Publishing has long catered to collectors by issuing special editions of beloved backlist titles. For decades, publishers, retailers, and book subscription boxes have repackaged classic novels, like Pride & Prejudice and Frankenstein, and genre staples, like Dune and Lord of the Rings, in ornately decorated, display-worthy binding to appeal to collector-readers who value the beauty and exclusivity of these books-cum-objets-d’art.
But in recent years, the number of special and collector’s editions hitting shelves has exploded, with not just beloved backlist titles but buzzy debut novels and hot new releases getting their own unique packaging, complete with sprayed edges, illustrated endpapers, bonus chapters, and more.
One major force behind this boom in special editions has been the meteoric rise of the romance and romantasy genres. Some point to the first printing of Rebecca Yarros’s Fourth Wing—which features black sprayed edges with stenciled dragons—as the ignition point for the current influx of limited editions. Gallery VP and executive editor Carrie Feron said that in particular readers of romance, whom she referred to as "the fandom," have "become much more vocal, and one of the ways they’re expressing it is collecting and showing their shelves…. There’s a celebration and community in romance now that I’m not sure was there five years ago."
"We are always looking for opportunities to give the fans what they want," said Jean McGinley, SVP of rights and permissions at HarperCollins. "Five years ago that could have meant a new scene, bonus content from the author, or a sneak peek into their next book. These days all of that can still hold, but today’s fans want a gorgeous package as well."
The publishers that PW spoke with acknowledged that reader demand for special editions has always existed, but many suggested that the proliferation of book box subscription companies, which often release their own exclusive editions of popular titles, has made demand more apparent. Recently, the companies FairyLoot, Illumicrate, and LitJoy released their own editions of Scarlett St. Clair’s Hades x Persephone series, V.E. Schwab’s Monsters of Verity duology, and Gail Garson Levine’s Ella Enchanted, respectively. (Such companies license the rights from publishers to do their own editions, the designs of which must be approved by those publishers.) And with the growth of book-focused online communities like Bookstagram and BookTok, the announcements of these editions can spread farther and faster, creating buzz for these editions that’s rarely matched by typical releases.
Now publishers want in on the action. Monique Patterson, VP and editorial director at Bramble, explained that since the "appetite" for special editions has grown thanks to book subscription companies, publishers "are able to do them at a level where it makes financial sense"—that is, now that the demand is clear, they're more willing to bet on special editions.
For Tim Holman, president and publisher at Orbit, the growing interest in special editions "is an expression of love for books—and particularly the book as a physical object." It’s hard not to link this newfound enthusiasm for books as physical—and, more importantly, visual—objects as linked to social media, and TikTok in particular. Indeed, Entangled associate publisher Justine Bylo said that "BookTok and Bookstagram are always part of our thinking in some way," adding that "readers on these platforms play such an important role in shaping the trajectory of any book today."
Several publishers noted that the visual medium of social media has allowed these collector’s editions to be shared among reader communities with more speed and frequency than in the past. Danielle Cantarella, associate director of children's sales at Hachette, put it plainly: "The rise of BookTok and other visual social media—fans sharing their purchases and showing off specs, sprayed edges in particular—has led to more demand for these editions." From a marketing angle, Bylo of Entangled said, "A book’s cover has always been an important marketing tool, but social media has made the aesthetics of books even more essential to catching readers’ attention. The quality of the story always matters, but a beautiful package can create buzz for a title before anyone has even had the chance to read it."
Hachette’s Cantarella also said that BookTok’s love of certain features, namely sprayed edges and foil on jackets, often influences what form special editions take, but she conceded that "if we are hoping to have a book trend on BookTok, while we can’t make something go viral, we hope pulling certain levers with the package design can boost its chances."
Most publishers, however, said that BookTok was not the sole reason that special editions are proliferating, emphasizing that trends on social media are too unpredictable to base business decisions on them. McGinley of HarperCollins suggested that one driving force is a generation of mostly younger readers "who are collectors and appreciate books as objects—and love to share them on places like TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat"; both McGinley and Feron of Gallery pointed to the deluxe and exclusive editions of Taylor Swift albums as a reference point.
Most special editions get limited runs, with publishers pointing to the same print run standards that an ordinary release would get: projected reader and retailer demand. (Patterson of Bramble noted that reprints getting the special edition treatment generally get smaller printings than first editions.) This also engineers the potential for FOMO: not picking up a particular edition of a book now might mean paying three times its list price from a reseller later. (On eBay, a first edition copy of Fourth Wing can fetch $300, while the complete Bridgerton series set by book subscription box company Illumicrate goes for $900 on Mercari.)
Yet another function of deluxe editions is to help authors break through a crowded market, which Bylo said is "why our deluxe editions are designed to be showstoppers," with such features as endpaper art from up and coming artists and edges that continue the story that the cover tells. Other special editions might include exclusive backmatter, which could include extra scenes and maps. Other times, this consideration extends further. Emily Henry’s last two books, for example, came out in hardcover whereas her debut, Beach Read, was a paperback original. The deluxe edition of Beach Read coming out this fall has readers, as Craig Burke, associate publisher and publicity director at Berkley/Ace put it, excited to have a hardcover edition to match the others on their shelf.
Entangled frequently publishes both standard and deluxe editions of their books from the outset, The Wren in the Holly Library by K.A. Linde and Heavenbreaker by Sara Wolf recents among them, something Bylo said is so that both types of buyers—those who care about deluxe versions and those who don’t, such as libraries—get the books they want without delay.
Some titles may even get multiple special editions. Ling pointed to the 2023 collector’s edition of Holly Black’s The Cruel Prince saying that its creation was due to the fact that the previous special editions were exclusive to either Barnes & Noble or Illumicrate and LitJoy; LBYR, she said, wanted to provide a special edition that wasn’t exclusive to any retailer.
Shannon DeVito, head of books at Barnes & Noble, believes that these books are here to stay and furthermore, now that publishers are building their special edition in-house workflows right now and figuring out how to source these features, it’s going to change what the industry looks like in the next few decades. Indeed, a few publishers acknowledged that discussions about special editions are starting earlier in the publishing process. "Increasingly we’re talking about special editions at the acquisitions stage," said Holman of Orbit. "It’s definitely no longer the case that special editions are limited to well-established backlist titles."
Indeed, many titles get special first printings "to help build excitement and buzz, said Alvina Ling, VP and editor-in-chief at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, who cited the YA romantasy novels Belladonna by Adalyn Grace and Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma as examples. As for deciding which titles will get special editions, she said that the discussion typically comes later, "unless the book being acquired is by an already bestselling author.” If an author or book has a large following on social media, she said, then that might be enough to warrant a special edition, but “demand could come from anywhere—a given fan base doesn’t have to be on social media to make a special edition viable.”
Some might assume that special editions are confined to adult and YA books because of the perceived consumers of children’s books: that is, price-conscious parents who tend to be more concerned with content than packaging, and children who see themselves as readers rather than "collectors." But special editions have always been a presence in children’s publishing and are only becoming more popular.
"Children’s publishers have been in the special edition business for a very long time—anniversary and illustrated editions, new cover art…are a regular and very significant part of our business," said Scholastic editorial director Amanda Maciel. Valerie Garfield, SVP and publisher of the licensed, novelty, and branded publishing group at S&S Children’s Publishing, noted that, before, it would have had to have been a significant milestone or anniversary to do a special edition, but now first editions are getting the deluxe treatment as well. In the fall, Scholastic will release a limited-edition reprint of The Dragonet Prophecy, the first book in the popular Wings of Fire series, and Aladdin will publish, among a few others, a special first edition of The Last Dragon on Mars, the first book in a new fantasy series.
B&N also regularly puts out exclusive editions of books for young readers. In fact, B&N’s trade offerings have historically tended toward YA and children’s exclusives, only to expand into adult titles in the past couple of years, said DeVito. "Part of the perception around there being so much adult is because that’s what everyone is talking about in marketing—it’s kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy," she added. "But it is absolutely something that we take pride in maintaining in the kids and YA section."
As more special editions flood the market, Madison Nankervis, assistant marketing manager at Bloom Books, suggested that shoppers may become more judicious about which ones they choose to pick up. "You might see less people just buying the prettiness for the prettiness," Nankervis said. "I think it will be more of a conscious decision down the line because there will be so many." As a result, McGinley said, publishers will have to “be very careful and strategic" about which titles get special editions, "and keep those packages as 'must-have' as possible!"
Drucilla Shultz is a bookseller and freelance editor with over a decade of publishing industry experience.
