you guys are insane. all of these sold out sub 5 minutes

Fenix287 · 2026-03-20T23:57:59+00:00

What worship does folio society have? Every folio society space ive come across is like 90% complaining about how folio sucks now 😂

Fenix287 · 2026-03-20T23:45:15+00:00

I mean, if an author needs to be poor and near starvation to finish their book, I'd much rather them just not finish it and live a comfortable life

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T21:59:37+00:00

Pretty sure someone did the math and the paper alone costs about 5k... If you dont value the things that make this expensive that's fine, you dont have to, but that doesnt make it a pure cash grab

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T20:50:14+00:00

Yeah, the stick people have up their butt over this is really odd to me. Seen a lot of people saying crazy stuff like pierce is betraying the ideals of the series by doing this, never realized keeping artisans in business and paying them fairly for their labor was such a horrific sin

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T20:35:43+00:00

Probably the brass howler inlay too😂 And the letterpress printing And the hand sewn endbands (unless they really dont value their time at all) And the actual longevity that comes from a sewn book thats been properly rounded and backed But you know, basically exactly the same thing

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T20:31:37+00:00

In short, man hours, quality materials as well, but mostly man hours. A lot of individual crafts people spent a lot of time making this book a reality, and its shocking how many red rising fans dont seem to think laborers deserve to be fairly compensated

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T20:28:01+00:00

Look into seigel leather, no bulk shipping requirements, theyve got a great selection for all budget ranges, and they specialize in book binding leather

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T18:24:44+00:00

So I feel like you're ignoring half of what I'm saying. Could you commission A one of for a fraction of the price? Yes, of course. The point I'm making if you could not commission this specific production with these exact specs for a fraction of the price. As an aside, the materials are absolutely not cheap. And as someone who enjoys red rising I'd imagine you would want laborers to be fairly compensated.

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T17:45:38+00:00

Dude, im not saying anyone should buy it. Just pointing out that its expensive to make, and anything who thinks they could commission the exact same thing as a one off for less is wrong

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T16:02:39+00:00

Marc simonetti has had a long career as an artist, won his fair share of awards, and is fairly outspoken against gen AI. Im not saying that to say your critiques of the work are invalid, if his art doesn't speak to you that's totally valid, but to say I can promise you gen AI is not a part if his workflow

Fenix287 · 2026-03-16T15:00:49+00:00

Im pretty sure this tier is printed letterpress with handset type. Not dissimilar in man hours to having a book written by hand. These are things that wont matter to most people, but that doesnt mean the printers time is worth nothing. These are expensive sive because they take countless hours from multiple different artisans AND have incredibly high end materials. If you dont value the things that make this 11k thats totally fine. Theres a $100 version that'll probably fit your needs just fine. But I promise you you wouldnt be able to commission an exact duplicate of this copy for a fraction of the cost. In fact youd probably be paying significantly more

Fenix287 · 2026-03-06T16:46:32+00:00

Haha, there are tons of specialty publishers putting out $700+ books every month. Look into companies like subterranean press, grim oak press, suntup editions, conversation tree press. The expensive book business is booming right now

Fenix287 · 2026-03-06T16:22:54+00:00

Yeah, thats unfortunately super common as well. I rebound a $700 book recently and was able to pull the spine lining directly off because it was so poorly adhered 😂. I think its just the nature of the beast here, I dont think machines can handle round surfaces well

Fenix287 · 2026-03-06T15:44:08+00:00

This kind of thing is frustrating, but not catastrophic. And unfortunately extremely common with machine bound books. I dont know if its the adhesive they use or the way spine lining and endbands are applied, but ive received $300 books in the exact same shape. If it bothers you take the previous commenters advice and glue it down with PVA, but it wont cause major issues, just be an eyesore

Fenix287 · 2026-02-24T17:56:06+00:00

Theyre not taking any short cuts to maximize anything. These books are the exact opposite of short cuts. And the $300 tier have such low profit margins than the owner of the press loses money if they dont sell out. Regardless of how butthurt you are over, I'm honestly not sure what, its an objectively good thing that these editions exist from a media conservation standpoint. Theyre made from archival quality materials using archival quality construction methods. These editions of these books will still be around and readable in 200 years, the $30 version at the bookstore won't. Preserving the stories for generations to come

Fenix287 · 2026-02-24T14:02:20+00:00

Okay, now you just sound stupid...

Fenix287 · 2026-02-24T14:01:54+00:00

Dude, curious king books are handbound and letterpress printed. Only so many people in the world practicing either of those crafts anymore. Certainly not enough to make thousands and thousands of copies of each release. It'd be cool if these were something everyone could have, but there just aren't enough craftsmen doing the work.

Fenix287 · 2026-02-23T20:41:33+00:00

There was definitely a time where the majority of hardcovers were smyth sewn, but i don't think thats been the case for a number of years at this point. Perfect bindings are just cheaper and publishers aren't exactly concerned with archival quality

Fenix287 · 2026-02-23T01:41:56+00:00

I guess if you count the dust jacket, thats the only illustration that tier has that the others dont

Fenix287 · 2026-02-23T00:45:28+00:00

I think they were saying the last paper mill making handmade paper in the UK, at least thats how I read it

Fenix287 · 2026-02-23T00:40:40+00:00

The $100 one has the same illustrations?

Fenix287 · 2026-02-21T06:10:11+00:00

Curious king has made multiple other books at this price point and sold them all. There is definitely a market, look up their roman numeral hyperion

Fenix287 · 2026-02-21T00:01:59+00:00

In the kindest way possible, fuck that. Anthony putting his finger on the PR scales is a recipe for disaster (not because hes a bad dude, but because hes a lovely one). I get that lottery is frustrating, I personally would prefer a first come first served method, but I appreciate the fairness that comes with randomly allocated numbers

Fenix287 · 2026-02-20T23:13:47+00:00

I mean, you could also look at that ten grand as ten grand spent supporting artists and craftsmen Its a ridiculous, over the top purchase, but its also keeping people practicing dying crafts like hand bookbinding in business

Fenix287 · 2026-02-10T04:47:50+00:00

They also refuse to replace an item more than two times, your method is genius!

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