DnD Novels Dead?

[Dire Bare]

I have no insider information other than what Phil posted to his blog, but I do have a copy of the Wizards of the Coast 2011 Spring Catalog on my desk at the moment, and it contains (among a LOT of other eyebrow-raising game-related things) some information that may provide some clues as to what's going down with their books department.

The news about Athans is terrible! I've enjoyed his work as an author and editor for WotC. Hasn't he been with WotC for a long time?

The rebranding has already happened. Go to your local bookstore today and pick up this month's releases and you'll see the awkward banner with the D&D logo clashing with the rest of the cover. I actually support the idea of "D&D" being the major brand over "Forgotten Realms" or what have you, but the implementation so far is crappy looking.

I would be super surprised to see WotC cutting back on the novels line, at least the FR novels. And I've seen WotC catalogs absent (or nearly so) of novels before, only to have them released later.

But, your revelations are troubling . . . .

PS - Could you post the rest of the catalog (in another thread)?!?!?! Pretty please! Mr. Awesomest Game Publisher Guy ever!!!!!

 

[fanboy2000]

Well, The Still "Complete" List of Official of 4e Products thread over on the 4e forum has all the RPG products from the catalog.

 

[Echohawk]

Wizards' novel release schedule has been a little erratic for a while now, with several titles moving in release dates, or vanishing from the schedule. The heavy ratio of collections to new releases also isn't something new, nor is a bit of a discrepancy between the catalogs and what actually gets released. Some of the stand alone novels get published without ever appearing in one of the print catalogs.

Here's what I have noted down as the WotC D&D novel releases for the next nine months or so:

July 2010
DL: Dragonlance Chronicles Omnibus
FR: The Ghost King (paperback)
FR: Unbroken Chain

August 2010
FR: Elminster Must Die
Eb: Taint of the Black Brigade
PoL: The Mark of Nerath

September 2010
FR: The Legend of Drizzt Collector's Edition, Book IV
FR: Key of Stars
FR: The Legend of Drizzt Collector's Edition, Book III (paperback)
Kids: A Practical Guide to Dragon Magic
Kids: Aldwyn's Academy
Kids: How to Trap A Zombie, Track a Vampire, and Other Hands-On Activities for Monster Hunters

October 2010
FR: Avenger (paperback)
DS: City Under the Sand
FR: Gauntlegrym
Eb: The Fading Dream
FR: The Year of Rogue Dragons Omnibus
FR: The Shadowmask (paperback)

November 2010
Eb: Death Comes Easy
FR: Elminster Ascending: The Saga of Shadowdale
DL: The Wars of Souls Omnibus
FR: Whisper of Venom

December 2010
Eb: Lady Ruin
FR: The Hand of the Hunter
PoL: The Seal of Karga Kul
FR: The Sellswords Omnibus

January 2011
FR: The Collected Stories: The Legend of Drizzt
DL: The Stonetellers Omnibus

February 2011
GW: Badlands Bodyguards
FR: The Empyrean Odyssey Omnibus

March 2011
FR: Sandstorm
PoL: Temple of Yellow Skulls: Abyssal Plague

April 2011
FR: The Lady Penitent Omnibus

Key
DL = Dragonlance
DS = Dark Sun
Eb = Eberron
FR = Forgotten Realms
GW = Gamma World
Kids = Practical Guide series
PoL = Points of Light

 

[Beginning of the End]

I don't seem to recall that the 3rd edition books did very well. I can't even remember the names of them (with Krusk, Lidda, Ember, etc.)

I've never been a "fan" of the D&D novel lines, but I've read a fair number of them. From a distance, it has certainly appeared over the last decade as if they WotC fiction line has become more interested in printing "fiction for gamers" rather than "fiction set in our fantasy worlds".

While re-emphasizing my complete ignorance of WotC's internal sales strategy or sales numbers, I have to suspect that this is a bad strategy. Instead of widening the appeal for their IP, it shrinks it.

And while I understand how WotC's corporate mentality of "consolidate the brands!" is leading them inexorably to plastering the D&D logo loud-and-proud while eliminating the subsidiary, world-based logos... Well, I think that's going to end poorly, too.

 

[IronWolf]

Paul Kemp has a trilogy of FR books that was cancelled but is now back on again. Not sure of release for any of them. And Elaine Cunningham has an FR novel as well recently announced, not sure on release date either.

For Elaine Cunningham fans there is also Pathfinder Tales: Winter Witch coming in the fall from Paizo.
E]

The news about Athans is terrible! I've enjoyed his work as an author and editor for WotC. Hasn't he been with WotC for a long time?

I believe he started with TSR and had been with the company for 15 years?

 

[M.L. Martin]

I have no insider information other than what Phil posted to his blog, but I do have a copy of the Wizards of the Coast 2011 Spring Catalog on my desk at the moment, and it contains (among a LOT of other eyebrow-raising game-related things) some information that may provide some clues as to what's going down with their books department.

PS: By contrast, a similar 4-month period in the Summer of 2008 listed SEVEN stand-alone novels (some of which were canceled) and two hardcover fiction "coffee table" style books. The Winter 2008 catalog also featured seven novels (some old, some new). I have a bunch of older catalogs, but I don't have the time to dig them out at the moment.

Around 2009 or so, though, WotC stopped including mass market novel information in their catalogs, so I wouldn't take the catalog alone as indicative. Amazon lists several paperbacks that aren't in the catalog, for instance.

 

[Erik Mona]

Interesting.

I was not aware of that change.

It's good to hear, as I always understood that the novels line was very profitable, at times more so than the gaming lines.

--Erik

 

[Echohawk]

I did a quick count of new releases versus re-releases/omnibuses/collector's editions from Wizards' over the last couple of years. Here's what I found:

Quarter: New releases, Rereleases

2008Q1: 6, 5
2008Q2: 9, 6
2008Q3: 10, 6
2008Q4: 9, 8

Total for 2008: 34 new releases, 24 rereleases, 59% new

2009Q1: 6, 6
2009Q2: 6, 6
2009Q3: 8, 4
2009Q4: 8, 3

Total for 2009: 28 new releases, 19 rereleases, 60% new

2010Q1: 5, 3
2010Q2: 5, 3
2010Q3: 8, 4
2010Q4: 9, 5

Total for 2010: 27 new releases, 15 rereleases, 64% new

 

[DaveMage]

...but I do have a copy of the Wizards of the Coast 2011 Spring Catalog on my desk at the moment, and it contains (among a LOT of other eyebrow-raising game-related things)

What things are "eyebrow raising"?

 

[Erik Mona]

Off the top of my head, of the 6 RPG products listed, only one of them is a traditional hardcover book. One hardcover in four months is obviously a change in business plan. I'd known that the shift to Essentials would mean a reduction in standard 4e stuff, but I found that a bit surprising.

Two of the products (The Nentir Vale, Heroes of Shadow) are 6" by 9" trade paperbacks, which is a different format than I'm used to seeing. Two of the others are a map set and a DM Screen, which isn't all that eyebrow-raising.

I didn't know prior to seeing this catalog that Gamma World was being branded "D&D Gamma World," which is eyebrow-raising only to branding nerds. You know, like me.

Basically, I stopped paying super-close attention to WotC's release schedule a while ago, and was taken aback by some of this stuff when it hit my desk. Perhaps it's all old news to fans of 4e who have been following this stuff like hawks, but I no longer fall into that category.

--Erik