Epic Book

[socom-delta]

Any chance, after A Memory of Light is published that the entire series from Book 0 - 14 or 1 - 14 will be republished as one large title? Would be neat to have a modern, Western equivalent of more ancient texts like the Shahnameh.

[JenniferL]

How would you bind something like that? I mean, I guess it's possible. They did that special collectors edition of all of Agatha Christie's novels in one omnibus a few years ago. But they only produced a small number and they were very expensive. If they ever did something like that, i wouldn't expect it to be for the mass market. It would be something for collectors. I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it.

[OptimusPrime]

All of the books in one? It'd be worth investing in a reinforced table I suppose. I aint restin that soab on my lap

[daveq65]

I wouldn't have thought they would, after all they broke aMoL into three. They said it would need special binding to do it as one. So how on earth you'd bind something like 11,000 + pages I don't know.

Thank goodness for me I read mine in e-book format holding that, if it could be done would break my wrists.

[honeybadger]

If they did do something like that it would be easier to use as a doorstop or barricade for home defence. Plus if I saw that combo of books at a store i would be damn intimidated by it, and probabbly not buy the thing(assuming I could even afford somthing like that).

[redarm]

A larger format square inch wise, like the size of the BWB or bigger, with a slightly smaller font could be done and wouldn't need 11,000 pages. Probably cut it in half. Be more feasable to get it to a quater of that. Somewhere between 2500-3000. Still a beast of a book. I'd buy it though. It'd be nice to get some reaaly beautiful illustrations in there as well. Make it a piece of art. Cover it in leather. It would be the jewel of my book collection.

[Sid]

I'd rather not read something that would require a spotter to get it from shelf to sofa.

[Xader]

So would the hoist attachment hardpoints be built into the cover, or would one have to buy an additional harness?

[socom-delta]

Redarm got it right. Make the book physically larger (like one of those oversized, ancient tomes you see in classical fantasy films like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter), but keep the font size roughly the same as it is in the 'mass market paperback' books - the 3.5" x 5.5" books you see everywhere.

 

You can make a 700-page mass market book into only about 150 - 200 pages simply because the dimensions of the pages in the large book are several times the small ones. Get all 14 or 15 books into one package, call it a collector's item, and sell it for $100 - $120. Maybe put an embossment of the Wheel itself into the cover, with the great serpent below it.

[Xader]

Redarm got it right. Make the book physically larger (like one of those oversized, ancient tomes you see in classical fantasy films like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter), but keep the font size roughly the same as it is in the 'mass market paperback' books - the 3.5" x 5.5" books you see everywhere.

 

You can make a 700-page mass market book into only about 150 - 200 pages simply because the dimensions of the pages in the large book are several times the small ones. Get all 14 or 15 books into one package, call it a collector's item, and sell it for $100 - $120. Maybe put an embossment of the Wheel itself into the cover, with the great serpent below it.

 

$120? I think you're underpricing it a bit.

 

Cheap, mass produced paperbacks will cost $120 for the series @ $8/book. A limited run of a huge, gargantuan, humongous leather-bound hardback would probably go for at least three times that...

[redarm]

 

$120? I think you're underpricing it a bit.

 

Cheap, mass produced paperbacks will cost $120 for the series @ $8/book. A limited run of a huge, gargantuan, humongous leather-bound hardback would probably go for at least three times that...

 

 

I'd still buy it. $300 for a really well done leather bound omnibus would be worth it. To me anyway.

[Kathleen]

I could see a box set of all them or something as a collector's item, but I really doubt they would have them combined into one book. As someone said AMoL was divided into three books because of its size. If they weren't willing to do one book that big I can't see them wanting to squeeze 14 books into one. While some fans would spend the hundreds of dollars on it I can't really see it being a big hit. Most fans already own at least one copy of each book, so that would be a discouragement and such a high price may be more of a discouragement. People who are new to the series may have enough of discouragement just knowing they have 14 books to get through if they start it. A massive all encompassing volume would probably be too intimidating for most people. Because of this I can't see it being a big money maker, but it would be a big cost to reformat all the books, print them all the same and gather all the materials for the bindings. I can't see the pay off for the publishing company. I could see a bigger chance with a box set.

[Xader]

 

$120? I think you're underpricing it a bit.

 

Cheap, mass produced paperbacks will cost $120 for the series @ $8/book. A limited run of a huge, gargantuan, humongous leather-bound hardback would probably go for at least three times that...

 

 

I'd still buy it. $300 for a really well done leather bound omnibus would be worth it. To me anyway.

 

It'd be cool to have, but there's no way I could justify it.

 

As many times as I've re-read the series, I don't even own hardcopies, except for CoT (a friend found it in hardback at a dollar store!). I always checked them out from the library, and now I just use a Kindle

 

$300 for one book I'd rarely if ever read is $300 I could spend on bills.

[mb]

An omnibus for the public would be most probable as ebook.

 

It might be many years for a printed omnibus of this series becomes available to the public.

A boxed set of the entire series might come sooner.

[paetric]

They could just do it in a digital version.....

[redarm]

agree it would be formidable, intimidating. And it wouldn't be done anytime soon. But give it a few decades. If real books are even still produced by that point it would be a collectors item. As far as the digital versions it seems as that would be the most likely way for this to happen. Not my thing though. I like the feel of an actual book in my hands. I enjoy the act of turning the page to find something new beyond. I get enough of staring at screens at work.

[Raynz]

I have a really awesome collector's edition omnibus type thing of all the Hitchhiker's Guide books put together into one book. It's thick leather bound with gold-edged pages. I love it.

 

I'd be all over the same sort of thing for WoT. Like above, it'd be awesome if it was really large sized and small print, just like those huge spellbooks/ancient tome type things you read about in fantasy. Of course, it would need to have some super nice illustrations as chapter headers or something. Basically anything to make it super fancy for a super awesome series. I'd be willing to pay a few hundred dollars for it myself, simply because it would definitely be a showpiece, with a nice stand and all.

[mb]

Hitchhiker's Guide omnibus, I also have a copy.

Wheel of Time at its current state is much longer than the Hitchhiker's series. The finished state would also be much longer.

 

3 or 4 omnibuses for this series might be more feasible.

[Shimmer]

I don't know about the whole combined book thing, although if it had a sturdy cover and binding and looked impressive, I'd probably get it. I'd love it if Tor would retail a special edition of the entire series, like a box set, but perhaps with some great illustrations and perhaps a little WoT memento? Sure would buy that.

[konkoivu]

I've been thinking that it could be done like Bibles or law books. In other words two columns per page and in very thin paper. If it was boud in leather i guess my rent can be paid a month late ...

[Lupy]

What I'm hoping for that seems a little more likely is that they'll do three book Omnibuses like they did with Shannara. I especially want an omnibus of TGS, TOM, and AMoL. I feel like that's how Jordan wanted them, and I'd be glad to have it that way. As for the other books, I bought Shannara like that and it definitely saves shelf space. Right now my WoT books are about 3 feet wide in hard back, but if they were put into 3 or 4 Omnibuses they'd be half that.

 

I'm sure some of you would get omnibuses like that? Especially if you have paperbacks and want a way to get the hardbacks that wouldn't cost $200+.