The buried giant. March BOTM is not published till, er March

[ElizabethHoover]

It seems

Ditto, I wanted to say that! AND only in ludicrously expensive hardback

And Boy Snow Bird not in paperback until the end of August

It is £12.34 for the Kindle book, according to Amazon today. A bit more than I'd want to pay :(

Hi there, we realise the book is just out in hardback but thought we'd test the waters a bit this year and select a couple of books when they are first out in hardback as many people now read the books on e-readers or tablets, we thought it may be worth a try. There has been discussion about this in the past and we're aware that it's more expensive and we're considering another option, so running 2 different books for Book Club when we're featuring a hardback. Do you think this is a good idea? We're keen to hear your thoughts on this.

Two books a month, where one is a hardback, might be ok - would the authors of both be available for question/answer session?

A cheekier suggestion might be if the publishers were to offer a set number of hardbacks to MN bookclub members, who weren't lucky enough to get a free copy, at a (very) reduced price?

I wouldn't mind at all if ebooks were cheaper than hardbacks, but they are often the same price, unless they have been reduced in a flash one day sale on Amazon (or elsewhere).

Hello Rachel, thanks for replying. I like the idea of getting a really new release, but the whole hardback thing is a no-no for me. As as Duchess says, new Kindle books are often as much as the hardback or not far off.

I like the idea of asking whether publishers would offer an MN special rate, and a second monthly book could work though might become confusing or a bit of overload, and it would need to be fairly cheap in both paperback and e-book copies.

Having two books a month would be confusing but I agree that the publisher offering a set number of hardbacks at a reduced price would be nice. I can't afford to spend more than £10 on a book and neither can many other people, if you compare hardback and paperback sales.

I wouldn't buy a hardback, but I would try to get it out of the library, although I doubt that is what the publisher would want.

Will you still be offering x number of free copies to lucky respondents?

I love the idea of discussing new releases before the web gets full of reviews and spoilers, but have to agree that the cost of newly released kindle books may make it prohibitive. Once in a while would be fine. I'm new to book club and looking forward to The Miniaturist's discussion esp as it follows on from Poppy Loves book club who are also meeting The author.

We are offering 50 copies of the hard back. Apply here.

We understand what you're saying about hardbacks which is why we generally avoid and wait until paperback release but from time to time we do like to throw one in, particularly if it's from a big-name author. We are also running a webchat/giveaway with Graham Simsion (The Rosie Effect/ The Rosie Project) in March (11th) so we feel there's plenty going on for everyone in Book Club. There's still time to apply for a free copy of one of Graham's books. Apply here

i hate real books

cant we just have kindle ones?