Hmmm. A quick glance at that headline would lead a lot of people to point out that this is nothing new, that Lawrence Block sold out years and years ago, as soon as he could find a buyer.
But today’s news is rather more specific. It’s the Limited Philatelic Edition of HIT ME that’s sold out. Our small-press printer produced a beautiful edition of 500 copies, and we sold the last one a couple of hours ago. I’m sorry we didn’t print more; given the pace of orders that came in this past week, I suspect we could have moved a hundred additional copies without breaking a sweat.
If you’re one of the Fortunate 500, congratulations—and I hope you’re happy with your purchase. If you missed out, well, a small number of you will get a second chance. I still have my Author’s Copies coming, and they’ll be essentially identical to the Limited Edition—they’ll bear the Hit Me personal postage stamp from zazzle.com, tied to the page with the custom Keller Cancel, and they’ll be accompanied by a signed pair of “Stamps From The Keller Collection” souvenir sheets, one canceled and one mint. And of course they’ll be signed on the limitation page.
The only difference is that they’ll be numbered A/C 1 to A/C 20. That arguably makes them a cut above the 500-copy edition; it certainly makes them scarcer. But it strikes me as a distinction without a difference, and there’ll be no increase in the price. It will remain $75 plus shipping.
We won’t be taking orders for these until we have the books in hand, and that may take a couple of weeks. Soon as we do, we’ll put them up for sale on eBay and give blog and newsletter subscribers a head’s-up. I don’t know that we’ll offer all twenty; the point of author’s copies is so that the author will be able to pass them out to his friends. But avarice does tend to trump generosity, so we’ll see…
Meanwhile, it seems likely that most of you who passed on the Limited Edition will be every bit as happy to skip the Author’s Copies. Still, I hope you won’t elect to miss Keller’s latest adventure entirely. The trade edition, signed or unsigned, is widely available, as is the eBook. And this recent blog post tells you more than you could possibly want to know about where to get hold of HIT ME.
LB
Read ‘Hit Me’ a week or so ago on my Kindle. Good read; I sooo enjoy Keller’s jaunts & frequently laugh out loud at his exchanges with Dot!
That’s awesome news about the NY Times bestseller list – congrats! And if by chance one of those Author’s Copies gets lost and ends up in the Ashburn, VA vicinity I promise to find it a good home with sweet little children who could then fight over custody of it in future years. Actually, even a regular mass market copy would be welcomed, but doesn’t make as good an heirloom IMHO. OK, I’ll stop before beseeching turns to besieging…. And aren’t you going to be on Craig Ferguson sometime soon to talk about HIT ME? Say hey to Lynne for me! Let her know that Alison is currently in New Orleans for a work meeting, and I think she promised to bring back voodoo dolls for the girls. What a loving mommy! Brett
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La Belle Sophie with a voodoo doll is an unsettling image…
Ebay! Fantastic… Postage to Australia as an option I hope Mr. Block! I’m still waiting for my signed copy from the launch party to hit the shores. (I think it’s swimming here) You do remember signing that one for me don’t you Larry? 😉
The USPS raised the rates for International Priority Mail, but we continue to ship orders overseas. As I’m sure the Mysterious Bookshop has done with the copy I signed for you (and however could I forget, Alison?)
Just wondering when your going to write another Burglar mystery, they are my favorites of all your books……..;)