The Second Apocalypse

Earwa => General Earwa => Topic started by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 03:47:42 pm

Title: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 03:47:42 pm
So litgreg (why does this make me think of old greeg) over on TPB made a genius comment.

We can cause TUC's rating to spike on Amazon/(other purchasing outlets but doing so diffuses the power of the task) by all placing our orders more or less at the same moment.

I would really like to coordinate this because it is so relatively easy to do. Coordinate an online purchase across timezones.

Cheers. Let's affect change.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 05:03:44 pm
So litgreg (why does this make me think of old greeg)

lmao yes.

Also yes (regarding the rest of the post).

Though I never got an answer as to where the best place to buy would be.

Glad I started the conversation though.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Triskele on January 30, 2014, 05:35:24 pm
Madness - You can explain the method to me?  How does doing this affect the change you're talking about?  What's Amazon's policy?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 05:37:25 pm
From someone named litgreg on TPB:

"if we all order it at once on Amazon we could cause the ranking to spike."

Madness ran with the idea without further explanation :P
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Francis Buck on January 30, 2014, 05:45:33 pm
I'm down for it. Out of curiosity, what's the likelihood that a Kindle version will come out at the same time as paperback? I've grown so accustomed to reading on my Kindle, and I love it for this series perhaps especially, since it's so useful to be able to highlight and take notes (I read the TWLW the first time on Kindle and it was such a richer experience being to go back and easily check things out -- I mean I use sticky-notes on paperback and stuff, but it's not quite the same).

Of course, I will acquire this book in whatever form is available as quickly as humanly possible regardless, but I'm still curious (hell I'll probably buy both versions at the same time, as I do like having physical copies of my favorite books -- I still need to pick up a paperback WLW). Did TWLW have a simultaneous Kindle release?

I hope when the series is finished Bakker realeases some kind of badass leather-bound ultimate edition with crazy art and big maps and an encyclopedia and shit. I'd pay dollars. Many dollars.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 05:52:50 pm
Madness - You can explain the method to me?  How does doing this affect the change you're talking about?  What's Amazon's policy?

From someone named litgreg on TPB:

"if we all order it at once on Amazon we could cause the ranking to spike."

Madness ran with the idea without further explanation :P

Call me enthusiastic ;).

Even if that isn't true, it'll still look great on his sales and fan support. I will find out the mechanics exactly later - litgreg joined so maybe he can esplain himself.

But I figure probably, the higher number of simultaneous sales the more exposure TUC will get through their system.

I'm down for it. Out of curiosity, what's the likelihood that a Kindle version will come out at the same time as paperback? I've grown so accustomed to reading on my Kindle, and I love it for this series perhaps especially, since it's so useful to be able to highlight and take notes (I read the TWLW the first time on Kindle and it was such a richer experience being to go back and easily check things out -- I mean I use sticky-notes on paperback and stuff, but it's not quite the same).

Of course, I will acquire this book in whatever form is available as quickly as humanly possible regardless, but I'm still curious (hell I'll probably buy both versions at the same time, as I do like having physical copies of my favorite books -- I still need to pick up a paperback WLW). Did TWLW have a simultaneous Kindle release?

I think they'll probably be simultaneous releases.

I hope when the series is finished Bakker realeases some kind of badass leather-bound ultimate edition with crazy art and big maps and an encyclopedia and shit. I'd pay dollars. Many dollars.

This. Many, much dollars.

Glad I started the conversation though.

You are the stone that began an avalanche ;).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 06:25:34 pm
I hope when the series is finished Bakker realeases some kind of badass leather-bound ultimate edition with crazy art and big maps and an encyclopedia and shit. I'd pay dollars. Many dollars.

I was thinking about making my own. And by that I mean paying someone to rebind each book in leather and add the unique "earwa text" covers, that are inside each book, as raised golden text on the fronts. The biggest problem is that there are only 3 unique covers. TTT, TJE, and WLW all have the same image as their first page. Frustrating.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Aural on January 30, 2014, 06:44:39 pm
It would be funny if we all preordered the book together and then a year later we hear that Bakker hasn't sold a copy since TUC's release.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 06:58:28 pm
Funny in a morbid, depressing kind of way lol.

And to clarify, we're not planning on pre-ordering... Which means, btw, that we might have to purchase the book the day after it comes out so that all time zones will have access (if that is going to be an issue).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 07:01:23 pm
And to clarify, we're not planning on pre-ordering... Which means, btw, that we might have to purchase the book the day after it comes out so that all time zones will have access (if that is going to be an issue).

This is exactly what needs to be discussed here. The more timezones purchases are made in simultaneously the more impact this has - obviously, international SAers outside the Western Empire are going to be months behind :( (on translated copies anyhow - nothing to stop everyone from reading TUC in English first).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 07:06:38 pm
I imagine the ones that end up here will have a decent understanding of English.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 08:18:47 pm
To in/validate litgreg's inception:

http://kimberlyraewriting.blogspot.ca/2013/07/how-amazon-ranking-bestseller-numbers.html:
Quote
- If you sell a large number of books in a small amount of time, you are much more likely to get in the top 100 of your book's category.
- Your category is very important if you want on the bestseller list. The broader your category, the more competition you'll have.
- How do you get your book in the top 100 in its category? Well, either write an amazingly popular book, be famous, or...

Decide on a launch date, and ask everyone to wait to order it until that day. If a bunch of people order it in a small window of time, that gets your numbers way up (or rather down). This may shock you, but it took less than 50 books sales to get Sick & Tired on the bestseller list.

http://ryancaseybooks.com/amazon-ranking-myths/:

Quote
Why is this? Amazon rankings favour consistency over a one-off sale spike. If you build up to one single day, getting everybody you know/don’t know to buy it, then the chances are you’ll have a strong opening day, then just slip away completely. This isn’t ideal.

The solution? Again, I’ll go into that in the future. If you’re a newer author, like myself, there’s not a lot that can be done about this other than just waiting around for a first major promotion/new release. If you have a really large following (say, a mailing list of 100+, a Twitter with 100+ ACTIVE fans, a dedicated Facebook following), you can stagger your launch and keep your book selling consistently, thus gaining more exposure. If not, just keep writing more books and don’t blow your wallet on an expensive launch day. Amazon ranking tweaks mean it probably won’t work, not anymore.

http://www.lindsayburoker.com/amazon-kindle-sales/amazon-sales-ranking-explained/:
Quote
HOW IT WORKS?

As mentioned earlier, as soon as a single book is sold you get a ranking. Then the clock starts ticking. For each hour that goes by without a sale you climb a bit higher in the ranking (remember low rank = good, high rank = bad – you would rather be ranked 100 then 10,000). This change in ranking indicates that while you had no sales other people that were higher than you sold and they filled in the spots pushing you further up in the ranking. Then comes the time when you make a sale. When this happens there will be a dramatic change in the ranking. How far you fall depends on your past sales history and “rate” of sales. (How often you sell). Then the process begins again. This forms a series of peaks and valleys and it is the numbers on these extremes that really give you an idea of your sales. Any number “inbetween” is really just an indicator that it has been awhile since your last sale.

http://www.beneaththecover.com/2008/07/07/what-you-need-to-know-about-amazon%E2%80%99s-sales-rank/
Quote
What Is Amazon Sales Rank?

Amazon’s Sales Rank establishes a book’s relative number of copies sold to all the other books sold by Amazon. The ASR is a unique number that is constantly recalculated. For example if a book has an ASR of 100,000, then 99,999 other books sold more copies and approximately 4,900,000 books sold fewer copies at that particular time. The ASR is calculated as a rolling figure, and is based on sales over the last 90 days. It is, however, weighted by sales over the last five years to compensate for long-term big sellers after their sharp sales peaks have leveled out.

http://www.patriciawalsh.com/AmazonSalesRank.htm
Quote
How does selling a book affect your Amazon sales rank?

Morris Rosenthal has provided an excellent analysis of the significance of Amazon sales rank and its relationship to the average number of books sold.  His data will be used to put the present analysis in perspective.  It would be possible for Amazon to make a straight forward sales rank calculation for the top several hundred books.  The book that sold the most copies in the previous hour would be number 1.  The book that sold the second most copies would be number 2, and so on.  But that procedure would already break down by sales rank 900.  Rosenthal indicates that books with sales ranks between 800 and 1,000 are selling about 30 books per day.  With 200 books each selling about one or two an hour, Amazon could not order them into unique sales ranks on that basis.  Even considering the total number of books sold in the previous 24 hours and updating that number each hour would not be able to differentiate between the books.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 08:21:21 pm
Apparently, understanding the Amazon Sales Rank is an academic endeavor in and of itself.

I'm going to read up a little more but I think that a big initial spike, followed by two or three coordinated purchases over the following few days seems best.

One big spike seems like a sure way to obscurity (though realistically, Bakker does numbers into the hundreds of thousands apparently, so I don't think we need to worry about achieving Nskoghar's humourous hypothesis).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 08:29:27 pm
I agree, it seems that an initial spike of sales in the same hour will launch the book from obscurity up into the charts.  Without a spike, the book will probably just chronically sell just a few books an hour for some time.

Based on the links provided, I would think that constant low sales is about the worst possible thing. Much better to sell all of them at once and end up on the top charts rather than just never making it there in the first place.

Operation Top-100 (working title) is a go, imo.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 08:36:08 pm
I agree, it seems that an initial spike of sales in the same hour will launch the book from obscurity up into the charts.  Without a spike, the book will probably just chronically sell just a few books an hour for some time.

Based on the links provided, I would think that constant low sales is about the worst possible thing. Much better to sell all of them at once and end up on the top charts rather than just never making it there in the first place.

Operation Top-100 (working title) is a go, imo.

The issue is that one big spike and no more sales and the book goes down (lower ranking better) and then right back up over the next couple days. Equally the constant trickle never gets the book down at all. So both aspect are necessary.

As I wrote, I think that the constant trickle is going to happen regardless. So our push needs to be on the big spike (but in an ideal world, where all 100,000s purchased were mediated by us, we would need to plan for the consistent purchases after the big spike - again, I don't think we need to worry about this because the majority of his fans aren't going to get involved and thus will affect normal sales regardless).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 08:49:50 pm
Thats what I was thinking. One of those links claimed that 50 sales got them into the top 100. Most of his TSA books have sold 10's of thousands, so the slow trickle is not an issue. But we will need 25-100 people all to buy it within the same hour in order to raise Bakker from obscurity. After that, the book will remain on the charts due to its own merits :)
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 09:23:53 pm
Now that would cause me undo amounts of laughter. If all it took was the minimal spike strike...
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 30, 2014, 09:25:40 pm
I mean if 75% of our current sites registered users participated, we would be there already.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 30, 2014, 09:27:45 pm
Sssh... revelations should come of their own accord.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: larrytheimp on January 30, 2014, 11:37:21 pm
Sounds kind of like 'gaming' the system... so count me in.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 31, 2014, 12:51:19 am
Lol - Welcome to the Second Apocalypse, lti :).

This is neat. Now I'm doubly excited for TUC's release. Organizing things is fun.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 31, 2014, 01:29:23 am
Quote from: Gaston de Foix
Madness,  in relation to the "spike" for TUC on amazon - my practice is to buy the kindle edition asap upon release which means generally from amazon.co.uk rather than from amazon.com - books are mostly released earlier in the UK than in America.  Even when the release date is the same, amazon.co.uk typically releases the book at midnight GMT whereas the US release is at least 4.5 hours behind. However not everyone can buy with equal ease from the UK and US sites. I should also add that UK prices are slightly higher (which I swallow to get the book earlier) even when converted to dollars.

The bottom line is you should have separate strategies for US and UK websites.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Triskele on January 31, 2014, 02:18:39 am
Sounds kind of like 'gaming' the system... so count me in.

Agreed. 

Normally I wouldn't be too keen on something like this, but given that I would murder the very world to hold The Unholy Consult in my hands right this moment, I can stomach this. 
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Aural on January 31, 2014, 02:47:00 am
Are there any official sales figures for the previous books? Or any good estimates?

I saw a 200,000 figure on the Westeros, but that was more or less a wild guess tbh.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 31, 2014, 03:01:09 am
I assume you're getting that from The SFF All-Time Sales List (http://asoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/topic/95903-the-sff-all-time-sales-list/), Nskoghar?

Later in that thread, Jussi (I think) linked Bakker's About page on TPB where he mentions that his books have been translated into more than a dozen languages (and I believe I heard seventeen from him once) and sold a "hundreds of thousands of copies worldwide."
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Litgreg on January 31, 2014, 01:02:02 pm
Wow, this thread really blew up. I check in on message boards only infrequently, so I apologize for missing out on the initial discussion. I initially had the thought because I've noticed that a lot of groups of authors/fans will organize a "book bomb"  (this, basically) the day a new release is out. It's done mostly for newer authors as a means of increasing exposure to a wider audience. Not sure how effective it is, but it's fun to watch other writers I know wax ecstatic when their book hits some new ranking milestone. Scott obviously has a very solid fan-base already, so it's not quite the same thing. Still, more exposure never hurts! Also, cribbing from an earlier comment:

"This is neat. Now I'm doubly excited for TUC's release. Organizing things is fun."

Yep, if nothing else this is fun and adds some savor to the wait.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Madness on January 31, 2014, 01:27:06 pm
"This is neat. Now I'm doubly excited for TUC's release. Organizing things is fun."

Yep, if nothing else this is fun and adds some savor to the wait.

Yay, TSA Book Bomb! The Noviratic Spike ;)!

I think at this point, Litgreg, we're just hoping that we can just leverage Bakker down the Amazon Sales Rank and have the normal flow of purchases by his fans keep it there... possibly organize some secondary spikes but the normal rate of purchases should do that job for us.

Lol - Welcome to the Second Apocalypse, by the way. Don't worry about being here constantly but do come when you can :).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase
Post by: Wilshire on January 31, 2014, 02:07:32 pm
Regarding sales figures, we've discussed this here on the forum (briefly):

Wow really? That is very surprising, but he's down there at 95th,which is a "conservative estimate". I'd have never guessed.

Here is the link for those interested:
http://thewertzone.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-new-and-improved-sff-all-time-sales.html

Though it would seem the list was updated since I posed that. Bakker is down at 205th place.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: locke on February 08, 2014, 06:54:28 pm
I'm planning on buying a kindle edition of Judging Eye sometime soon.  if we could get a small group together, we could test the concept and see what impact a half dozen or dozen concentrated sales would have.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Garet Jax on February 08, 2014, 08:15:12 pm
I'm planning on buying a kindle edition of Judging Eye sometime soon.  if we could get a small group together, we could test the concept and see what impact a half dozen or dozen concentrated sales would have.

Locke, let me know when you are planning to buy.  I am buying a copy of TJE soon as well, I am going to surprise my brother with the AE books to date.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Cüréthañ on February 16, 2014, 09:05:13 am
Only just saw this thread.  But, to add, I purchased WLW from amazon.ca in order to get the initial release (I'm Australian) so it should be fine for other international fans to order at the same time. 
Thanks to the inflated prices of books here it didn't cost me very much more even with air mail delivery anyway.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on February 16, 2014, 01:07:05 pm
Lol - nice. I think we could legitimately be up to 10, 11, people ;).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Sturmia on March 06, 2014, 02:14:51 pm
Lol - nice. I think we could legitimately be up to 10, 11, people ;).

Make that 12 then. Just registered here after reading this thread. I am from the Netherlands and will order from amazon.co.uk so count me in. Let's bomb this thing sky high!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on March 06, 2014, 02:33:09 pm
Welcome to the Second Apocalypse, Sturmia. (Or Happy Registration, as it sounds like you've been here ;D!)
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Royce on March 06, 2014, 08:17:06 pm
Have not seen this before. I am of course in on this ;)
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Triskele on March 09, 2014, 02:22:48 am
So I guess we're a little closer to knowing our date, neh?  Bakker said the manuscript is with his agent now.  Hopefully we're not far away from getting timelines.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: mostly.harmless on March 09, 2014, 12:21:09 pm
I will gladly participate in this. Buying from amazon.co.uk, but willing to switch to amazon.ca or.com if that's the ranking we wanna boost.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on March 09, 2014, 01:34:49 pm
Welcome to the Second Apocalypse, mostly.harmless.

You didn't happen to play Infantry back in the day?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: mostly.harmless on May 05, 2014, 04:43:16 pm
Sorry Madness, I was out of the loop for a while and couldn't find this post anymore.

No, I never played Infantry... Played a lot of RS and TF2 though :)
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on May 08, 2014, 06:56:24 pm
Lol - that's cool :). Glad you found your way back.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Cüréthañ on May 11, 2014, 02:54:56 am
Rising Shadow has a release date set as July 4. (http://www.risingshadow.net/library/book/24860-the-unholy-consult)
Is this the real life?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Aural on May 11, 2014, 10:44:39 am
Ask Bakker on his blog about this date. I doubt it's real but perhaps that will get him to give us an update.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on May 11, 2014, 05:43:33 pm
July 4th must be a universally used placeholder date - every year sites seem to update with July 4th as their date.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Cüréthañ on May 13, 2014, 12:35:47 am
I don't want to spam Scott's blog with questions unrelated to content, Fëananra.  Sorry.

Rising Shadow is generally pretty good with release dates...  but there is no synopsis or cover pic.
I note that the RS entry was updated by Jussi, who I remember from Westeros if someone active there wants to PM him/her about it.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Aural on May 13, 2014, 06:49:51 am
Yeah, I don't want to do it either, which is why I asked you to do it. But still someone else should do it. You could ask on the post where he announced the completion of TUC.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: SilentRoamer on May 20, 2014, 12:55:08 pm
Count me in for some co-ordinated buying.

I would risk damnation and dinner with Xioz if I could get my hands on TUC!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on May 21, 2014, 04:12:12 pm
Lol, it will be very interesting to see how this turns out.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Texas on October 08, 2014, 07:15:46 am
I agree, lets break the system and force our will upon them.

After making a return to the Second Apocalypse years and months later, coming from the time of the Three Seas Forum of Antiquities, I would like to shower praise upon the curators of this new social club.  Thank you Madness, truly.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Bolivar on October 14, 2014, 01:51:31 am
Hey I was wondering if we should try this out when the short story comes out in Grimdark Magazine. I know it won't directly correlate to Bakker but maybe his pub and other magazines might take note? I know there's a Kindle version so it might be a good test run on Amazon.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: mrganondorf on October 14, 2014, 11:29:44 am
@ Bolivar - that's a great idea!  I'm in!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on October 14, 2014, 12:45:43 pm
If it can be purchased through Amazon then it might work, but I'm not sure. I suppose we could try it.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: mostly.harmless on October 14, 2014, 07:23:26 pm
When is the Grimdark issue coming out?
As a side note: I'm having a hard time finding Pon books in bookstores in London (want to buy them to give to friends so they get addicted), any one noticed the same or am I just paranoid?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on October 14, 2014, 07:42:17 pm
Bakker doesn't appear to be well stocked in stores. You're best best for buying them would be online, probably through Amazon UK.

Ask SilentRoamer though, as he's in your area, or thereabouts.

Grimdark is released Quarterly, first edition was October 1st. Next issue is January 1st, but no word yet if The Knife of many Hands will be included in that one or not. Bakker claimed that the story was finished, so I'm hoping it will be included in that second issue of Grimdark.

Its an online only magazine and its $3 per issue.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Aural on October 14, 2014, 07:52:04 pm
Have you bought issue #1?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on October 15, 2014, 02:18:58 am
I have not, but I am considering it. If it was a paper magazine, I probably would have. I'm not sure about an online one, but its only $3

List of things the first one contains:

Fiction:

Bad Seed (Broken Empire) by Mark Lawrence
Shadow Hunter (Shadows of the Apt) by Adrian Tchaikovsky
The Woman I Used to Be by Gerri Leen
The Neutral by Anatoly Belilovsky (translator) and Mike Gelprin (author)
The Red Wraith by Nicholas Wisseman
Non-Fiction:

An interview with Joe Abercrombie
An interview with Graham McNeill
Book Review: Joe Abercrombie's Half a King - review by Kyle Massa
Article: Grimdark is Here to Stay by Layla Cummins
 
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on October 16, 2015, 12:00:46 pm
The Great Ordeal: Book 3 [Hardcover] (http://www.amazon.com/Great-Ordeal-Three-Aspect-Emperor-Trilogy/dp/1468301691/ref=sr_1_8?tag=geo02a9-20&s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1444984825&sr=1-8)

Set your watches... Not necessarily to this hardcover purchase but get ready!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Bolivar on October 16, 2015, 08:04:59 pm
I'm guessing we should probably wait until the cover's up before going at this. And we have confirmation on how solid the date is.

Reading that post about how it all works, maybe we should stagger the time recommending people to buy it across social media outlets. Like tell the Westerosi to do it at a certain time, then we do it an hour later, then maybe the reddit/twitter/etc. Although I'm not sure how effective it will be outside of this forum, where casual fans are more prone to look at us like we're nuts than they are to actually do it.

In the meantime, it might be a good idea to click the "Tell the publisher! I'd like to read this book on Kindle" button, just to keep that perception of hype up.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Somnambulist on October 16, 2015, 08:45:32 pm
Westerosi first?  I'm disturbed by your lack of proper precedence.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on October 16, 2015, 08:52:39 pm
Lol - I wanted to give you redemption, Somnambulist, but instead I will exercise my god-like power to remove your one singular and offensive point of damnation.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Somnambulist on October 16, 2015, 09:21:46 pm
Lol - cheers, Madness.  I've always wondered about that one.  WHO DAMNED ME?!  I'LL DAMN YOU! Lol
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on October 16, 2015, 09:22:38 pm
Probably MG ;).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Somnambulist on October 16, 2015, 09:39:13 pm
 >:( MR. GEEEEEEEEE!

That's my best Kirk (yes, I said Kirk, I'm from that generation)
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Simas Polchias on October 16, 2015, 11:26:19 pm
"-0"
shaeönanra-esque
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: locke on March 04, 2016, 03:37:04 am
RSB confirmed July 5 2016.

So let it be purchased so let it be done!

Just bought it on Amazon. Amazon won't charge you until it ships.

For American consumers, Barnes and Noble did not carry TWLW in stores in Los angeles on release day, Borders did, but Borders died waiting for RSB and GRRM to finish the next books.

I bought on amazon with next day shipping to get closest possible to release date.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on March 04, 2016, 04:15:52 pm
Ah, here's the page. I couldn't find this when I went looking for it yesterday, thanks locke.

So, do we think that purchasing all at once will make a change, or the pre-orders all get charged at the same time, regardless, so its not particularly relevant on the order, but rather the shipping time?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: H on March 04, 2016, 05:42:29 pm
Ah, here's the page. I couldn't find this when I went looking for it yesterday, thanks locke.

So, do we think that purchasing all at once will make a change, or the pre-orders all get charged at the same time, regardless, so its not particularly relevant on the order, but rather the shipping time?

I don't know how it really works, but I have Amazon Prime so I'm not in any real hurry, since it will be to me pretty quick.  I might have it sent to my family in NY, because we'll be leaving here on the 7th...
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Bolivar on March 04, 2016, 10:00:19 pm
I just bought it too since Locke tipped the domino. Whether it kicks it up the charts or not, might as well go for it now that the date is firm.

Sent from my SCH-I605 using Tapatalk

Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: MSJ on March 04, 2016, 11:04:28 pm
I'm assuming that you can pre-order the Kible version, correct?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Bolivar on March 04, 2016, 11:54:43 pm
Pre-order is only for the hardcover Amazon right now (assuming you meant kindle  :P )
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: MSJ on March 05, 2016, 12:00:14 am
Yes, the ebook version.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Bolivar on March 05, 2016, 02:53:49 am
Gotcha, I should've clarified my post, only hardcover right now.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: locke on March 05, 2016, 03:19:31 am
Yeah, since the passing if sir terry, the only tree flesh books I buy are from Martin and Bakker
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on March 05, 2016, 03:57:25 am
Love the tree flesh. Filling up bookshelves is easier than decorating, but inconvenienct to move around. But retail price is a rare thing .
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on March 06, 2016, 08:26:05 pm
If anyone is still thinking about this, I now control the purchasing of madness, ciphrank, camlost, and probably mg, for unspecified reasons.

Probably some 7 books I'll be ordering if there are still those that would like to coordinate.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on March 07, 2016, 08:00:22 pm
Ok so since asking what people are doing isn't working:

I will be pre-ordering the book March 16th, at 9pm EST. (fyi, DST is that sunday, so don't mess up), probably 7 copies of it.

Anyone who would like to attempt to make a difference, let me know if that time works. I can move it earlier/later if anyone cares.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: nicodante on March 11, 2016, 12:45:49 pm
That's 2am UK time...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on March 11, 2016, 12:52:41 pm
Fair enough. How about 6pm?
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on April 02, 2016, 01:57:17 pm
Quote from: Apr 2/16
#43,760 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#597 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Fantasy
#4982 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary
#6487 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

I'm going to start watching this more closely but according the wayback machine:

Quote from: Mar 6/16
#58,167 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#636 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Fantasy
#5531 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary
#6819 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Quote from: Feb 4/16
#94,386 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#720 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Fantasy
#7321 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary
#8145 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Also, interestingly enough, the page count has gone from 496 to 512 :).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: themerchant on April 02, 2016, 07:24:17 pm
It's not got a date on UK Amazon yet.

what it says for me now

 Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #50,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

    #666 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Fantasy
    #5788 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary
    #7351 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on April 02, 2016, 08:32:09 pm
I'm sure there are simply so many books out there in "the noise" that those numbers fluctuate quite a bit.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: themerchant on April 02, 2016, 11:43:15 pm
It better be available here on the same day or i'll be forced to come over there and read it on the flight home, and i can't afford a flight with a bath. (or a flight to buy a book tbh).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on April 03, 2016, 12:31:32 am
We could ship you one... But the cost might be as expensive as the damned flight.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: themerchant on April 03, 2016, 11:22:08 am
I still have resources in Momme... eh Canada i'll be able to get it.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on May 13, 2016, 01:38:22 pm
Amazon has e-mailed all pre-orders: TGO ready for release day delivery!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Bolivar on May 13, 2016, 01:47:23 pm
Nice!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Litgreg on June 02, 2016, 11:10:02 am
Excellent! This thread is still alive. Getting close to the big day now, all!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on June 02, 2016, 11:55:52 am
Lol - welcome back, litgreg. Glad to see you around.

Unfortunately, I believe everyone who was going to seriously partake in this endeavour has since fell victim to attrition. As individual readers came to accept the July date was real, slowly, more and more declared that they'd preordered the book and finally a core group of us all preordered our books...

I'm sorry your Ordeal has failed, my liege.

But word is from the handful of ARC readers that the book is great :)!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: themerchant on June 02, 2016, 02:59:15 pm
updated ranking since i was just on the page.

     Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,387 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
        #343 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Historical > Fantasy
        #2561 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Literary
        #3322 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: themerchant on June 02, 2016, 03:01:40 pm
also pricing for me to ship
Order Summary
Items:    CDN$ 33.75
Shipping & Handling:    CDN$ 27.98
Total before tax:    CDN$ 61.73
Estimated GST/HST:    CDN$ 0.00
Estimated PST/RST/QST:    CDN$ 0.00
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Litgreg on June 02, 2016, 06:47:59 pm
Well, its not as though I was around helping out, so I cant complain. There, now Ive gone and preordered the hardback and Audible versions. Peer pressure!
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on June 02, 2016, 10:33:36 pm
Well, its not as though I was around helping out, so I cant complain. There, now Ive gone and preordered the hardback and Audible versions. Peer pressure!
:D. Well for the wayward souls: If anyone is still interested, we can try to coordinate a bulk purchase at the release date. I doubt there's anyone on this forum thats still waiting for that day though
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on June 03, 2016, 03:15:56 am
Well, its not as though I was around helping out, so I cant complain. There, now Ive gone and preordered the hardback and Audible versions. Peer pressure!

Haha - it's worth the preorder :).

:D. Well for the wayward souls: If anyone is still interested, we can try to coordinate a bulk purchase at the release date. I doubt there's anyone on this forum thats still waiting for that day though

+1 :).
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: H on June 06, 2016, 04:38:34 pm
Unless I completely misunderstand what Scott is saying, it seems like Overlook is pretty much set on releasing TUC in exactly one year. (https://rsbakker.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/some-prospective-and-retrospective-evil/#comment-45886)
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Redeagl on June 06, 2016, 07:07:33 pm
Unless I completely misunderstand what Scott is saying, it seems like Overlook is pretty much set on releasing TUC in exactly one year. (https://rsbakker.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/some-prospective-and-retrospective-evil/#comment-45886)
Already asking about TUC eh??! Some of us here hadn't read TGO yet.Hope you have enjoyed it though.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: H on June 06, 2016, 07:18:51 pm
Unless I completely misunderstand what Scott is saying, it seems like Overlook is pretty much set on releasing TUC in exactly one year. (https://rsbakker.wordpress.com/2016/05/31/some-prospective-and-retrospective-evil/#comment-45886)
Already asking about TUC eh??! Some of us here hadn't read TGO yet.Hope you have enjoyed it though.

Frankly I'd have asked about TUC even if I hadn't seen TGO yet, haha.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Wilshire on June 06, 2016, 08:24:53 pm
Never satisfied. Not until its officially over. Even then...
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: locke on June 07, 2016, 06:07:29 am
Finally got a notice from amazon my preorder was upgraded to release day delivery. I might cancel the Kindle pre order now
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: H on June 07, 2016, 10:11:49 am
Never satisfied. Not until its officially over. Even then...

Nope, ever onward!

Finally got a notice from amazon my preorder was upgraded to release day delivery. I might cancel the Kindle pre order now

I'm actually a little more excited for the ebook than the regular book now.  So many things to search for and cross reference...
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on June 07, 2016, 03:05:42 pm
I do wonder what the hell is up with that week shift?

Though, locke, did you check the date? Amazon.com is now listing TGO as July 12th, as per the news from MG's social media posts yesterday.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Redeagl on August 31, 2016, 05:38:12 pm
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unholy-Consult-R-Scott-Bakker/dp/0356508714/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=KVBC9ZE4A946D0ACMPEE
I found this today.
Title: Re: Coordinating TUC Purchase, Or the Great Amazon Ordeal
Post by: Madness on September 01, 2016, 02:16:27 pm
Mithfanion (Calibander on Westeros) linked that awhile back. It's Orbit's posting and they've done... well, they haven't even listed TGO as forthcoming on their site yet.

High hopes, I do not have.