We've just implemented some changes to the Planet Stories imprint
and to Planet Stories subscriptions that we believe will significantly
increase the quality of the books in general and enhance the value of
your subscription.
Starting with June's Robots Have No Tails,
by Henry Kuttner, Planet Stories subscribers will enjoy a 30% discount
on new Planet Stories volumes (up from 20%). Additionally, subscribers
will be able to order older Planet Stories books at a substantial 15%
discount off the cover price as an added benefit of subscribing. We
hope this new discount structure makes it easier for collectors to pick
up volumes they may have missed from earlier in our series.
Also in June, Planet Stories will shift to a roughly bimonthly
publication schedule, with six volumes scheduled per year into the
future. We're worried we may be producing Planet Stories books faster
than subscribers are able to read them, so we want to slow things down
a bit and give each book a chance to make a strong impact on the
marketplace and in the minds of our faithful readers. We hope to
increase the frequency in the future, but doing so will require
significantly more subscribers than we have now and better penetration
into local and national bookstores. We believe these changes will come
with time, and reducing the frequency in the meantime gives us an
opportunity to ensure that Planet Stories has the best possible
foundation in the years to come during a very challenging period for
the book publishing industry.
The biggest change to the line will become apparent when we send out Robots Have No Tails
in the upcoming weeks: We've completely revised the Planet Stories
format to pack in more story for your buck and to include illustrations
that harken back to the pulp era from which many of our stories are
drawn. In the case of this summer's The Ship of Ishtar,
by A. Merritt, we've even negotiated rights to publish illustrations by
noted pulp illustrator (and the best man at the wedding of C. L. Moore
and Henry Kuttner) VIRGIL FINLAY!
Those of you familiar with Finlay's marvelous work will no doubt be
jumping up and down with excitement. Those of you who have not
encountered his work are in for a real treat. Other Planet Stories
volumes will contain interior illustrations (many original to the
Planet Stories line) as well, and we hope to set a new standard of
design excellence with the series. We've posted sample page layouts on
the Robots Have No Tails product page to give you a taste of what's in store in the very near future.
The very best way that you can help to ensure a bright future for
Planet Stories is to subscribe, and to evangelize the line to your
science fiction and fantasy-reading friends. We hope to double the
number of Planet Stories subscribers in the next year, and we're going
to need all the help you can provide in order to achieve that goal.
We're more excited about the Planet Stories line than we've ever
been. In many ways, we're finally publishing these stories in a format
that does them justice and best matches our original plans for the
line. We hope you love what's in store, and that you continue to
support Planet Stories.
It means the (strange adventures on other) worlds to us.
Sincerely,
Erik Mona
Publisher
Paizo Publishing, LLC