Subterranean Press Scalping Centipede Press

What a joke!
SP is (don't know why, guess they purchased a number of these sets from CP) selling CP books at insane prices! Really, check this out

I think this was something that was owned by one of their employees or something, being that it’s a mismatched set. The mark up on the first book in this series is annoying. I missed the first book and have not had the opportunity to buy a copy for less than $300 -even for an unsigned copy. Quite a jump for a $75 book. I’ve consigned myself to just living with an incomplete set. The stories included in the first volume are not ones I like all that well (there’s one story I do like but the others are just ok) at least.

I think Jerad has mentioned a re-release of the first book in the near future, too.

He mentioned the possibility a long while back. Since then I’ve bugged him a couple times to see if a decision had been made on if that was going to happen or not but last I heard it was still undecided.

I figured they're selling one used set. Quite the mark-up.

Some of the Centipede Press books skyrocket in value. I've been looking for Ender's Game for some time. Camelot recently sold two on consignment for I think between $1700 and $2000 a piece. That's far above what I'd be willing to pay. Based on sales, the Sub Press price doesn't look too far out of line with other recent sales. That's also far more than what they are worth to me. If the prices stay that high once the series is finished, I'll definitely sell my set as I haven't enjoyed the stories nearly as much as what I remember from reading them as a kid.

EDIT: That price is for the entire matching set the way I read it. It isn't for the one book is it?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fafhrd-and-the-Gray-Mouser-Signed-Numbered-Set-Fritz-Le...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fafhrd-and-the-Gray-Mouser-Signed-Numbered-Set-Fritz-Le...

Yeah, the sub press listing was for a mismatched set of the first 4 volumes.

>2 HowardEriksonWolfe: I also missed the first in this set but own the other three that have been published to date, so I have been watching for options.

A copy (listed as fine/new condition) sold recently (January 25th) on ebay for $499 USD. It was listed on 24-Jan 23:10 and sold on 25-Jan 22:50. So the market price is probably higher, but two copies have lingered on Abe for months above $1500. So clearly not that high. (No relationship with any of these sellers.)

Yeah, I’m always on the lookout too. I kind of set a limit for myself of $250 a while back. Since the market price seems to have left that number in the dust, I’m really hoping for that reprint.

Going back to the original topic of this thread, I will say that I’ve seen several times recently where Sub Press will post copies of a very recently sold out Centipede title for quite an up charge. I believe that when the Falling Angel/Angel’s Inferno set came out, they listed copies within a week later at a $200 mark up.

>10 HowardEriksonWolfe: they do, which seems... wrong
I mean, a publisher, purchasing books from another publisher just to raise the prices? Something is rotten in the state of SP

>10 HowardEriksonWolfe:

They're doing the same with Suntup Press titles - one supposedly sold-out title recently went from the original 75$ to 300$.

It's a shady business practice. And their excuse is probably due to "current market value" which leads to the question, are they a publisher or a reseller?

>13 JuliusC: I don't really have a problem with it. Publishing and retailing are both tough businesses and I guess you have to grab your profits where you can. I assume they're not in violation of their agreements with Centipede or Suntup who presumably are wholesaling them a limited number of copies (if they were, I can't imagine that both publishers wouldn't quickly find out in such a niche industry). Keep in mind when they commit to buy a set number of wholesale copies per release (which is what they probably do), they are already speculating since I'm quite sure that the publishers don't allow them to discount slow sellers to clear the stock, so they're left sitting on the slow sellers for who knows how long. But if people are mad that they're sitting on some other more popular titles temporarily, hoping to resell them at an above-retail price, people can choose to let Subpress know they object and can choose to not buy from them if they disapprove of the practice.

And to answer your question, they're clearly a publisher and retailer of their own books, but perhaps they see themselves as both straight retailers and occasionally, as more general "book dealers" when it comes to other's books.

There seem to be a couple different models at play here, for example: the Thursday after 'Punktown' came out, Subterranean offered some copies at publication price (and they noted at the time that the edition was trading for multiples of publication price).

However, the Thursday after that they offered copies (or at least a copy) of 'Punktown' at $750.

Appears in at least some instances they're acting as a distribution channel, charging MSRP and in other instances acting as a retailer charging market rates.

>15 jeremyjm: Yes, I admit, that part is a little confusing.