# Sorting through current BL offerings



## Veektarius (Sep 10, 2014)

I doubt I'm the first to ask this, but I'm new here wasn't sure what search terms to use. I'm really into WH40k novels, I think they're some of the best military scifi out there (it's not a genre full of quality stuff, mind you). I think I've read most of the older stuff that suits my interests, which typically revolve around either Imperial Guard stuff or at least more nuanced portrayals of the space marines. 

Where I'm having trouble is in sorting out the "real" books on the Black Library's website. It's so inundated with shorts, which really aren't what I'm looking for (and don't strike me as a good value either). When I accidentally purchased a "novella" about the Marines Maleficent that got me all of about 10 pages per dollar, I swore off my recently unhealthy purchasing streak on their site. 

Alas, I've gotten through the other books I meant to read and now I'm staring at the Black Library store page. Is there _any_ way to figure out which offerings are full length stories before buying?


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## The Scion of Chemos (May 24, 2013)

Veektarius said:


> I doubt I'm the first to ask this, but I'm new here wasn't sure what search terms to use. I'm really into WH40k novels, I think they're some of the best military scifi out there (it's not a genre full of quality stuff, mind you). I think I've read most of the older stuff that suits my interests, which typically revolve around either Imperial Guard stuff or at least more nuanced portrayals of the space marines.
> 
> Where I'm having trouble is in sorting out the "real" books on the Black Library's website. It's so inundated with shorts, which really aren't what I'm looking for (and don't strike me as a good value either). When I accidentally purchased a "novella" about the Marines Maleficent that got me all of about 10 pages per dollar, I swore off my recently unhealthy purchasing streak on their site.
> 
> Alas, I've gotten through the other books I meant to read and now I'm staring at the Black Library store page. Is there _any_ way to figure out which offerings are full length stories before buying?


Hey man, sorry to hear you are having trouble.
Usually you can tell by price.
$11.99 and $15.99 for ebooks are novels.
$11.99 if the book is in paperback
$15.99 if the book is in hardcover

The novella you are talking about was $7.99 I believe, which is their eNovella price, for the most part.

Don't ask me why hardcover ebooks are $4 bucks more, but they are. I guess so there isn't THAT big a gap between ebook and print prices? IDK. Stupid practice.

Now, I don't know if it is like this in all of them, but if you go to this link, and click on the cover art, it says at the bottom of it "A Third War for Armageddon Novella". And I do believe most eNovellas do have that on them.
http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/dantes-canyon-ebook.html

Whereas this: http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/season-of-shadows-ebook.html, is a "A Third War for Armageddon Story" so a short story.

It can definitely be pretty confusing if you aren't keeping up with it religiously, and I do admit to wasting too much time looking at all their stuff lol

Anyways, hope that helps!
If that does help, and you have any other questions, you can message me on here (https://www.facebook.com/BlacklibraryHQ?fref=nf)
My BL facebook page, I created specifically to make sure everyone could have questions answered, and be aware of what is coming out when, and whatnot.


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## Veektarius (Sep 10, 2014)

Thanks for the thorough reply. The pricing structure you laid out makes sense. I guess around the time they started looking to boost their profits with these short stories, they also raised the prices of their real books. It used to be $7.99, so maybe that's how I got confused into buying a novella. What are the length differences between a novella and a short story, anyway? Is anything over 100 pages going to be classified as something other than a book?

I'm open to reading some of their electronic-only content, but I don't want to read stories that don't take the time for any basic character or plot development.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Knowledge is power. And in this instance power is saving money.

Shoot up BL HQ with an email query for a title that's taken your fancy. Or make a thread here. Our community buy _all sorts_. :laugh:


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## The Scion of Chemos (May 24, 2013)

Veektarius said:


> Thanks for the thorough reply. The pricing structure you laid out makes sense. I guess around the time they started looking to boost their profits with these short stories, they also raised the prices of their real books. It used to be $7.99, so maybe that's how I got confused into buying a novella. What are the length differences between a novella and a short story, anyway? Is anything over 100 pages going to be classified as something other than a book?
> 
> I'm open to reading some of their electronic-only content, but I don't want to read stories that don't take the time for any basic character or plot development.


Well, for almost as long as I have been reading BL, their ebooks have been $1.99, 3.99, or 4.99 depending on the length.

$1.99 are usually event themed short stories of only 1000 or so words.
Where as 3.99 and 4.99 can really be a fair amount.

Novellas are usually 124- 128 pages(in print, different formatting in ebooks may come out to a different number), so assuming the average novel is roughly 200K words, the average novella is approx. 50K.

So novels are usually 300-550 pages, depending on the novel.
And novellas are almost always 124-128, I think one was 150+(and cost $4 more).

$1.99: 1K word short story: http://www.blacklibrary.com/all-products/like-father-like-son-ebook.html
$3.99: average short story: http://www.blacklibrary.com/Warhammer/the-bone-cage-ebook.html
$4.99: longer than average short story: http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/only-blood-ebook.html
$20/$7.99: standard novella: http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/sanctus-reach-blood-on-the-mountain.html
$24/9.99: longer novella: http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/maledictus-hardback.html
etc.

There really is a ton of different pricing options.
And it can definitely be confusing.

Like the guy above me said, ask here, email them, or you can like my FB page, and I can help ya there too lol
Hope all that helps!


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