# WTF is an enhanced e-book?



## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

I get that from the limited info it is basically the ebook plus some pictures, but the majority of e-readers are e-ink and crap at images anyway. As far as I can tell basically it just a pricejump for ebooks from 7.99 to 11.99. 

And does anyone know if they will release vanilla ebooks later? I guess it is an attempt to capitalise on early sales but at ;east a hardback is recognisably different to a paperback, I am not sure they have made the case with their enhanced ebooks.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

You answered your own question. The Enhanced E-Books include the artwork and the afterword with the book.


LotN


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

Thats... not a lot for a jump of 50% in price!


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Doesn't an enhanced e-Book also have cross reference hot links in it?


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## TooNu (May 4, 2011)

It's BL's attempt at extracting money from people with more money than sense or a real serious need to own everything for their chosen hobby. Which is putting up shelving units for book collections if you are a BL enthusiast.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Yes more money than sense that must be it. That or I'm actually capable and efficient at managing my finances to the point where I couldn't give a shit about £3 extra. But no you must be right in your line of thinking, clearly all of us who buy an enhanced ebook must be stupid with money or suffer pathological obsessions with a book company.

Well off to go re-evaluate my life after this shocking revelation.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Derp. :shok:


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## Svartmetall (Jun 16, 2008)




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## Atyaman (Feb 18, 2011)

LazyG said:


> I get that from the limited info it is basically the ebook plus some pictures


Exactly. In the exact case of ADB's Betrayer it was the ebook and 4(!) pictures.

But the whole $8 extra is not for those 4 pictures. When they release a book in hardback the ebook price seems to be higher then the usual $8. Reference: Priests of Mars (ebook) $12.

I've asked them why the steeper prices on some (only hardcover version) ebooks months ago, and got a reply too. If anyone interested I can look it up in my mail.

Personally I don't care if they trying out different pricings. I can decide for myself if the ebook worth that kinda money. ADB has proved that he's worth it, at least to me. But he's pretty much the only one at that in the BL's stable of writers. Maybe with the exception of Mr. Abnett.

My only gripe is that BL is calling them enhanced. They are not. Period. (There are ebooks for that category too, but they are usually epub3s, and are optimized for tablets, not dedicated e-readers. So calling an ebook with 4 added pictures enhanced is ridiculous.) Heck even here in Hungary a local publisher, who translated and published Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan with its 48 illustrations, didn't call it an enhanced ebook. Cause it isn't. Ohh, and it's for $9.2, just saying


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## Xisor (Oct 1, 2011)

I'm concerned by the justification, personally. Mainly the £6.50 ebook is reasonable, to me. I don't mind it, it'd be nice if it were cheaper still, but I'm adjusted to it.

The £11.99 ebook is nice in the HH series, to an extent, as you get that lovely set of four images. But the other hardbacks?

The justification for hardback releases and time-delay itself vexed me too. I'm disinclined to worry overmuch about it, but I do thing it's a legitimate concern. Not everyone's so financially competent/lucky/whatever as Angel of Blood, so being out of work for a good while, the decision to purchase or not weighs heavily on my mind. (I caved a while back for _The Emperor's Gift_ but, despite enjoying it thoroughly, it's still not really markedly better than, say £6.50 for _Void Stalker_.)

To put all that together, it worries me that they're possibly entrenching themselves in a dubious yet established system (it's the same route ran by most publishers, I hear) when they could be pioneering their way out of it. Multi-format 'big' releases, ebooks at sensible prices, hardbacks to cater for the correct market (i.e. those who want them).

The main problem then is the distinction between mass market paperback (what we normally get from BL) and trade paperback (think SMB size). If MMPB competes with ebooks, regardless, but TP is generally preferred by 'the man on the street buying a book', where is the saving made, who takes the hit? It'd be nice for BL to play all corners and options, but I'd estimate that's not so feasible for them.

Still, integrity and pleasing the audience (for example: folks are happy to pay for _really decent stuff_, see ADB, Abnett etc) seem to go a fair distance. How to 'monetise' that by making it work in concert with us being happy to hand over our buckets of cash (hard earned or scraped together by flogging Tiny Tim's crutch).


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

TooNu said:


> Which is putting up shelving units for book collections if you are a BL enthusiast.


Err... I've done that. I've got the money so who cares hey?



Angel of Blood said:


> Yes more money than sense that must be it. That or I'm actually capable and efficient at managing my finances to the point where I couldn't give a shit about £3 extra. But no you must be right in your line of thinking, clearly all of us who buy an enhanced ebook must be stupid with money or suffer pathological obsessions with a book company.
> 
> Well off to go re-evaluate my life after this shocking revelation.


I'm in the same boat. While I'm not loaded, me and my family live pretty comfortably. If I want to spend over $1000 (£653) turning my heresy collection into hardback simply because I'm anal so be it. The only thing I complain about is price differences between regions (Australia gets a pretty raw deal) but that's a gripe for another day. BL produce expensive products. But it's a premium price for a premium niche product. Blame the small target market.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Think of all the money you'll save on book shelving.


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

Magpie_Oz said:


> Think of all the money you'll save on book shelving.


I like physical media and reading from paper. Old school I know.


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## Tawa (Jan 10, 2010)

Brother Subtle said:


> I like physical media and reading from paper. Old school I know.


You just can't beat the feel of holding it your hands. 


No, wait! :shok:


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## WaLkAwaY (Dec 5, 2012)

Brother Subtle said:


> I like physical media and reading from paper. Old school I know.


I was like that.

I fought tooth and nail with people who suggested I pick up an ereader. I like the smell of books the feel of them, the texture of the hardcover and sometimes I like thinking of who might have read the book before me if it is an old book that I picked up used.

While I still have a lot of books that I will buy hardcover such as hard to find collector types or special editions I bought myself a Kindle Paperwhite for my birthday and absolutely love it. It is one of the best gifts I have ever bought or received. I really do not know how I got on without it (media wise) and look back at my trepidation and shake my head.

My little ereader is awesome and I love it.


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## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

WaLkAwaY said:


> I was like that.
> 
> I fought tooth and nail with people who suggested I pick up an ereader. I like the smell of books the feel of them, the texture of the hardcover and sometimes I like thinking of who might have read the book before me if it is an old book that I picked up used.
> 
> ...


You know, I was in the same camp. I really did not like e-books at first, but when I bought an iPhone and tried iBooks I got hooked to it. Now I buy more books than I have time to read. :laugh:


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

In regards to ebooks, I can see the convince. But look at it this way, one day I'd like my son/daughter to pick up some of my sci-fi books and maybe have a read to see if the like it. Do you think that in another 15-20 years your ereader will even exist? Or any of your ereader files will be compatible with any of the technology in the future? My guess is no. There will be all new media mediums and you'd just have to keep updating every few years to keep your books current. Meaning that in the next 5+ years your current ereader collection will become superceeded and unsupported technology.

However, books will always be books. I can read it, store it on my shelf for 20 years and my kids can pick it up and it'll be exactly as I left it 20 years earlier. Plus my heresy collection will proudly be on display for anyone entering my home. I'd much rather a stunning well kept bookshelf in my lounge than one filled with row upon row of DVDs/blurays. I image the entire Heresy Collection in hardback together on a nice bookshelf would be a thing of considerable beauty.


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

So I'm still nto clear, will there be normal ebook versions released later?

A SciFi publisher I knwo releases advanced reader copies that they charge more for, but they are _before_ thehardback release so you pay a bit more to read the book 6 months early. They are honest about what you are getting, so I didn;t mind, I just think the BL pitch for these books is pretty poor.


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## Atyaman (Feb 18, 2011)

LazyG said:


> So I'm still nto clear, will there be normal ebook versions released later?


There will be. At least that's what BL was communicating back in may, when I asked them about the pricing of The Emperor's Gift.
This is the last sentece from their reply:



> We realise this is more that our standard price, which is why we always lower the price of our eBooks once the novel is released in paperback.


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## jasonpittman (May 17, 2010)

I was just about to post about this exact thing, I can understand Angel Exterminatus and The Betrayer being £11.99, I don't like it but can understand it but how can they justify that price for Horus Rising and the older books. The pictures are crap and add nothing to the books.


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## LazyG (Sep 15, 2008)

Atyaman said:


> There will be. At least that's what BL was communicating back in may, when I asked them about the pricing of The Emperor's Gift.
> This is the last sentece from their reply:


Thanks! I was hoping that was the case. My fear is this price hike just drives piracy anyway, which I imagine is pretty trivial with ebooks.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Brother Subtle said:


> Do you think that in another 15-20 years your ereader will even exist?


I do agree with this very much. I have the same concerns about all of my treasured family photos existing only as magnetic 0's and 1's.

But around my house it was getting out of control I have no idea how many books I have but it is numbered in the many, many 1000's and I simply can't store them all. 

If I read a particularly good one, or If I buy a reference book or atlas or similar it's hardcopy all the way but novels, magazines etc are only eBooks these days.


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## WaLkAwaY (Dec 5, 2012)

Brother Subtle said:


> In regards to ebooks, I can see the convince. But look at it this way, one day I'd like my son/daughter to pick up some of my sci-fi books and maybe have a read to see if the like it. Do you think that in another 15-20 years your ereader will even exist? Or any of your ereader files will be compatible with any of the technology in the future? My guess is no. There will be all new media mediums and you'd just have to keep updating every few years to keep your books current. Meaning that in the next 5+ years your current ereader collection will become superceeded and unsupported technology.
> 
> However, books will always be books. I can read it, store it on my shelf for 20 years and my kids can pick it up and it'll be exactly as I left it 20 years earlier. Plus my heresy collection will proudly be on display for anyone entering my home. I'd much rather a stunning well kept bookshelf in my lounge than one filled with row upon row of DVDs/blurays. I image the entire Heresy Collection in hardback together on a nice bookshelf would be a thing of considerable beauty.


The ereader may or may not be around in 20 years or some other iteration of it will exist. I might not be around in 20 years so I will take my luxuries as I find them. 

I am never having kids so I need not worry about saving them for that reason but as I already stated I do buy books still that I want to have a hard cover of or if they are interestingly bound. Old books that I find/buy/collect like Grimm's Faerytales and such are mainly what I would now keep as an actual copy. I pretty much have a library at my house as it is.


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## TooNu (May 4, 2011)

Angel of Blood said:


> Yes more money than sense that must be it. That or I'm actually capable and efficient at managing my finances to the point where I couldn't give a shit about £3 extra. But no you must be right in your line of thinking, clearly all of us who buy an enhanced ebook must be stupid with money or suffer pathological obsessions with a book company.
> 
> Well off to go re-evaluate my life after this shocking revelation.


Whoa you took that so personally? Chill out a little, if you need to re-evaluate anything it's your need to forum rage.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Atyaman said:


> There will be. At least that's what BL was communicating back in may, when I asked them about the pricing of The Emperor's Gift.
> This is the last sentece from their reply:
> 
> 
> ...


If that's the justification, I'm disappointed. I get that they don't want to detract from hardcover sales, but an eBook is an eBook. It shouldn't be about "This book was first released as a hardcover, and because hardcovers cost more the eBook will as well."

This puts me in a tough spot. I buy eBooks because of the nature of my work. I travel a lot; I move my residence a lot. It's come to the point where the actual books I buy have to be absolutely exclusive - rare academia, treasured graphic novels, etc.

I think that if the eBook is going to cost more, it should be because of market demands or including something "extra". Thus far, the artwork I've seen in "Angel Exterminatus" and "Betrayer" is not "extra" enough. Unless that changes, I wish I would have the option to buy just the standard eBook without having to suffer a wait than, in itself, is worse than the extra $6-7 I paid for the "enhanced" version.

Such is life... First World Problems!


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## Matcap (Aug 23, 2012)

Phoebus said:


> I think that if the eBook is going to cost more, it should be because of market demands or including something "extra". Thus far, the artwork I've seen in "Angel Exterminatus" and "Betrayer" is not "extra" enough. Unless that changes, I wish I would have the option to buy just the standard eBook without having to suffer a wait than, in itself, is worse than the extra $6-7 I paid for the "enhanced" version.


This is something I also get annoyed by; really a couple of sketches which seem to have been done in an afternoon are the "extra's" you get? They detract rather than add to my enjoyment of the story at the moment.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

TooNu said:


> Whoa you took that so personally? Chill out a little, if you need to re-evaluate anything it's your need to forum rage.


No you should probably think more carefully about how you word things.


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## Atyaman (Feb 18, 2011)

Phoebus said:


> If that's the justification, I'm disappointed. I get that they don't want to detract from hardcover sales, but an eBook is an eBook.


That wasn't the whole reasoning, only the last sentence regarding the future price lowering when the paperback is released (which was asked by LazyG).
So here's the whole part regarding the pricing:



> On the subject of pricing. Our books are priced in line with the book trade around the world. we sell through many distributors and I'm sure you can appreciate that a Hardback Grey Knights novel by one of our most popular authors is highly anticipated by many book retailers.
> As a company we attempt to work with the book trade and book shops around the world, and if we sold our books at 30% the cost as an eBook, they would be rightly annoyed. We therefore have the option of either not making an eBook available at all, or pricing the eBook in ratio to the physical product. We realise this is more that our standard price, which is why we always lower the price of our eBooks once the novel is released in paperback.


This answer falls along the lines as why are they pricing there books differently for different markets (e.g. USA vs. Australia). I can understand this, but I don't like it.


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## Phoebus (Apr 17, 2010)

Same here. As I said, such is life. :/


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Enhanced e-book? It's marketed as being to the ordinary e-book what the hard back is to the paper back. However, without the actual physical beef up that a hard back offers, for that extra few quid you literally only get a couple of illustrations and (i think) an author afterword. Basically it's just Black Library's way of preventing people getting the original e-book edition (which I imagine most people would prefer) until a later date - to coincide with their recent decision to make the hard back (expensive) edition available months before the paper back. 

Personally I don't just see why they can't release the hard back, paper back, and both e-book editions at the same time. Probably because they would make less money.

As _P_ said: first world problems!


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## Xisor (Oct 1, 2011)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> to coincide with their recent decision to make the hard back (expensive) edition available months before the paper back.


That's not at all true, unfortunately. Unless, of course, by recent you mean 'since doing the hardbacks and ebooks', which I suppose is _sort of_ recent. Depends on what you mean by recent then... so it might be _a bit_ true... woops.

You get the point though. They've been releasing the hardbacks for, say, Gaunt's Ghosts, a full year prior to the paperbacks for... well, for years now. Four, five? More? Same with _Brothers of the Snake_ when it was originally released. 

The ebook/hardback pairing came, I think, with _The Emperor's Gift_? Or one of the Gaunt's Ghosts. TEG was the first time I recall being peeved about it though.

Like early releases as much as I do, I can't help but think that _any_ delay in releasing is probably counter-productive. The 'small sales' to die-hard or eager buyers (like me), are perhaps a lot less in terms of revenue, excitement, popularity and so-forth that _simply seeing the books sell popularly on release_ produce. Could be wrong though. :read:


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

I really hope when the next Gaunts Ghosts arc 'The Victory' is complete, they release another omnibus to match the last ones. Got 3 ominibuses, then a cheap looking paper back for blood pact and a hardback for salvations reach.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Xisor said:


> That's not at all true, unfortunately. Unless, of course, by recent you mean 'since doing the hardbacks and ebooks', which I suppose is _sort of_ recent. Depends on what you mean by recent then... so it might be _a bit_ true... woops.
> 
> You get the point though. They've been releasing the hardbacks for, say, Gaunt's Ghosts, a full year prior to the paperbacks for... well, for years now. Four, five? More? Same with _Brothers of the Snake_ when it was originally released.
> 
> ...


I don't read a lot of BL aside from the Heresy series, so I wasn't aware that the ebook/hardback pairing had been around for a while.


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