ELANTRIS Paperback

[EUOL]

Well, today is the official release date.  I'm curious to see how paperback sales go--I've been through the hardback thing once, but paperback is a whole new world for me.  

I was waiting to see what the Amazon numbers were today, and there's be a lot less fanfare than there was for the paperback.  In hardback, we got to about #2500 in books the first few days.  The paperback is around 40k right now, which is lower than it's been before, but hardly stunning.  

Makes me wonder, however, how people even find new books on Amazon.  There's really no way a small, genre book like this is going to get any sort of publicity on their site.  My guess is that people have to go browse bookstores, see the book and want to buy it, then go order it off of Amazon.  However, I see that happening far less frequently for paperbacks than hardbacks, since Amazon offers HBs at significant discounts, but paperbacks are at their regular prices.  

[stacer]

Amazon often sends out marketing emails for things like this, though it's a limited number. Mainly, I think what drives people to buy paperbacks via Amazon is a book they read at the library but didn't want to spring for the hardcover, or a book they'd been meaning to read but hadn't, or a book a friend or someone else recommended to them to look up. Not sure how else, except in the connections on things like "the page you made." I know that Melusine often comes up when viewing Elantris ("people that bought this also bought this"), and that's another way that traffic gets pulled in to other books, I think.

[Tage]

I buy hardbacks almost exclusively from Amazon, and paperbacks almost exclusively from bookstores. I don't know if that's typical, but it makes sense to me, since paperbacks are the same price, and if I go down to the bookstore I can get it now.

[EUOL]

I'm guessing that is very common, judging on the sales numbers via Amazon.  That's what I'd do too.

[Tink]

Isn't Elantris selling in bookstores as well as Amazon? I do the same as Tage: i.e. buy paperbacks in the bookstore (if I buy paperbacks. Usually I buy hardbacks because they're nicer and I don't usually buy a book unless I really like it. They're heavy to move!).

[Shrain]

Well, regardless of where people buy it, having Elantris in PB is cool. Congrats on having your first softcover run!

[Shrain]

Sorry for the doublepost, but how's this for cool: I found 2 copies of the PB of Elantris at Boston's South Shore B&N. They were even face-out too. Not bad.

[Nessa]

From the paperback:


Apparently, EUOL has an evil twin.

[Spriggan]

This Brandon Anderson person is brilliant!  Though to be honest this wouldn't be the first time people have printed "Sanderson" as "Anderson", it was a fairly common occurrence when I was in school.

[Fellfrosch]

Is there an accent on the A in Brandon? Even thought it won't change the pronunciation, I'm going to always say his name with an accent now.

[EUOL]

The thing is, a lot of people still call me Brian Sanderson in reviews and the like.

So, it looks like I've got my pen name chosen for me.  Brian Anderson.  

[fuzzyoctopus]

I'm sure I'm going to inadvertantly insult someone who has that name, but "Brian Anderson" sounds like he writes technical manuals for toaster ovens, or something equally mundane.

[42]

Actually, he writes about prisoners rehabilitating.

And he's also a major league baseball player.

[Shrain]

hahaahahaa. Goodness, who proofread that section? One would have hoped that the big, bolded name would be correct. I bought the PB yet I hadn't looked at the endmatter yet. Huh. That's funny.

Ah well, maybe in the future, EUOL could eventually evolve into Bran or Brain Anderson and not just Brándon Anderson. That could prove entertaining, though, um, the undiscerning reader might go looking for Mistborn on the wrong shelf....

[Eric James Stone]

Just make S your middle initial: Brandon S. Anderson.