Warbreaker Signed and Numbered Copies

Brian Sanderson Blog entry Posted on 05.21.09

Warbreaker Signed and Numbered Copies

All right! I've finally got news on the release of Warbreaker this June. The official date is indeed June 9th, a Tuesday. Like last year, there will be two ways to get yourself a signed/numbered copy. Though first off, I do want to give a shout out to your local booksellers. People often ask me what helps me the most when buying a book. Well, that really shouldn't be a concern of yours--mostly, I just want you to enjoy the book in whatever form you like.

But if you do think about these things, the best way you can support the book is to buy it opening week at your local bookseller. First week sales are a huge indicator for booksellers of how well a book is going to do, and everyone is expecting a lot from this book, considering the reviews and the success of the Mistborn books. (I hope not to let them down; I still do worry that a stand-alone book I gave away for free on my website won't have the draw of the highly-anticipated third book of a trilogy. Fingers crossed!)

Anyway, here are the ways to get yourself a numbered copy:

1) Come to the release party at the BYU Bookstore.
2) Order a copy through Sam Weller's, Salt Lake's long time independent bookseller.

We'll be changing how things work in both cases, hopefully for the better. If you came to the BYU event last year and were daunted by the long line, know that we'll be taking steps to fix that. And if you got your Sam Weller book a little bit later than you would have wished, we're working on that too. So, read below in the separate sections for detailed information on how each method is going to work.

BYU SIGNING

In order to make the line move more quickly, I am going to go in early and SIGN and NUMBER all of the books in stock. The numbered copies will be handed out in numerical order. So, if you don't want to wait in a huge line for a personalization, you can simply grab yourself a copy, take it to any register and buy it, then walk out. Should be quick and easy.

I'll be sitting and personalizing. We'll call people up in groups by number, and should have a schedule of when we'll be calling given groups of numbers. So, if you want a personalization, you can look at when I'll be doing the block of numbers that aligns with your own copy, then take off and come back at that time.

All of this means that, hopefully, there will be minimal waiting. Everyone who wants a personalized copy can hang around and get their name in the book and chat with me. If all you want is a signature and a number, you'll be able to snag one and take off--and can even get it personalized at another signing down the road.

The date of this will be the day of the book's release, the time 5-8pm. The books will be handed out in order, already signed in numbered, at 5:00. They'll just go down the line and give each person a book, then you can go buy it at whatever register you want, then come back at the time when I'm personalizing your number if you want it personalized.

The numbering is going to happen by alternating 100's between the two methods of getting a numbered copy. IE, the BYU signing gets 2-100, the Sam Weller's mail orders get 101-200, BYU gets 201-300, etc. Number one goes to my friend Scott, who was the one who (way back when) donated to charity to get his name in this book (Llarimar is based off of him.) Dan Wells gets number 7 (it's a running thing we have--he got #1 of my first book, I got #1 of his first book, he got #2 of my second book, etc.) Other than that, all numbers are up for grabs in order of when you arrive at the signing or call Sam Weller's.

The release party at BYU will have prizes, just like last year. Probably some Mistborn jewelry and some rare copies of things, like advance manuscripts and the like of my work. I'll blog more when this is settled.

SAM WELLER'S BY MAIL

This is intended primarily for those who DON'T live in Utah. If you can't make it at all to the BYU signing, then feel free to use Sam Weller's, particularly if you want to do in-store pick-up with them. But I mostly want these copies reserved for those out of state/country who want numbered editions. It's something I do for them, since I always have my release party in Utah.

The details, from Catherine Weller herself, are:

We will discount the book at 20% again.
This puts the cover price at $22.36, tax and shipping not included.
The breakdown of pricing is as follows:
In-store pick up $23.89
In-state shipping $29.89
U.S. shipping (not Utah) $28.36
Canada & Mexico $34.36
Other International $36.36

We will once again be using USPS priority mail. It's quicker than UPS for the Continental U.S. and cheaper. Priority mail is also more affordable for International shipping. It's not trackable, but our lost/damaged shipment rate was a bit below 5%, we consider that very good.

Customers will need to contact us via email, fax or phone.
To confirm, they are: books@samwellers.com
(801) 595-0051. fax
(801) 328-2586, phone

Because we didn't like it that many people got their books several days after release, the plan is for me to go in on Saturday the week before and sign/number/personalize the Sam Weller mail copies. They'll then get shipped Saturday or Monday, for arrival starting a few days earlier than last year. (Though most people still will probably get their books a few days after release this way, it shouldn't be as long as a wait.)

Again, I do ask that if you live in Utah--particularly Utah valley--you make an effort to go to the release party. Sam Weller's only has about 300 copies for mail order right now, and I'd like those to go to people who can't just drop by and pick up a numbered copy at the release. Also, it would be kind of a drag if we planned this whole release party, then didn't have anyone show up.

Many of you are probably wondering if we're going to do anything like this for the Wheel of Time book releases. Well, we'll see. I'm working on some things, but I can't promise anything. I WILL probably be doing something in Charleston the day of the book release, and perhaps a midnight party at BYU the night before. (With a long plane ride between, obviously.) I don't know if we'll do numbered copies or not. Tor has a history of releasing special numbered editions of the WoT books, so I don't want to mess that up.