I'm still firmly convinced that Gothikana was originally a high school student-teacher romance, a LOT of the plot makes more sense if you re-imagine it set in a high school but I'm thankful the author had enough self-awareness to age up the characters before even self-pubbing it. Also, are those sprayed edges blue or is that just lighting?
All right, I went to Bramble's website April 21, 2024. I got the pop-up asking if I was age 13-15. And then there's *nothing* on the site except a message saying it's launching in Fall 2023 and there's a field where you can sign up for updates. That's *it*.
This is as if bramble is not a legit imprint under Tor XD and their authors kept on emphasizing that their books are picked up by bramble *in small inconspicuous letters* an IMPRINT OF TOR *bold capital letters* LMFAO when I don't think they're even acknowledged by Tor or Macmillan in any way XD
Not only am I trying to write my own book, but I feel lucky that I can also illustrate, so I'm just making my own cover and adding character doodles in the book itself. If this is how publishing is then I'm staying indie.
Mood lol. I always wanted to write books and kid me thought it would be really cool if I made my own cover too and learned how to draw. What a smart idea that was, looking at how things are now
AI generated covers are going to start dominating the market-more so the self-publishing side of things. What I find insidious is the authors and/or publishers’ refusal to be transparent with it.
...I think the existence of Bramble is meant to disengage the Tor name from these TikTok books. Based on the last nearly 16 minutes, it's clearly not working well for them. 😂
I agree with this. It also shows how they only wanted to cater to what's on trend and Bramble was their scapegoat new imprint acquiring all these already independent published books like Gothikana which, quality-wise, doesn't even go up there with the real fantasy titles that Tor publishes. Compare bramble's titles to Tor's LOL I mean, to be fair, they tried to include Bramble into their fold by lending their existing authors like Olivie Blake but, yeah. Bramble is like that new Sourcebook imprint Bloom which is notorious for acquiring specifically already published indie books. But at least, Bloom does not hide from that fact and embraces it. Bramble has this pretentious aura that I can just feel emanating from it XD When their book line up consists of titles like The Coven and yes, this Gothikana -_-
@@BG-wv3vn Are they trying to hide it? I know practically nothing about it, except that which books get which treatment seems random? Like, Gothikana got a full hardcover+sprayed edges but Treason Without Tea is only paperback? 🤷 (I do kind of agree with the pretentious vibe, though. Maybe it's the name?)
@@Kriseaf That’s how it comes across. At least to me. All of their PM announcements about these previously published books don’t include the fact that the books have indeed already been published. Other publishers, like Orbit, include those details (see: Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli). JT Geissinger and Chloe penaranda’s indie books that bramble acquired didn’t say anything about them being “previously published”. It’s the same with The coven. What you said is suspicious too and while I agree that publishers can decide what they feature in each book they acquire when it comes to publishing, and how to market them, it’s strange how bramble have these inconsistencies. The stars are dying got stenciled edges. Not just sprayed edges but stenciled ones. With art on the hard case too. Plus, it supposed to have a reverse dust jacket which they layer on deleted but not before I took receipt of it lol The stars are dying also had 400k for its first print run of those supposedly “limited first print special edition stencil prayed edged” copies. 400k. While at most indie authors who already published their books who got signed by traditional publishers at most get 100k to 150k during the first print run. Now why did I mention this? Because of how suspicious the acquisition of the stars are dying is. Imagine, a week after its release it hit USA Today best sellers and right after got a deal with bramble? The author verified this in a couple of videos. That everything happened too fast and she only released her book when it got signed immediately by the publisher. And now with the initial sales supposedly gone because it was released first, this re-release from a traditional publisher still earned it all the fancy features and that ambitious 400k first print run. The author pretty much brags about this, how her book was freshly off indie publishing and it hit USA Today right after it was acquired by bramble. All in the span of a week. Or less than a week if you do the math. Lani Sarem much, anyone? Something just doesn’t sit quite well with me here. And this is also one of the reasons why I cannot, in good faith, support this bramble imprint. Or even take it seriously. And I apologize to some of its authors who are truly well talented, like legit. The pretentiousness I feel like comes from being an imprint of Tor which then kind of gave them this entitlement that their books are just as good as Tor’s. Also, it came from what I mentioned before about distancing their authors from their roots in independent publishing. Like they’re too good to be associated with it so they don’t include it in their official PM announcements. But then again, these are just my opinions.
God, I used to think getting published by tor would be amazing. Then that first AI cover hit. Now this? I would attempt self publishing before accepting an AI cover. 😬
Glad I’m not the only one who had a generally high view of any books published by Tor. I’m a HUGE fantasy fan and usually just pick up whatever interests me with no regard to who published it, but I noticed enough of the bangers on my bookshelf were published by Tor that I took note and started to have faith in what they published thinking it would at least be decent. That was foolish, no company is perfect. For me the book that betrayed me from them was The Martyr, but this is just icing on the cake. Back to not trusting publishers for me!
Finally mads is back!! And we finally all get to ask the question together!! Imagine being attacked because you pointed out something!! Idk how tor even thought about publishing that book!
Please do the stars are dying (worst book I've read last year with fourth wing) and the serpent and the wings of night (Worst book I've read the year before that lol 2022) also picked up by bramble XD TBH this imprint just disappoints me time and time again. What was Tor thinking?! Tor used to be my favorite publisher... Used to. Now with this... Gothikana, the serpent and the wings of night, fall of wrath and ruin, The Coven, the stars are dying... The disintegration of quality alone is making me retch LMFAO and look at that AI art of Gothikana. Big yikes. HUGE. sigh smh what a shame considering they also publish great writers like one of my favorites the man the myth the legend Brandon Sanderson himself. This is disappointing.
where can I find the original video? If its age restricted, will it still show up in search results? I don't seem to see it. EDIT: Nevermind I found it. Please disregard.
Omg Remedial Magic on Goodreads has terrible reviews, yeah, basically people saying that they were lied to as the marketing was something completely different to what the book actually is 💀
@alilbitmads I'm not quite understanding your comment 😅 And perfectly valid if you like the book and have read from the author before. But, and tbf not even the authors fault, but if the marketing coming from Bramble is saying the book is "x" but when readers actually read it and get "y" I do think that the book is mismarketed then, rather than Bramble just marketing the book as "y" in the first place and then attracting readers who are interested in "y" books anyway. I hope that made sense and I love that you liked the book, but I do still feel bad for those who bought the book thinking it was "x" because they were basically lied to. 🤧
@@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321 oh no it was def mismarketed very intentionally on Bramble part. everything from the title to the cover to the tag line is wrong for the book and it’s clear that Bramble doesn’t give a shit.
Nah, I have to disagree with liking Tor: I don't trust them at all bro, they have released almost every book I've rated under 3 stars (cough, the atlas six, cough), same with Hodder. I trust Orbit way more lol. With that said I haven't yet read V.E. Schwab... so, my opinions might change.
Honestly I thought Gothikana was okay, kinda mid. Enjoyed some of it, got mood whiplash a few times, suspended disbelief like it was the Golden Gate Bridge, overall didn't hate it. Will be watching your original video after I finish this one (five minutes in right now). ETA hahaha I didn't know you called out people who like it 🤣 I'm going to watch your video and was already planning to because I know why I didn't rate it higher and I'm curious about the view of someone who rated it so much lower.
I saw this at Target and literally stood there like: *Wtf is this doing here? With a trad publisher?! AND sprayed edges?!* 😀
I HAD THE SAME EXPERIENCE
nah, absolute jumpscare. I hope it's not at my local bookstore...
@@darkmatter9651 It was at both Barnes & Nobles I frequent. Right at the front on the best sellers table. 😖
@@mikankitsune0440 aw, man...
What’s wrong with it?
i need to know how the unplugged typewriter plot ends!
they were very nice, just dm’d to let me know they enjoyed the original gothikana video 😂
I'm still firmly convinced that Gothikana was originally a high school student-teacher romance, a LOT of the plot makes more sense if you re-imagine it set in a high school but I'm thankful the author had enough self-awareness to age up the characters before even self-pubbing it.
Also, are those sprayed edges blue or is that just lighting?
They’re a very dark purple
When I saw Gothikana on the shelf at Target the other day I did a VERY surprised double take
The next time I go to target, I’m going to look for it just because I want to know if they fixed the typo on the first page in the rerelease.
All right, I went to Bramble's website April 21, 2024. I got the pop-up asking if I was age 13-15. And then there's *nothing* on the site except a message saying it's launching in Fall 2023 and there's a field where you can sign up for updates. That's *it*.
This is as if bramble is not a legit imprint under Tor XD and their authors kept on emphasizing that their books are picked up by bramble *in small inconspicuous letters* an IMPRINT OF TOR *bold capital letters* LMFAO when I don't think they're even acknowledged by Tor or Macmillan in any way XD
Not only am I trying to write my own book, but I feel lucky that I can also illustrate, so I'm just making my own cover and adding character doodles in the book itself. If this is how publishing is then I'm staying indie.
Mood lol. I always wanted to write books and kid me thought it would be really cool if I made my own cover too and learned how to draw. What a smart idea that was, looking at how things are now
me too, with indie publishing you have so many possibilities that you don’t get with trad
so invested in the typewriter company subplot
AI generated covers are going to start dominating the market-more so the self-publishing side of things. What I find insidious is the authors and/or publishers’ refusal to be transparent with it.
There needs to be some sort of organized boycott or something against AI generated covers.
Yep, there goes my dream of book cover designer 🥲
...I think the existence of Bramble is meant to disengage the Tor name from these TikTok books. Based on the last nearly 16 minutes, it's clearly not working well for them. 😂
I agree with this. It also shows how they only wanted to cater to what's on trend and Bramble was their scapegoat new imprint acquiring all these already independent published books like Gothikana which, quality-wise, doesn't even go up there with the real fantasy titles that Tor publishes. Compare bramble's titles to Tor's LOL I mean, to be fair, they tried to include Bramble into their fold by lending their existing authors like Olivie Blake but, yeah.
Bramble is like that new Sourcebook imprint Bloom which is notorious for acquiring specifically already published indie books. But at least, Bloom does not hide from that fact and embraces it. Bramble has this pretentious aura that I can just feel emanating from it XD When their book line up consists of titles like The Coven and yes, this Gothikana -_-
@@BG-wv3vn Are they trying to hide it? I know practically nothing about it, except that which books get which treatment seems random? Like, Gothikana got a full hardcover+sprayed edges but Treason Without Tea is only paperback? 🤷
(I do kind of agree with the pretentious vibe, though. Maybe it's the name?)
@@Kriseaf That’s how it comes across. At least to me. All of their PM announcements about these previously published books don’t include the fact that the books have indeed already been published. Other publishers, like Orbit, include those details (see: Trial of the Sun Queen by Nisha J. Tuli).
JT Geissinger and Chloe penaranda’s indie books that bramble acquired didn’t say anything about them being “previously published”. It’s the same with The coven.
What you said is suspicious too and while I agree that publishers can decide what they feature in each book they acquire when it comes to publishing, and how to market them, it’s strange how bramble have these inconsistencies.
The stars are dying got stenciled edges. Not just sprayed edges but stenciled ones. With art on the hard case too. Plus, it supposed to have a reverse dust jacket which they layer on deleted but not before I took receipt of it lol
The stars are dying also had 400k for its first print run of those supposedly “limited first print special edition stencil prayed edged” copies. 400k. While at most indie authors who already published their books who got signed by traditional publishers at most get 100k to 150k during the first print run.
Now why did I mention this? Because of how suspicious the acquisition of the stars are dying is. Imagine, a week after its release it hit USA Today best sellers and right after got a deal with bramble? The author verified this in a couple of videos. That everything happened too fast and she only released her book when it got signed immediately by the publisher.
And now with the initial sales supposedly gone because it was released first, this re-release from a traditional publisher still earned it all the fancy features and that ambitious 400k first print run.
The author pretty much brags about this, how her book was freshly off indie publishing and it hit USA Today right after it was acquired by bramble. All in the span of a week. Or less than a week if you do the math.
Lani Sarem much, anyone?
Something just doesn’t sit quite well with me here. And this is also one of the reasons why I cannot, in good faith, support this bramble imprint. Or even take it seriously. And I apologize to some of its authors who are truly well talented, like legit.
The pretentiousness I feel like comes from being an imprint of Tor which then kind of gave them this entitlement that their books are just as good as Tor’s. Also, it came from what I mentioned before about distancing their authors from their roots in independent publishing. Like they’re too good to be associated with it so they don’t include it in their official PM announcements.
But then again, these are just my opinions.
can’t believe tor is the same publisher for the locked tomb by tamsyn muir
You and Reads with Rachel in one day? Today is good! 🙏🏻💗
God, I used to think getting published by tor would be amazing. Then that first AI cover hit. Now this? I would attempt self publishing before accepting an AI cover. 😬
right? used to be a dream and now i’m like 😑
Ey, i found your channel through the original video you made on Gothikana :D
ayyye 🤙🏻
still can't believe my library has a copy of this book. and the sprayed edges were done badly, the spraying is very inconsistent
Glad I’m not the only one who had a generally high view of any books published by Tor. I’m a HUGE fantasy fan and usually just pick up whatever interests me with no regard to who published it, but I noticed enough of the bangers on my bookshelf were published by Tor that I took note and started to have faith in what they published thinking it would at least be decent. That was foolish, no company is perfect. For me the book that betrayed me from them was The Martyr, but this is just icing on the cake. Back to not trusting publishers for me!
Lol i saw this book at the library and i was like nope
Love these callouts!
Finally mads is back!! And we finally all get to ask the question together!! Imagine being attacked because you pointed out something!! Idk how tor even thought about publishing that book!
I wish the magic of Melissa Marr and Aprilynne Pike style books still existed
Please do the stars are dying (worst book I've read last year with fourth wing) and the serpent and the wings of night (Worst book I've read the year before that lol 2022) also picked up by bramble XD TBH this imprint just disappoints me time and time again. What was Tor thinking?! Tor used to be my favorite publisher... Used to. Now with this... Gothikana, the serpent and the wings of night, fall of wrath and ruin, The Coven, the stars are dying... The disintegration of quality alone is making me retch LMFAO and look at that AI art of Gothikana. Big yikes. HUGE. sigh smh what a shame considering they also publish great writers like one of my favorites the man the myth the legend Brandon Sanderson himself. This is disappointing.
where can I find the original video? If its age restricted, will it still show up in search results? I don't seem to see it.
EDIT: Nevermind I found it. Please disregard.
oops lol i should’ve linked it sorry
1. Did I mishear or did you say Blood and Ass? If so, was it purposefully? 😂
2. A reenactment: “Does anyone remember Wicked Lovely?” “YeSsS 👹”
1. yep that’s the name on this channel 😂
2. hell yeah! i’m gonna reread it.
Have you ever read manacled? I'm in the middle of it and would love to hear your opinion on it.
i have read it! i do plan on making a video on it when the trad pub is coming out!
i had to do a double take when i saw the thumbnail
Omg Remedial Magic on Goodreads has terrible reviews, yeah, basically people saying that they were lied to as the marketing was something completely different to what the book actually is 💀
i read it and i disagree with all the reviews mostly cause i remember was Mar’s previous series was like and the reviews are terrible 😣
@alilbitmads I'm not quite understanding your comment 😅 And perfectly valid if you like the book and have read from the author before. But, and tbf not even the authors fault, but if the marketing coming from Bramble is saying the book is "x" but when readers actually read it and get "y" I do think that the book is mismarketed then, rather than Bramble just marketing the book as "y" in the first place and then attracting readers who are interested in "y" books anyway. I hope that made sense and I love that you liked the book, but I do still feel bad for those who bought the book thinking it was "x" because they were basically lied to. 🤧
@@asdfghjklasdfghjkl321 oh no it was def mismarketed very intentionally on Bramble part. everything from the title to the cover to the tag line is wrong for the book and it’s clear that Bramble doesn’t give a shit.
Still have not picked this up 😂
This book was absolute a**! I wish I NEVER finished it…. Thank you for hating it as much as I did.
Nooooo why?! WHY?!
Every time I hed about this book it's some kinda new mess :D
Gothikana wasn't a great read. Wattpad esque. And now apparently publishers are publishing fanfics and Wattpad kinda books.
*I hate this book*
Author: *gun to head* Here, read it again.
it be like that sometimes 🤣
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Nah, I have to disagree with liking Tor: I don't trust them at all bro, they have released almost every book I've rated under 3 stars (cough, the atlas six, cough), same with Hodder. I trust Orbit way more lol.
With that said I haven't yet read V.E. Schwab... so, my opinions might change.
Lol I thought you meant Kane Hodder for a second. 😅
Honestly I thought Gothikana was okay, kinda mid. Enjoyed some of it, got mood whiplash a few times, suspended disbelief like it was the Golden Gate Bridge, overall didn't hate it. Will be watching your original video after I finish this one (five minutes in right now).
ETA hahaha I didn't know you called out people who like it 🤣 I'm going to watch your video and was already planning to because I know why I didn't rate it higher and I'm curious about the view of someone who rated it so much lower.