Update: Arrival Dates for
In the previous post, I mentioned that Amazon.com started emailing customers with a target date of October 22-24 for the book to arrive.
Now, a couple @U2 staffers have received emails with a later date:
Meanwhile, if you go to Amazon.com, it says Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks, which I think is codename for “We don’t know when we’ll get our copies.” 🙂
Well, I emailed my contacts at Omnibus to see what they know. The book is being shipped by boat to the UK, and then will need to be shipped from there to North America and elsewhere. Here’s what I learned:
UK/Europe
Quote: “The estimated date for arrival of stock at our warehouse is Oct 13, and we’ll probably ship it out immediately.”
So, if you’re in the UK or Europe, everything seems to be on schedule.
U.S./North America
Quote: “The books are due in end of the month but we never get dates as we are not in control of the import clearance and timetable to our warehouse. I am certainly hoping we ship books this month.”
So, if you ordered from Amazon.com or are planning to buy the book at your local store, I would plan on early November.
One thing I’ve learned is that, unless you have a BIG release with a BIG publisher (like U2 by U2 with Harper Collins) where everything is planned and scheduled out to the exact day, the publishing of your book is kind of a “it’ll be released when we get it” affair. I remember when the most recent update of U2 Live – A Concert Documentary came out, I somehow managed to buy a copy in my local bookstore before Caroline Von B — the author! — got a copy herself. Crazy.
Anyway … I’ll post any new information as I get it. And please let me know if you get any updates from wherever you pre-ordered the book.
Aw I was expecting to get it sometime this week. :(.
And I don’t know anything about how books are priced but isn’t $29.99 a little high for this book?
Hi again, Matt
Yes. It’s frustating indeed. I pre-ordered the book at very day Amazon made it available so like many others I was anxiously looking forward to get the book in 2 weeks time from the starting selling day. Well, it looks like I won’t (like all U2 fans – and of course, from now on, YOUR FANS).
I just wish Amazon could give us more information regarding shipping. They are estimating the book will areive IN DECEMBER in Brazil, though I think they’re now exaggerating a tad. Well, let’s hope it comes out sooner than it seems it will.
All the best
Claudio
PS: looking forward to get the new U2 LP also 🙂
Hi Tom — I’m no expert on book pricing, but I’m sure the sales price is determined to a large degree by the printing costs.
This book is very thick. I was supposed to turn in 150,000 words, but ended up turning in more than 200,000 words. So, what was originally going to be about 240 pages is actually 336 pages (last I saw, might’ve changed slightly).
Another cost factor is photos. A lot of books will either not use color photos at all, or will just have 1-2 special sections of color photos. This book has color photos (and B&W) throughout the whole book, so that also means it costs a bit more to print.
I would think if the book had been smaller and with less color, it would have the standard $24.95 price for books like this.
What I don’t understand is why Amazon isn’t discounting it anymore. It was $19 for quite a while during the summer, I think. I’m not smart enough to know why it’s not being discounted there…..