Hello, happy Friday!
This week I’ve been in uni every day, which is unusual and has really thrown me off! Anyway, I pre-wrote this post so thankfully I don’t need to try and magic some time from sowemwhere!
Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly bookish discussion meme created by Rukky @Eternity Books and co-hosted by Aria @Book Nook Bits and Dini @DiniPandaReads. Each Friday, bloggers will write posts about a particular topic and share on their blog.
With the amount of ‘special’, ‘limited’, or ‘collectors’ editions that have saturated the market (including special limited ARCs), do you still consider special editions to be special?
In a word, no. There are definitely exceptions, but no.
I don’t spend that much time browsing special editions online, well, I don’t spend any time doing that, actually, so I am not really that up-to-date with what’s happening with them. However, I do have an Instagram, account so I do see a lot of announcements over there. Now, don’t get me wrong, a lot of the special editions I see floating about are very pretty. There are some incredibly talented artists about, and I do enjoy a sprayed edge.
However, I feel like the special edition is SO overdone that it’s to the point where it’s expected that a book will have one. I am specifically talking about fantasy (and fantasy sub-genre) books here. If every single book these days is getting a special edition, I feel like they are just the new normal now. A lot of the romantasy books all look identical to me, special edition or no. You can buy almost any new book with at least sprayed edges now. And don’t even get me started on bonus content. I just think that it’s all encouraging overconsumption in a way that is completely unnecessary. I’ve spoken about this a couple of times here, and here, so I won’t actually get into that today though.
Do you buy special editions? If so, what makes you want to buy one (i.e. sprayed edges, foiling, character art, etc.)?
So I mentioned I had exceptions, and here they are.
I own special editions. I have paid a fair amount of money for some of them too. For me to buy a special edition, it needs to be a book that really and truly means something to me. That means that I will never spend extra money on a copy of a book I haven’t read just because it’s ‘special’.
I also like my special editions to reflect how I feel about, or see, the book. I look for exclusive artwork for the most part, but I also enjoy a sprayed edge and a redesigned cover, though the latter isn’t quite as important. If I see a special edition of a book I love, but I don’t vibe with the artwork, then I’ll pass. It’s not that important to me to own it just because it’s a book I like. I already have a copy, and at the end of the day, the words inside are going to be the same.
I own three sets of truly special edition books, and they are all from The Broken Binding. This is definitely not an ad for them (though I’d love that lol), but I think TBB do the best special editions. They redesign everything from the covers to the endpapers to the edges. They are truly beautiful, and you can see the care that goes into designing these books.
As for other types of special editions, the only ones I will spend money on are the Waterstones ones. If I have the choice of a book I know I want with some extra prettiness for the same cost, then I’ll probably choose that one. I don’t see these as special editions though, because as I said before, I think they are genuinely just the norm these days.
Give us the tea— what books do you think have too many special editions, and what books do you wish had more (or even one!) special editions?
So… I am not that up to speed on what books do or don’t have special editions, but I don’t live under a rock, and I have seen the reels of people with 20+ editions of Fourth Wing. And yes, I tell Instagram to never show me them again. Why does a book need so many??? The words are the same people!!!
The ACOTAR series is another one. I have actually read the first three way back when, and I am genuinely amazed that they are still making new special editions of it.
We also need to stop making HP special editions yesterday, please. Enough said on that one.
I don’t particularly wish any more books had special editions. I honestly think my special edition collection is complete now (pending the arrival of the rest of the Green Rider series from TBB ofc). It’d be really cool if more non-fiction got special editions, but I am very aware that is not where the market is. Like I said, I’ll still pick a pretty edge edition over the regular if they’re the same price, and I’ll peruse Vinted occasionally to see if a book I’m interested in is on there in Fairyloot or Illumicrate edition, but aside from that, I have decided I am done and I will not buy anymore.
Pages of Emma 
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