Wheel of Time - interview with Brandon Sanderson

[DiapDealer]

After talking about the issue, we were able to move the ebook up from the originally planned one-year delay to instead come out this spring.

The fact that she was even contemplating withholding the ebook for one year pretty much plants a giant, red bullsh!t flag in her "it's only because I want to make sure it hits number-one" claim. But whatever. It's her mistake to make.

Did they have the same sort of windowing hoo-ha on either of the previous two Sanderson/Jordan releases?

[ProfCrash]

I don't think so or if they did, I didn't care enough to be annoyed.

[cbarnett]

I've been looking forward to this for some time. While I'm also disappointed in the ebook delay, I can live with it.

I can also understand the ire of some readers who can't read a paper version, for whatever reason. Quite a few of them made their opinions quite clear on the Tor website, and for them it smacks of discrimination.

Certainly, there's no real excuse for this in 2013.

[ghostyjack]

Well I'm annoyed there is a delay so I can't buy it now, but seeing and I need to reread all of them before I get to this book, it will most probably be out then as I don't read that quick to worry about it.

I've no intention of buying any paperbacks, and the only hardback I might purchase would be some king of limited edition version, you know, leather-bound, nice maps, etc.

So her wanting to protect the hardback sales is not realy going to work in my case, it would just delay my purchase for the ebook.

[piper28]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

Did they have the same sort of windowing hoo-ha on either of the previous two Sanderson/Jordan releases?

I want to say the last one was delayed, but I can't remember how long. Looks like it was also a 3 month delay, although again Harriett apparently wanted a year then also.

I don't know if the first of these 3 books was delayed at all, but that would have been early enough in the ebook world that it probably didn't matter at the time whether it was or not.

I ended up (at my wife's insistence) getting the hardcover. We've got the complete set in hardcover (Except the first one or two that were originally weren't in hardcover, they got release after their initial release as hard covers, they're the larger trade-cover size). Most of our set was signed at one point, most are first editions (or an ARC of the first book). The set just wouldn't have looked right without having all of them.

The annoying thing is I'm trying to actually get rid of most of my books. Still haven't figured out the best way to do this. But we'll likely be keeping the signed books we have, so it's not like everything is going away anyways.

[pwalker8]

The ebook release of all three of the final books were delayed. I have the other two, but haven't read them yet. I was waiting until all three came out. Frankly, it's been so long since the last Jordon book (2005) that I've forgotten quite a lot. I've read the first two many times, but find the rest difficult to wade through. I do need at least try to read through the entire series again.

It does seem like widows trying to protect the artist legacy has caused a lot more damage than good.

[ProfCrash]

I don't think she is trying to protect his legacy. I think she is trying to protect her wallet.

[Ravensknight]

Originally Posted by piper28

I want to say the last one was delayed, but I can't remember how long. Looks like it was also a 3 month delay, although again Harriett apparently wanted a year then also.

That is correct. People kind of expected it for Gathering Storm, as none of the WoT books had come out in Retail Ebook form, but by the time Towers of Midnight came out, we were expecting side by side release. And it didn't happen.
Thankfully Sanderson isn't a part of the problem, it is all on Harriet.

[toddos]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

The fact that she was even contemplating withholding the ebook for one year pretty much plants a giant, red bullsh!t flag in her "it's only because I want to make sure it hits number-one" claim. But whatever. It's her mistake to make.

Before Robert Jordan died in 2007 (conveniently two months before the original Kindle launched and brought ebooks to the mainstream), he expressed dislike about ebooks. Of course that was before ebooks really took off, and I suspect if he had stuck around for another year or two he would've changed his tune. But he didn't, and now his ideas are carved in stone, and his wife is just trying to make up some excuse that seems more palatable than "He wouldn't want you reading his book that way, so we're not going to do it."

Thankfully, this is the end. There are no more WoT books after this, so it doesn't matter. As with everything, as the previous generation passes on, the things the current generation embraces will become mainstream. It happened with rock and roll, CDs, and it's currently happening with digital models and video games (can also be applied to social constructs, like mixed-race marriage and marriage equality).

Harriet McDougal will not be relevant after this year. Buy the hardcover, wait for the ebook, or pirate it (the actual ebook that will be available in April, not just paper scans, is already out there ...), it doesn't matter. This windowing crap is on the way out.

[xendula]

I feel bad for Brandon Sanderson. One star reviews are certainly not good for any author's ego, even if he knows which sentiments motivated them.

Harriet's decision may even impact him financially, as I can see some fans purposely pirating this title only to make a point. He's done all the work, what has she contributed?

[pwalker8]

Yep, it's unfortunate for Sanderson, but I'm sure all the money that he makes from those three books will help the bruised ego.

Actually, I would argue that how fast a clean pirated version of the book shows up is a pretty good indicator of the popularity. The last Harry Potter book was out before the book was available. If a clean pirated version doesn't show up, then it's probably because no one cares enough to scan it and proof it.

In a way, having the ebook come out 3 or 4 months after the hardback is the worst of both worlds. More people who would have bought the ebook are likely to get the pirated version simply because they don't want to wait. I would suspect that for the vast majority of people who prefer the ebook, 4 months just isn't long enough to get people to buy the hardback rather than wait for the ebook. It will be interesting to see the NY Times best seller list next week. I think that will be the first list that includes sales data for this book.

[Ajax]

Originally Posted by pwalker8

Actually, I would argue that how fast a clean pirated version of the book shows up is a pretty good indicator of the popularity. The last Harry Potter book was out before the book was available. If a clean pirated version doesn't show up, then it's probably because no one cares enough to scan it and proof it.

Some day I might actually read the series now that it is finally complete.

From watching forums I can tell you:
A scanned copy was up day of release, one with ToC / chapters the next day, and a near retail copy was released by Saturday.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Ajax

Some day I might actually read the series now that it is finally complete.

From watching forums I can tell you:
A scanned copy was up day of release, one with ToC / chapters the next day, and a near retail copy was released by Saturday.

I think it's incredibly sad that someone wastes their own time to scan and put a copy up--they gain nothing from it personally (they aren't selling it) and they only hurt the author/publisher. It's like someone keying an expensive car. They gain zero, but cause damage. That's an attitude I just don't get. And in the case of scanning, someone has to waste 2 or so hours of their life (maybe more if they proof it well). I wonder if somewhere there is an actual exchange of money--or torrent site that pays people to do it so they can have the illegal copies. Having done some formatting/scanning as a business, it boggles my mind someone would spend all that time for zero personal gain.

[MovieBird]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

I think it's incredibly sad that someone wastes their own time to scan and put a copy up--they gain nothing from it personally (they aren't selling it) and they only hurt the author/publisher. It's like someone keying an expensive car. They gain zero, but cause damage. That's an attitude I just don't get. And in the case of scanning, someone has to waste 2 or so hours of their life (maybe more if they proof it well). I wonder if somewhere there is an actual exchange of money--or torrent site that pays people to do it so they can have the illegal copies. Having done some formatting/scanning as a business, it boggles my mind someone would spend all that time for zero personal gain.

What they gain is the feeling/belief that they've helped out another human being. Here they are, providing a good that the marketplace did not, for which there is demand.

Whether they should do so is another discussion, one that has been beaten to a pulp around here.

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by MovieBird

What they gain is the feeling/belief that they've helped out another human being. Here they are, providing a good that the marketplace did not, for which there is demand.

Whether they should do so is another discussion, one that has been beaten to a pulp around here.

Ah, give the gift of stolen merchandise? Guess that hadn't occurred to me.

And no, I wasn't trying to start THAT argument again. It just boggles my mind because it's a lot of work. And I assume most of them do it anonymously so they aren't going to get a whole lot of "feel good." Or maybe I just wouldn't get anything out of it so I can't quite place myself in their position.

It's just WEIRD. They could make actual money doing this sort of thing working for authors with a backlist. Or they could join communities where they wouldn't need to be anonymous and actually be thanked for helping proof/upload public domain works...

Just boggles.