OMW Hardcover, Out of Print
Posted on March 12, 2006 Posted by John Scalzi 7 Comments
It looks like all the hardcovers of for Old Man’s War are gone: I can’t find anyone selling it online (well, for less than $39.27, which I don’t suggest you pay), and since I don’t think I actually ever personally saw it in a bookstore, I don’t suspect there are many hanging around the shelves, either. It’s still (and amply) available in trade paperback, of course, but if you wanted it new in hardcover, with the Donato cover and everything, well, um, sorry.
Patrick’s currently in Ireland (and it’s 1:30 am on a sunday morning) so I can’t ask him at the moment, but I’m curious to know what the sell-through was — that is, how many of the books that were printed were actually sold, rather than returned and then turned into remainder table fodder. The scarcity of the hardcover suggests to me it sold through pretty well, but having never been to this point with a book before, there’s lots I could be missing there.
If you do want OMW new in hardcover, this is one option remaining to you, which is to get a Science Fiction Book Club edition. But be prepared to wait a couple of weeks; the Web site says it’ll be available on March 26th. Patience is a virtue, especially when you have no choice.
I’m really glad I have the first edition hardcovers of both OMW and the Ghost Brigades. At some point, I’ll have to send them to you for autographs. Then you’ll have to get tremendously famous so I can sell them for big bucks…er…cherish them forever.
After having unsuccessfully ordered it several times from my local bookstore, I finally decided I was going to wait for Ghost brigades to come out.
I waited, and then ordered them together at amazon, which initially said it would ship in 24 hours. A few hours later I got an updated ship date of mid february, a few weeks later it was updated again to mid march.
Finally a few days ago I got another update to April, and I just cancelled the damn order.
I swear, there is a conspiracy to prevent me from getting your books John.
Does this indicate a second printing in hardback or is such a thing driven by demand?
The book already went through several printings (I think it got up to six printings total), so no, there are no more hardcover printings scheduled from what I know. Tor and booksellers are pushing the trade paperback for the next year, and then after that there’ll be the mass market paperback edition.
Hey John, this is great news for you (not so great for your fans). Congrats. Must feel good – well, I’d think so.
Variations on a theme:
My father quoting I know not who.
OR:
“Patience flea, the night is long.”
Francois Villon, The Begger King of Paris.
Good on you, John.
–ml
The price on Amazon (“used”) is now up to $55.50 or more. It seems there is still a demand for them. I would think that considering the award-nominee status of the book that they would want to capitalize on that. Ok, I *hope* they want to capitalize on that. I’ll buy a paperback in the meantime.