Timewaster's Guide Archive

I just saw the changes to the rules and have a question.

It says one numbered book per ticket, and one ticket per person.  For the Warbreaker release I had a few people who couldn't make the signing who wanted books, and I was able to pick up a couple extras from a pile that were signed (but high numbers, after all those to people in line) and have him sign those.

Will that still be an option?  Right now I'm hoping to pick up 3-4 extra copies at least.

It seems like there are a TON of ARCs of Way of Kings that were made.  I wonder how many there were and if that is the standard number for books being published.  I've heard all kinds of people talking about them and giveaways and such for this book but rarely hear about them for others.

Brandon has talked to Michael Whelan about a landscape cover poster. He has his own print store and they are not cheap. We'll have to see what happens. (Oh, and you know how Brandon bought the original art for the WARBREAKER cover from Dan Dos Santos? The original art for THE WAY OF KINGS is so much more expensive than that that Brandon probably won't buy it...unless the book hits #1 on the NYT and his bonuses kick in; then he might have enough...)

There will be poster versions of the endpage art that so far none of you have seen. Isaac designed them as posters from the start. Also, Inkthinker's sketchbook art is a high enough resolution to do something with. At the moment I can't remember what rights we bought regarding that.

If you're coming to Dragon*Con, there will be an Art of THE WAY OF KINGS panel on Monday featuring Inkthinker and Isaac, as well as Brandon and Tor's art director Irene Gallo. I'll be there too. [EDIT: Oh, I see you said that already.]

I figured as much with stuff like the cover art.  For the stuff inside the book itself was that all digital, etc so there weren't really 'original' copies?

And thus we see that Phaz has a buttload of expendable income.

Books are cheap

Lunch costs me more than a paperback.  I think of giving a paperback to a friend as not much more than buying them lunch, except the book is typically more filling.

A good number of those are hardcovers as well (the one in the airport was, I almost exclusively read hardcovers, I just like the feel more, it adds to the experience), but with amazon and other online sites those aren't all that expensive.

And to my good friend Phaz...Hoooow the hell do you have that many copies of these books?!

Mostly to give away or lend out.  At any given time I probably have ~30ish copies on my bookshelf.  That includes what I consider to be my own copies, those that are signed/numbered/ARCs/etc.  Some of those have been read, many haven't.  Then I have a stockpile of at least 1-2 of each of his books (in hardcover and paperback) that are just normal copies I can lend out.  I tend to have a lot of dinner parties and things where people are over and we start talking about books.  It's pretty common for someone to leave with one.  Ideally I have a couple free copies of everything but have been getting short on some (like MB1).   I don't keep any kind of list (other than mentally) of who has what book or exactly how many copies are out there, but that doesn't bother me.  I just tell people to keep them if they want or better yet pass them on to a friend, then I pick up more as needed. 

For instance about a year before TGS came out (but everyone knew Brandon was finishing the series) I was traveling and picked up a copy of MB1 for my trip (was doing another reread).  I read most it on my trip, and after I got back I was going up the escalator after the tram (At DIA) and a guy noticed my book and said he heard Sanderson was going to finish WoT and was asking how good he was.  I told him I loved Sanderson and MB was a great place to start.  I ended up just giving him that copy because of how interested he was and knowing I have more at home.

Too me the cost of a book is often much much less than the amount of enjoyment I get from it (especially compared to movies and other forms of entertainment).  I'll often just be in a book store and pick up a copy of a book I already have just to have one.

Like for Way of Kings my plan is to preorder one from Sam Wellers (to be sure I get a signed/numbered copy) and make the trip out to Utah for the BYU release (should be possible but there's always a chance I can't make it, hence the other copy).  Then I'll probably grab 3 copies off amazon, one to read plus two to lend out, if those two go quick I'll grab one or two more.

A good portion of those books are also from something I did on the site Reddit.  I love the community there and wanted to do something nice so I did this.   From my calculations based on the books I sent out, the people of those that said they had a friend/family member/etc who would read them and the people from the threads or who sent me a message saying they were picking up one of the books because of that, I converted over 100 people to Brandon, and that's just the ones I know about.  I got lots of messages from people after they read the books who I'm sure will pass the joy on to their friends.  That alone was over 60 copies of his books.

Brandon once compared me to being a drug pusher for his books.  I'd say that's pretty accurate.  When I find something I love, I share it with as many people as I can (both those I know and those I don't).  Books are a big part of that but certainly not the only thing.

I plan on doing a similar thing for WoK when it comes out, and then another for The Name of the Wind a couple months before the sequel for that comes out.

I will admit, I have not had the pleasure to read Brandon’s books as of yet (I know, shame on me) but I am in the process of finishing a series before I head off to GenCon.

However, I do plan to start up Brandon’s books afterwards. Now, which book/series do you recommend I start first? I was thinking of going with Mistborn as that series is completed (well, at least I think it is), but would it be better to go with Elantris or Warbreaker first?

I guess I just want to avoid the “Oh, that’s a good series, but I would have started with ________, first.”

What do you suggest?

There is no right answer.  I've now gotten well over 150 people to read Sanderson's books, and have dealt with this issue a lot, on which book to recommend first.

It really depends on the kind of person.  If someone is a WoT fan, than obviously they should start with TGS.  If someone really likes good action but isn't a typical fantasy reader I would probably have them start with warbreaker.  If they read fantasy and like series than I would go with Mistborn.  If they typically read more sci-fi than I would recommend Elantris.

If I know someone will really enjoy his work and I want them to get as much as possible out of reading him, than I would do the following.

First, I'd start with Elantris.  Brandon's endings are simply amazing.  Once things get going it really starts to go, they are literally impossible to put down at that point.  So many people I know who have read Elantris say that the ending just blew them away more than any other book they have ever read.  It really has that impact.

After that I would probably say to move on to Warbreaker.  It's another stand alone that really starts to turn them on to one of Brandon's other major strengths, his magic systems.  The magic system in this book is really unique and intriguing.  It's also just a nice fun read.

At this point the reader is usually thinking, wow, this guy is amazing, his endings are phenomenal and his magic systems are jaw dropping awesome.  How does he do this?

Then I would have them read Mistborn.  IMO the Mistborn books have the best endings and magic systems of what's currently out there.  They will already be blown away by those aspects of his writing, but then blown away again by reading Mistborn. 

Wizard's First Rule was okay. It was shortly after that that the series really went downhill.

It certainly changed but I wouldn't say it went completely downhill.  Faith of the Fallen was probably my favorite book in the series, and it has one of the best wizard rules.

In fact, the wizard rules from those books might be the most amazing thing I have ever gotten out of any books I've ever read.