Price Increases for Limited Editions

Well, the price increases have caused me to become a more discerning buyer.  It also helps me overcome my FOMO HAHHAA!!!

Makes me glad I only collect thunderstorm and lividian. Pretty much anything else I grab is just cheap paperbacks. 

I think I've bought maybe a couple sub press books brand new. 

In my completely unscientific research and experience, I feel as if SubPress has had the greatest increases in prices over the years.

Their basic no frills SEs have been costing me between $175 and $195 the last couple of books that I've purchased also.

Looking at their James SA Corey books:

• 2015 - Leviathan Wakes 446 pages zero illustrations (the first Expanse book) - $75
• 2023 - Memory's Legion 296 pages zero illustrations (the last Expanse book) - $125
• 2026 - Mercy of the Gods 368 pages four illustrations (the first book in their new trilogy) - $175

Yeah, 11 years in-between, but that just feels like a huge increase (probably doesn't help that with the Expanse every new book just kept getting more expensive)

I still stand by my statement that SST is the best bargain in the game, and that's even after factoring in international shipping.

I'm sure inflation has contributed, but YIKES!

I would attribute the rising prices for the aforementioned books, which are all part of a series, to the high mainstream profile of the authors, who probably command a pretty penny for the properties, as well as their signatures, the bestseller status of the books in their respective genres, and the rising cost of material and printing, since Subterranean usually goes high-end with their choices of paper, cloth, and multi-colored ink.

That is a steep increase. The rising costs have caused me to essentially stop buying collectable books. I've went from buying 12-20/year to buying 2-3/year. 

I've shifted to buying trades, old readers, or on occasion PBs as to keep my TBR pile growing. 

I have also bought a few of those POD, book box club books, on occasion just to satisfy my collectors itch. 

There are publishers and their owners whom I love but I cannot drop $200/book on random authors. I just will not do it. 

Posted by: @dannyboy121070

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I would attribute the rising prices for the aforementioned books, which are all part of a series, to the high mainstream profile of the authors, who probably command a pretty penny for the properties, as well as their signatures, the bestseller status of the books in their respective genres, and the rising cost of material and printing, since Subterranean usually goes high-end with their choices of paper, cloth, and multi-colored ink.

You could be right, and I could get on board with the "price increase due to popular author" theory, especially if the big price jump was between the end of the previous run of Abercrombie titles Sub Press did and the start of the Age of Madness trilogy. However, it seems odd that the price of the third book in the new trilogy jumped so much. I mean, it could be Sub Press's contract was not for the trilogy and each book had to be negotiated individually...

Ultimately, it's up to the individual collector to decide if they're getting a good value for their dollars. I've bought $40.00 books from CD that I felt weren't worth the price, and I've bought $400.00 books from Centipede that are works of art. My days of buying expensive limited editions are, mostly, in the past, aside from the occasional "Must have".