AMoL to be Divided into 3 Volumes - What would RJ say?

[Ludmian]

The more I think of the book split the less I like it.

 

The author wanted it to be one book however long it might be. Period. You can say that he had been wrong many times. Yes, he had. He knew that too. But this one time he desperately wanted to be right. It's pointless to discuss whether he would have changed his mind now. He could have done a million of things. He could have convinced TOR to publish AMoL in one book however long it might be. He could have returned whatever advances he got for the book and gone to a publisher who would be willing to invent a new binding process for him. Or he could have founded a magazine of his own and publish AMoL in 24 monthly issues over two years. We can't possibly know. All those "I'm sure RJ would/wouldn't have changed his mind if he were alive" are your opinions. That he wanted AMoL to be the last book in the series is a fact. This was the last wish of the writer who invested a great part of his life into the series and continued to work on it even when he was seriously ill. Don't you think we should respect his wish?

 

Now imagine that you are his publisher and friend (?). What could you do to respect this wish? The simplest thing you could do is, well, actually publish AMoL in one volume, as RJ wanted.

 

But imagine that the book has grown so big that it's become impossible to publish it in one volume. Naturally you have to find some compromise between what your friend wanted and what you actually can do. What are you going to do in this case, provided you still have some respect for your deceased friend? Naturally, the closest thing to what RJ wanted would be to publish it in two (or whatever number is necessary) volumes and sell them as a set: "A Memory of Light. Vol. 1." A Memory of Light. Vol. 2". Not exactly what RJ wanted, but people would have understood that you had only the best intentions in mind.

 

All right, let's suppose that for some reason you couldn't publish the volumes simultaneously. (I can't imagine what those reasons might be, but let's suppose you do have some very serious reasons not to be able to do that). What would you do in such a case, provided you still care for RJ? Most likely you would have released "A Memory of Light. Vol. 1" and "A Memory of Light. Vol. 2" as close to each other as possible.

 

But imagine a different situation. You don't give a damn about your dead friend. You couldn't care less about the series as such. But you do realize that AMoL is the last book from your most popular author that you will ever be able to publish. What will you do in that case? Right. First you divide the book into a greater number of volumes than absolutely necessary (though, naturally, not too many volumes so that not to piss people off completely). After that you throw the beautiful poetic title the author had in mind for his last book into the dustbin and give the new books new cliched titles. There's no more actual AMoL, why then should a title remain? And finally you publish the resulting three novels a year apart from each other just before the holiday season (they say the other two novels could be published earlier, but does anyone actually believe that?). And of course you invent a hundred of feeble reasons to justify what you have done. All of them can be easily refuted, but do you really care about what people write on Internet message boards?

 

In 99% cases I would agree with those who say that people have a right to make money. Sure they have. But there are some ways to make money that I cannot call right. Betraying your dead friend and the person whom you owe a lot (for RJ's success was Tor's success as well), ruining the final of his lifetime's work is definitely among them.

 

I do hope that this decision was imposed on Harriet and she doesn't agree with it. After all, she owes Tor advances for 8 books that will most likely never be published (the two prequels, three outrigger novels and the first Infinity of Heaven trilogy), so she hardly could set her own rules in dealing with Tor. The fact that Tom Doherty could make such thing to WoT already makes me feel bad, the last thing I want to know is that Harriet is on his side. And of course I don't blame Brandon Sanderson. Judging by his blog he is very serious and enthusiastic about the project, as well as a really awesome person in general, although now he has to find justifications for his publisher's more than questionable actions (what other choice does he have?)

 

On a side note. Why does everyone keep on saying that WoT was planned to be a trilogy? I remember seeing a quote stating that among WoTmania's random quotes, but it's most likely a joke. At least I don't remember RJ saying in any of his interviews that he initially planned a trilogy. Somewhere he said that his initial plan when he began writing was 5-6 books. Does anybody have a link to a reliable source where it's mentioned that WoT was meant to be a trilogy?

[Alaggor]

The more I think of the book split the less I like it.

 

The author wanted it to be one book however long it might be. Period. You can say that he had been wrong many times. Yes, he had. He knew that too. That he wanted AMoL to be the last book in the series is a fact. This was the last wish of the writer who invested a great part of his life into the series and continued to work on it even when he was seriously ill. Don't you think we should respect his wish?

 

 

I say a agree with you. Moreover you know, as I do, that we both are going to read the books no matter what they do to it. Because we know that the Ending was written by RJ.

 

I think that Hariet is the person behind the "money making speculation". Because she is the person who make the decisions. That is my personal opinion. You can't blame Mr. Sanderson for the 3 volumes. We know from his blog that he is going to get the same amount of money as if it was 1 or 3 books. So he has no reason to make such decision. I think that he has a great respect to RJ. So he probably won't split AMoL. But this as we know is not his decision.

 

Hariet has already sold the rights for filming and for comics adaptation. So for me there is no doubt that she is behind all of this.

 

Think about this for a moment. You have a legacy and it's up to you to grand the final wish of your husband. The publication of the ending. And you take actions. And then the fans became frustrated. There is really something going on, don't you think? If you read this part of the forum you'll find ALOT of frustrated fans. RJ respected his fans. He respected his work. And he became the best. As I said, no mater what decisions they make, I WILL by the last books. Sooner or later the Hariet will be forgotten and RJ is the person that we will remember.

 

One last thing: did you know what they say about the deviding of AMoL. One of the main reasons is the frustration that bookstores have about big books. Did you believe that? Seriously, this is not just another book? This is the WoT! Yesterday I went to a local bookstore and I asked the "Can you find a place in here for a really large book that is probably going to be number one in NY Times bestsellers?". You should go to your local bookstore and ask for yourself! Also I've found a lot of other big books in this same store, one of witch was half the lenght of my body - around one meter. And I doubt that they have sold more than a few copies form it.

[Jestr1323]

Earlier in this post, someone had said that Robert Jordan may have been pushing for this to be the last and final book because he knew that his time was growing short. I believe that that is a very reasonable conclusion. If he knew that his time was coming, why would he just write what he could and then leave notes for someone else to finish. Of course he wanted to finish the book himself and could only do that with one more book.

 

I believe that if he could have, he would have put as much into this as Mr. Sanderson is if not more. Could Robert Jordan have done this quicker and with less words. OF COURSE!! It is his creation after all, but I do believe that if he had the choice, he would have made as many books as it would take to finish off the series.

[Serick Kerani]

Earlier in this post, someone had said that Robert Jordan may have been pushing for this to be the last and final book because he knew that his time was growing short. I believe that that is a very reasonable conclusion. If he knew that his time was coming, why would he just write what he could and then leave notes for someone else to finish. Of course he wanted to finish the book himself and could only do that with one more book.

 

I believe that if he could have, he would have put as much into this as Mr. Sanderson is if not more. Could Robert Jordan have done this quicker and with less words. OF COURSE!! It is his creation after all, but I do believe that if he had the choice, he would have made as many books as it would take to finish off the series.

 

I have to seriously disagree with you there Jestr I don't think Robert Jordan would have throttled his series to wring every tiny litle dollar sign possible out of it. He wouldn't have done that. He cared about his many,many,many fans enough not to string them along and pull the series out like that. I agree that Brandon actually is trying to do his best but the could have made it into two books not three. So what if one book was thicker that the other, Robert wouldn't have. I think that he would've wrapped this series up with two books maximum.

[Jestr1323]

I agree about the money Serick. I didn't mean to imply that he would just keep going so he could make an extra buck or two. What I meant was that I think he would have put as much info into this book as he could and obviously could have done it better and quicker than anyone else.

[Serick Kerani]

I agree that he could have but I guess we will never know how he would have done it.

[CUBAREY]

I think that three volumes is probably a money grab . . . and I find that the argument relating to the size of the novel is disingenuous at best.  I own a few books (and granted they are large) that contain considerably more than 750k words.  If any of you are familiar with the Riverside Books (Milton, Shakes, Chaucer) you'll know that Shakes for instance has his entire body of work between two covers--that includes all of his sonnets.  If they were really smart and after the money, they would have done something similar for the last book.  I know that I would have purchased it. 

 

 

Problem is That the single volume Milton, Shakes, Chaucer, etc,  books are rather expensive and are purchased by a limited number of people. You are talking about a book that is going to be a New York bestseller if correctly marketed. Do you have any idea how much the sales would be effected if the book came out in one volume and cost 60-70 Dollars. Yes many true fans would pay the price, but the more casual Jordan Fan?

 

 

One last thing: did you know what they say about the deviding of AMoL. One of the main reasons is the frustration that bookstores have about big books. Did you believe that? Seriously, this is not just another book? This is the WoT! Yesterday I went to a local bookstore and I asked the "Can you find a place in here for a really large book that is probably going to be number one in NY Times bestsellers?". You should go to your local bookstore and ask for yourself! Also I've found a lot of other big books in this same store, one of witch was half the lenght of my body - around one meter. And I doubt that they have sold more than a few copies form it.

 

And how many copies of these gigantic books do you think your local bookstore stocks. And what is the retail price of these books. Problem with having a popular book be 800,000 to 1,000,000 words is that in order to not piss off its customers the bookstore would have to stock a large number of them which obviously takes up a lot of room. Moreover such a book would have to sell in the US for 60 to 70 dollars, instead of 25 to 3o for a normal hardback copy. This would mean that the total sales would go down (people are much more willing to pay $75 dollars for three books spread out over two years then spend $60 to $70 dollars at once for one book). This would seriously cut into the profit of the bookstores and publishers which whether you like it or not is important since they are in business to make money.

 

Lastly, your view of Harriets motives are not only dead wrong but insulting. The wife and long time Editor of the creator of WOT is a much more trustworthy person to insure the legacy of Rj's writings then a snot nosed fan who is pissed because he will have to wait to get the final ending. Moreover, it is obvious that Harriet was juggling several concerns when she agreed to split the book into three: Brandon was telling her that the final book was likely going to be 750 to 800k words. Brandon assured her that he could split the book naturally into three pretty equal parts. The fans and bookstores had been told to expect a book by the end of 2009. Tom Doherty and TOR were concerned that the bookstores would be seriously annoyed if a book the size of brandon's estimate was presented to them. It was going to take Brandon until late 2010 or early 2011 to finish the entire book. The fact that booksellers are demanding smaller books is true visit your local store and look at the page count of the NY TIMES Best Seller Fiction books. Her decision was rational and respected both RJ's legacy and the realities of life.

[Alaggor]

The fans and bookstores had been told to expect a book by the end of 2009. Tom Doherty and TOR were concerned that the bookstores would be seriously annoyed if a book the size of brandon's estimate was presented to them. It was going to take Brandon until late 2010 or early 2011 to finish the entire book. The fact that booksellers are demanding smaller books is true visit your local store and look at the page count of the NY TIMES Best Seller Fiction books. Her decision was rational and respected both RJ's legacy and the realities of life.

 

Who came up with that idea? Who tell us that the book (not the first part of it, but the whole thing) is going do be out this year. I don't mind the waiting. If RJ was still alive do you think that he will write it till the end of 2009? Do you think that they didn't know that the book will be 800k words long? I think that they knew that it will be imposible to publish the book in 2009. RJ left 50k just before year and a half. Soon after that we get "the end of 2009" deal. They knew that it is impossible task from the beginning. Now they say - we promise to give you the book in 2009 and we'll keep that promise - here you go, we give you a book.

 

As I said: a LOT of fans are mad with that decision. If you make the fans not happy you have failed. I don't care when the book will be out. I care about RJ wishes. As a fan I stay by him not by Hariet, no matter what it takes to make his decision come true.Do you know what Tolkien son did with his legacy. He did EXACTLY what Tolkein wanted. He took care about his father legacy.

 

You know that we are going to by the books. And we are going to enjoy them.  But this is not how you do things. This is not the way to deal with the fans. This is not how you give them the news regarding AMoL. And afrear all you did you don't came out with cheap excuses.

[seasnake]

CUBAREY has it.  The difference between holding onto one fat volume of Shakespeare that will be bought by the town's High School English teacher and the conclusion of a NY Times Bestseller is remarkable.  Say there are 100 fans who are planning on buying from your local Barnes and Noble.  Imagine trying to store 100 such books and market them at a price that will generate the sales.  Also, imagine how much more expensive it is to bind such a big hardcover vs. three paperbacks.  It all adds up.

 

Throw in that keeping it one big book wouldn't get us the story any sooner, and I'm okay with releasing it in 3 volumes.  My gripe is I wish they were all called A Memory of Light volumes 1, 2, and 3.  However, I'm okay with the different titles if they are all tabulated a new book in the Wheel of Time so that it looks consistent with the others.

 

To Allagor:

Brandon Sanderson spoke very candidly about the pull of bookstores and the desire to have a coherent part of the final chapter out this year.  He also talked about how he was contracted to do 200k on the project, and that while that was unrealistic given the amount of stories at the time people thought that may be reasonable.  I find his story credible, and so I can't get mad about it.

[Majsju]

Problem is That the single volume Milton, Shakes, Chaucer, etc,  books are rather expensive and are purchased by a limited number of people. You are talking about a book that is going to be a New York bestseller if correctly marketed. Do you have any idea how much the sales would be effected if the book came out in one volume and cost 60-70 Dollars. Yes many true fans would pay the price, but the more casual Jordan Fan?

 

I paid around €15 for my copy of Shakespeares collected works, so it would not necessarily jump up to an insane price range.

 

Granted, the print is so small that casual reading is a wee bit less convenient thatn one might wish for, but you can not get everything....

[lt;(^-^)gt;]

I've been thinking about the three way split, and I wanted to throw in my opinion.  This isn't in response to anyone.

 

It's one book.  Sanderson said he thinks of it that way, and of course RJ planned it and wrote much of it that way.  I don't think any interruption (such as having to wait for the next release) will affect my enjoyment of the book as a whole.  If you are so impatient that waiting actually makes a difference in how much you enjoy the book, that is a shame.

 

The three way split forces a certain plot structure (you need 3 climaxes, for example) which might not match up with what RJ wanted to do, if he wrote the book as a single volume.  However, resenting that is the same as resenting RJ's death.  It is very sad but he is gone, and we will never get his version of aMoL.  I believe that Sanderson will deliver a fine adaptation of the (very extensive) notes left by Jordan.  If he is easier to bully into splitting the books than Jordan, at least he is no worse than Tolkien in that regard.

 

I kind of like the idea of a trilogy as the final book.  I was always surprised that RJ intended to end the series at 12 books.  13 just makes so much more sense given the apparent amount of story remaining (and the significance of the number 13 in the story).  However, I am a purist at heart.  I want the single volume that RJ promised.  With the split, it seemed like they were making up books that were never intended using RJs notes and stolen scenes from aMoL.  However that goes right back to the fact that we will never get RJ's version of aMoL.  We can't resent the fact that the book will not be the same one that RJ intended.  I like a trilogy because it seems like a fitting monument to RJ.  BS is not trying to disguise the death of the author, rather it seems that wants to craft a beautiful setting for the gem that RJ left behind.  The fact that it will be done as a trilogy speaks to me of the amount of effort that Sanderson is putting in.  He's cooking a three course meal to compliment a rare, deliciously aged wine.

 

If RJ wanted to he could have told Harriet to get the book out in a single volume.  He could have put it in his will.  In reality, he simply told her to get the story published.  He just wanted us fans to get a chance to see the end of his master work.  We have to remember that, no matter the circumstances, the core of this book is RJs and there is no way for BS to ruin that unless he tries.

 

Finally, of course Tor is trying to milk this.  I don't see how that can affect the enjoyment of the book in any way.  I don't think it's offensive toward RJ either.  How many modern books have we read that were not modified in some way by the publisher to make more money?

 

 

Let it all play out and reserve your judgments for after the book is released.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Let it all play out and reserve your judgments for after the book is released.

 

A calmly reasoned position?  Preposterous.  What fun would that be?  ;D

[DemandredFO]

Even though I would prefer one book that will not happen now.  3 is also a significant number, WoT was supposed to be a trilogy, what a loss if that had happened, 3 taveren, the three beginner hunters, three women for rand and probably more I am forgetting, I am just most greatful that WoT wasn't a trilogy, as much as I dislike the Perrin plotline in later books.  Its like Tolkien said, it is not possible in a really long tale to please everyone at all points.

[CUBAREY]

Problem is That the single volume Milton, Shakes, Chaucer, etc,  books are rather expensive and are purchased by a limited number of people. You are talking about a book that is going to be a New York bestseller if correctly marketed. Do you have any idea how much the sales would be effected if the book came out in one volume and cost 60-70 Dollars. Yes many true fans would pay the price, but the more casual Jordan Fan?

 

I paid around €15 for my copy of Shakespeares collected works, so it would not necessarily jump up to an insane price range.

 

Granted, the print is so small that casual reading is a wee bit less convenient thatn one might wish for, but you can not get everything....

 

Ah you forget that Shakes is long dead and the copywrite on his works is in the public domain. So yes AMOL could be sold for $40.00 to $50.00  of course JR's estate and Brandon Sanderson would have to get $0.00 in royalties for writing the book.

 

As I said: a LOT of fans are mad with that decision. If you make the fans not happy you have failed. I don't care when the book will be out. I care about RJ wishes. As a fan I stay by him not by Hariet, no matter what it takes to make his decision come true.

 

Who is better equipped to know JR's true wishes especially those voiced just before his death; fans who would depend on a few comments that RJ made off the cuff, or his long time editor and wife who was with him constantly until the very end? You are being presumptous and insulting in claiming that you know more of RJ's wishes then his wife and that his wife is not properly obaying his last wishes. The only thing we really know is that at the end RJ had reconciled himself with the fact that his masterpiece would have to be finished by someone else, he spent his last days insuring that that person would have enough to work with to realize his dream. After his death has attempted to forefill Rj's wishes by giving the job to a young talented writer who is himself a fan of RJ and WOT and allowed him to make the decision as to how many words will be required to fully flesh out RJ's ideas. Alas the final product will not be exactly as RJ would have written it that became a reality when he died. However, I believe that Brandon Sanderson and Harriet will together produce a work that RJ would be proud of.

[EMHeld]

1) Who really thinks Jordan wanted to end with 12, and that he wasn't just trying to wrap things up before he died? If he was dedicated to narrative brevity, we'd have maybe one-and-a-half books in place of books 8-11. There's nothing wrong with Jordan wanting to tell every detail of his story, but that's the very reason why it's downright silly to conclude that his "this is the last volume!" talk was anything but reassurance that before he died, he'd get the ending and various climaxes down so we'd at least have that.

 

2) Say it's greedy or not on Tor's part, I'd rather have more Wheel of Time to look forward to for the next few years. I'll savor three good books I can reliably expect from authors I know to produce quality.

 

3) Looking at bookstores, their needs do dictate the final literary product. You can't have everyone producing a Norton Shakespeare Anthology and expecting a variety (or more than one copy of a selected book) in a store. It makes less sense for Tor, the bookstores and yes, the reader, to publish a fat, single-volume Memory of Light. Look at it this way. Say each of the three new books costs $27.95 (price of The Hero of Ages). Together, that's $83.85, not exactly cheap. But none of us will pay full cover. Amazon will probably offer 35% off ($54.51) and the normal big chain store will charge 40% ($50.31 + tax) or 30+10% ($52.83 +tax). An average cost of $52.55 for all three, or $17.52 per book. That's not too bad, folks. It's certainly about what we'd pay for a single-volume.

 

Let's look at another example.

 

The Shadow Rising: 393,823 words in 704pp, sold in HC for $29.95 (list) on Amazon.  13,149.35 words/$1. So let's say 450k is the final word count ($34.22) or 800k words ($60.84). Those would be list, before tax (or discounts), if we had one volume. Going by the above, we have 559.4 words/page. AMoL would clock in  at 1,430 pages in hardcover (let alone paperback), printed on standard stock, not Northon Shakespeare tissue paper or Bible paper. The thing would be massive, and my estimates, which don't factor in any special labor, would certainly go up at least a few dollars. I think the cheapest a one-volume edition would be is...$65, and that would be with old WoT paperback-quality glue (you know what I mean...). Cost-cutting would attack materials first, producing a sub-standard product. Labor & materials for this...it's not worth the publisher's effort to make, nor the bookstore's to find space amidst all the rest of the existing books, much less new releases.

 

 

Some day, there might be a one-volume A Memory of Light, with other omnibus volumes for books 1-4 (1,218,195 words), 5-7 (1,038,401 words) & 8-11 (1,052,271 words) (or, The Dragon Reborn, The Fires of Heaven, The Crossroads of Twilight & A Memory of Light; let us all get geeky about those suckers on the mantle). But let them put out these easier-to-produce, market and shelve books first.

 

 

***

 

One bit of devil's advocacy for the one-volume, 800k word edition: reduce font size, margins and spacing, just packing the pages, and you can probably get a workable HC. Say, something like Atlas Shrugged.

 

***

 

-Erik

[Ludmian]

Earlier in this post, someone had said that Robert Jordan may have been pushing for this to be the last and final book because he knew that his time was growing short. I believe that that is a very reasonable conclusion. If he knew that his time was coming, why would he just write what he could and then leave notes for someone else to finish. Of course he wanted to finish the book himself and could only do that with one more book.

 

No, it's not correct. He told us that AMoL will be the last book in the series before he was diagnosed with Amyloidosis. Again, he told us many times that it will be the last book even if it has to be 1500 pages long. Why do you think that he would have written a 1500-page book much quicker than 3 books 500 pages each?

 

Even though I would prefer one book that will not happen now.  3 is also a significant number, WoT was supposed to be a trilogy, what a loss if that had happened, 3 taveren, the three beginner hunters, three women for rand and probably more I am forgetting, I am just most greatful that WoT wasn't a trilogy, as much as I dislike the Perrin plotline in later books.  Its like Tolkien said, it is not possible in a really long tale to please everyone at all points.

 

Again a trilogy is mentioned. Where do people get that from? I've read lots of RJ's interviews and I don't remember a single time he would say it was supposed to be a trilogy. 5-6 books long, yes, but not a trilogy.

[vainebekonnes]

Again a trilogy is mentioned. Where do people get that from? I've read lots of RJ's interviews and I don't remember a single time he would say it was supposed to be a trilogy. 5-6 books long, yes, but not a trilogy.

 

I could be wrong, but I think that was waaayyyy back when, while Tam and Rand were only one character.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Yes, waaaay back in the day, it was originally supposed to be a trilogy.  This was referenced by Tom Doherty in the press release.  He said:

 

There is no way Robert Jordan would have squeezed it to a single volume, and somehow it seems fitting that what began as a trilogy will also end as one.

 

http://www.dragonmount.com/News/?p=483

[cseresz]

RJ said:

"How many more books in the series”

 

which he explained the same way as other signing, about needing a “dolly” to carry the thing out. But unlike other accounts, he said at this point, it is not possible for him to write two more coherent books. He said he might get one coherent book, and one incoherent, or two semi-coherent, so tWoT would be finished by book 12.

 

"I'm getting out notes, so if the worst actually happens, someone could finish A Memory of Light and have it end the way I want it to end," he says. "But I hope to be around to actually finish it myself."

 

“When I get the foot better then I can start on the process of walking again. I hope to do this in another two or three months.”

While there has been no improvement in heart function and no change in his overall prognosis as of June, Rigney says improvement remains possible. And he’s determined.

“I’ve got promises to keep.”

 

 

I knew I was doing something that was going to be longer than usual. But when I first started I thought that 'longer than usual' meant five or six books. I honestly thought I would finish it in five. When I finished 'The Eye of the World,' I thought I had a good chance of doing it in six.

[cseresz]

I think in the end it will be better to have three manageble books rather then one huge unwieldly book that needs it's own wheel barrow. Sure its fun to say you'd want that but entirely another thing to actually try to have that in real life. Hardbacks as they are can be difficult to lug around in public as it is, I'd hate to try one three times the size they are NOW.

 

The solution: an e-book.

[Vambram]

1) Who really thinks Jordan wanted to end with 12, and that he wasn't just trying to wrap things up before he died? If he was dedicated to narrative brevity, we'd have maybe one-and-a-half books in place of books 8-11. There's nothing wrong with Jordan wanting to tell every detail of his story, but that's the very reason why it's downright silly to conclude that his "this is the last volume!" talk was anything but reassurance that before he died, he'd get the ending and various climaxes down so we'd at least have that.

 

2) Say it's greedy or not on Tor's part, I'd rather have more Wheel of Time to look forward to for the next few years. I'll savor three good books I can reliably expect from authors I know to produce quality.

 

3) Looking at bookstores, their needs do dictate the final literary product. You can't have everyone producing a Norton Shakespeare Anthology and expecting a variety (or more than one copy of a selected book) in a store. It makes less sense for Tor, the bookstores and yes, the reader, to publish a fat, single-volume Memory of Light. Look at it this way. Say each of the three new books costs $27.95 (price of The Hero of Ages). Together, that's $83.85, not exactly cheap. But none of us will pay full cover. Amazon will probably offer 35% off ($54.51) and the normal big chain store will charge 40% ($50.31 + tax) or 30+10% ($52.83 +tax). An average cost of $52.55 for all three, or $17.52 per book. That's not too bad, folks. It's certainly about what we'd pay for a single-volume.

 

Let's look at another example.

 

The Shadow Rising: 393,823 words in 704pp, sold in HC for $29.95 (list) on Amazon.  13,149.35 words/$1. So let's say 450k is the final word count ($34.22) or 800k words ($60.84). Those would be list, before tax (or discounts), if we had one volume. Going by the above, we have 559.4 words/page. AMoL would clock in  at 1,430 pages in hardcover (let alone paperback), printed on standard stock, not Northon Shakespeare tissue paper or Bible paper. The thing would be massive, and my estimates, which don't factor in any special labor, would certainly go up at least a few dollars. I think the cheapest a one-volume edition would be is...$65, and that would be with old WoT paperback-quality glue (you know what I mean...). Cost-cutting would attack materials first, producing a sub-standard product. Labor & materials for this...it's not worth the publisher's effort to make, nor the bookstore's to find space amidst all the rest of the existing books, much less new releases.

 

 

Some day, there might be a one-volume A Memory of Light, with other omnibus volumes for books 1-4 (1,218,195 words), 5-7 (1,038,401 words) & 8-11 (1,052,271 words) (or, The Dragon Reborn, The Fires of Heaven, The Crossroads of Twilight & A Memory of Light; let us all get geeky about those suckers on the mantle). But let them put out these easier-to-produce, market and shelve books first.

 

 

***

 

One bit of devil's advocacy for the one-volume, 800k word edition: reduce font size, margins and spacing, just packing the pages, and you can probably get a workable HC. Say, something like Atlas Shrugged.

 

***

 

-Erik

 

 

QFT!!!!!!

 

Thank you, EMHeld for one of the best posts and analysis concerning this topic since the news was officially released. Hopefully, after reading this, those who are claiming that Harriet, and Tom, and Brandon and Tor are all splitting AMOL simply to try to make more money will realize the TRUTH behind the motives of James Oliver Rigney's wife, the motives of one of his best friends, Tom from Tor, and the motives of a great young author, Brandon Sanderson.

 

Also, how many of y'all really, really really want to wait another year, or two, or three to carry around a 1400 page novel in hardback and read AMOL WITHOUT READING these next three books just so that y'all can claim YOU were the ones whom were true to RJ's vision, but his WIFE was not???

[Shard]

I think in the end it will be better to have three manageble books rather then one huge unwieldly book that needs it's own wheel barrow. Sure its fun to say you'd want that but entirely another thing to actually try to have that in real life. Hardbacks as they are can be difficult to lug around in public as it is, I'd hate to try one three times the size they are NOW.

 

The solution: an e-book.

 

I rather have it in Paperform thank you very much. That solution will not work for those who don't want to sit at there computer and can't afford a Kindle. Not to mention how quickly that E-book would be put on to Bit torrent and downloaded like crazy.

[CUBAREY]

Again a trilogy is mentioned. Where do people get that from? I've read lots of RJ's interviews and I don't remember a single time he would say it was supposed to be a trilogy. 5-6 books long, yes, but not a trilogy.

 

When Tom Doherty (TOR) contracted with Jordan to publish WOT the concept was that it would be a trilogy. By the time the first book was written and turned over to TOR RJ had realized it would take 6 to 6 books to finish the series. Sometime later he thought it would be 9 0r 10, and so on. That he thought that AMOL would take one book is thus not surprising. Moreover, the point that someone made about what Jordan could do is important. He could have left directions in his will that AMOL would have to be publlished as one book or not at all. That he did not indicates that at the end he either did not think publishing it as one book was essential or had realized that it might take more then one book to finish WOT the way it deserved .

[Orion]

Lets face it.  Several of the books were filler books that had no purpose other than revenue.  I have several friends that stopped reading the books along the way because they said the series would never end.  This is just another way to milk as much profit as possible.  This series could have easily been wrapped up in nine books without leaving out any significnat aspects of the story.  As I have with the last 4 books a I will wait until they are in the bargin bin or at a used book store as they are readily available at a discount.

[Vambram]

Lets face it.  Several of the books were filler books that had no purpose other than revenue.  I have several friends that stopped reading the books along the way because they said the series would never end.  This is just another way to milk as much profit as possible.  This series could have easily been wrapped up in nine books without leaving out any significnat aspects of the story.  As I have with the last 4 books a I will wait until they are in the bargin bin or at a used book store as they are readily available at a discount.

 

Well, Orion, you are entitled to your opinion. However, I am glad that the vast majorit of WOT fans do not agree with you. How do I know this? Its simple really. ALL of the books for the WOT were Bestsellers, a few of them even being #1 on the Bestseller lists. Therefore, if some of the books were simply "Fillers", then why did the vast majority of WOT Fans buy them, and read them, and re-read them again and again and again.