Author Topic: questions about brandon  (Read 19840 times)

guessingo

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #45 on: January 20, 2010, 09:16:20 PM »
Peter...

You missed these... I am the question man on these forums.

1. Why does Brandon use EUOL for his name? Most authors with sites use their own names. What does it stand for?

2. I am most of the way through the first mistborn book. I hope to finish it tonight (as I said, I don't have alot of time for reading right now so it takes me 2 weeks to finish a book). I don't recall seeing anything about the shard world info. I saw a post on the forum about how elantris, warbreaker, and mistborn are related as shardworld.

is that the atium? Does that appear in all the books? don't give away too much. I am at the beginning of the 5th part (I think).

3. when you publish a book. I am guessing that the commission on sales comes after it covers the advance right? So if you get an advance of $10,000 and you have a 10% commission (I have no idea what it is) on a hardcover. I would guess the publisher sells the hardcover to the bookstore for say $12/book?(how much do publishers sell books to bookstores for?) I am not sure. so you get $1.20/book, but you don't get any of the commission money until the first $10,000 is covered. Then 15% of that goes to the Agent.

4. I often see alot of bestsellers on mark down at bookstores. So they bought too many books. Do bookstores only pay full price for books they actually sell at full price? They always seem to buy too m any books so after a few months you can get a $20 book for $6.
I am also willing to bet that most authors don't sell enough to write full time.


5. Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors? I saw a presentation he did at Jordancon(it is on google video) where he mentioned the Thomas Covenant books. I have had those on a shelf for 10 years. He also liked the Dragonbone chair(I think I read part of this and didn't like it a long tiem ago_). For some reason he doesn't like Terry Goodkind personally (I read part of his first book and didn't like it). Who else does he like?

5. Is the Lord Ruler in part based on the Tyrant from Dune? This is the son of Paul Muadib. He is not in the movie and is only a child at the end of the Sci-Fi series. He is the tyrant in the 4th book. They are very similiar. Tyrants who don't raelly want to be tyrants, live along time, and are basically depressed about it all.

Patriotic Kaz

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #46 on: January 20, 2010, 09:44:14 PM »
Leon II was in the miniseries however he was a teenager instead of being 8 or 9, he even fuses with the worm. In the Movie he is just a babe yes, and Paul kills Duncan (It's him in the book, possibly someone else in the movie) to save him, when in the book Duncan gets his memories back and drops the knife.
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douglas

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #47 on: January 20, 2010, 10:33:37 PM »
Peter...

You missed these... I am the question man on these forums.

I already answered your question 2.

Vatdoro

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #48 on: January 20, 2010, 10:49:24 PM »
guessingo - many of your questions have already been answered. I'll try to answer what I can.

Sigyn answered # 1

douglas answered #2
There is nothing blatantly obvious in Mr. Sanderson's books about them sharing the same universe. I tend to believe that most people who have read all of his books have no idea there is anything at all to link them together. Mr. Sanderson has been VERY subtle about anything connecting the worlds in his books so far. Most of the information we know about the Shard Worlds is in these forums, his web site, or in interviews. And there hasn't been very much information released that way either. To learn more about the Shard Worlds, your best source of information will be to keep reading the rest of his published books, and then read The Stormlight Archive as it is published.

3. when you publish a book. I am guessing that the commission on sales comes after it covers the advance right?
Yes, the advance is literally "commissions paid in advance".
Here is a blog post by Mr. Sanderson where he touches briefly on royalties.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/778/Reader-Mail

4. I often see alot of bestsellers on mark down at bookstores. So they bought too many books. Do bookstores only pay full price for books they actually sell at full price?
The short answer is "it depends". Here's a site that discusses almost everything to do with book royalties.
http://www.fonerbooks.com/contract.htm
I think the part about "Reserve Against Returns" is interesting.
Here's another blog post by Mr. Sanderson that discusses royalties on hardcovers vs paperbacks.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/blog/403/Essay-Why-We-Like-Hardback-Books

5. Who are some of Brandons other favorite authors?
Brandon's FAQ mentions how Barbara Hambly got him interested in reading when he was a kid.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/page/21/Brandon-Sanderson-FAQ (I expect his FAQ will help answer some of your other questions)
I know he enjoyed David Eddings as a young teenager. He still reads Terry Pratchett. Robert Jordan (obviously). Pat Rothfuss

5. Is the Lord Ruler in part based on the Tyrant from Dune?
No. The best descriptions for what inspired the Lord Ruler is in Mr. Sanderson's interviews. Either video, or Audio.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/search.php?search_string=interview Click "Go"
OR
Search through the blogger version of his blog.
http://mistborn.blogspot.com/search?q=interview

Vatdoro

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #49 on: January 20, 2010, 10:57:35 PM »
This page gives some good info on what inspired the Mistborn Trilogy and the Lord Ruler.
http://www.brandonsanderson.com/book/Mistborn/

Mellington the loony Gold Misting

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #50 on: January 21, 2010, 12:56:22 AM »
douglas answered #2
There is nothing blatantly obvious in Mr. Sanderson's books about them sharing the same universe. I tend to believe that most people who have read all of his books have no idea there is anything at all to link them together. Mr. Sanderson has been VERY subtle about anything connecting the worlds in his books so far.


I would have to disagree - I'm pretty sure that any observant reader who has read at least two of his published adult works (Mistborn, Elantris, Warbreaker) will notice that, while we're obviously on different worlds, we have a stable link whose method of insertion only changes in Warbreaker.

Vatdoro

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #51 on: January 21, 2010, 01:47:47 AM »
When I said "There is nothing blatantly obvious in Mr. Sanderson's books about them sharing the same universe." I worded it like a fact, when it is really just my opinion.

I have to admit I didn't notice the connection when I read his books. It wasn't until I started to frequent these forums that I learned about the Cosmere. I also didn't read the books back to back.
I read Elantris in 2005, and the Mistborn books when they came out (2006, 2007, 2008), and then I read Warbreaker when it was published in 2009. I didn't read any of the electronic versions of Warbreaker.

I tend to forget a lot of the subtleties within a year of reading a book. Maybe I would have noticed the hint(s) if I had read the books closer together, but I kind of doubt it. According to Mellington, that makes me an "unobservant reader".  :P

But, regardless if Mr. Sanderson meant for the average reader to notice the subtle hints, this is what he said on the matter:
"You will never need to know any of this to read and enjoy my books, but there is an overarching story behind all of them, going on in the background."
source: http://bookclubs.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Fantasy-Science-Fiction/Post-Questions-For-Brandon-Sanderson-Here/m-p/362867

I'm not one of those who does a lot of speculation about the Shards and Adonalsium, but it is interesting that Mr. Sanderson designed an overarching story with these worlds that seem unconnected (to me) at first glance. I am very curious what he does with it in his future books.

happyman

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #52 on: January 21, 2010, 04:15:24 AM »
I have never heard of a college having a SFF magazine. Do they have an English degree for people who want to write this? Having so much SFF at a university that many of us percieve as being very religious is kind of odd. Does this ever come at odds with BYU administration?
You don't just perceive it as being religious, it IS religious.  Fortunately, the religion in question happens to have a very favorable view of the arts, up to and including fantasy literature.  Brandon has his own little shelf in the bookstore. (Last I checked, they still have some signed WARBREAKER hardbacks, and a whole pile of TGS.)
No need to beat around the bush.  BYU is a private school owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the largest sect of the group of religions colloquially known as Mormons.  It's mission is unapologetically and officially to provide Latter-day Saint students with the best possible education combining both faith and secular scholarship (people who are not LDS can and do attend, but that's not the point).  It operates with huge subsidies from the organized church.  There have been and continue to be hiccups (evolution, anybody?  But before jumping to conclusions, I have heard that the current biology curriculum at BYU is 100% modern Darwinism) but all in all, most of these controversies are, quite frankly, tempests in a teacup.  The hard sciences are extremely well supported, as I can attest from personal experience.

As for the school interfering with Science Fiction and Fantasy authors, I haven't heard anything about it.  Orson Scott Card managed to do OK for himself, although I understand while he was there, he was actually studying how to direct plays.
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Peter Ahlstrom

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #53 on: January 21, 2010, 04:30:56 AM »
There is no need to repost full questions from just a few posts earlier in the thread.

I didn't notice the Hoid phenomenon myself until Brandon was posting Warbreaker and his Liar of Partinel sample chapters at the same time. I think it's very easy to miss his Elantris/Mistborn connection if you don't read the books soon after each other.
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Mellington the loony Gold Misting

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #54 on: January 21, 2010, 04:43:31 AM »
Vatdoro:

Whoa...you've made something offensive which wasn't meant that way.
I read that you didn't think the majority of readers noticed, I was simply voicing that I disagree.

I am someone who likes puzzles and theories, it's the way I'm wired.

I'm not sure if reading the books only as they were published made a difference for you - I'd been following the CCL drafts of Warbreaker for a while so perhaps I picked up on things differently due to reading Warbreaker half a dozen times while waiting for new installments of Mistborn.

guessingo

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #55 on: January 21, 2010, 02:13:33 PM »
I just finished the first mistborn books and I don't recall any mention of Adonalsium? Did I miss something. I just started the 2nd one.

Thank you for the answers guys. I am not trying to start a fight on the forums with my questions about BYU.

melbatoast

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #56 on: January 21, 2010, 02:19:27 PM »
I believe Adonalsium is not mentioned until Book 3.
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douglas

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #57 on: January 21, 2010, 02:34:51 PM »
I believe Adonalsium is not mentioned until Book 3.
And only once, and only in the chapter epigraphs, and it's misspelled as Adonasium.

guessingo

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #58 on: January 21, 2010, 02:41:07 PM »
how many books has brandon sold? I see bestseller lists, but I have no idea how many sales it takes to geton there. If you are 20th on the New York Times bestseller list for a week. Is that 20,000 sales?

also, when brandon goes on book signings, is that something that the publisher pays? Or does it get taken out of his commission?

Mellington the loony Gold Misting

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Re: questions about brandon
« Reply #59 on: January 21, 2010, 02:46:33 PM »
Never mentioned by name until that point (in fact, Leras was never mentioned by name either in the books).

Lack of names and terminology when something is of significance in the Cosmere (my stalking victim politely introduces himself...using a consistent alias rather than whatever his name REALLY is) is...frequently the case.  You could almost gauge the importance of a thing by how hard we have to look for the name of it.