Specials in Paperback

First off: We had a great time in the Blue Mountains, which are exceedingly beautiful. Thanks to Justine for a view-tastic birthday!

So I’ve been getting a lot of mail asking about the infamous Uglies series format shift. The first two are in paperback, but due to the great success of the books, Specials is in hardback. See, it’s your fault for telling your friends about them.

Granted, most people don’t care, but some folks don’t like the extra expense and some collector types really seem to hate the inconsistency. (Me, I love small hardbacks, and the more money is nice too. But it wasn’t my idea, yo. Me write words only. Publisher all else do!)

Fortunately, there is a solution, at least for the collectors among us. The Canadian and Australian version of the book is soon coming out in trade paper, in an edition that exactly matches the first two USian books. It’s a bit cheaper too, but probably not after getting it shipped to America. That depends on your source.

This non-US paperback comes out on June 1. The only place I’ve found it available online is Amazon.ca. But I know that at least one Canadian bookseller reads this blog, so comment away, and I’d be happy to update.

Now if you live in Canada or Oz, of course, this is all moot. Moot, I say! And if you live in the UK, mootness also graces your shores. Because you will eventually have a lovely trio of books with entirely different covers in totally matching format. Same goes for all translations. It is only us Americans who suffer, so it probably has to do with the metric system, writing our dates wrong, or affordable health care.

Me, I blame soccer.

And so to add visual interest to the most boring post in the history of this blog, I present the SOCCER PLAYING ROBOTS of MR. SOCCER!

(Oh, and that really, really exciting news? Yeah, it’s coming. Any. Day. Now.)

35 thoughts on “Specials in Paperback

  1. Heh. I was skimming through the Specials spoiler zone (I didn’t read anything, I swear!), and then went back to the homepage and this random thing pops up! Soccer-playing robots. Things that make you go mmm.
    Yay! I get matching covers!
    And I recommended Peeps to my friends. Snaps for jess!

  2. Alright.. I’m a little confused.
    My friend got her copy here in Canada, and it was in paperback.
    So.. is the paperback already out, or was it a secretly evil paperback thing that we never should have touched?! The secretly evil paperbacks are taking over! Nooo!
    Okay, not hyper enough to continue xD Aside from that, I’d reather have the paper back copy, just because the other ones were in paperback. Though, if the other two had been hard cover, I’d go for hard cover, just because the pretty covers stay pretty longer =P

  3. Mmmmm….newsssssss……

    I love soccer, mostly because of the running into people. 😉 I wonder if crashing little robots into each other is just as much fun. I must look into this.

  4. I’m beginnign you’re usign this “news” as a carrot on a stick kinda thing… Or you just hate us. Or you don’t want to tell us.

    Yeah, it’s one of those…

  5. It certainly is a rather large carrot at that… I am beginning to check up at least once day… sometimes even multiple times!

  6. Actually, like you said, I love the small hardback-ness. It’s so hand sized like a paperback, but with all the durability and awesometude of a hardback.

    And obviously, I’ve been reading these books too much because I’ve stopped speaking English.

  7. I loved the first two books, and was surpised to see this in hardcover. I like the hardcoverness, but wasn’t big on the price.
    Hard cover’s cool, glad that your book is such a big hit. I would love for more books like this one to come out. I haven’t finished it yet, but I don’t want to stop readiing it!

  8. Scott, note the change in email. Cool, huh. Anyway, I only have one question. Is the Canadian Paperback version going to look the same as the American hardcover, or is the cover going to be different?

  9. Yes, the Canadian cover is the same as US. (The UK cover will be different, like the other two.)

    Yes, the news is real. And should be releasable in the next week or so. Sorry that I jumped the gun.

    Sarah, I don’t really know about when the Canadian pbs are supposed to appear, only that the June 1 date is listed on Amazon.ca.

  10. Yay! News! Now I can’t stop thinking about it. I’m super excited for the News.

    Hmmm, would it be totally evil of me to buy a paperback copy of Specials? I know it’s a waste of paper and everything, and we only have some trees, and bla blah blah and it’s so very Rustie of me. But I like my books to match. Like, I really like it when they’re all nice and the same height and everything.

    Ooh, this girl at school is totally reading Pretties right now, and I was all like, “Specials is out now, don’t ‘cha know!” So, yeah, I was doing some spiffy promotional work.

  11. I am a new fan and I just feel like making a quick comment. I’m currently reading Peeps and recently, I’ve begun reading a lot more teenage/YA fiction because the stories, well, tend to be a lot shorter and a lot better but what I love about Peeps is the even-numbered chapters about parasites because really, that’s such weird stuff to include in a story and it makes it stand out.

    As for the Blue Mountains, nothing beats them. I went for a long, epic walk there with my friends recently and it was wonderful!

  12. I’m doing my 10-page bio paper on parasites, and I’m reading Parasite Rex. And I looked at the pictures. Surpisingly, I didn’t get freaked out until I realized that parasites reproduce inside the human body. Any body, actually. I told my friends that, and they got scared. I also made them look at the picture of the hookworm. And I got happy that the snails are such good hosts to parasites. I hate snails. More than preppy, clique-y girls.

  13. Here in Toronto, we* have lots and lots of lovely paperback SPECIALS (9.50 Cdn, in case you were wondering). And yes, it totally killed.

    * In this case, “we” means Bakka-Phoenix Books.

  14. Any chance you have heard about the other 2 coming out in Harback, like they did the the Keys to the Kingdom from Nix? I would love to get Pretties and Uglies in a small hardback format, because my softcovers are in bad shape.

  15. After all of these positive comments, I’ve decided that small hardcovers are happy-making.

  16. HM.. i think for sure small hardbacks r best, but since i’m not a collector, but i do like to have my few favorite books all nice n neat, so i kindsa wish it were in paper-back so they would all match. note, i only collect me favorites, this being one of only 4 favorites. (and it also happens to be number one) mebbe i should just donate the first two to my library and then buy them ALL in small-hardback… totally bubbly!

  17. and by the way, i notice u used wikepedia for the pictures of your vacation, definately cool since wikepedia is like my source for all project information.

  18. Yay I just got Specials today in paperback I’m so excited to read more of it, I haven’t read much yet cause i’m busy but Yay!

  19. Specials. Rawked.

    It’s actually the first book of yours that I’ve actually bought, even though I’ve read them all. Go go working at a book store and getting to borrow stuff for free! The only reason I bought Speicals is ’cause my store didn’t have it in yet and another did, and I couldn’t wait. They gave me my discount on it too. *cheer* I’m probably going to buy Uglies and Pretties tomorrow anyway so I can have the set. I’m a collector, I suppose, but only in the sense that I buy as many books as I can. I never worry about format as long as the words inside are the same.

    My only problem with hardbacks is the whole dustjacket concept. I can’t stand reading a book with a dustjacket on because it moves all over the place and gets annoying and such. So the jackets lay abandoned on a table somewhere until I finish the book and they can go back on the shelf. 😀 I’m glad there is a paperback for those who need it, psychologically or economically. And it would be cool to have a book from Canada..

  20. well now! am i excited! unfortunately i have been to BN to get Specials, i am quite devastated….. but i will be getting it as soon as my mother takes (seeing as i cannot drive-YET)

  21. the borders in my area doesn’t have specials yet.
    how lame is that?
    i guess thats what i get for living in a town,
    the size of a pea.
    and peas are gross…

  22. just writing again to say that Kate, the girl who drew skethes of Tally, Shay, Zane, and David has drawn new ones but from Specials…..
    they are really good and it’s was nice seeing how an actual character would look on paper …..
    peepz—–go see her blog now

  23. See, I’m borrowing these books from a friend, so I won’t have that problem. Actually, I probably will anyway…*hi-fives all other OCD book collectors*
    Actually, I’m about to start Pretties *ducks as everyone throws tomatoes at me* but I AM HOOKED!!! I need to get through it quickly and then read Specials! THEY BOTH LOOK SO COOL! And! And! The Uglies series seriously needs to be a movie. It’s just that cool.
    And you need to come to Atlanta for a book signing!

  24. so i was reading this blog thingy and i saw how sum ppls want a paperback specials

    but if they want it all the same size, they cant. cuz uglies is much bigger than pretties. and who is gonna wait till june 2 read ur amazing series.

    WAIT! do u mean june 2007! omg

  25. Ok…so I’m from Canada and just picked up our soft cover version of Specials and realized that the cover is all shiny, and not matte like the first two in the series. I was kind of hoping that it would be because I wanted the set to look all pretty and congruent (plus the shininess gives the book a less serious and sofisticated look than the other two books, in my opinion)…oh well…I guess its the publisher’s fault and not yours…but on the bright side the book was awesome and i cant wait until last days or the next scott westerfeld book that comes out.

  26. Tell your publisher that i hate him and think he should die a burning horrible death for punishing all us non-canadians. >.

  27. I live in the Aussie Land, and Specials hasn’t come out here. Darn, I said, darn. But then a lightbulb went off in my wonderful brain (damn I’m good). I’ll order it over Angus and Robertson Bookstores’ website from the US. And I did. And I got it about a week ago (start of June). And I’ve read it. And it was awesome! So ha. I’m smart. I got it before most peoples. My version is hardback. Just thought I’d share this with you (I’m bored, so I’ll write about anything).

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