no way I was going to let a stupid thing like price keep me from reading this book the day it's released.

 

[No One]

I'll probably even buy it twice - once so I can read it on release and again just so I have the paperback series of the same edition.

I know, I know. Geek.

 

[The Imp]

I didn't even look at the price when I preordered it on Amazon. I still have no idea how much I paid. Oh, it's $18.90. Whatever. After so many years of waiting and whining about waiting there was no way I was going to let a stupid thing like price keep me from reading this book the day it's released.

Just so, although i have to remind myself that I'm fortunate enough not to be on a budget, and some people are.

 

[Mesanna]

Hmm, I see the price has gone up on Amazon UK. I pre-ordered when the release date was finally confirmed and got it for £12.99, but it's now gone up to £15. I felt that two paperbacks at around £5.50 each (based on what the other ASOIAF paperbacks sell for) is only £2 less than the hardback (at least, the price I'm paying for it), and I wasn't going to wait a year for the sake of £2 (even though I dislike big heavy hardbacks). I'll probably end up buying it for my Kindle too when the price comes down a bit.

 

[Culhwch]

I hardly ever see hardbacks down here - most new releases are in trade paperback, and I'm hoping that's the case this time around, though I have no clue how to find that out. A Feast for Crows came out as a trade on the release date. If it is hardback only, I won't be able to justify spending forty to fifty dollars on it. Perhaps I should see if my library has started a wait list already...

 

[viZion]

Before you buy it on Kindle you should read some reviews and make sure it's ok. The other books in the series all have terrible reviews for their Kindle editions. Lots of typos and missing words. I was going to buy AGOT for my Kindle but decided against it due to all of complaints about the transcription.

 

[Werthead]

Both the UK and US Kindle editions have been thoroughly revised and reissued in the last few weeks. If you have a duff copy, re-download it and it should be fine.

I could be wrong, but I believe that once you pre-order the book on Amazon you will pay the lowest listed price in that time. For example, if you pre-ordered when the book was £12.99, you'll only pay £12.99 even if it's £20 when the book comes out. If the price dips down to £10 you'll only pay £10 even if it goes up again, and so on. Not 100% sure on that, however.

 

[Mesanna]

I think that's right enough Werthead. ADWD is listed at £15, but I checked my pre-order and the price there is still showing as £12.99. Having said that, I had pre-ordered an urban fantasy paperback due out in June cos it was dirt cheap at £3.84. I got an email a few days back saying this order had to be cancelled due to a change in the distributor (i.e. publisher) and I had to reorder. The book is now £7.99 and not coming out until two months later. Technically the publisher hasn't changed as they're both part of Penguin.

So I guess the moral is, if GRRM doesn't meet his deadline and the book isn't actually released in July, all bets are off.

 

[Icemark]

I am probably the last person in the world to find out that the release date has been published! Ha! Probably shouldn't be surprised at that - since I have not checked any forums or blogs for months!

I am, however, incredibly excited to hear the news (whether it's final or not) - the excitement is worth it!

Now, to start off on that massive re-read (again)....hmmm...

 

[Eulalia]

Could there be an April 1st, "It's Done!" double fake out?!