Well, ’Warp fans, after a great deal of consideration I’m saddened to announce that the illustrated reissue of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s The Gods of Mars: John Carter, Book 2—originally scheduled for March 2013—has been canceled.
Unfortunately, sales on the first Carter novel, A Princess of Mars—still available from the SWC webstore)—were extremely weak (to say the least). The box-office implosion of Disney’s film version, John Carter, certainly didn’t help matters, and no doubt cut into any potential sales that might have gone hand-in-hand with a successful movie. Not to mention that apparently every mainstream and indie publishing house made a frantic dash to release their own version of the book to tie in with the film. Stupid public domain novels! 😉
Funny/scary story: The day that The ’Warp’s version went on sale, Barnes & Noble’s Web site listed the book as it should have, but then for some reason included readers’ comments regarding another publisher’s edition—and they were all complaints about what a typo-filled piece of crap the book was, and how everyone should avoid it!
It took a bit of pleading with B&N’s Web department to get those comments off the book’s page, but a few hours after I made them aware of the error the page was updated with the correct information. So, thanks again, B&N Web guys!
Still, even with the correct information in place, sales at B&N and other retailers fell far short of my expectations, but I waited until this point to make a final decision about keeping Gods on the schedule. I was hoping that sales might pick up when John Carter came out on DVD and Blu-ray, but when that didn’t happen I made up my mind to cancel book two.
If I went ahead anyway and published Gods of Mars, from a financial standpoint I’d only be throwing good money after bad (as the old saying goes), and that wouldn’t be smart business. I think it’s better that those funds get applied to a project that has a better chance of generating revenue for the company, like the Pandora Zwieback series. Those great Bob Larkin cover paintings don’t come free, after all, and the books don’t typeset themselves.
We’re not entirely done with The ’Warp’s illustrated classics line, though. The adventures of Mars’ warlord might be finished here, but March 2013 will see the arrival of a king—King Kong, that is, as we reissue the 1933 novelization in time to celebrate the original film’s 80th anniversary. Be sure to wear your favorite party hat!
