It’s not too often that the Black Library makes the mainstream hobby news cycle (such as IGN, here), but it certainly did this past week with the Era of Ruin Limited Edition preorder last Tuesday. As we covered previously, there was a special global preorder window for this one product as an attempt to ensure fairness in distribution.
I don’t have any of the other Limited Editions in the Siege of Terra series, but I put on my journalist’s hat and decided to see what the process was like so I could write about it in today’s column. And if I happened to be one of the lucky few, hey, so much the better- they’re beautiful books.
Living in the Eastern Time Zone in the US, that meant setting my alarm for 4:30am so I could be ready once the queue opened at 5.
4:48am
For those who lived it, I apologize in advance for any flashbacks. For everyone else who didn’t get a chance to experience it first-hand, here’s how it went down. Upon arriving at Warhammer.com, I was greeted with this:
The count was on! Thoughtfully, James Workshop made sure there would be plenty of entertainment while I waited. Had to supply my own coffee, though.
I’d initially intended to only have one browser going for this, but as I understood it each browser would give you a separate place in the queue. Curious to see that for myself, I opened a second browser on a different laptop as well as one on my cellphone.
Sure enough, each of my three browsers had a unique session ID that I could copy and access somewhere else if I needed to. So that right there is the first obvious exploit: you had as many chances to score an advantageous queue position as you had browsers to access. Someone with a bank of ten computers had ten times the advantage over someone with a single laptop.
5:00am
Finally, the clock struck the hour and the floodgates opened.
Sadly, all three of my browsers showed a wait time in excess of an hour (which a small part of me I’ll admit felt like karma for having three browsers up to begin with). I checked in with the Black Library groups on Facebook and Reddit to get a sense of the lay of the land. If anyone was under an hour, they were keeping it mum. It seemed like everyone actively posting was getting the same message.
5:05am
Just a few minutes later the wait time updated. The queue was paused, and scanning the Black Library chats quickly confirmed this was universal. No information was forthcoming yet, so many of us amused ourselves through idle speculation. My money had it on something to do with Da Red Gobbo givin’ da webgrots ideaz above dere stashun and downin’ toolz.
5:30am
It was now half-six, and a new screen change rewarded the faithful as the servers went down. See! I knew it had something to do with the greenskins.
This lasted another five minutes or so, after which the webstore appeared to come up as normal. You could do almost everything you normally could- browse items, look at pictures and descriptions, use the search feature- except for the most important part: putting things in your basket. All of the add to cart buttons were greyed out. Look but don’t touch, pal!
6:00am
Any hopes of restored functionality were dashed as an ‘Under Maintenance’ image appeared, with all access to the webstore now denied.
That left a lot of us would-be consumers confused as to what was going on. One thing that was interesting was the complete lack of eBay listings. In the past they’d cropped up like fungus after a rain in the minutes following a queue’s opening. A few folks who claimed to be members of scalper Discord forums said that a number of the scalpers were giggling about how many they’d obtained before the site’s collapse, and by this point of the day the common (and discouraging) assumption was that the scalpers had won, and John Q. Fan was heading home with an empty bag.
11:30am
By this point, seven hours after waking up for the Era of Ruin Sweepstakes, I was just checking the site sporadically to see if there were any developments. By late morning, Warhammer.com had resumed its normal broadcast day, but with a significant exception: there was no listing for the Era of Ruin Limited Edition. Not just ‘sold out,’ but no listing at all, like it had never existed.
12:00pm
By noon, visitors to Games Workshop’s social media were given the following explanation.
And there it was, the explanation we’d been waiting for. And that’s where we are today, with no further word on the Era of Ruin’s availability.
Ultimately, while it’s understandably frustrating to experience this sort of thing if this leads to stronger anti-spoiler measures going forward then I’m quite happy to write off the lost sleep. For now, we’ll leave it with this insight from writer Noah Van Nguyen (Godeater’s Son, Elemental Council).
Preordering This Week
Nothing! It’s a Wallet Recovery Week this week as there are no new (paper) Black Library books on preorder.
Fans of the audiobooks, however, may be pleased to note that Gav Thorpe’s 13th Legion is getting an audio adaption. The Last Chancers came onto the Warhammer scene back in 1998 for Interno! Magazine, and I took a closer look at them in a recent History of the Black Library article here.
Some Feelgood Vibes
Longtime readers might remember two months ago I mentioned taking my daughter to see post-punk goth band Vision Video play in Louisville. Knowing that lead singer Dusty Gannon is into Warhammer, she brought him a couple of the Krieg Engineer minis-of-the-month from our local Warhammer store. It was a magical evening for Lorcan (only her second-ever concert!), but little did she know how much more magical it was going to get.
Not long after, Dusty posted this video on their Facebook page telling the story of the Krieg Engineer minis he got at a show, and that he was working on painting one in a goth/Halloween theme to send back to her once they finished up their tour. This past weekend, a box arrived at our door.
Needless to say, Lorcan was over the moon. I’ve said many times that the creativity of this community is truly inspiring, and I’ll never tire of seeing its kindness as well.
If that’s not enough feelgood for you today, here’s Champion of Khorne, Moo Deng by Trần Vinh.
Adorable.
An Open Note to Writers (A Counterpoint)
In last week’s BL Weekly I highlighted a dialogue on social media surrounding the web presence of authors.
That prompted this week a thoughtful reply from Guy Haley (Genefather, Dante), which I’m posting as plain text rather than screenshots due to length:
Way back when I started writing novels, 16 years ago now, the internet was still relatively new. All publishers were saying to their authors they should have a blog or likewise to connect with their readers. So I had one for 7 years or so. I worked and worked on it, I put several articles up a week.
Of course, a cynic might say that relieved them of the obligation of promoting your work themselves, with paid advertising, which always was and remains the single best way of getting your name out there. I digress.
I averaged a few hundred hits a month. It did not drive engagement. It did give people a place where they could come and vent at me for one thing or another. It was a purely performative space where I could not be honest about myself or my work. It made me paranoid and anxious, despite nice people.
Maintaining a website takes time, effort, and, if you’re doing it properly, money. I found that the best way to drive engagement with my books, Warhammer especially, was to write… more Warhammer books.
I’ve always treated writing very much as a business. It’s opportunity cost – if I spend x number of hours writing content for online, it’s x number of hours not writing stuff I actually get paid for. So, I decided to shut it down, and experienced an immediate cessation of stress.
A cutting off the modern day scourge of constant engagement. FOMO. Arguments. The endless, Sisyphean task of it.
Now, you’re talking about a simple website, which is different. But even something like that, with links, lists, descriptions, images, takes time and effort (even if, once done, it’s done). And once it’s there, the temptation arises to engage once again; the fear that static sites are dead sites.
Authors with very active social media engagement, like Josh [Reynolds], or Chuck Wendig or John Scalzi, often do it for the love of it. Chuck wrote at length about how his website didn’t really sell his books.
I found this true. Even during times of high traffic my site did nothing to increase sales of my original books, which is what I wanted – because Warhammer sells itself, by and large. It also didn’t stop people confusing me with Gav Thorpe or David Guymer… 😆1
Of course, all this depends on the author. Newer authors benefit from such things more, maybe. I watch Victoria Hayward’s highly organised efforts to use the net with great interest. Then some authors just love doing it, while really successful authors have teams of people to do it for them.
Haley raises a point I hadn’t considered, which is the compulsion to ‘maintain’ a site even after the initial setup. I certainly see his point; at times when I’ve taken a break from social media, I’ve noticed a significant difference it how if feels depending on whether or not I’ve simply deleted the app off my phone (or even deleted an account, ha!). If the cookie’s in the cupboard, you’ll think about eating it. No cookie, no temptation.
He’s also right to note that there’s a distinction to be made about where authors are in their publication journey, for at a certain point one’s work speaks quite well for itself. The greatest value from this might well be from those just breaking in to the Black Library (expecially if they have other works they’d like to take the opportunity to highlight), but ultimately for the reasons Haley points to it remains an individual decision.
Thanks for sharing your perspective with us, Guy!
The Care And Feeding of Books
Someone in one of the Black Library collector’s groups I’m a part of posted a “want to buy” listing for a pristine copy of Space Wolf: The Second Omnibus by William King and Lee Lightner. I half-wondered upon reading it if we were approaching an era where slabbing books the way we slab comics might become more commonplace.
The reader in me recoils in horror at the thought- books are meant to be enjoyed!– but the collector in me totally gets it. I’m very particular when reading a book that’s a limited or special edition, for instance. I have no intentions of selling it (I take a lot of pride in my collection), but it’s nice to know that someday if some emergency arises, I can get maximal value for the undoubtedly painful decision of having to liquidate it.
So what does ‘taking care of books’ actually look like? It goes well beyond not using them as a coaster for your perspiring lager bottle. A member of the Black Library Reddit community, u/youngblood1529, shared this video on how to gently break in spines as a way to keep books in their best condition in preparation for reading them. There’s also some other information on the proper care and feeding of your books here.
I’ve been in the habit of conditioning the spines a bit before reading using the sectional approach, but will definitely be looking more closely at this!
ICYMI
Last week was a two-fer here on Goonhammer for your lore and story needs. First we had a review of the novella trilogy for the Shield of Baal series, which introduced me to the latest entrant in my Tragic Dreadnought Hall of Fame. Seriously, I might have teared up a little on that one, so definitely check it out if you haven’t before (and for more you can also check out our Lore Explainer on the Shield of Baal).
I also did a full review of the Raiders of the Realms eShort Week. Five new stories for the Age of Sigmar written by a vet (Robbie MacNiven), two rookies (Jacob Peppers and Bryce Mainville), and one author whose Black Library body of work is just getting started (Graham Wilcox).
For those keeping score at home, that’s Skaven, Soulblight Gravelords, and Darkoath 1, Cities of Sigmar 2.
Also well worth checking out is Jonathan Bernhardt’s review of Angels of Death, the 2021 Warhammer 40,000 animated series he’s looking at as part of his ongoing Century of the Vampire feature.
Quick Hits
- Above I mentioned Graham Wilcox (writer of my ‘best in show’ selection Conn Crowhand’s Last Oath), and he is also the editor of a fantasy story magazine, Old Moon Quarterly. They are currently crowdfunding the next two issues, and with about three weeks to go they’re a bit over 75% funded. Worth checking out!
- Gareth Ryder-Hanrahan (Rites of Binding, Grit in the Wheels) isn’t just a storywriter but also an RPG game designer. He’s put out a call for playtesters willing to put his latest campaign book Swords of the Serpentine. If role-playing is your jam, give it a look!
- For fans of comics, the name Jack Kirby is one that needs little introduction. Becky Books has revealed the cover fort Jack of All Comics, a comic anthology of more than two-dozen essays about Jack Kirby and his incredible legacy on the medium. One of them was written by Josh Reynolds (Hammerhal, Fulgrim: The Palatine Phoenix) and highlights Kirby’s run on Devil Dinosaur.
- Speaking of Josh Reynolds, last week I highlighted his website as a sort of ‘best practice,’ and one of the things I always enjoy seeing from authors is when you can get a free short story or novella. This week Ben Galley, the author of 2020’s Age of Sigmar short story Mournclaw, noted on social media that he had a free story on offer as well. Check out The Iron Keys, a story with Minotaurs that’s all yours just for subscribing to his newsletter.
- John French (Ahriman: Eternal, The Dead Kingdom) has posted a second article on how to get established in the creative industry, this time focusing on the personal element.
- Dan Abnett (Eisenhorn, Gaunt’s Ghosts) recently noted that he’s been getting a bit of the George R R Martin treatment regarding the concluding book in his Bequin trilogy, Pandaemonium. “For reasons an NDA prevents me from discussing, Bequin 3 – and some other things – are held up for a while,” he stated. “It’s coming – and I’ll be delighted to bring it to you – but in the meantime, try to be patient… and maybe try to enjoy the things that I AM writing.🙂” I seem to recall Tom Petty saying something about waiting…
- If (like me) you’ve been awaiting the launch of the Warhammer: The Old World RPG from Cubicle 7 Games, they shared this week some more information on the starter location for their introductory campaign, Talagaad.
- The Black Library has announced this month’s audiobook deal. These don’t last long (this one expires tomorrow), but you can score Blood of Asaheim by Chris Wraight (The Lords of Silence, The Dark City) for 75% off.
- Subscribers of Warhammer+ got a free Space Marine II cosmetic unlock this week for Sergeant Metaurus’ Breastplate. As a reward for the first person to read this far down this week, here’s my code: 4TQ1-VVQW-KFEF
- Apparently I missed this one in my inbox awhile back, but I also have a code for his Iron Halo cosmetic. 77GP-5PTS-WUX1. Enjoy!
Footnotes
1. Cheeky devil. A reference to my admission last week that for awhile (and for no good reason) I kept confusing Guy Haley and Gav Thorpe. I cackled; if we can’t laugh at ourselves once in awhile, we’re doing it wrong.
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