I agree, but most books written today are bloated and have no reason to be so long. I mean, aside from padding it out to make the audiobook longer. That's the reason I've been told as to why word counts are so high now. Audiobooks are big business these days. Most of the time they outsell the print and ebook versions by several magnitudes. And since Audible uses a credit system (so I've been told, I don't use Audible) where one credit buys you one book regardless of length, people want to spend their credits on longer books so they feel like they've gotten more value for the money. Why buy a six hour book when you can buy a 40 hour book for the same price?
YABookgate
- Thread starter Puddleduck
- Start date
Three Gorillion Dollars
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Oct 10, 2022
Of late, I've heard that the offer for audiobook rights alone can exceed other publishing rights by ten fold. I feel like there's a bit of a gold rush going on as some audiobook companies have had some serious investment capital shunted in over the past year or so. Of course, audiobooks also pay less royalties to the artist, as Brandon Sanderson recently made some noise about.
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2021
There was a study done on YA authors recently that had stand-alone writers more likely to have a successful career overall but trilogy/series writers were more likely to be picked up and given big support by publishers.
Interesting background on why "trilogies" are a thing - apparently in the Victorian times, novels (still fairly new as an art form) were often rented rather than sold, and they were rented in three-book bundles. So writers would often split their books into three and get ALL the profits out of one renting instance rather than sharing it. So now people just tend to do a lot of trilogies OR these series that never end.
One of the authors my former agent had ONLY sold audiobook rights. The rest was self-published - very successfully.
I've heard rumours of junior editors sometimes completing books on the fucked-up author's behalf, especially if they are big names.
There's a combo of being old, rich, and not giving a fuck any more. Especcially if in his mind the story has been completed and all he's doing is writing an adaptation of the award winning TV series. If he was less of an ego-monster GRRM could make a quiet deal with a good author to finish up the books for a slice of the sweet sweet royalty pie and he could live out the rest of his life in peace.
It's not like it's fucking Ulysses Part 2, if it were something intensely complex I'd give the author a break but they are garden variety fantasy novels, it's not hard work. I agree with the analysis-paralysis angle, this is a guy who now starts weeping openly when asked about finishing the book.
OutInTheRain
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- May 6, 2022
I like them. Although the Shallan chapters are boring. The Sanderson humour is kept down to a minimum, and for the most part it's a pretty breezy read like most of his books.
- Joined
- Nov 11, 2021
They're inoffensive popcorn fantasy. Not particularly brilliant or engaging, but also not self-insert dogshit.
I'm listening to the Graphic Audio version in my car. It's taking awhile, but the overwrought production is only way I can stomach Sanderson's writing. Anything involving action or muh magic systems literally reads like a prose video game, and everything else is lousy dialogue and exposition.
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2016
Not bad, but definitely not for everyone. If you have little patience for repetition, overly involved explanations and painful at points dialog this isn't for you. If detailed worldbuilding, some above average action scenes, and an interest in figuring how the SA ties to the 85 million other works he's written in the Cosmere, probably your thing. I kind of think of it as the Fantasy genre pushed to its (possibly cliched) limits, both for better and worse.
FWIW, I've only read the first two, and I barely remember anything about them. The books just seemed to plod along. Okay will reading them, but weirdly unmemorable.
I honestly think I enjoyed the first three Mistborn books more, but that's me, and not the most popular view. I also did those in audiobook format. (Mistborn 4,5, and 6 were not very good, what the fans call "Era 2." Sanderson tried to stick in more humor, and it did not work. Plus the two main characters kind of annoying.)
I actually tried doing the Graphic Audio for Sanderson's White Sand book. Could barely hear the full cast narration over the music and sound effects. Not impressed.
I sometimes think somebody needs to create an author of Fantasy novels as a character, kind of how Kurt Vonnegut created Kilgore Trout (loosely based on Theodore Sturgeon.) To roast, as Vonnegut did with Trout and to the SF genre.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2017
So stormlight is most popular, but you think Mistborn is higher quality?
Wasn't that a discworld novel? (haven't read any, but I swore I heard that as a gimmick in one)
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2016
I honestly have no idea which is more popular overall, but among the sort who post on /r/fantasy the answer is clearly Stormlight Archive.
As far as quality goes, dunno, to be honest. I just enjoyed Mistborn Era 1 as a story far more. By that I mean I remember being impressed with the writing in the Gormenghast books, but I can't say I actually enjoyed them as stories.
Maybe. I've only read one or two Discworld novels, so I can't comment.
grapeshark77
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2021
I've read the first couple of Stormlight and have enjoyed them, breezy stuff but enjoyable. (I could not follow the damn characters in Wheel of Time despite liking it so it's nice to be able to relax your brain a bit).
I did like the 3 Mistborn books you mentioned a lot, they had a sense of fun and I was very confused why his fans seemed to act like they weren't good. Also the first book ends in a place where you don't really have to read the rest if you don't like it, might be a good starting place?
I did like the 3 Mistborn books you mentioned a lot, they had a sense of fun and I was very confused why his fans seemed to act like they weren't good. Also the first book ends in a place where you don't really have to read the rest if you don't like it, might be a good starting place?
- Joined
- Sep 25, 2021
Missed out due to Kiwifarms being down, but the OTHER Pat (and legitimately with cause to be more slimy on account of stealing charity money among other sins,) is releasing a 200 word regurgitation novella of a side character nobody cares about.
Reddit pauses the cocksucking brigade for the literary equivalent of Post Nut Clarity when they realise this is yet more of the 12 years of bullshit Pat R has been stringing them along with, and that he was - like his brother-in-name - possessed of an overly optimistic view of his writing prowess from the days of the Andals and the First Men (aka 2007).
At least GRRM can claim being old and working on multiple TV shows of his books for his delay, and he has already written 3 x as much, our mad lad Pat the Greater has neither TV show (it was dropped from production) or age to fall back on when it comes to handballing his uselessness towards some excuse like being depressed amidst his 10 million dollar earnings.
Jesus these people shit me.
Reddit pauses the cocksucking brigade for the literary equivalent of Post Nut Clarity when they realise this is yet more of the 12 years of bullshit Pat R has been stringing them along with, and that he was - like his brother-in-name - possessed of an overly optimistic view of his writing prowess from the days of the Andals and the First Men (aka 2007).
At least GRRM can claim being old and working on multiple TV shows of his books for his delay, and he has already written 3 x as much, our mad lad Pat the Greater has neither TV show (it was dropped from production) or age to fall back on when it comes to handballing his uselessness towards some excuse like being depressed amidst his 10 million dollar earnings.
Jesus these people shit me.
- Joined
- Dec 20, 2022
His Blog Post
The juicy bit
Hey there everybody,
Later this year, I’m publishing a new novella.
In a lot of ways, it’s going to be similar to The Slow Regard of Silent Things. It’s set in Temerant. It’s going to be illustrated by the fabulous Nate Taylor, and it centers on one of the secondary characters from the Kingkiller Chroniclers: Bast.
[You’re never secondary in our hearts, Bast.]
The Novella is called The Narrow Road Between Desires.
I’ve always said when a new project was happening, you’d hear it here first. So here it is, first.
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know how I typically communicate. I tend to go on tangents, digress, maunder, and only then do I get to the point and share the news.
So… Surprise. That’s the news. Right up at the top. Hope that me changing it up a bit isn’t too disconcerting.
If you want more details about the novella, odd context, and a few tangents, that’s down below the scene break. Because this is my blog, and I can put a scene break in it if I want.
***
Part 2: Cookies and Communication
(That’s right, not only a scene break. I’m giving it a subtitle, too.)
Ever since book two was delayed more than a decade ago, I’ve promised y’all that when a new book is going to be coming out, you’ll hear the news from me first.
The reason for this is a little complicated. But it boils down to this:
When you create something people like, they want to know when you’re going to make a similar thing so they can enjoy that too. If they like it a *lot* then they *REALLY* want to know when you’re doing it again.
If the thing you create is say… a batch of cookies for your kids, this isn’t a problem. They want more cookies, so you can let them know the cookie release schedule. If they forget, you can remind them. If the schedule changes, you explain why.
Even if your kids want more cookies than you can produce, and they complain, or whine, or nag at you, the whole thing is still manageable. (Though as anyone who has dealt with kids can attest to, dealing with over-insistent kids can be rough.) But it works because the number of kids is (statistically speaking) only about 2-3. This makes clear and consistent communication possible. Since you’re all on the same page, everyone gets to anticipate cookies together.
All of this goes out the window if, say, instead of making cookies, you make a book. And instead of a 2-3 kids, you end up with several million readers.
When I was first published. I thought communicating with folks online would be easy. I post an update, everyone reads it. Easy peasy. Right?
It only took a couple years to realize it doesn’t work that way. I can spend 10 hours writing a blog about how my Dad’s in hospice, explaining how the whole thing’s upheaved my life, been hard on my boys, and utterly destroyed any semblance of normalcy in my world…. Then later that day still get half a dozen people pinging me on different platforms asking me why it’s been years since my last book was out.
I can post updates on my blog, on twitter, on facebook, on Twitch, but that doesn’t mean people will read them. What’s more, all it takes is a rumor on a reddit thread to spread bad information and make people think there’s a new book coming out. If amazon’s ordering system auto-fills a publication date for Doors of Stone, people think it’s real, then get pissed when no book comes out on that not-real timeline.
It’s something that I still don’t know how to come to grips with. And the only solution I do have is the promise I made years back: That when there *is* a publication date for DOS, or I put out a different book, you’ll hear about it directly from me first. And no matter where else I make the announcement. (Like today on Twitch, for example.) I’ll also post about it here on the blog.
It’s not a perfect solution, but this way, if people hear a rumor, they can at least come over here and check out whether or not it’s real.
When I first promised that, I thought it would be easy. But at this point, I think we all know that I can be terribly naive….
* * *
Part 3: Visions and Revisions
So. For those of you who haven’t already guessed, while it’s easy for me to say “You’ll always hear about new books and their publication dates from me first.” It’s *way* more complicated than that. Truth is, things like this, can only work if your publisher has your back….
While I write the books myself, publishing them is a team effort. And as many of you already know, my publisher is DAW, and my editor is Betsy Wollheim. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
When I told Betsy I wanted to be first to break news like this to y’all, she agreed. And since then both Betsy and the other lovely folks on the publishing team have gone along with it, despite the fact that it makes things harder for them.
They have to do extra work in order to keep things secret, and it ties their hands a little. Believe it or not, promoting and marketing a book is way harder when nobody knows a book is in the works. Despite all this, we’ve all been keeping news about the novella secret, and the lovely folks at DAW have done that extra work so that I can make the announcement here first.
There are some downsides, though. If I’m going to be the first to break the news, I have to do so fairly early in the publication process so that marketing and PR people can do important things like… talk to bookstores and see if any of them would be interested in, y’know, putting it on the shelves so people can buy it.
The bad news is that since this is early in the process, it means the book is still in development. I’m still tweaking the text. Nate and I are still finishing the art. We don’t have the cover finalized yet:
[I know it’s hard to believe, but this is not, in fact, the final cover.]
The good news is that as new things *do* get finished, I get to show them off to you. That will give me stuff to share here on the blog for the next couple months. But I do still have some stuff to share:
(Click to Embiggen.)
We ended up with least 5 different graphics full of potential Bast faces that we developed while working on the illustrations….
For those of you who are into more of the professional ad-copy sort of stuff. Here’s one of the *many* different versions of the promo copy that we’ve tossed around. I’m notoriously bad at writing this sort of thing, so my main contribution is to go into their draft, re-write pieces of it, get increasingly frustrated, then eventually send it back to them saying, “Use any of this that you want to and throw away the rest!”
It’s not a *great* process, but it’s what I have.
So… yeah. There you go. Announcement made.
Final notes: Because I have an addiction to bulleted lists:
Later, space cowboys….
Later this year, I’m publishing a new novella.
In a lot of ways, it’s going to be similar to The Slow Regard of Silent Things. It’s set in Temerant. It’s going to be illustrated by the fabulous Nate Taylor, and it centers on one of the secondary characters from the Kingkiller Chroniclers: Bast.
[You’re never secondary in our hearts, Bast.]
The Novella is called The Narrow Road Between Desires.
I’ve always said when a new project was happening, you’d hear it here first. So here it is, first.
Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while know how I typically communicate. I tend to go on tangents, digress, maunder, and only then do I get to the point and share the news.
So… Surprise. That’s the news. Right up at the top. Hope that me changing it up a bit isn’t too disconcerting.
If you want more details about the novella, odd context, and a few tangents, that’s down below the scene break. Because this is my blog, and I can put a scene break in it if I want.
***
Part 2: Cookies and Communication
(That’s right, not only a scene break. I’m giving it a subtitle, too.)
Ever since book two was delayed more than a decade ago, I’ve promised y’all that when a new book is going to be coming out, you’ll hear the news from me first.
The reason for this is a little complicated. But it boils down to this:
When you create something people like, they want to know when you’re going to make a similar thing so they can enjoy that too. If they like it a *lot* then they *REALLY* want to know when you’re doing it again.
If the thing you create is say… a batch of cookies for your kids, this isn’t a problem. They want more cookies, so you can let them know the cookie release schedule. If they forget, you can remind them. If the schedule changes, you explain why.
Even if your kids want more cookies than you can produce, and they complain, or whine, or nag at you, the whole thing is still manageable. (Though as anyone who has dealt with kids can attest to, dealing with over-insistent kids can be rough.) But it works because the number of kids is (statistically speaking) only about 2-3. This makes clear and consistent communication possible. Since you’re all on the same page, everyone gets to anticipate cookies together.
All of this goes out the window if, say, instead of making cookies, you make a book. And instead of a 2-3 kids, you end up with several million readers.
When I was first published. I thought communicating with folks online would be easy. I post an update, everyone reads it. Easy peasy. Right?
It only took a couple years to realize it doesn’t work that way. I can spend 10 hours writing a blog about how my Dad’s in hospice, explaining how the whole thing’s upheaved my life, been hard on my boys, and utterly destroyed any semblance of normalcy in my world…. Then later that day still get half a dozen people pinging me on different platforms asking me why it’s been years since my last book was out.
I can post updates on my blog, on twitter, on facebook, on Twitch, but that doesn’t mean people will read them. What’s more, all it takes is a rumor on a reddit thread to spread bad information and make people think there’s a new book coming out. If amazon’s ordering system auto-fills a publication date for Doors of Stone, people think it’s real, then get pissed when no book comes out on that not-real timeline.
It’s something that I still don’t know how to come to grips with. And the only solution I do have is the promise I made years back: That when there *is* a publication date for DOS, or I put out a different book, you’ll hear about it directly from me first. And no matter where else I make the announcement. (Like today on Twitch, for example.) I’ll also post about it here on the blog.
It’s not a perfect solution, but this way, if people hear a rumor, they can at least come over here and check out whether or not it’s real.
When I first promised that, I thought it would be easy. But at this point, I think we all know that I can be terribly naive….
* * *
Part 3: Visions and Revisions
So. For those of you who haven’t already guessed, while it’s easy for me to say “You’ll always hear about new books and their publication dates from me first.” It’s *way* more complicated than that. Truth is, things like this, can only work if your publisher has your back….
While I write the books myself, publishing them is a team effort. And as many of you already know, my publisher is DAW, and my editor is Betsy Wollheim. Without them, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
When I told Betsy I wanted to be first to break news like this to y’all, she agreed. And since then both Betsy and the other lovely folks on the publishing team have gone along with it, despite the fact that it makes things harder for them.
They have to do extra work in order to keep things secret, and it ties their hands a little. Believe it or not, promoting and marketing a book is way harder when nobody knows a book is in the works. Despite all this, we’ve all been keeping news about the novella secret, and the lovely folks at DAW have done that extra work so that I can make the announcement here first.
There are some downsides, though. If I’m going to be the first to break the news, I have to do so fairly early in the publication process so that marketing and PR people can do important things like… talk to bookstores and see if any of them would be interested in, y’know, putting it on the shelves so people can buy it.
The bad news is that since this is early in the process, it means the book is still in development. I’m still tweaking the text. Nate and I are still finishing the art. We don’t have the cover finalized yet:
[I know it’s hard to believe, but this is not, in fact, the final cover.]
The good news is that as new things *do* get finished, I get to show them off to you. That will give me stuff to share here on the blog for the next couple months. But I do still have some stuff to share:
- The publication date will be Nov 14th 2023.
- There will be opportunities to get signed copies. (More on this later, as we solidify promotional plans.)
- The book will be longer than The Slow Regard of Silent Things.
- It will have more illustrations than Slow Regard, too. (More than 30.)
(Click to Embiggen.)
We ended up with least 5 different graphics full of potential Bast faces that we developed while working on the illustrations….
For those of you who are into more of the professional ad-copy sort of stuff. Here’s one of the *many* different versions of the promo copy that we’ve tossed around. I’m notoriously bad at writing this sort of thing, so my main contribution is to go into their draft, re-write pieces of it, get increasingly frustrated, then eventually send it back to them saying, “Use any of this that you want to and throw away the rest!”
It’s not a *great* process, but it’s what I have.
So… yeah. There you go. Announcement made.
Final notes: Because I have an addiction to bulleted lists:
- If you want to know more details as they become available, finished cover, how to get signed books, sneak peeks at art, etc.) here on the blog is the best place to keep checking back. But we’re also spinning up a mailing list over here at RothCo (TM) so if you want to get updates sent to you about potential events and signings and other promo stuff, you can sign up here.
- Want to pre-order a copy but don’t know where your closest indi bookstore is? You can find one here. (Indibound)
- Are you in the UK? Here’s a link to Waterstones.
- Do you run an indi bookstore and want to be part of some of the cool promotions our PR and Marketing people are planning? You can ping DAW over here.
Later, space cowboys….
The juicy bit
- Joined
- Apr 1, 2017
Meanwhile, crazy people on Reddit and other random forums have written 400,000 word web-serials that would be easily a trilogy, some of them in like 6 months.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2017
Ok so I finished Mistborn. (Buddy is borrowing Way of Kings, then we'll do a swap once he is finished.)
Now here is where I murder all of you for recommending me such trash!
Nah I'm just playing.
I think I'm going to read Larry Correia's fantasy book next.
Now here is where I murder all of you for recommending me such trash!
Nah I'm just playing.
Solid book. I can see why it's popular and why so many people like Sanderson.
I for one do appreciate his mastery of the craft. In that book at least he has a really good sense of exposition rhythm. I've seen plenty of stories - book or movie or tv - really mess up their exposition and either tell me about stuff I don't care about, or tell me just enough to make it all more confusing.
His twists and revelations in the story were also very well done. I liked the hiding of clues in plain sight and the finale was perfectly executed without any "cheats." I could also go on for awhile about how well he uses a female main character so effectively but for now we'll just say, "hey he can do it right!"
I don't know if I would place it as YA or just regular old "book" but I would definitely recommend it over a lot of other stuff I've seen. Do not regret reading. A decently excellent 4/5.
I'm considering reading the next 2, but I also like the book has a satisfying ending and that I can be content just setting it aside for now.
I for one do appreciate his mastery of the craft. In that book at least he has a really good sense of exposition rhythm. I've seen plenty of stories - book or movie or tv - really mess up their exposition and either tell me about stuff I don't care about, or tell me just enough to make it all more confusing.
His twists and revelations in the story were also very well done. I liked the hiding of clues in plain sight and the finale was perfectly executed without any "cheats." I could also go on for awhile about how well he uses a female main character so effectively but for now we'll just say, "hey he can do it right!"
I don't know if I would place it as YA or just regular old "book" but I would definitely recommend it over a lot of other stuff I've seen. Do not regret reading. A decently excellent 4/5.
I'm considering reading the next 2, but I also like the book has a satisfying ending and that I can be content just setting it aside for now.
I think I'm going to read Larry Correia's fantasy book next.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2017
Ok so a B&N near here is doing a buy 1, get 1 half off sale (I think specifically fantasy) which makes some books pretty reasonable IMO. Any other series people want to recommend I try while the sale is going on? (I mean sure I could buy more mistborn, but I'm also looking to expand). I see several on the table like Brian McClellan or John Gwynne or Sarah J Maas, am curious what would be worth my time.
Alouatta Simia Belzebul
kiwifarms.net
- Joined
- Apr 2, 2023
Sarah J Maas is mostly excuses for sex scenes, so not that one. I'm unfamiliar with the other two, and I think most of my recommendations might be too old to qualify for that kind of offer: guy gavriel kay, robin hobb, susanna clarke. I've heard Helene Wecker is good, if she's there maybe try her.
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2016
Maybe I'm too late and the sale is over, but I'd reccomend Pratchett's Discworld books.
- Joined
- Jul 30, 2017
So I found out today the sale is not on "everything" just EXACTLY what is stickered which may or may not be the same from store to store. I don't think I saw Pratchett yet but I'll check again when I go back.
i was thinking about just picking up the rest of the first mistborn trilogy just to have that complete but no book 3 with a sticker.
So I got book 2 and "daughter of the moon goddess" by sue lynn tan because I was in an oriental mood today. There are a WHOLE bunch of "book 1" on the sale table though. I was tempted to grab 1 of each just for the fun and see if any where good but I'm trying to save on space.
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2022
