Just about sneaked this one in. In my defence, it’s a short month and i’ve had a little known book called Red Rising to launch…
Yes, the last month has been almost completely red. Well, the last few months truth be told. However, what a pleasure it has been to finally reveal all of the books we have planned across each tier of Red Rising.
The response has been wonderful to read and has brought a few new eyes to the press, which is very exciting. However, with new eyes comes the mind-boggling realisation of just how expensive some fine press books are! I had the same shock myself when discovering this world about 7 years ago. How the fucking FUCK does a book cost several thousand pounds? It’s actually quite simple, you work with some of the most talented and decorated craftspeople in the world. We’re proud to support many independent artisans and specialists of once-dying crafts.
I don’t want to harp on about costs and margins as everyone has the right to their own opinion of what they think is reasonable. I’ll say this though. Curious King to date, operates on one of the lowest profit margin percentages in the industry. It often reaches single digit when considering the Standard Editions due to the cost of letterpress printing and handbinding lengthy SFF novels (we also commission the best artists working). We are for the first time producing an Artist Edition at quite frankly an amazing price when compared to other publishers, ironically this tier has the highest profit margin of all four tiers (spoiler alert, the RN is the lowest).
Whilst paying hundreds or thousands is quite an insane concept when buying a book, the value you actually get with our books out-performs the £10 paperbacks and £25 hardbacks in the shops by some way. I know what a £25 trade hardback costs to make, and it’s a tiny % of the sticker price.
Right, that’s out the way now. What else has been going on this month? All sorts! We released the print run for Justin Sweet’s cover of Legend (there’s a couple left still!). We are also planning to do a couple more print releases in the coming months too (Hyperion and Before They are Hanged).
We’re also trying to get some books out the door, and that’s what you’re really here for isn’t it? Updates on your bloody books. Well, here you go!
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
We’re well underway with binding according to Ludlow Bookbinders! Blocks are all sewn and ready for casing in, which is very exciting. We’ve had the new face papers from Renato Crepaldi in and they are ready for the two Standard’s we’re producing!
The marbled endpapers for the Deluxe and Lettered are very nearly complete, which should allow Ludlow to go full flow. This puts the shipping estimates for mid-April for all copies, which the Standard’s going out early April from the latest update from the bindery.
As usual, once the Standard’s are shipped then we’ll be putting up any leftover copies shaken out in the process to go for sale. So keep your eyes peeled for a leftover copy sale in April, we will keep you all informed via newsletter and social media as to the exact date and time!
Last Argument of Kings
Next up at the bindery once Hitchhiker’s is done, is the amazing Last Argument of Kings! The only thing missing until now has been the signed limitation pages, which are now complete and on their way to Ludlow. We’ve also reinstated the map we included with The Blade Itself for this release too, something we really should have done for BTAH.
I’m hoping this is relatively quick when the bindery gets going on it properly as there are less external factors at play when pulling together the production copies. As everything is with the bindery we’re hoping for the end of June for these to ship.
The Martian
This is literally about to start on press at Hand & Eye following the chapter heads being printed by Gomer Press. We’ve also had the marbled endpapers done by Natascha Maksimovic in her incredible suminagashi style, which looks just amazing.
All the interior images have been printed and are at the bindery as well as the signed limitation pages. The only piece missing is the Martian paper which is being utilised on the Lettered Edition, which hopefully will be ready in the next couple of months.
At the very least the Standard and Deluxe are ready to start binding as soon as LAOK has finished and we’re hoping for a Fall shipping date for this one.
Assassin's Apprentice
We’re right at the end of the two-colour letterpress printing for this one, which is a big tick as far as production goes. Not only that, the interior images have also been printed and sent to the bindery ready for binding into the books.
The next piece is the signed limitation pages which Robin Hobb will be signing in the next couple of weeks and then going on to Lixin Yin for his signature.
Other missing pieces for this include the handmade boxes by Peter Canham. These are well underway and Peter already has the 6-layer woodcut panels for the front and spine on these. We’re also in the process of having the map of the Six Dutchies printed for inclusion on each tier and edition of this book. Then, it’s ready for binding! But when? Judging by some of the backlog it could be Q4 this year, it all depends on how the momentum at the bindery builds in the next few months.
We’ve also started the artwork for Royal Assassin, and have more than half of the artwork completed, very exciting stuff!
The Obelisk Gate
Still in the early stages! We’ve laid out the interiors for the book already and will be ready to go to print soon. There are quite a lot of elements that go into this production including the blue gemstones utilised on both the Deluxe and Lettered Edition.
We’re also having handmade boxes for this one which will be completed by Peter from Magicbox. These are scheduled later this year, and should be with the bindery way ahead of time for binding.
Then we just need the completed artwork from John Anthony di Giovanni. Which we’re still some way off, but hoping for things to motor ahead in the coming months. I will of course keep everyone posted as to what’s the latest as we progress through the year.
Endymion
I may have mentioned this before but we’ve got all the B&W artwork in from Thomas Elliott for this project. The interior layout is very nearly finished and will then be ready for platemaking and printing!
We also have limitation pages ready for Thomas to sign (already signed by Dan) and then the only missing piece is the marbled leather by Freya Scott of Paperwilds. So this should have all the pieces of the puzzle ready in the next month or two.
Red Rising
HAIL LIBERTAS! Yes, we’re very excited about working on Red Rising and are on the countdown to pre-order. The public sale is planned for March 20th at 5pm GMT. This will be on Lit Escalates website and we’ll be sending out details on how to pre-order in the coming dates/weeks, way before it goes live.
Publishers Rights holders (RN, 26 Lettered and 150 Deluxe) will be able to pre-order from March 16th. Any of their copies not taken up will go into the public sale alongside the remaining copies. To spell this out, there will be a MINIMUM of 26 Lettered and 200 Deluxe copies going for sale on the public pre-order, likely more.
The Artist Edition goes live on the public pre-order and this will be available for 3 weeks for all and sundry. We do have an internal cap on numbers of the AE, but this is a ridiculously high number and don’t envision hitting it. However, I would still advise all interested to get their orders in across the first week at least, just in case it goes completely bananas.
We’re already prepped to print the Artist Edition and when we know exact numbers the big green button will be pressed. According to Gomer Press it will likely start printing roughly 6 weeks from the end of the sale, this is down to the lead times on the binding materials and paper needed to print. We then expect a further 8 weeks for printing/binding after that. Then we will of course need to ship these out to Lit Escalates for the US/CAN customers, which will take some time. Currently this looks like August/September for shipping the Artist Edition, but we’ll know more as time goes on.
The top three tiers will take longer than this as they’re being letterpress printed and handbound. We currently have printing scheduled in for June, which should take 8 weeks then onto the bindery. Ideally these are bound and shipped before Christmas, and there’s a chance we bump it up the binding list to ensure it’s out this year. We’re planning to release one book a year around the same time.
Future Titles
Yes, there’s more on the horizon! Once Red Rising is out of the way then we should be able to release A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin. I’m working my way through the concepts for this title and I’m very much enjoying the process! It is indeed a legendary series and it’s an honour to bring it to life. Tom Kidd is producing the art for this and Theo Downes-Le Guin has written an essay which will be included in the first book.
What else? We do of course have multiple series underway and are always working on sequels to get ahead of the game. However, we won’t be able to pre-order on the next title of a series until the previous one is out. So Royal Assassin won’t be going up for sale until Assassin’s Apprentice has been shipped. With that in mind we may release Best Served Cold by Joe Abercrombie in Q3 this year with Royal Assassin to follow in Q4. We shall see, no promises.
We also have Mythago Wood in the locker still. Jaime Jones is the artist on this one and will be cracking on in a couple of months. We may still release this one in 2026 but depends on artwork and the shipping order of our other titles.
It also looks like we only release 4 books this year to allow no further backlog with shipping out previous titles. As you all know I’m concerned that the list of books you are waiting on doesn’t increase (and ideally decreases).
Well that felt comprehensive didn’t it? That’s exactly what you get from Curious King. Detailed updates on a monthly basis (minimum) as to where your books are, and why aren’t they on your shelf.
It’s all happening now until the pre-order on March 20th, so until then kiddies… stay safe out there.
Hint? BOO. That’s your hint, now leave me be.