The Cutting Edge by Linda Howard

HEAreader · Joined: 20 Feb 2011 Posts: 151

Just got an email from Amazon about a new hardback from LH - list price $28.95, their price $17.71. The catch is this is a 1985 paperback re-issued as a hardback. Don't be fooled.

I don't understand what is going on in the publishing world. On one hand, it seems authors cannot get books published in "hard copy" form, new contracts for established authors are not guaranteeing hard copies (I know one mystery author who is ending his series after 20 books for that reason), but reissues are all over the shelves at mass market outlets. Doesn't make to sense to me.

Kudos, BTW, to Nora Roberts who clearly identifies her new stuff with a big NR logo on the front cover.

Vol Fan · Joined: 30 Dec 2008 Posts: 281 Location: Tennessee

I totally agree. What a rip-off of the readers. I didn't know at first that this was a reprint. I had listed it on my "looking forward to" list. Then found out what they were doing and I am not even going to read it period now.

I buy tons of books. It really ticks me off when they show such obvious greed here. Given all the fabulous books out there, they are shooting themselves in the foot when they do this. I won't buy this book, but instead will put my money somewhere else.

Now had they just reprinted it for the usual paperback cost, I probably would have bought it, given I have not read it.

Linda in sw va · Joined: 27 Mar 2007 Posts: 4708

And wasn't this her first and with a true jerk hero?

Linda
_________________
"The Bookshop has a thousand books, all colors, hues and tinges, and every cover is a door that turns on magic hinges." ~ Nancy Byrd Turner

PatW · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 614 Location: Central Maryland

HEAreader · Joined: 20 Feb 2011 Posts: 151

Just to be clear, I am not blaming Linda Howard. It is entirely possible that she does not retain the rights to her early works, especially if they were done with a different publisher, so she may not have any control over this or make any money. I've heard different authors speak about different deals that they have, and it varies. She has been around a long time, so she probably didn't get much of a deal when she started.

KayWebbHarrison · Joined: 22 Mar 2007 Posts: 1207 Location: SE VA. USA

chris booklover · Joined: 12 Apr 2010 Posts: 281 Location: Florida

Linda Howard's first published novel was All That Glitters. An Independent Wife was her second. They are easily the most forgettable novels that she ever wrote. The Cutting Edge was her seventh - not one of her greatest, but far superior to the first two.

MEK · Joined: 09 Dec 2010 Posts: 225

I bought this book used for 99 cents plus postage last year! I enjoyed it, but its certainly not worth the price of a HB. (very little is, these days)

CharlotteJ · Joined: 30 Jul 2010 Posts: 75

I got wise to this after a while. Now I go into the book store and check the copywrite on the first page. If there's more than 1, I check to see what the oldest one is.

That's pretty greedy though, selling a LH novel as a hardcover for that kind of price. And I would bet that Linda isn't the one getting the biggest chunk of money.

jaime · Joined: 23 Sep 2011 Posts: 359

I wonder if the author has any say when an older book gets re-released in either hb or pb? Maybe it is the publisher being greedy. If I was a bestselling author I would be kind of embarrassed if one of my old and maybe inferior efforts were put out again.

library addict · Joined: 06 Dec 2008 Posts: 1217

I don't believe Severn House Publishers is affiliated with Harlequin/Silhoette in any way, so this isn't a case of the original publisher cashing in for more money.

They did reprint it via their Mira imprint in 1995 and again in 1998, so Harlequin did print it a few times (it was originally a Silhouette Special Edition). But the hardcover is with a new publisher, so she must have gotten her rights back at some point between 1998 and now.