Matching Rights

In order to participate in the matching rights presale, you’ll need to have an account on our web store.

Previously, we had a system where a user role was assigned depending on the edition bought (Benefactor and Patron for numbered and lettered edition respectively) and it would reflect whether you hold the matching rights. While we really loved this system it was becoming cumbersome to manage, so we’re switching to a new one which will be much more flexible. It has no fancy names, but it does assign the specific book you bought to your account and its appropriate matching rights.

We don’t send preorder emails, because emails tend to get lost sometimes or end up in spam. Instead, once the preorders start, you just need to log into your account and our website will automatically recognise your previous purchase and allow you to see the “Add to Cart” button. We strive to make multiple announcements for the preorders date beforehand via our newsletter and on our social media channels, as to minimise the chance of missing out.

Once the matching rights presale starts you will have three days to purchase the book(s) before the public preorders start.

The only exception to this are series books (i.e. Sherlock), where the private preorders will last for 2+1 day: two days for series customers and then one more day for previous title customers. After that, the public preorders will open.

In order to reward our most faithful customers, they will have a special Matching Rights Price during the private preorders. This means that if you bought our previous title (any state) you’ll be able to match the designation and pay a lower price for the next one, but only within those three days of the private preorders.

If you do not purchase it in given time (three days), your matching right to a designation is automatically relinquished and goes to public sale. You can still get your old designation on public sale if it has not been sold already.

With Sherlock short story collection we made a switch to letterpress and introduced three states for our editions. The currently planned print run for our editions is as follows:

Lettered Edition: 26 copies;
Numbered Edition: 200 copies;
Essential Edition: 300 copies (previously 400).

Only the lettered and numbered edition carry designations and have matching rights. The essential edition is unmarked and therefore does not hold matching rights, but still allows for private preorders and special pricing.

Occasionally we might increase the print run for titles that are deemed more popular. Should you end up purchasing the number above the usual print run (i.e. #255), you will be able to match it on the next title with increased print run. If you would like to get a lower number for the next title, you will be able to participate in private preorders after the initial three days and before the book goes up for public preorders. Should you be interested in that, you need to contact us via email.

Besides the main print run, there will also be several publisher’s copies made specifically for the key participants, depending on the project. These books will never go to sale.

Yes, you can and, as mentioned above, our website will note down each edition separately. However, you can only purchase one of each during a preorder period. Our system will record your username and allow for only one sale per account at that time.

When the preorders go public this restriction will be lifted only for the numbered edition and library edition while the stock lasts, unless there is a low number of copies available (i.e. 20). In that case, the remaining copies will be distributed through lottery.

It is entirely up to you will you sell it with or without the matching rights to your designation, but it would be fair to warn the buyer beforehand. Please beware that matching rights are valid only for the latest published title, not the older ones.

You can still register as the owner of the book, but you will hold no matching rights, unless it is the latest book we published and the seller has transferred their rights onto you.

If you are a seller, you need to use this form.

If you are a buyer, you need to use this form.

In order to complete the transfer of matching rights easily and without additional verification, we need to receive both forms.

You can still register your matching right with us and participate in future preorders on our website. You just need to submit this form and a screenshot of your order from our resellers.

Alternatively, you can fill out the form and ask the reseller to email us a confirmation email, but the first way is a bit easier.

Our website tracks which titles and parts of series people have purchased, which helps to setup private preorders.

We also have an offline database with names assigned to each letter and number. This database is then matched with user accounts on our website.

We’re working on a new system to bring the database to our website where you’ll be able to (privately) check your registered designations. Additionally, you should be able to transfer right within the website, thus omitting the use of forms. Overall, our goal is to simplify the system, making it easy to use. The release date for this feature is still TBD.

We are not lawyers so these rules were written in good faith. However, we reserve the right to decline the sale for any attempt of finding and abusing loopholes. We also reserve the right to update this system accordingly to close such loopholes.

This also means we are unable to “police” the aftermarket sales of our editions. As much as we’d like that only true collectors and fans of our books own these editions, it would be quite impossible to enforce it like that.