NBM Offers Limited Edition Geary Book Through Direct Orders Only

In a move that reminds me of Kickstarter-style levels of funding prizes, NBM has announced that Rick Geary’s next Treasury of Murder volume, The Lives of Sacco and Vanzetti, will have a “very limited special edition” available to order only in advance and directly through the publisher.

Limited and numbered to advance demand, this edition will be specially bound in real cloth and include an original plate signed and numbered by Rick Geary, with a silver-stamped jacket. The book can also be signed to a specific person upon request: $50.

They’re promoting this “trophy presentation” as “only a few dozen will be made” (although I suppose that will change if advance demand is high enough) and likely to “be a collector’s item in no time”. You can order through their website, at the announcement link above, or via phone, for only a few weeks. For the rest of us, the standard hardcover edition of the book is orderable through Diamond as APR11 1110 at a suggested price of $15.99 US. Preview pages have also been posted.

I have no criticism of this move — this is the kind of specialty fan product that sets small publishers apart, whether in comics or other media. Offering such exclusive items is a smart way to make the money needed to produce the book at all, and it makes the object more than just the story it contains. That’s a sensible way to compete in our digital society. I expect to see more of these kinds of offers in future, from various publishers and creators.