Breaking news on A Memory of Light: three volumes (maybe) & cover art

[Werthead]

A Memory of Light has been split 'maybe' into three books (i.e. it will be split in three but Tor are trying to appease the fanbase by saying it could still be two), the first of which will be called The Gathering Storm and released in November 2009. And yes, you'll have to wait 12 months for the next one. And 12 months for the one after. Although Sanderson expects to have the whole thing finished by the end of the year at the latest.

In addition, that is really quite a hideous cover. It's even worse than Knife of Dreams. Rand breakdancing in front of a haunted house? Okay...

From the site that broke the news:

We’ve just had news from the publisher of Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series that the last installment will be split into two or possibly three parts. Tentative plans are to publish book 12 in November this year, with two more volumes following in 2010 and 2011.

Robert Jordan passed away in September 2007 while he was still writing what was planned to be the last installment in the series. It was announced that Brandon Sanderson would take up Jordan’s pen and complete the last book, to be entitled A Memory of Light. A publication date of November 2009 was scheduled.

Wheel of Time fans have been eagerly anticipating the last book and the series and will be pelased to learn that they will still get a new book, as promised, in 2009 - The Gathering Storm will be published this coming November in a large format paperback. (I.e., lots cheaper than a hardcover!) The price is currently EUR 21.99, though this may change (we’re trying to make it cheaper, obviously!)

So no hardcover release either. Apparently.

[Miyabi]

*decided it's time to get off my butt and go buy Eye of The World*

[douglas]

If this gets confirmed, I expect Tor will be getting quite a few angry emails from fans upset over the artificial delay of the second and third portions.  One of them might be from me.

[Bookstore Guy]

the trade paperback will only relate to an additional release in the UK. they always release a trade paperback with the hardback for big releases - not to mention that 21.99 for a trade size is an insane price. most trade sizes go for 12.99 - 15.99 EUR.

there WILL be a hardback release.

[Miyabi]

Well here was some good news for all of you opposed to the splitting decision.  Brandon will push for quick release and for an omnibus.

If it is split into chunks, I will push Tor to release them as soon as is reasonably possible and I will push hard for an omnibus edition at the end.

[JCHancey]

What can I say? I almost cried when I saw the cover and almost died when I saw three books!!!!!!!!! This is utterly ridiculous! I cannot believe they are even considering splitting it into three. Gah. Tor will be getting angry emails and whatnot. *general hatred towards this news*

[Hero of Ages]

I have a feeling that this is mostly a hoax.  Brandon has been as upfront about AMOL as he feels he can, and he has only talked about the book POSSIBLY being split into 2 books.  I wouldn't worry too much about it until TOR makes an "official" announcement.  Also there is absolutely NO way that they won't release this as a Hard Back book first.  I think that just about every volume so far has had a HB release this will be no exception.

[ryos]

As long as each volume has a real ending, I'm cool with whatever. It's been so long since I read a WoT book (I stopped at eight) that I would have to reread them all anyway, and that will take time.

It makes good business sense for them to spread out the releases, after a fashion. Since any WoT is practically guaranteed to be a big seller, they'll want to spread those revenues out over multiple fiscal years if they can. Also, two volumes pretty much means twice the money in this case. I'll be shocked if they don't split it at least in two, but three doesn't sound outlandish. That would put each volume at around the size of a Mistborn book.

An omnibus edition also makes great business sense - even more money!

Sometimes, artificial book splitting feels sleazy and cheap. It seems to be all the rage at Deseret Book and its imprints; they use wide line spacing, margins, and large type to inflate the physical size of books. They even sometimes insert extra blank pages between chapters for no apparent reason. Then, they partition series into almost arbitrary chunks that end abruptly. For example. the Leven Thumps series has enough story for a trilogy, and will clock in a five books by the time it's through. The only book in the series with an actual ending was the first.

However, in this case it pays to remember how very much book we're talking about. Just imagine Mistborn all crammed into one monster volume. I hear the publishing industry is tough these days, and I'm willing to let them milk their cash cow as long as they're not too blatant about it.

[Miyabi]

This is slightly off topic, but:

Ryos:  If you look at history industries such as fiction novel publishing, tabloids, and things like video games in more recent history, do just as well if not better in economic slumps due to the fact that people want some sort of escape from their day to day lives.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

I think most people who have been paying attention have accepted the two volume thing by now, but three would make just about everyone go "huh?"

Even if this turns out to be legit in every detail, it will still surprise me if it does end up being three books rather than two. If, for example, they take the old theoretical first half and split it according to viewpoint characters, that is going to majorly tick everyone off.

[Alatar]

Well, as you know, I have some "experience"  with splitting books.
Generally speaking, when you split a book that's because
a) It is large enough.
b) You want to win more money with it.

History concerns, viewpoints, climax and endings is no concern for the guys who decide to split the books. So, as Ryos said, the endings will be blunt. they would probably end when there is a big viewpoint and story jump (there should still be some stories going on separately unti they gather in TG).
Of course, with BS and Harriet pressing to keep it as whole as it can, maybe they try to fins some way to split it coherently. We may have some hope.

Anyway, this seems to me as a premeditate "leakage", something to test the level of rejection people have towards the splitting. I believe they will do it anyway, but maybe if there are riots and a worlwide general strike, they decide to release them every 6 months instead of 12.......... yes, that's irony, I think they will go ahead with this and to hell with everything else.
I just hope protests make them reconsider the price. As I convinced my wife to stop buying the translated books, we bought all 3-11 books in English paperback, and they went for around 10-12 $, I don't remember exactly. Now, one paperback book would be 66 $...... no good, not really good. 

[douglas]

I'm assuming this is not official and quite possibly wrong in every last detail until and unless it gets confirmed directly by Tor, Brandon, or Harriet.  If it does get confirmed I'll be sending off an angry email, but I doubt it will.

I've been expecting a split into two books for a while now, and I'll happily pay normal hardcover price for each of them.  Three seems a bit much, but would just annoy me a little.  Delaying release of the second and (possibly) third chunks when they're already finished, though, that would be inexcusable.

[Peter Ahlstrom]

Only about half the book is finished at this time, unless you mean they'll be well finished by Nov. 2010, which is probably true.

[kevinpii]

I don't know about anyone else but that cover looks a little suspect to me. The quality is really bad, it says on it, its a sequel to crossroads of twilight, and correct me if I'm wrong but didn't Rand only lose part of his hand and not the whole thing. As far as it being split into three parts I wouldn't be real happy about it but I'm sure I would deal, i mean I have waited this long I'm sure I could wait a little longer. This whole thing just seems a little bit hokey to me.

[Shard]

Darryl Sweet gave us another horrible cover, what else is new? I figure by this point making fun of the covers has become a tradition and pastime in the Wot Fandom. It certainly hasn't stopped us reading it and hasn't stopped others from starting it. Though looking at the cover I wonder if that image isn't some how spliced together peices.. though it really does look like his style.