If you didn't hear the news, we got a call on Wednesday informing us that THE GATHERING STORM had hit the number one spot on the New York Times hardcover Best Seller list. This was accompanied by hitting number one on the independent bookseller's list and being the bestselling hardcover fiction book at Barnes & Noble and at Borders. (And at the last one, I believe, we were the overall #1 book regardless of genre, which is impressive.) We did, in fact, knock Dan Brown out of the #1 spot—by a wide margin.
How do I feel? Relieved. When I first began this project, my largest fear by far was that I would disappoint the fans. As I have stated before, I consider this your book and not mine. That doesn't mean I'm writing it to please the fans specifically—I'm writing these novels to be the best blasted books that they can be, narratively, structurally, and characterizationally. (Is that a word?) My goal is not to produce fan moments, per se, but to produce the best story possible, if that distinction makes any sense.
Either way, the last four Wheel of Time books had all hit #1, and I worried a lot that it would be on my watch where we failed to do so. It is a testament to the beloved nature of the series, mixed with the ardor of the readers, that we have weathered a change in authors without a dip. We actually outsold KNIFE OF DREAMS' first week, which is amazing.
The thing is, I don't feel I can take much—if any—credit for this. The reason this book turned out as well as it did (and thank you all for your kind emails, posts, and reviews) was because of the work Robert Jordan did before he passed away. He literally lay on his deathbead dictating scenes for you, too weak to write. He loved his readers dearly, and those of you lucky enough to meet him know that he was a truly kind and generous man.
Beyond that, the strength of this book is directly tied to the excellent storytelling that came before it. It doesn't take much experience with construction to realize that the foundation of a building is far more important—structurally—than the roof. Robert Jordan's skill with worldbuilding, characterization, and plotting was amazing. Working on these books has only increased my respect for his abilities.
None of you ran out to get the book because of me. My job was, and continues to be, to stay out of the way and let you enjoy the story that Robert Jordan wanted you to have. I am honored and humbled that so many of you have enjoyed the book. Thank you for what you have done in giving me a chance to prove myself to you.
Somewhere, Robert Jordan is smiling.
Today I did twelve phone interviews with radio shows, which was quite an experience. I thought I'd only be doing four or so, but radioland had other ideas. The interview I enjoyed most was the one for the Louie b. Free show—I'd post a link, but their archives seem to be down. If they ever come back up I'll let you know.
Tomorrow I head to Washington D.C. for the next stop in my book tour for THE GATHERING STORM. If you're in the area, please drop by! For an idea of what my signings are like, check out the Storm Leader reports posted over at Dragonmount. There are also recordings of some of the live streams that have been set up at a few of the signings; you can check those out here. (Quality varies but at least you'll get the general idea.)
If I'm not coming anywhere near you or you've missed me at my previous stops, but you still want a signed copy of THE GATHERING STORM, WARBREAKER, or ALCATRAZ 3, I've put up a page explaining what booksellers you can get them from. Once the books have been out a year and it gets hard to find the hardbacks in stores, I'll be offering them here on the site alongside my older titles. Until then, please support your local bookseller.
You also may have noticed that I've put up a new item in the store—a holiday bundle of all three Mistborn hardbacks (signed) at a special price with the popular Steel Alphabet Medallion thrown in. And a note on shipping for the holiday season: to make sure a package arrives by December 24th, December 7th is the last day my assistant Becky can take orders with standard shipping. Orders upgraded to Priority shipping can be made as late as December 12th (the Mistborn bundle gets a free upgrade).
In the most recent Writing Excuses podcast, Dan, Howard, and I talk about how to write without plot twists. Give it a listen to see what I mean by that.
I was able to find a few moments, however, and thought I'd say a few extra things about today's signing. As Peter pointed out, this is an important signing for us. It's the first 'ticketed' signing I've done--where a bookseller has actually been forced by my arrival to rent out an auditorium space in order to hold those who (presumably) are going to come.
Before I got into this business, I would sometimes feel annoyed at signings where I was required to buy the book from that particular store (or buy a ticket) in order to get things signed. I didn't realize the cost involved for a bookstore in extra staff and (in some cases) auditorium space. It gets frustrating for booksellers to do that, then have everyone bring books they bought on Amazon. (I had one signing recently where 150 people came to get books signed, but the store only sold 25. That was okay, as they hadn't rented an auditorium, but they probably didn't make any money, considering the extra staff and time spent preparing and promoting.)
Regardless, my big worry is that we'll do this signing, and only 50 people will show up, making the Tattered Cover lose a ton of money on the event space. So if you live near Denver and know some sf/f fans, please pass along the news. I will be doing a reading and a Q&A, and we'll have bumper-stickers as well as other cool things. (We'll probably be giving away a big poster print of the cover, for instance, which I will sign.)
I hope to see many of you there. The Tattered is a great store, and deserves your support. As a note, I think that I WILL be able to sign multiple copies of the book (and my other books) so long as you buy one book from Tattered. In fact, I've heard that they'll let others come in and get books signed even if they didn't buy one or buy a ticket, once everyone else is done. (I'm not sure how this works, never having done it before.) Also, I think that buying Warbreaker from them will get you in too. (I'll check with them before.)
There's one other thing I want to mention. If you're not religious, you will probably find this amusing, but I wanted to speak out to those who might be uncomfortable coming to this event as it is on a Sunday. It's actually my first signing on a Sunday, as I usually ask for this day of the week off so I can have some time to rest and go to church.
Tor has been very accommodating toward me in this area, and I have several of the Sundays on this tour off. They felt it important that we do this event on this day, however, and I agreed to their request in the spirit of meeting them half-way. It had already been scheduled when I reminded them of my Sunday request, and canceling it didn’t seem right.
I believe that how people spend their Sundays (or Saturdays, depending on your religion) is a personal decision, one that shouldn't involve finger-pointing. It's between you and your God, and I'm not going to judge what is good for your family and your own well being. If you don't want to come, I understand and will leave signed books behind that you can pick up next week. If you feel that listening to me read is a good activity for this day (I’ll try to make it so) then I’m happy to see you there.
Personally, my biggest regret is that by doing this, I require bookstore staff to work who might otherwise wish to be home with their families. But I do love the Tattered Cover, and think that it is important to support independent booksellers. Sometimes, one must do as the job requires, and right now my duty is to make this a wonderful, successful signing for all involved.
Either way, thanks for reading.
Peter again. Brandon asked me to give a shout out about the Denver signing on Sunday, November 1st. (Today's early afternoon signing in Las Vegas is about to start, so if you're in the area, head on down!)
The Tattered Cover is one of the best independent bookstores in the nation, and they've taken good care of Brandon in the past—even before he was picked to finish the Wheel of Time. For big events the Tattered Cover rents an adjacent auditorium for the author to speak in, and tomorrow's appearance is no exception. For that reason—to cover the costs of renting the hall—this is a ticketed event; the first 275 people to buy a copy of THE GATHERING STORM from any of the Tattered Cover's three locations will get a ticket to the auditorium to see Brandon speak. (He'll most likely be doing a reading, a short presentation, and/or a Q&A session.) Then everyone in the auditorium gets their books signed.
If you've already bought your copy of the book elsewhere, or if the 275 hall tickets have run out, you can get a free ticket to the overflow section starting Sunday at 1:00 p.m. (the store employee I talked to estimated there would be 200 of these available). Everyone in the overflow will be able to hear Brandon talk but must wait to see him until the actual signing line starts filing past.
Brandon wants to make sure that at least the event hall gets filled up to make this worth the Tattered Cover's while. Strong independents like this sticking their necks out for authors are still a huge portion of the lifeblood of the book market. For event details please see the Tattered Cover's website.
Peter, Assistant to Mr. Sanderson, here again with an update. I'll probably be doing this a bit in the next few weeks while Brandon is on tour, since he's spending every decent stretch of time not signing books either sleeping or working on TOWERS OF MIDNIGHT. I hope he'll be able to chime in from time to time, but if not, he's at least posting quick status updates on Twitter and Facebook (many of them about where to find signed books—he's not just signing books in the official tour stores, but in any bookstore he happens to pass along the way, including airport bookstores).
Quick update on the Sam Weller's signed and numbered copies that 493 of you ordered. They started shipping them out last Thursday and the books started being delivered on Tuesday. But unfortunately after five days of shipping books and getting over 80% of them out the door, the US Post Office suddenly balked at the way the books are packaged (even though they didn't say a word the previous five days or every other time Sam Weller's has done virtual signings for Brandon). So a bit fewer than 20% of them had to be repackaged (Sam Weller's is picking up the tab for the difference in shipping cost) and didn't make it out the door until yesterday or today. If you're still waiting for your book to arrive, Sam Weller's apologizes profusely and we all hope you get your book soon.
The most recent Writing Excuses podcast is about how to turn an idea into a story. And the most recent MISTBORN 3 annotations cover Elend's conversation with Yomen and Vin's identity acceptance, TenSoon's escape and Kandra Blessings, Marsh and the Inquisitors' metal triangles, and how Hemalurgy works.
Hi, Brandon's assistant Peter here with a quick update. Brandon is currently ensconced deep within the BYU Bookstore signing and numbering all their copies of THE GATHERING STORM in preparation for the release in a little over two hours. If you're anywhere near Utah Valley right now, consider heading over there to take part in the fun. The Storm Leaders headed up by Tamyrlin of WoT fansite Theoryland are working the crowd and handing out freebies. They've also set up several ways you can follow the release party from afar: they're tweeting at @MidnightRelease and they'll have a live webcam feed starting around 10:00. (If you're nowhere near the BYU Bookstore right now but still want to see Brandon and get your book signed, check out the full tour schedule.) The wait is finally over!
- 10:06 's greatest pet-peeves are the noises people make when they eat with their mouths open. Smick-smack, munch-crunch! #fb #
- 10:08 @dresdencodak I prefer to costume as Pulp Noire heroes. Any purchased costume elements therefore become snazzy wardrobe additions. #
- 10:12 @kelee1557 That sucks, what's s/he saying? #
stuff i'm reading
Page Summary
![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif)
mistborn : #1 [+17] - mistborn : Updates, Signed Hardbacks [+3]
- reinhart_sariel : (no subject) [+0]
- mistborn : A Few More Words about Denver [+3]
- mistborn : Tattered Cover Denver Signing Tickets [+1]
- mistborn : Housekeeping, Sam Weller's shipping [+5]
- mistborn : Release party NOW (and live feed) [+3]
- reinhart_sariel : (no subject) [+0]