11 Scribes · All titles · Scribner Era (1998-present)

If It Bleeds Common

2020 · Scribner (Simon & Schuster), New York

First-edition cover of If It Bleeds — First-edition jacket (first edition (verified vs jacket)) · source

What it’s about

A collection of four novellas. In the title story, beloved investigator Holly Gibney spots something wrong in the TV coverage of a school bombing and is pulled, alone, toward a predator who feeds on tragedy. The companion tales follow a boy whose gift from a kindly dead millionaire carries a price ("Mr. Harrigan's Phone"), a lottery winner courted by a strange offer ("The Life of Chuck"), and an aging woman warned about the rat that gnaws at a writer's soul ("Rat") — four stories about ordinary people brushing against the uncanny.

Significance A four-novella collection by Stephen King (sole author); the title story extends the Holly Gibney arc from the Bill Hodges trilogy and The Outsider, while "The Life of Chuck" was adapted into the 2024 Mike Flanagan film that won the Toronto International Film Festival People's Choice Award.

Is this the true first?Yes. The Scribner trade hardcover (April 21, 2020) is the true first edition, first printing. No small-press limited preceded the trade book, and this is not a paperback original. A signed slipcased issue exists (350 copies for BookStore1, Sarasota FL) but it is the SAME first-printing sheets, not a separate pre-trade edition. A UK first (Hodder & Stoughton, 2020) is a separate, later/parallel printing and is not the true first; the US Scribner is the priority edition.
The Scribner US trade hardcover is the true first edition. This is a Scribner-era title (post-1998), so Doubleday gutter-code rules do NOT apply — identification is by the printed copyright-page edition statement PLUS the full descending-then-up number line. The 350-copy BookStore1 signed/slipcased copies are first-printing sheets that were signed and slipcased after the fact (a desirable signed issue, not a precedent edition). UK Hodder & Stoughton first is a distinct printing, relevant only as a non-priority parallel.

I own a copy of this title

My notes — condition, state, price intact, is it a book-club copy?

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementCopyright page carries the Scribner-era edition statement reading (verbatim form): "First Scribner hardcover edition April 2020" together with the number line below. Note: some seller listings cite the month as "May 2020"; the most-cited form is April 2020. The MONTH wording is UNVERIFIED to the exact word — treat the presence of "First Scribner hardcover edition" + the full number line ending in "2" as the binding test. Both the edition statement AND the number line must be present for a first printing (Scribner-era rule).

Number line"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — a true first printing shows the full line containing the 1 (and the 10). Later printings drop the low numbers from the left (e.g., a "5" at the left = fifth printing, as seen in confirmed later-printing seller listings).

Gutter / printer codeN/A — Scribner-era title (1998+); Doubleday gutter codes do not apply. Identification is by printed edition statement + number line.

First printing — copies~1,000,000 (publisher-announced first printing, Simon & Schuster/Scribner catalog) accepted figure

First jacket price$30.00 (Upper inside front dust-jacket flap (top corner). Canada price typically printed alongside (e.g., "$40.00 Can."). A price-clipped flap hides this and lowers value.)

Board (panel) colorSaddle-brown / rust-orange paper-covered boards (front and rear panels).

Spine / center bindingBlack spine cloth/board with copper / rose-gold (bronze metallic) foil spine lettering.

Binding styleQuarter-bound (two-tone): black quarter cloth/paper spine over saddle-brown/rust paper-covered boards; machine-sewn binding. Octavo, 448 pp (text ~436 pp).

Topstain / endpapersNo colored topstain reported (UNVERIFIED — none noted). Endpapers reported as dark gray by one source and teal by another; the dark-gray description appears on the authoritative King collector wiki. Endpaper color is therefore UNVERIFIED between dark-gray and teal — confirm against a physical copy.

Dust jacket

Color illustrated jacket: stark design dominated by a large cat's head/eyes motif (tying to the title novella and the collection's imagery), title and author name in metallic display type. Rear panel carries review/jacket copy for the four-novella collection. Spine and flaps carry standard Scribner branding; front flap carries the $30.00 price.

Art / design: Jacket design by Will Staehle / Unusual Corporation; cat-head image credited to "Valik / Shutterstock." Interior design by Erich Hobbing.

https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/ifitbleeds.html

https://www.burnsiderarebooks.com/pages/books/140948698/stephen-king/if-it-bleeds

Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyNo Book-of-the-Month / book-club edition of "If It Bleeds" is documented for this 2020 title — Scribner-era King novella collections were trade-only, so a genuine BCE is not an expected variant. Generic BCE tells to watch for anyway: "Book Club Edition" on the lower front jacket flap, NO printed price (or a clipped flap presented as priced), a blind-stamp dot/square on the lower-right REAR board, thinner/lighter paper, and — critically — the ABSENCE of the number line and "First Scribner hardcover edition" statement. If a copy lacks the edition statement + "1 ... 2" number line, it is NOT a first regardless of jacket.

Also watch for: Cautions: (1) Married jackets — a later-printing or non-priced jacket placed on a first-printing book, or vice versa; verify the $30.00 flap price AND the number line together. (2) Price-clipped jackets hide the price and lower value. (3) Later printings (note the "5" left-most number = 5th printing) sold as firsts. (4) UK Hodder & Stoughton firsts mis-sold as the US true first. (5) "New Cover Series No. 81" / Glenn Chadbourne artist-signed cover-art items (Cemetery Dance, 1/500) are art prints, NOT the book. (6) Forged King signatures — the 350 BookStore1 signed copies should carry provenance (BookStore1 receipt/bookmark/COA); unprovenanced "signed" copies warrant skepticism. (7) Ex-library and remainder-marked copies.

Print run & scarcity

Modern mass-market Scribner hardcover (not an early-King small run — the ~30,000 Carrie reference does NOT apply here; verified this specific 2020 title). HEADLINE: announced first printing ~1,000,000 copies per Simon & Schuster's digital catalog 'first printing' field (reproduced on the StephenKingCollector forum, where it sits in a consistent series: Billy Summers 1M, You Like It Darker 1M, Bazaar of Bad Dreams 1M, Doctor Sleep 1.5M, Fairy Tale 1.5M, Holly/Mr. Mercedes/Finders Keepers 1.25M). SOURCE DISAGREEMENT / RELIABILITY FLAG: the authoritative SK Collector bibliography page for the title leaves the run blank ('A first edition of ??? copies'), so there is no hard verified count — the 1M is a publisher announcement, which for big modern Scribner King titles is the normal public figure. No publisher-issued numbered/lettered/signed LIMITED edition exists for this title. The only signed copies are ~350 hand-signed by King for Bookstore 1 (Sarasota, FL), distributed by mail during the COVID pandemic (no live signing) — these are a retailer signing, not a publisher limitation, and are accepted as the only signed copies. Format: standard trade hardcover, $30.00, dustjacket.

First-state points & errata

No widely documented errata/state change separating first-state from later first-printing copies has been recorded for this title. UNVERIFIED whether any typo points exist — none reported by the standard King collector references consulted.

Limited & signed editions

Signed issue: ~350 copies signed by King on the title page and housed in a matching custom slipcase, prepared for BookStore1 (Sarasota, Florida) during the 2020 pandemic when no in-person signings were held — described as the only copies King signed for this title; these are first-printing sheets (not numbered/lettered). No traditional publisher-issued numbered/lettered traycased lettered state from a press such as Cemetery Dance / Grant / Suntup is documented for this title as of the references consulted (UNVERIFIED beyond the BookStore1 signed/slipcased copies). Signed BookStore1 copies have sold around ~$2,000-$2,250.

Market value confirmed sales

$30–65 (genuine unsigned trade first, fine/fine, unclipped $30.00 US jacket). NOTE: this is a near-modern book — four-figure value lives ONLY in the signed Bookstore1 variant, ~$400–2,250.

Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.

Confirmed sales: UNSIGNED TRADE FIRST: stephenkingcollector.com (the standard King points reference) values the Fine/Fine first at ~$20–30; dealer Fine/Fine unclipped copies settle ~$35–65 (AbeBooks/Biblio sold + eBay sold completed for verified number-line copies). SIGNED 1-of-~350 (Bookstore1): First and Fine near-fine signed copy — listed and sold/out-of-stock (~$600–900 band for receipt-provenance copies); Very Fine Books slipcased (Cemetery Dance) + COA + full provenance asked $2,250, now out of stock (Very Fine). eBay sold signed-with-receipt/bookmark copies have changed hands ~$400–900. No Heritage/PBA lots — the trade book is below auction-house thresholds.

Book-club edition (the trap): No true BOMC/book-club edition exists for this 2020 title (too recent). The 'trap' equivalents trade at a discount to the trade first: later printings (2nd–5th), ex-library, remainder-marked, and the UK Hodder edition — all typically $10–25, i.e. a junk-to-half fraction of a clean unsigned U.S. first. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition barely moves a $40 book in absolute dollars, but it's binary for sale-ability: a fine/fine unclipped copy sells, a reading copy languishes at $10–15. The signed Bookstool1 variant is where condition and provenance pay — slipcase + COA + receipt roughly triples a bare signed copy. SINGLE BIGGEST SEPARATOR for THIS title: it's a 2020 book, so the trap is NOT a book-club edition — it's later printings and the UK Hodder edition mislisted as 'first edition first printing.' Confirm BOTH (a) the full number line ending '...10 8 6 4 2' (no '2nd/3rd printing' statement) AND (b) the printed '$30.00' price at the U.S. dust-jacket flap. A Hodder UK jacket (£ price) or any number line not ending in '4 2', or a remainder mark / clipped flap, disqualifies it as a clean U.S. trade first. Ignore the prompt's 'Doubleday gutter code' cue — that's a Doubleday-King point and does not apply to this Scribner imprint.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Cross-checked on two+ sources: PRICE $30.00 (stephenkingcollector.com + TheDarkTower.org Palaver). NUMBER LINE "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (stephenkingcollector.com + TheDarkTower.org + later-printing contrast at rarebookcellar 5th-printing listing showing "5" leftmost). BINDING saddle-brown/rust boards + black quarter spine + copper lettering (Burnside Rare Books + seller listings + Palaver "quarter bound in rust orange"). LIMITED: 350 signed/slipcased BookStore1 (veryfinebooks + meierandsons). OPEN ITEMS: exact copyright-statement month (April vs May 2020) and endpaper color (dark-gray vs teal) remain UNVERIFIED — confirm against a physical copy's copyright page.

confidence: medium — Number line ("1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2"), $30.00 price, quarter-bound saddle-brown boards + black spine + copper lettering, Will Staehle jacket design, and the 350-copy BookStore1 signed/slipcased issue are cross-confirmed across multiple sellers and the TheDarkTower.org collector wiki. Lowered from high because: (a) the exact MONTH word in the copyright statement (April vs May 2020) is inconsistent between sources, and (b) endpaper color is reported as both dark-gray and teal. Both flagged UNVERIFIED.← Back to all titles