Timewaster's Guide Archive
Local Authors => Brandon Sanderson => Topic started by: Phaz on August 31, 2007, 09:56:43 PM
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I preordered a copy of Alcatraz from Amazon. A day or two ago I got an email saying it would be in sooner than they expected, today I got an email saying it shipped.
Isn't this supposed to be out much later?
Also, is the site going really slow for anyone else? The main page with the topics works fine, but when I click on a link (like for the MB3 cover) it takes a really long time, then times out.
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Has been happening sporadically for me too. Doesn't seem to make a difference if I'm logged in or not.
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I don't know what was up with the site slowdown. Seems to have passed. Maybe we'd gotten close to our bandwith here for the month, and so things were lethargic?
It's really strange that they'd say Alcatraz has shipped. Let me know if you actually get it. It isn't odd for books to ship or appear on shelves a week or so before the release date, but a month early? That's kind of odd. Keep me posted.
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UPDATE:
My agent found a copy on shelves this morning, so I guess it IS coming out early. Uh...surprise?
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Yea, Amazon is definitely shipping it early. My copy just got here. I can't wait to read it.
The cover looks really good on the book, even better than the digital picture.
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Yay! I was waiting to order Well of Ascension when I had two books to order from Amazon so I could get free shipping. I just ordered both. Yay! Yay! Granted, it says it likely won't ship till the 12th and then it's 5-9 days for shipping, but oh well. They're on their way (sort of). Thanks for letting us know it was released early (though I really am surprised that it was a month early. That's EARLY!).
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Ours arrived today. This is one good-looking book.
What kind of marketing push is it getting?
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So so. We wanted more, but they're doing some things, at least. Flying me to Ala Reno and to Mountains and Plains independent Booksellers conference. No co-op money on the hardback, but I've never gotten hardback co-op.
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Is that next year's summer ALA? Midwinter is in Philadelphia, I think. For the next year I'll be at both of those, guaranteed, because I'm on the Publishers Liaison Committee.
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Stacy,
No, it's not the actual ALA. It's a regional one for the west; it's in Reno this year in late October.
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Will there be a local booksigning for Alcatraz?
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Yes indeed there will! Most of them will happen in late October and early November, since I'm on book tour all through the first weeks of October. I'll be back in Salt Lake on the 18th, I think, and in Provo somewhere around the 19th. Then, we hope to have a signing somewhere in the area every weekend up through Christmas.
Two are set right now: Black Friday (the Friday after thanksgiving) at the Provo Waldenbooks and BYU preview night in November.
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Here's hoping the word of mouth is good.
Did a review copy get sent to Locus?
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No, it's not the actual ALA. It's a regional one for the west; it's in Reno this year in late October.
I'm not familiar with the regional shows; never been to one. They do tend to attract the librarians who can't afford to travel all the way to the national, though, and with it being in D.C. this year, there will probably have been a lot of Western people who couldn't make it.
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I bought my copy, I'm about halfway through it and enjoying it. But I must say...
You are a silly, silly man.
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Silly? Me? No, I'm just misunderstood.
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Out of curiosity, when a book comes out early like this, how does that affect the stats for first week sales? Is everything sold before the first week (if it had been released on time) just clumped together? I'm really curious about this.
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Unfortunately, they aren't clumped together. It's not a big deal for me, since I won't be hitting any bestseller lists on this one. However, it could really undermine my chances if I had a shot at the lists. For instance, MB2 sold around 1200 copes and to get on the lists in a slow week you need 2000 copies. We're hoping MB3 will hit the NTY list, though we'd need--as I said--2000+ copies to even have a shot at at.
Anyway, if MB2 had come out a month early and we'd sold those 1200 copies at 300 a week across four weeks, then we would never have gotten the attention at Tor that we did.
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That hardly seems fair. The world should be fair!
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I had the book with me at work and a co-worker noticed. I told her about it and how she could possibly get a signed copy in Provo (assuming there are some left), and so she's planning to buy a copy for her granddaughter. Yay!
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Cool! Thanks!
Though, I do think the signed copies are gone. They zipped out the door within about two days of my posting that there were numbered copies up for grabs.
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My mom just bought seven copies for her library. Hurray for libraries!
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The husband-creature and I just finished reading Alcatraz together (twas his first time reading it) and loved it. He was cracking up and just about died laughing at the ending- a wonderful shot at Harry Potter. ^^
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O gee, what to do this weekend. Let's check the Denver tourism guide. I'm sure there is some interesting events going on this weekend. Let's see what celebs are in town: Art Garfunkel, Al Gore, and Brandon Sanderson. Hum, maybe I'll go see one of them.
http://www.denver365.com/Events/index.php?app=eventDetail&id=78359
Hey, Brandon, have you thought of doing a presentation and book signing for Alcatraz in a library or would that be too controversal?
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How about in a preison?
First, I rearranged some shelves in a Barnes and Noble so your Alcatraz book would be cover forward instead of spine forward. Okay it wasn't so much a "rearranging" but a "closing of a gap" on the other end of the shelf. One thing to note is there were not very many books between you and Rowling's Harry Potter. Maybe that will draw in some readers.
Second, I finished reading the book last night and I have a question. Did you ever consider doing anything to off-set the authorial interruptions? I have an older copy of The Princess Bride and all the scenes between the boy and the grandfather are in red ink. Did you consider that or maybe a different font? Possibly a font that looks like handwriting so it might look like scribbles in the margins. Just curious.