Alright folks, today we’re gonna take a slight detour and pull back the curtain a bit on the business end of the Warhammer Wordforge. We’ll get to the books in a moment, but there’s a couple of important things I’d like to talk about first that involve the future direction of the site.
Nothing seismic, I promise!
First, let’s talk money. I’ve talked a bit before on Substack and monetization. In short, Substack makes its money from writers charging money for subscriptions, so naturally enough Substack tries to steer us towards charging money for our articles. Fair enough, but let me be absolutely, abundantly clear:
I do not intend to begin charging for the Warhammer Wordforge. This site has been free to read since its founding, and that is going to continue.
But1 in order to get the full features from Substack, I at least have to have monetization “enabled.” That doesn’t mean that I have to charge any money. Think of it this way: imagine I set two subscription levels.
Basic: Free!
Advanced: $5000 per month
Now obviously, nobody’s gonna go for Advanced2. But if I make all of my content available to folks at the Basic level (as opposed to gatekeeping select articles for Advanced subscribers3), then what you get is essentially what we have now with everyone reading for free- and Substack is happy that I’ve “monetized” the Wordforge.
Does that make sense? So the takeaway is this: please don’t be alarmed if you see a subscription offer in the next week or so when I turn on monetization. I’m just doing it to get the full range of functionality Substack provides for its platform when the monetization option is turned “on.”
All articles will be available to all tiers, so think of upgrading to a paid subscription as a ‘tip jar.’ It’s gratefully appreciated, but not required to get all of the same content multiple times a week here at the Wordforge.
Depth Charges
Finally, let’s talk metrics!
As a Substack author, there are several different ways I can measure the “success” of the Wordforge. Number of subscribers is obviously one of them, and so is number of views each article gets. Since subscribers get articles sent to their email, Substack also lets me know the “open rate” for each piece. In other words, what percentage of subscribers opened each email?
This week I did some poking around the backend and found another fascinating metric, this one called “scroll depth.” This one measures how far down the page each reader got when reading an article. If only 5% of readers are reading the last 25% of an article, it may be a good sign that your article is too long.
Let’s just say it was very insightful.
I’ve felt for awhile that the word count of Black Library Weekly (in particular) has been creeping up. They routinely now are as long as two “regular” 1500-word pieces, and not infrequently longer (10/5’s Marking a Milestone piece was just shy of 4,500 words).
So let’s just say as a result of looking at my scroll depth performance I’m going to make an effort to streamline these a little, making them more readable and giving your eyes a break4!
Cold Comforts (Redux)
I learned something interesting about Peter Fehervari this week that’s too cool not to share. In covering his signature pages from the Cold Covenant Special Edition, I had this to say last week:
Fehervari, you see, makes each autograph page a completely unique item, adding not only his John Hancock but also a one-of-a-kind message and/or glyph-like illustration.
Well, it turns out I was wrong. And not only that, but the truth is even cooler!
Jesse Bommersbach noted in the Black Library Nutters group that while the various inscriptions weren’t entirely unique, Fehervari was even more deliberate about them than I’d understood. Fehervari himself had responded to one of Bommersbach’s Facebook posts on the subject a couple years ago, and Bommersbach shared some screenshots.
This is wonderful insight as to what Fehervari is up to with these- and it’s definitely even more intricate (and awesome) than I’d thought. Fehervari remains one of the most unique presences in the Black Library- and it’s not hard to see why.
Wordforge on Facebook
Before we jump into everything else, just a quick reminder that for those of you on Facebook, the Warhammer Wordforge now has its own page here. Stop by and say hello!
Caveat Emptor
u/Trooper1911 shared a picture on r/BlackLibrary of some Horus Heresy books he’d come across in the wild. If you don’t recognize the cover art, don’t worry, there’s good reason.
They’re bootlegs!
Yes, piracy still impacts the physical world and not just the digital one, even in the world of books. Someone had printed these out from the eBook files, whipped up some seemingly-AI cover art, and bound them up in paperback form.
Forewarned is forearmed, and remember- the Emperor protects.
Arrivals & Departures
In this section I look at what’s coming up around the corner (Arrivals) and what’s landing on bookstore shelves (Departures).
Arrivals
The next installment of the Horus Heresy Saga is here with James Swallow’s The Flight of the Eisenstein. As usual, it will be offered in both standard hardcover as well as a Premium Edition, with the latter going up on the Wednesday Window of 4 November.
REMINDER
Speaking of Wednesday Windows, here’s your reminder that the Special Edition of Ben Counter’s Grey Knights will be on preorder this coming Wednesday (10/28) at 3pm BST.
PLEASE NOTE: The UK experienced Daylight Savings Time this past week, so you must take this into account when calculating your local preorder time.
For instance, my time zone is EST here in the US. Previously, my Wednesday Window opened at 10am. But for Grey Knights, it will now open at 11am.
Make sure you update your alarms, otherwise you may miss out.
Ben Counter’s Galaxy in Flames arrives in paperback as book three of the Horus Heresy Saga. I do like the quick turnaround between hardcover and paperback on these (helped, no doubt, by them all being reprints).
Fans of fantasy are in for a two-fer this week, with Age of Sigmar’s Whisperblade by Hal Wilson arriving alongside Evan Dicken’s Old World, Cathay-based tale Blood of the Bastion. For Wilson, this marks his Black Library novel debut!
While not up for preorder, announced this week- at last!- was the second book in the Scouring series, Wrath of Terra, with John French behind the quill! While he’ll be picking up where Chris Wraight left off with Ashes of the Imperium, he noted in a short interview on the mothership that he’s very accustomed to that type of storytelling.
“In a series like this you have to match feel and tone, and know where everything and everyone was left, and also what arc and energy those characters and events were left with and then fold that into the story you are telling, and line it all up for the next person, and… yeah, it’s a lot. But I was picking up from Chris, and we have known each other and worked together for a frighteningly long time now and dovetailing books like this was something we have had a lot of practice with.” - John French
No timeline yet for release, but we’re definitely heading in the right direction.
Departures
Nothing new this week hitting the bookstore shelves, take a breather!
ICYMI
Here’s what’s been going on this week for Warhammer content!
Warhammer Wordforge
It was a Black Library Readers’ Hall of Fame weekend, and we welcomed the Hall to its new home. A remarkable ten books from the Class of 2019 made their way in, including two new authors!
This week we were very excited to sit down for a chat with Russell Zimmerman, author of the new Auxilia. We talked at length about the experience of writing IP tie-in fiction and the writer’s craft.
In Warhammer RPG Weekly, we looked at Chaosium’s efforts in the war against AI.
Then in Trench Crusade Weekly, Operation Leviathan- the game’s first-ever global event- came to a close!
Tabletop Battles
Lore Friday offered up a review of Godeater’s Son by Noah Van Nguyen by Saelfe!
Warhammer Community
Here’s the official Scouring update from this past week, and it’s worth the read as well for French’s mini-interview.
WarhammerTV (paywalled)
The latest three-part animation, Arkanaut, is set in Age of Sigmar and the second episode arrived this week. Look for the conclusion coming up this Friday!
Around the Webway
Happy Orktober! Concilium Historica Imperialis dropped a very in-character look at Justin Woolley’s Da Freebooterz Code.
Friend of the Wordforge Mira Manga sat down with Chris Wraight to discuss his Hall-of-Fame Horus Heresy novel, Scars! Mira- whose interviews are absolute delights- was kind enough to mention yer man here and even ask a question for me, which you can see at 47:425.
Mira also teamed up with Arbitor Ian for the latest installment of their Warhammer Book Club. The entree at the table this week? None other than William King’s legendary Trollslayer!
Not enough Mira and Ian? Howabout a video review of Tales of Heresy over at Arbitor Ian's Precinct House?
Or maybe you were looking for a little more Fantasy coverage? Matt Dillon at Hammerblow Reviews has got you covered with a look at Gav Thorpe’s Hall of Fame book, Grudge Bearer6.
It can be a lot of fun to jump into the time machine and look at the incredible works from the early days of Warhammer. This week the Fluffenhammer gang took a look at Space Marine, that seminal (and controversial) book by the late Ian Watson.
The Unseen Library took a look at Richard Swan’s terrific Voice of Command and came to a similar conclusion as I did: it evokes the Gaunt’s Ghosts saga in the best possible way!
Over at the WH40K Book Club, Jen and Keri reviewed Bjorn, the Fell-Handed by Justin D. Hill. “What we liked, we LIKED. What we didn’t like, well…”
Jen of the WH40K Book Club also penned 12 Warhammer 40k Books That Have No Business Being This Good. It’s a terrific listpiece7, and the inclusion of David Annandale’s sublime (and underappreciated) The House of Night and Chain was spot-on.
Finally, while not directly Black Library related, this art insight piece by Delphin Druelle on John Blanche’s depiction of the Emperor was just too good not to share!
Cold Open Stories
No Warhammer content this week, but a very creepy audio version of What She Did to the Moon by Morgan Wodring is certainly worth a listen as we approach Halloween!
Quick Hits
Rob J. Hayes (Anarchy’s End, No Quarter) teased the upcoming Kickstarter for the next phase of his GodEater Saga. “Fantasy in a world where humans steal magic and immortality by devouring angels!”
Robert Rath (The Wicked and the Warped, Assassinorum: Kingmaker) is part of the Extra History team, and this week they dropped a new vid on Eleanor of Aquitaine! “Absolutely loved learning about this fascinating woman,” he shared, “and her horrible family (that keeps dying in weird ways).”
Finally, Secret Passages #4 is now on Kickstarter! Billed as a “Retro TTRPG and Warhammer Zine,” it looks at Gorkamorka, the art of John Blanche, and features a piece by Jonathan Green (Necromancer, Magestorm)!
Coming Attractions
Here’s a list of the known upcoming releases from the Black Library based on the available preorder information we have. As always, take all of this with a grain of salt unless it’s Games Workshop-confirmed.
This section will be updated weekly in this column, and anything in bold has been added (or updated) this week.
Upcoming but Undated
Throne Questoris, by Victoria Hayward
Cypher: Lord of the Fallen, by John French (Illustrated and Annotated Edition)
Wrath of Terra, by John French
Current PODs in Production
Hive, by Dan Abnett (Special Edition, estimated deliver-by date of 11/26)
Upcoming in 2026
Shadow of the Silver Wolf, by Gary Kloster (hardcover, 10/31)
Grey Knights, by Ben Counter (Special Edition, 11/7)
Raptors: War and Shadow, by William Crowe (hardcover, 11/7)
Crucible of Fire, by Tom R. Pike (hardcover, 11/7)
Death Rider, by Rhuairidh James (paperback, 11/7)
Ghost Legion, by Mike Brooks (paperback, 11/7)
Armageddon: Season of Fire, by Jude Reid (paperback, 11/7)
Treachery Unbound, by various (paperback, 11/7)
Blood of the Bastion, by Evan Dicken (hardcover, 11/14)
Whisperblade, by Hal Wilson (hardcover, 11/14)
The Flight of the Eisenstein, by James Swallow (Horus Heresy Saga edition and standard hardcover, 11/14)
Galaxy in Flames, by Ben Counter (Horus Heresy Saga edition paperback, 11/14)
Chem Dog, by Callum Davis (paperback, 12/17)
Ghazghkull Thraka: Warlord of Warlords, by Denny Flowers (paperback, 12/17)
Ashes of the Imperium, by Chris Wraight (paperback, 12/17)
Thanks again for joining me for all the going’s on in the Black Library, and see you next week!
There’s always a “but,” right?
But don’t let me stop you if you want to!
This is kind of what Substack wants us to do. Offer some free content to interest potential readers, but use paywalled articles to incentivize active subscriptions. I don’t see anything wrong with that, but it’s just not what I am interested in doing with this site. The Black Library deserves a light on that never goes out.
Today’s article, for instance, is a comparatively svelte 2,300 words or so.
Mira very kindly refers to me as “Loremaster” here, an easy and forgivable slip of the tongue! I only even mention it because I’ve deliberately avoided calling myself a “master” of anything, preferring “Lorehunter” instead because it connotes someone ever seeking.
Though it’s a September post, I only discovered it this week and had to share!
I love listpieces, but they’re often a refuge for lazy writing. When I find good ones I’m thrilled.