Hey, all! Brandon here, writing my own newsletter this time around. Just wanted to keep you up to date on what’s happening in the Sanderverse these days.

Contents

• Steelheart is out today!
• Words of Radiance progress
• Steelheart Tour and Release Party
• Steelhunt and Blog Posts
• Welcoming Isaac and Kara to Team Sanderson
• The Emperor’s Soul won a Hugo Award!
• Steelheart Prologue

Steelheart is out today!

The big news is, of course, the release of Steelheart today. It’s the story of a young man who wants to assassinate the emperor of Chicago. I really think you’ll enjoy it. For some background on why I wrote the book, feel free to see this blog post. However, if you want the short pitch, think of the book like this:

Sanderson + postapocalyptic + dark superheroes

And lo, it is awesome.

For my last few book releases, I haven’t worried about early sales. Things like the Wheel of Time and The Alloy of Law had innate, already built-in fanbases. However, Steelheart is an unknown factor, and the publisher has shown a lot of faith in me as a writer. Our print run is enormous, and you should be able to find the book in a lot of non-traditional markets. Not just B&N and your local independent bookseller, but Target, Wal-Mart, and supermarkets.

I’m thrilled, but I’m also aware that if the book doesn’t sell for some reason, it’s going to be a very, very big issue. So if you have the inclination to check it out, I’d really appreciate it. We’ve included the prologue at the bottom of this newsletter. As always, first-week sales are very important for books—that determines how much of a push the book will get in stores, and how many copies they’ll reorder. If you’ve liked my books in the past, I hope that you’ll look into this one. Do note that in most stores, this book will be shelved in the teen section.

Words of Radiance progress

Of course, the other big thing I’m working on is the sequel to The Way of Kings. I’m almost through with the third, and most difficult, edit of the book. Once I get this one done, it should be pretty smooth sailing for the book. (Though I’ll have to be doing revisions as I tour this week, which is going to make for a busy time.)

The book stands at almost exactly the same length as the first volume, despite my (somewhat sincere) attempts at making it shorter. Release date is set right now for early March. We played with both November this year and January next year before finally settling on March, just to make sure I had enough time for revisions.

I realize this book has been a long time coming. My dedication to finishing the Wheel of Time with minimal delays meant that I had to push off Stormlight for a few years. Now that I’m done with Randland, you can expect Stormlight books to come way more regularly than they have so far. I appreciate your patience.

For fun goodies, go to this link for some fan reports of readings I’ve done of the book so far. In addition, I will be showing off a very large section of the book in the Steelhunt I’ll talk about below.

Steelheart Tour and Release Party

Because Steelheart is targeted partially at older teens, as well as my normal audience, we decided to do our release party for this one as an afternoon event instead of a midnight one. I’ll be at the Barnes & Noble in Orem, UT on Tuesday from 5:00 to 8:00 or possibly longer. Please consider attending if you live locally! All books will be pre-signed and numbered, so you can pop in, grab one, and go without needing to wait in line unless you want a personalization.

In addition, I’ll be doing a full tour for the book! Drop by and see me at the following events:

• Orem – Barnes & Noble – Tue, Sep 24 5:00 p.m.
• Salt Lake – King’s English @ 15th St. Gallery – Wed, Sep 25 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Houston – Murder by the Book – Fri, Sep 27 6:30 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Austin Teen Book Festival – Sat, Sep 28 8:30 a.m.
• Chicago Area (Naperville) – Anderson’s – Tue, Oct 01 7:00 p.m.
• Cincinnati – Joseph-Beth – Wed, Oct 02 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Dayton Area – Books & Co. – Thu, Oct 03 7:00 p.m.
• Greenfield, WI – Greenfield High – Fri, Oct 04 1:00 p.m. (Greenfield students only)
• Milwaukee – Boswell Book – Fri, Oct 04 7:00 p.m.
• Chicago Area (Wheeling) – Indian Trails Library – Sat, Oct 05 2:00 p.m.
• Happy Valley, OR – Fred Meyer – Mon, Oct 07 6:00 p.m. (Signing only; no group Q&A)
• Portland Area (Beaverton) – Powell’s – Tue, Oct 08 7:00 p.m.
• Los Angeles – Barnes & Noble The Grove – Wed, Oct 09 7:00 p.m.
• Bay Area (Mountain View) – Books Inc. – Fri, Oct 11 7:00 p.m.
• Bay Area (El Cerrito) – Barnes & Noble – Sat, Oct 12 5:00 p.m.
• Seattle – UBooks@UTemple Church – Mon, Oct 14 7:00 p.m. (Ticketed)
• Fort Lewis, WA – AAFES – Tue, Oct 15 4:00 p.m. (Military ID required!)
• San Diego – Mysterious Galaxy – Wed, Oct 16 7:00 p.m.
• West Jordan – Barnes & Noble Jordan Landing– Sat, Oct 19 7:00 p.m.
• New York – 92nd St. Y – Sat, Nov 16 3:00 p.m. (Ticketed event with Christopher Paolini and James Dashner)

For details please see the full event listings on my site.

Steelhunt and Blog Posts

I will be doing a really cool promotion for Steeheart, involving hidden prizes in books and codes that let you look at exclusive content on my website. Please have a look at yesterday’s blog post if you’re interested.

If you weren’t involved when I did things like this for the Wheel of Time, basically I’ll be hiding codes in books all across the country (and even other countries, if I can manage it).

In addition, I’ll be doing blog posts frequently over the next few weeks, dealing with wide variety of topics. With the Words of Radiance revision (hopefully) done, I’ll be able to take a little time to write out some posts that have been rattling around in my head forever—some dealing with the Wheel of Time, others dealing with writing. So stop in, check out the new coppermind.brandonsanderson.com website, and hopefully find something of interest to you.

Welcoming Isaac and Kara to Team Sanderson

Speaking of the new website, I’ve recently (well, it’s been almost six months now) hired Isaac and Kara Stewart as employees for Dragonsteel Entertainment, my company. They join Peter Ahlstrom, who has been working here since just after I started on the Wheel of Time.

You might recognize Isaac as the one who has been doing maps and interior artwork for my books since Mistborn. He is the brilliant artist behind most of the maps and icons in my books, including the colorful Stormlight endpages. He also holds the distinction of being the person who set me and Emily up on our first blind date.

Isaac will be acting as a personal assistant to me, helping me get tasks done, while also working on artwork for us. So you might see him at conventions with me in the future.

Kara, Isaac’s wife, is an organizational genius, and has agreed to come on and take over the coppermind.brandonsanderson.com store and warehouse. (AKA my garage.) She had been running the Inkwing store, which sold T-shirts based on my work, and we figured it was best to just consolidate that all into one. If you order signed books from my store, you should be getting them more quickly and efficiently now, with Kara overseeing the process.

The Emperor’s Soul wins a Hugo Award!

And finally, I want to mention that my novella The Emperor’s Soul took home the Hugo—science fiction and fantasy’s top award—earlier this month. I did a long blog post on the topic that I’d draw your attention toward.

With the last book of the Wheel of Time out, Steelheart launching, the Hugo Award, and the birth of my third son (back in January), this has been a pretty incredible year. I’m not sure how we’ll ever top it, but I do want to say a sincere thank you to everyone who has supported me in my writing.

Ten years ago, I sold Elantris to Tor. (We’re approaching the exact anniversary of that contract being signed.) If I had been told what the next decade would bring, I think it would have sent me into fits of anxiety. Having lived through it, I’m a little surprised I can even remember my own name, so much has been going on.

At the core of it all, though, I get to tell stories for a living. That is all I ever really wanted; everything else is icing.

Thank you so much for reading, and allowing me to live my dreams.

Brandon Sanderson

9/24/2013

The Steelheart Prologue is here.

There are worldwide links to buy Steelheart here.