Amber Audiobooks Unabridged

I, as well as a few other people, wrote to Americana Books regarding the
Amber unabridged audiobooks read by Roger Zelazy himself. Americana owns
the rights to all of the Amber audiobooks but they have only released
the abridged version to date.

In response to my email I recieved what seems to be something of a
canned response which a friend of mine also recieved. However, it is an
encouraging canned response as it includes a survey of type meant to let
Americana know if there is a market for the unabridged versions of the
Amber audiobooks. I have pasted the survey into this post and I ask that
anyone interested fill it out and send it back to Mr Edward M. 'Ted'
McClure, Managing Editor at editor DeleteThis @americanabooks.com

Let's show him that it would be worth the trouble of releasing these
unabridged works read by Mr Zelazny himself.


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: The Amber Series by Roger Zelazny
Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 10:12:44 -0600
From: Editor <editor DeleteThis @americanabooks.com>
To: #######@#########.######.###


Here's the story on the Amber unabridged books: They were published by
Sunset Productions before Sunset was bought by Americana. As with the
abridged versions, they have Mr. Zelazny reading. I have been able to
find the masters (on DAT) for five of them and production copies of six,
for a total of seven. (It's possible that _Blood of Amber_ was never
released unabridged.) What happened to the other three I have no idea.
We are missing _Sign of Chaos_, _Knight of Shadows_, and _Prince of
Chaos_, if he ever read them unabridged. We have had a good bit of
interest, and I'm trying to put together a proposal to the higher-ups to
republish what we have. Not enough interest yet. Some questions for
you:

1. What would you be willing to pay for new copies of the seven titles
we have?

2. What do you think others would be willing to pay for new copies of
these seven titles?

3. How many other interested people do you know?

4. What mass communications media should I use to invite interest?

5. Cassette, CD, (Video) DVD, or MP3-on-CD? (Probably cannot justify
doing more than one format.)

6. As Mr. Zelazny is no longer available to read the last three titles,
would there be a similar demand for the remaining titles read by another
reader? We could try to match the style (we have tapes of him reading
abridged versions of _Sign of Chaos_ and _Knight of Shadows_), but we
would not be able to match the voice or the subtleties of Zelazny's
reading of his own works.

7. If there is sufficient demand for the last three titles, should we
try to imitate Zelazny reading or go with something entirely different?

8. Would you be willing to setting up a standing order the seven titles
read by Zelazny? All ten? A 'standing order' is where we get a credit
card number from you and charge it as we ship each title - you are
agreeing up front to buy all of them. Much, much less risk for us, and
therefore easier to convince management that it's worth doing.

Go ahead and forward this to people who you think might be interested.

Edward M. 'Ted' McClure, Managing Editor
Americana Publishing Inc
303 San Mateo Boulevard, Suite 104A
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108
1-888-883-8203x171
editor DeleteThis @americanabooks.com

Not exactly going out of their way are they?

Matt Hood wrote:
 > I, as well as a few other people, wrote to Americana Books regarding the
 > Amber unabridged audiobooks read by Roger Zelazy himself. Americana owns
 > the rights to all of the Amber audiobooks but they have only released
 > the abridged version to date.
 >
 > In response to my email I recieved what seems to be something of a
 > canned response which a friend of mine also recieved. However, it is an
 > encouraging canned response as it includes a survey of type meant to let
 > Americana know if there is a market for the unabridged versions of the
 > Amber audiobooks. I have pasted the survey into this post and I ask that
 > anyone interested fill it out and send it back to Mr Edward M. 'Ted'
 > McClure, Managing Editor at editor.DeleteThis@americanabooks.com
 >
 > Let's show him that it would be worth the trouble of releasing these
 > unabridged works read by Mr Zelazny himself.
 >
 >
 > -------- Original Message --------
 > Subject: Re: The Amber Series by Roger Zelazny
 > Date: Wed, 28 Jul 2004 10:12:44 -0600
 > From: Editor <editor.DeleteThis@americanabooks.com>
 > To: #######@#########.######.###
 >
 >
 > Here's the story on the Amber unabridged books: They were published by
 > Sunset Productions before Sunset was bought by Americana. As with the
 > abridged versions, they have Mr. Zelazny reading. I have been able to
 > find the masters (on DAT) for five of them and production copies of six,
 > for a total of seven. (It's possible that _Blood of Amber_ was never
 > released unabridged.) What happened to the other three I have no idea.
 > We are missing _Sign of Chaos_, _Knight of Shadows_, and _Prince of
 > Chaos_, if he ever read them unabridged. We have had a good bit of
 > interest, and I'm trying to put together a proposal to the higher-ups to
 > republish what we have. Not enough interest yet. Some questions for
 > you:
 >
 > 1. What would you be willing to pay for new copies of the seven titles
 > we have?
 >
 > 2. What do you think others would be willing to pay for new copies of
 > these seven titles?
 >
 > 3. How many other interested people do you know?
 >
 > 4. What mass communications media should I use to invite interest?
 >
 > 5. Cassette, CD, (Video) DVD, or MP3-on-CD? (Probably cannot justify
 > doing more than one format.)
 >
 > 6. As Mr. Zelazny is no longer available to read the last three titles,
 > would there be a similar demand for the remaining titles read by another
 > reader? We could try to match the style (we have tapes of him reading
 > abridged versions of _Sign of Chaos_ and _Knight of Shadows_), but we
 > would not be able to match the voice or the subtleties of Zelazny's
 > reading of his own works.
 >
 > 7. If there is sufficient demand for the last three titles, should we
 > try to imitate Zelazny reading or go with something entirely different?
 >
 > 8. Would you be willing to setting up a standing order the seven titles
 > read by Zelazny? All ten? A 'standing order' is where we get a credit
 > card number from you and charge it as we ship each title - you are
 > agreeing up front to buy all of them. Much, much less risk for us, and
 > therefore easier to convince management that it's worth doing.
 >
 > Go ahead and forward this to people who you think might be interested.
 >
 > Edward M. 'Ted' McClure, Managing Editor
 > Americana Publishing Inc
 > 303 San Mateo Boulevard, Suite 104A
 > Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108
 > 1-888-883-8203x171
 > editor.DeleteThis@americanabooks.com
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->