Autumn 2022 Release

As we rapidly approach September, do we have any idea on a date or books that will be released this time around? I'm very curious!

>1 Lady19thC: I think it was the first Tuesday in September last year…I remember that it conincided with my daughter’s first day of school last year. Really looking forward to it!

Hopefully they start putting out teasers next week

I have to assume the third book in Ursula Le Guin's Earthsea series, The Farthest Shore, will be included.

Anyone have any idea what books are expected this release? Thanks

It is very likely that we see a fresh printing of Clarissa. This seems the most probable based on the evidence at hand.

Seems like a good time to release Martin's A Dance with Dragons.

>9 mholt: I think they already said it would be out this year and with the new show this is the best time to do it.

I'm hoping there's at least one good new horror title for fall. That section is looking really thin with Hill House being the only new horror title released this year, and of the ten or so actual horror titles left, most are older reprints.

>11 rsmac: might luck out with a new frankenstein. 225th anniversary since Mary Shelly's birth. Would be cool if they did a leather limited similar to dracula.

>12 trentsteel: Agreed. I’d love to see a Frankenstein LE.

>12 trentsteel: Yes, that would be great, and especially so if it would be illustrated by Angela Barrett as well :)

>14 Dr.Fiddy: where do we pre-order ?

I asked them on Twitter about a launch date, replying to their announcement of the new Gaiman, and got this message: "Hi Ian, while we can't reveal the Autumn Collection launch date quite yet, do keep an eye on our social channels for news about this in the coming weeks!" Gee, thanks!

>16 ian_curtin: Yes. They have become ridiculous and immature in the way they represent themselves now. I really miss the old FS vibes. None of this foolish revealing of the backs of books a week before release so we can try and "guess" what they might be. No dancing around questions. They used to be very straight forward, transparent and helpful. I miss receiving a catalogue in the fall that listed pretty much all the books that would be printed for the upcoming year, make my fall purchase, my holiday one, and know what month future publications I bought would be sent out to me. You can tell there are some extremely young people running the Society now, with that TikTok attitude (yes, they do have an account) and abandoning professionalism for trends. I was stunned to see them recently advertising their books for students going back to school and how they can read in style. There are not many students who can afford a FS book, not to mention their school texts are usually highlighted, tabbed and have many scribbled notes in them; something most people do not do with hardcovers and certainly not with an $80.00 FS edition. Trying to attract a much younger audience that cannot afford such luxury is a fail in my eyes and looks like FS is getting desperate to find more customers.

>17 Lady19thC: I can see why they’re trying these gimmicks, but I agree it’s become rather grating. I’m pleased I’m not the only one who raised an eyebrow at the Back-to-School email.

>17 Lady19thC: Back to school ads? That’s just embarrassing quite frankly.

>18 cwl: Nope! It definitely made me question their technique for selling books.

A bit OT, but please, if anyone can enlighten me, let me know if things have changed.

I was an English major back in the 80's. We could not just purchase any version of a book. We had to buy the edition the professor specifically picked out. They wanted certain notes, certain intros, prologues, and most importantly, they wanted everyone on the same page. "Turn to page 145, 3 paragraph. How does the author portray the character of...." and so forth. Different editions would not match up. They certainly would not say, everyone go and get the FS of Jane Eyre so your books are hardcover and pretty (and more tempting for others to steal). Cheap paperback except when we had massive anthologies or the entire works of Shakespeare in that massive Riverside edition! And it still cost less than a single FS book. Not to mention you bought your books at the school bookstore and received a student discount!

>20 Lady19thC: As a younger person (25) I can see exactly why they do this to appeal to my generation. It is very similar to the marketing ideas behind certain "hypebeast" clothing brands like Supreme. They release a glimpse of what will "drop" on a certain date and build a lot of hype around it so that the day of release is a big experience. They probably also bank on certain popular items to sell out and have an insane resale value (signed copies and certain LEs come to mind), much like Supreme, as it drums up more hype behind future releases AND attracts more customers (even if they are just after potential money making opportunities).

These tactics have been of no surprise to me until I find posts like yours and others that talk about the way FS USED to be run. I had no idea since I just discovered them around 2 years ago. It is sad to see.

There are major differences of course. Most items from FS don't sell out in a matter of minutes, but as we saw at the peak of Covid, FS was hit with sold out items being resold for an insane markup. Anyway. A bit of a rambling.

>21 Clobby: Thank you for expanding on my point. A problem with this approach, besides being potentially if not actually irritating, is that the events being promoted should live up to the hype. When they don’t, as we saw in the last sale (I had been watching for it eagerly, only to find a complete damp squib), this only creates further distaste from those of us perhaps less used to these marketing ploys.

I ignore all the advertising and social media - I check here every so often and that's how I find out about the new releases and sales. It's a much more informative and a far less irritating way to stay up to date on FS books. Of course, I still have to ignore some of the hype that leaks into these forums, but that's fairly easy to do. Patience helps a lot. Fall release? It'll get here when it gets here...

>21 Clobby: I've also seen this strategy in niche markets, but I believe FS is missing a critical piece. The successful companies work hard to build relationships and trust. They cautiously approach price increases and communicate when they're necessary, giving notice and time for loyal customers to purchase at the current price. For me, being up front makes the inevitable inflation more palatable.

I also was a bit surprised because yesterday, or rather the day before, I checked the price of Peter Pan and it was £55 and still had it in my exchange calculator to know how much it is in €.
Today I went to the site again, because now with Neverwhere, I wanted to check about shipping.

I was really confused, because Peter Pan now was £60 and I really doubted my memory. Said calculator still had the £55 in it, so seems my memory isn’t playing tricks on me.
But as you all said, there has been quite a number of increases in price. Or even every book? This is understandable, but maybe they could have been a bit more transparent about it and I even would have ordered some books before the price increase.

I think it’s all a bit too much, I will wait and rather read what I alread have, even though Neverwhere is highly tempting

>17 Lady19thC: >18 cwl: I am usually happy to let FS marketing bumpf slide by on the periphery of my awareness, but I agree, the back to school thing was noticeably ridiculous. Part of me wants to give them credit (or at least not condemn them) for trying new things to broaden their reach etc. But I guess there's a limit to everything.

>17 Lady19thC: I couldn't agree more. FS marketing now seems fully dumbed down to TikTok level. It's depressing. The Back-to-School mail was awful, as if the Everyman student can afford Folio editions at the best of times, let alone in the current economic climate. And then to not communicate a sudden, roughly 10% increase in prices is mind-bogglingly customer-blind. Can FS not see that very many customers will now simply empty on-line shopping baskets and cancel purchases when they might easily have been tempted to buy straight away if only they'd received a simple e-mail from FS informing them that, regrettably, there will be an increase in prices across the board from a certain date, adding perhaps that this is needed to help Folio cover the dramatic increase in energy prices?

>28 cronshaw:

I agree on all points, Russell. The marketing department has let them down very badly. Advance notification of the price increase would have perhaps taken the sting out of it for quite a few customers. Other publishers can do it - why not Folio? They have a lot to learn about the benefits of transparency. It's not as if we were entirely unaware this was coming. The pattern in the last few years has been to increase at least some prices with every new collection. The pips are starting to squeak for me, anyway.

>29 folio_books: Advance notification of the price increase would have perhaps taken the sting out of it for quite a few customers...

And generated a brief surge in cashflow, which would surely have been welcome, with hardly any downside: not nearly so large a surge as seasonal sales can produce, so nothing difficult to handle.... ah well.

I can't say my pips are squeaking exactly - well, they might be close to it if I had carried on buying FS books at the rate I used to in addition to my recent pattern of expenditure - but lately I'm almost always finding there's something more rewarding to spend money on, older books much of the time, and there aren't many current Folio titles I would seriously consider buying even at half their (UK) price.

>30 terebinth: I like what FS has been putting out recently. True Grit, Fear and Loathing, the PKD short story collection are all wonderful books. I'll probably get Neverwhere as well. That said, older FS books are increasingly cannibalizing money I would have bought new books for, with each price increase the older books become more and more attractive.

>17 Lady19thC:

'I was stunned to see them recently advertising their books for students going back to school and how they can read in style.'

I didn't get that one. Is it aimed at the sort of people who can afford to send their kids off to Charterhouse with a trunkful of Folio books?

Pretty sad, if so, and a long way from the founding ideals of the Society.

>17 Lady19thC:

I absolutely agree with all the points in your appraisal of current Folio methodology. Of course, we erstwhile members were lulled by the old regime where editorial choices were made by people whose background was in books and limited merely by the need to break even. Now we have a bunch of tictac-sucking accountants fixated on TikTok tactics.

I haven't purchased a single standard FS book in more than a year. Although i was really tempted by The Bell Jar, Waiting for Godot, and a few others, i have just decided to let them be. What with inflation and price hikes, they have gone over from treats-to-myself to not worth it category.

I also really appreciate that FS is helping me stay true to my resolution by shifting focus so much to SFF books. I tried a Gaiman before but it wasn't for me.

I too find the whole Tik Tok attitude to promotions quite annoying. But i also see how it ends up being lucrative for them. They are trying to appeal to a younger crowd than they did previously. Which is fine, but it does come across as rather annoying.

It must be working for them, otherwise they wouldn't make their books, espexially the LEs, this expensive!

>34 sekhmet0108: I haven't purchased a single standard FS book in more than a year...

For me, it's been just the Shackleton set and Aurora Australis in the past two years. It's not that volumes of travel and exploration form at all a significant fraction of my library, just that it's about the only field the FS still sometimes does in a way I find compelling. Not a whinge, they're under absolutely no obligation to tempt me...

>32 Cat_of_Ulthar:
Generally speaking I'm with the old guard on this one, but I remember Joe Whitlock Blundell recounting how membership of the old Folio Society bestowed a certain literary cachet on his contemporaries at a private school (not quite Charterhouse).

>17 Lady19thC: >28 cronshaw: With respect, you may not like Folio's current marketing (which is perfectly legitimate because it reflects your own tastes), but Folio's current tactics follow in the footsteps of such beloved and uber-successful businesses as Apple and Nike (not to mention hundreds of other successful and admired companies that are less well-known). These companies use tactics like this because they work AND because, believe it or not, a lot of consumers like them. I, for one, am glad that the folks who run Folio now understand how to run a profitable company because I would prefer to keep buying Folio books for many years to come.

As far as the price increases, I have every sympathy with those for whom Folio books are becoming a hard-to-afford luxury, but I don't see how a company has a responsibility to inform customers before a price increase. Most companies don't do this. And frankly, a lot of Folio's customers will not notice the price increases (or it will not matter much to them). You need only look around to see that prices in lots of industries have been creeping up. I'm not sure why Folio books should be an exception, and frankly, if anything, we've had reports that the "inputs" in the publishing industry (notably paper) have risen tremendously and far in excess of those in many other industries.

>37 whytewolf1: ...but I don't see how a company has a responsibility to inform customers before a price increase...

I wouldn't dream of considering it a responsibility, but I'd be interested if anyone could explain how it wasn't a missed opportunity, both for generating some immediate revenue and for fostering goodwill among customers by letting them feel more "in the loop". Disclaimer: I've no personal involvement, there aren't any books I have the slightest regret over not having bought them at the old prices.

I suppose, to answer my own question, there may be commercial value in keeping customers aware that, not only can books sell out, but any purchase that's delayed can without notice become a more expensive one. Ah well...

>38 terebinth: "there aren't any books I have the slightest regret over not having bought them at the old prices."

I had already bought all the new titles I desperately wanted but there were about a half dozen I had on the "maybe" list. I was looking at them as an add-ons for future orders to save on shipping, but the price increase provided some clarity.

If I REALLY wanted them I would have bought them already; now at a higher price they are even less enticing. Might as well move them to the "permanent no" list and wait to see if Folio releases titles that genuinely excite me and are worth the new prices.

If anyone here is even mildly annoyed at the influence of the younger generation(s) on book marketing, console yourselves with the fact that relatively few of us will ever be able to own a home or retire 😊

>38 terebinth: "I wouldn't dream of considering it a responsibility, but I'd be interested if anyone could explain how it wasn't a missed opportunity, both for generating some immediate revenue and for fostering goodwill among customers by letting them feel more "in the loop"."

I think that's a fair issue to bring up, and though it's possible that this didn't occur to anyone over there who is in a position to decide such things, I rather suspect that it was considered and rejected. Announcing a price increase is definitely a mixed bag. Yes, I think it could have the advantages that you mentioned (at least to some extent), but it may also bring a spotlight to something that, perhaps, a good many customers would not otherwise notice and may even provide a prompt for those who would like to complain publicly about it publicly.

I don't care about their marketing, personally. They make a good product and I've been happy with every book I've ever bought from them.

The student thing was interesting. But remember, they have to have your email to send you a marketing email. I imagine that was really aimed at parents/aunts/uncles/grandparents who might think to ask some child in their life what books they've liked that they read for school OR for some kid who is aware enough of FS to get their emails in which case they might ask for a nice copy of this or that title for Christmas. My own daughter has seen my books and gotten quite fond of them. She's been known to ask for and get copies for Christmas.

>40 gmacaree: ..the influence of the younger generation(s) on book marketing,..

While the influence of the current/ millennial generation on publishing choices is glaringly obvious, book marketing is a separate issue. It has been suggested that FS keeps an eye on this forum and given their recent emphasis on marketing, advertising and experimental choices I would not put it past certain powers that be to try and educate popular opinion via fake/ dummy accounts. I'm sure many have already noticed the deluge of posts wholeheartedly congratulating/ reiterating/ backslapping/ high-fiving every new fantasy release all the while drowning out any view to the contrary. After all, modern day marketing is a function of loud noise, cheap publicity and shock-and-awe tactics that probably last all of a few days; before moving on to the next 'product'.

>43 mr.philistine:

Hey, I'm supposed to be the group's conspiracy theorist ;)

Clearly the FS has located and won over a new generation of customers, who wouldn't be at all disposed to welcome, say, a new edition of Colton's Lacon, or of Professor Wilson's Noctes Ambrosianae, and it seems to me entirely plausible that the posts are representative of how they think and feel...

>42 Jason461: that's a very fair point, and well done for maintaining full Folio cheer when most of us are determined to be grumpy.

>42 Jason461: That’s what missing in this conversation. The email was initially a bit odd, especially the subject line, and I think the message wasn’t clearly communicated or communicated in the best way, but they were really trying to market keepsake, heirloom quality versions of the books kids study in school.

And who among us haven’t at one point treasured a copy of a book from their childhood? I can easily imagine gifting a special young man or young woman a FS copy of a book they were enthused about studying that term.

>40 gmacaree: A lot of folk here don’t like hearing this.

>44 terebinth: Indeed. I'm in my 50s, and I'm firmly in the camp of the younguns here! lol I would have zero interest in the books you mentioned.

And I honestly think that many of the folks who are longtime members here don't realize how unrepresentative of Folio's larger customer base that they have become.

>47 whytewolf1: Agree, entirely. I'm in my 40s. I read a lot of contemporary lit and a lot of classic lit and at least some genre lit and frankly, I don't find the lines between them to be nearly as distinct as many. As a teacher, it's always been a pet peeve of mine that some folks in my profession don't seem to thank anything worth reading has been published since To Kill a Mockingbird. I'm glad Folio has started to publish newer titles even if all of them aren't my personal cup of tea. Art continues on, whether we like it or not. And time is undefeated.

>47 whytewolf1:
>48 Jason461:

Absolutely.

>47 whytewolf1:

Well, I offered those two at least half in jest: they're on my shelves, but have lacked any sort of popularity since at least the turn of the previous century, so would have been conspicuously recherché even in the earliest days of the Folio Society.

Different things make us yawn and turn aside, and I for one fully acknowledge that I've never been at all representative of Folio's customer base, though for sure I've never before been so distant from it as I am now. Whatever side of any divide we're on, I can't see it as worthwhile to pretend to find satisfying, rewarding or entertaining any book that doesn't actually have any such effect for us: even for the sake of appearing modern or fulfilling a diversity quota.