15 replies to this topic

[stromberg]

I hate to anounce this, but the current Fleming editon by Heyne Verlag has been stopped. Heyne had announced six volumes so far and then, they wanted to see if they sell and decide wether to publish the rest. Well, Dr. No has just been published, but there hadn't been any further announcements. So I emailed them and asked what they intend to do.

An employee of Heyne's put it like this: "Facing an unsatisfying demand for the Fleming books, we cannot continue the new editions. It's a pity for us as well, but when every book causes a loss, we had to pull the handbrake." They had lots of costs on licenses to IFP, new cover design (which was well accepted), complete revision and re-setting, but obviously, there haven't been enough customers to appreciate that.

And in good tradition to IFP (see this thread) there hasn't been any advertisment for the books. The had planned some POS promotion, but as there wasn't any feedback from bookstores, they dropped the idea.

Well, to be honest, that's what I had expected. The last time Fleming books sold (sort of) well in Germany must have been in the early 70s. I had talked to an employee of Heyne's last year when re-publishing started, and that guy didn't sound very confident as well.

Would have been great to finally have a complete matching German edition of the Fleming books (now that the German rights are finally in one hand), but obviosly, it wasn't meant to be. At least, everything Bond by Fleming (except "007 in New York") has been published in German, something that cannot be said about Gardner's and Benson's Bond books.

*** continues wild cursing about money making the world go 'round ***

[B007GLE]

I find that really sad. Having read all of Fleming and now going through the series now in order, I feel these are books that should be available to and read by a wide audience. Maybe not as large as in the heyday of Bond-mania but at a respectable rate.

I'm always amazed at how the Star Wars and Star Trek fan base has spawned an industry of continnuation novels but we Bond fans are left hanging. Are we less literate? I doubt it.

[zencat]

How many books did Heyne Verlag put out before they pulled the plug, Stromberg?

[stromberg]

How many books did Heyne Verlag put out before they pulled the plug, Stromberg?

It's been the first six, the ones that they originally announced (and of which the covers had been discussed somewhere on this boards):
CR, LALD, MR, DAF, FRWL and DN.

[zencat]

Thank you for this info, stromberg. I've made it main page news HERE (gave me a chance to rip on IFP a bit ). Would you like me to use your real name in my thanks, or would you like to remain just "stromberg."

[stromberg]

Thank you for this info, stromberg. I've made it main page news HERE. Would you like me to use your real name in my thanks, or would you like to remain just "stromberg."

Thanks for asking. Just leave the name as "stromberg"

[doublenoughtspy]

That is too bad. I'm not clear here though - are these covers different than the US new style "Pulp" covers?

[Qwerty]

That is too bad. I'm not clear here though - are these covers different than the US new style "Pulp" covers?

I believe they are. Weren't they very simple, with Vdoka glasses often featuring in the artowrk. I remember seeing them somewhere on the net for advertisement.

[Tim007]

Those were the covers:

[Qwerty]

Ah yes, that's them! Thanks Tim!

I was particularly fond of the one for Diamonds Are Forever, and had considered buying these. A real shame about the future of them.

[zencat]

Love the Moonraker one.

[stromberg]

Thanks for posting the covers, Tim. I was just about pasting them together as a single (and smaller image).

One little correctiction to your article, zencat: Heyne didn't complain about any lack of support by IFP They paid IFP the money, and that was it (and I'm sure the were once again happy to have something to count).

It was Heyne themselves who decided not to have any advertising. Special POS boxes etc. Not a word about posters or anything, but that would have been more clever. Heck, my brother runs a bookshop, he sometimes sells more advertising posters to a book than copies of the book itself!

I guess the target audience for this edition were younger people, but unfortunately, young people nowadays don't care very much for reading books. (It's a book. You read it. - Reading? What's that?) Might have been better if they did something like a bibliophile edition, hardcovers, something like the FEL edition, to attract book collectors and people who are out for something that looks nice in the shelf. Those all have different colours and look more like "carnival on the shelf".

[zencat]

Thanks for the correction. I'll change it.

[zencat]

Thanks for posting the covers, Tim. I was just about pasting them together as a single (and smaller image).

If you still want to do that image, that would look great in the article. I just stuck the MR one in there because it was my fav. But I think people would like to see them all.

[stromberg]

Thanks for posting the covers, Tim. I was just about pasting them together as a single (and smaller image).

If you still want to do that image, that would look great in the article. I just stuck the MR one in there because it was my fav. But I think people would like to see them all.

No problem, here it is

[zencat]

Thanks, Strom.

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