A Letter from ‘Lil Kris

Dear Hugh Howey UK Fans:

I want to take a moment to thank British fans for your patience regarding the availability of the full eBook version of SAND, his new novel, at UK retail outlets—especially when it had been made available on this side of the pond.

I acknowledge your frustration; I embrace your right to be indignant. But perhaps unbeknownst to you, you have a vital role to play in all the changes unfolding in the publishing industry. And know that your unflagging enthusiasm and patience will be rewarded!

Random House Century UK released the WOOL (Silo Saga) Trilogy in 2013. RH showed innovation and true partnership to make the series the success it is and every part of the experience was exciting, creative, and enjoyable—so much in fact that Howey eschewed indie publishing in the UK for his latest release because he values the partnership created. (Not to mention the sheer joy of working with his editor Jack Fogg and the whole Random House Century UK team once again!)

Every negotiation is an opportunity to create a tiny bit of change in how publishing works in this global landscape. If there is one thing that I want you to know about Hugh and me, his literary agent, it is this: we are committed to advocating on behalf of change for authors in this rapidly evolving industry. For anything within our power. Always.

And this commitment to advocacy takes time and many conversations.

You’ll be happy to know that the full eBook version of SAND will be available starting on Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014 on retail sites from all the usual UK suspects.

So thank you once again. Random House Century is going to make SAND extraordinary with many exciting ideas and plans in the works. It’s worth the wait.

Yours Sincerely,

Kristin Nelson, Nelson Literary Agency

9 responses to “A Letter from ‘Lil Kris”

  1. merlinmarra Avatar
    merlinmarra

    That’s weird – I managed to get the full version from the Amazon UK store on January 11th.

    Was only £3.08 so got a bargain! Guess I was just lucky.

    Reply
  2. Flub Avatar
    Flub

    Congrats Hugh but yikes. That’s a bit more expensive than I was expecting it to be.

    Reply
    1. Hugh C. Howey Avatar
      Hugh C. Howey

      Yeah, it was good to snag it early if you could.

      Reply
      1. Flub Avatar
        Flub

        I actually tried but at first the omnibus wasn’t on the UK Kindle store and by the time I’m guessing it arrived (A bit after the US edition) I’d been distracted by other things to add to my pile of shame :)

        I’m sure I’ll read it eventually but the price alone is enough to stop it moving to the top of my list. It’s funny to be saying that mind you. Before I moved to ebooks (Started very, very early when there were almost none) I wouldn’t have hesitated to drop that on a book even if I didn’t plan to read it straight away.

        Reply
        1. Hugh C. Howey Avatar
          Hugh C. Howey

          Yeah, it’s a bad policy. Publishers would gain more readers and make more money with lower prices.

          Reply
          1. Tim Avatar
            Tim

            Yeah. It’s a shame it’s been it’s more than doubled in cost and been priced out of buyability. No ebook is going to prize over £8/$13 out of me (although I see it’s had a token drop to £6.99 this morning), especially when it was briefly available for £3 odd (damn that car bill of unknown amount I was waiting for at the time it launched; couldn’t risk a penny!) and is still at that price on the US store.

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    […] blog post headline under which Nelson’s message appears at Howey’s site, “A Letter from ‘Lil Kris,” is the author’s reference to Kristin Nelson’s affectionate “rap nickname” among her […]

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    […] by they way, the blog post headline under which Nelson’s message appears at Howey’s site, “A Letter from ‘Lil Kris,” is the author’s reference to Kristin Nelson’s affectionate “rap nickname” among her […]

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