The Paolini Takedown Challenge

[Obsessiforge]

Peter the Insoluble (very) recently issued the following statement, in regards to Mr. Sanderson and Christopher Paolini sharing a panel.

Like it or not, Paolini has sold more books. So there are a large number of Paolini fans who will go to the panel...and get to hear Brandon and Patrick be awesome.

And it is true! Unacceptable, but true.

So, I issue the following challenge to all Sanderson fans:

By our combined mob-mentality forces, Brandon will have sold more books than Paolini by July 12, 2011

Tell your friends! tell your families! Spread the word that yes, there is a writer of compelling fantasy in this day and age actually worthy of our coin!

Who's with me?!

[Miyabi]

I have done my part.  I have only purchased 3 Paolini books and. . . uhm.

EL - 4 copies
FE - 3 copies
WoA - 5 copies
HoA - 3 copies
WB - 2 copies

Al 1 - 1 copy
Al 2 - 1 copy
Al 3 - 1 copy

EL Vol 1 Jap - 1 copy
EL vol 2 Jap - 1 copy

FE vol 1 Jap - 1 copy
FE vol 2 Jap - 1 copy

TGS - 1 copy

[Obsessiforge]

I'm waiting for Brandon to get down here to buy hardcovers for signing (though I think I have to make a decision on which ones...darned limits) and I'm gonna start getting paperbacks as gifts.

I'm impressed at your dedication though...what do you do with 5 copies of Well of Ascension?

[Inkthinker]

Paolini has sold more books than Sanderson overall? Does this take into account that Eragon was published two years prior to Elantris? That's two years of sales advantage.

Then there's also the added publicity boost Paolini got thanks to the media making a big deal out of his age, which has also tilted his sales... it's similar to the boost Sanderson got as he took on Jordan's work, except that he wasn't being bumped on the nightly news for it, and it only happened last year.

[Obsessiforge]

Be that as it may, I totally think that with a year of concentrated effort, we could pass Paolini up - Especially since the age thing isn't really a factor anymore, and the Eragon trilogy is dead.

(It was a trilogy, right? I stopped paying attention at some point)

Anyways. Totally doable. I'm pulling up some sales figures right now, to get a better idea of what we're looking at here.

[Inkthinker]

Wiki says there's a fourth untitled book not yet released.

[Obsessiforge]

Here's something interesting. According to the Barnes and Noble website, all of Brandon's published hardbacks better sales rankings than the 3 Inheritance Cycle hardbacks....and by quite a large margin, too!

I think those figures represent how popular the book is right now, based on recent sales...So if those numbers stay relatively consistent, Brandon's books should beat Paolini's in no time.

Unfortunately, the actual sales figures of books in general is apparently kept confidential (and here I thought I could find any information on the internet with enough hardheaded determination...) so we'll have to rely on Mr. Ahlstrom to let us know when he thinks we've surpassed Paolini.

At which point I'll probably go after Rowling. or Stephanie Meyers. Wouldn't that be fun?

Ratings (lower is better)

The Gathering Storm - 1,562
Mistborn (Final Empire) - 2,370
Well of Ascension - 2786
Hero of Ages - 3,299
Warbreaker - 5,986

Compared to:

Eragon - 19,262
Eldest - 21,703
Brisingr - 10,259

[ErikHolmes]

I hate to be the one to say this guys, because I'm a HUGE Sanderson fan. The guys done tons to help me out with trying to get into writing and he's just awesome. He's my favorite writer currently alive and writing.

But I just don't think you guys understand how many books Paolini sells.

He'd sold 2.5 million copies of Eragon... BEFORE the movie came out. I have no idea how many he's sold now. Double? Triple? Ten times as many?

To put it into perspective The Gathering Storm started with a print run of 1 million. I don't know if its gone to a 2nd printing yet. I can't imagine that any of Brandon's other books have had that many copies printed. I doubt Way of Kings will have that many printed. I think Brandon once told us that the Wheel of time sold like over 1000% more than any other Tor series (Which I'm assuming included his).

I hope I'm not doing his a disservice by saying that, but I would think that all of his sales together do not equal even the sales of Eragon, to say nothing of Eldest and the other books in the series.

[Obsessiforge]

I hate to be the one to say this guys, because I'm a HUGE Sanderson fan. The guys done tons to help me out with trying to get into writing and he's just awesome. He's my favorite writer currently alive and writing.

But I just don't think you guys understand how many books Paolini sells.

He'd sold 2.5 million copies of Eragon... BEFORE the movie came out. I have no idea how many he's sold now. Double? Triple? Ten times as many?

To put it into perspective The Gathering Storm started with a print run of 1 million. I don't know if its gone to a 2nd printing yet. I can't imagine that any of Brandon's other books have had that many copies printed. I doubt Way of Kings will have that many printed. I think Brandon once told us that the Wheel of time sold like over 1000% more than any other Tor series (Which I'm assuming included his).


I hope I'm not doing his a disservice by saying that, but I would think that all of his sales together do not equal even the sales of Eragon, to say nothing of Eldest and the other books in the series.

Well it wouldn't be called a challenge if it wasn't going to be challenging now, would it?

In light of this I may have to revise my latest claims - it probably will not be easy. However! If we put together our considerable [citation needed] social networking and word-of-mouth resources to work, I think its more than achievable - especially since by the end of 2010 Brandon's slated to have another couple of books out.

I guess I'm talking about literally bulldozing Mr. Sanderson out of obscurity. And if we put our minds to it, we could do that!

[Wolfstar]

I've been trying to share the love, my problem is that most of my friends that read don't read fantasy.  And if they do, they only read popular fantasy (such as Harry Potter or Twipuke).  I know for a fact that I have bought 3 copies of Final Empire for friends that have not read it.  The combined power of my nagging and purchasing the books have yielded no results.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Good luck with that, guys. However, I do have hope that over the long run Brandon will sell more books. He's not an overnight success—but he keeps getting more and more popular, as well as writing more and more.

[Obsessiforge]

Good luck with that, guys. However, I do have hope that over the long run Brandon will sell more books. He's not an overnight success—but he keeps getting more and more popular, as well as writing more and more.

That's what I was thinking! I also think that's why all his books have better sales ratings.

I think we can do it in a year though!

Come on guys! When Yeden came to Kelsier and said "Hey, man, you know what'd be neat? Bringin' down the Final Empire!" did he say "Whah? Do you have any idea how many books the Lord Ruler sells? Its called the FINAL Empire 'cause its FINAL!"?

NO! He said "That sounds awesome, little Skaa dude! Lemme get my friends together and we'll play with some chalk, spitball a bit, eh?"

And after a year of planning, building armies, and political finageling, they pulled it off!

If Kelsier and his crew can dismantle a thousand year empire in a year, I think we can beat a measly sales record! I mean, we don't even have to worry about losing the army halfway through because once books are bought they're bought!

So join forces with my, my brothers! Let us take up our arms, in the forms of our pens, keyboards, voices and, most importantly, credit cards and other devices of monetary compensation! Let us look in the face of death and say "Wait a minute...when did death get involved? I thought we were trying to get people to buy books!" Let us topple the odds in the sort of way that only an underdog really can! WHO'S WITH ME?!

/Inspirational speechrant. For more, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wRkzCW5qI

[Fireborn]

I'm all for pushing Brandon's books, but can't we just get along?  I like the Inheritance books!

[guessingo]

I am not interested in reading Paolini's books, but the kid published these things when he was like 18. For an 18 year old, they sound like they are pretty good. That being said, I am not really interested in reading anything by someone that young. I have read some SF/Fantasy blogs and it seems cool to rip on the kid.

[Wolfstar]

Honestly, I was all for Eragon when I read Eragon, although even then (I think I was 16 or so?) I noticed that it was a very derivative work.  One of my friends described it quite accurately as "Star Wars, but on dragons and without lightsabers."  And while most of us love Star Wars, it is also derivative.

And you know what?  I think I could have gotten over that.  I can read Eragon when I want "fast-food fantasy" and Mistborn when I'm looking for a filet mignon, and not be bothered by the fact that they are in two entirely separate leagues of literary skill.  What bothered me was that when Eragon became a big hit, universities worldwide offered him free creative writing classes and he turned them down because he thought his style was developing just fine on its own and he didn't want other people influencing his work.  That logic works just fine, when you're great.  But when you're merely good or mediocre, I think you should be less pretentious and accept the help.

Then I tried to read Eldest and determined that based on what I had seen, he really was a one trick pony, and I had to quit.