yahas he/him Posted April 16, 2016 Report Share Posted April 16, 2016 Did the sales of Warbreaker get adversely affected by the fact that it was released online before the hardcover came out? Even further, when Words of Radiance came out, was there a noticeable change in Warbreaker sales around that time? I'm not sure why I expect people to know this though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Young Bard he/him Posted April 17, 2016 Report Share Posted April 17, 2016 I remember him saying that his publishers were worried about him putting it online, to which he responded "Yeah - but people could alays get it for free at the library anyway". I think he said that the change in sales "was not significant". Another thing to consider was that it had been announced that he would finish the WoT series by this point, which meant that there was suddenly a much larger group of readers who'd heard about him and therefore wanted to read his books, which also made it more difficult to tell the impact. Does that help at all? I basically gave you an in-depth "I don't know." 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yahas he/him Posted April 17, 2016 Author Report Share Posted April 17, 2016 Well, Brandon saying that the change in sales was insignificant (irrespective of whether it was because of Wheel of Time) seems to be a direct answer to my first questions, so I don't think you can say that your answer is an "I don't know"! Thanks, it does answer one of my questions. To be honest, I didn't expect the nature of Warbreaker's publishing to reduce its sales; if anything I thought it would increase the sales as people who read the book online decided that they absolutely needed the Hardcover version for future reads (Fantasy fans, I suspect, tend to be more of the re-reading than read only once types). Doesn't answer my second question about WoR though. I'm really quite interested in knowing about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king of nowhere Posted April 17, 2016 Report Share Posted April 17, 2016 I think we can draw a good comparison to other media, because with informatic piracy almost everything can be downloaded for free somewhere. So, the impact of warbreaker online on sales can be assumed to be comparable to that of piracy on the sales of movies or videogames. That still leaves the question unanswered, because while the impact of piracy has been studied in depth, the results are controversial. On one hand, the entertainment industry claim losses for tens of billions because of pirated stuff, but that's clearly an overstatement, since the vast majority of those who download something pirated woud have never bought it anyway. On the other hand, those that are in favor of piracy say that a movie/book/game/whatever gets a lot of free advertising from being handed out for free, and enough of those new customers will buy the original version to overshadow the losses. Of course, that's also an idealistic view. So, basically you have to measure two factors: 1) people who would have bought the stuff and won't because they can get it for free 2) people who would not have bought the stuff, but will because of the advertising effect or because they wouldn't have decided to spend their money without a free trial. Whether having your stuff going around for free is a good or bad thing depends on which of the two factors is greater. I have read several researches on the topic, and few could agree with each other. That's unsurprising; there is no accurate way to measure those two factors. However, one of the few things where there appear to be some consensus is that piracy (and free stff in general) is a damage for the mainstream, and a boon for small producers. The mainstream is well known, so it doesn't have much benefit from the advertising effect of piracy, while the amount of people who would buy it - and may not if the stuff is for free - is high. Small producers, on the opposite, would not sell much on their own, and therefore factor 1 is small, but they can get great benefits from factor 2. So, that's an even more in-depth "I don't know". Actually a "nobody knows". But if I had to venture a guess, I would say that the overall effect is small. After all, despite everything being available pirated, the media industry still makes lots of billions every year, and despite everything being equally available most people still get the mainstream. So I'd say that those who are mostly involved in the piracy business, one side or the other, are mostly exaggerating the impact of it. But personally I appreciate Sanderson putting one book for free. I am one of those who doesn't like to spend money for something he does not know, but is ready to throw money at someone who makes good stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackhoof Posted July 8, 2016 Report Share Posted July 8, 2016 I can only imagine WoR increased sales of Warbreaker. It included Nightblood, and if any Sanderfan went online and saw that this weird black sword had been in a previous book, they would at the very least consider reading it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Argel he/him Posted July 10, 2016 Report Share Posted July 10, 2016 I bought the eBook from Amazon -- just more convenient (iPad, iPhone sync, easier to hop between chapters, highlights, etc.). Plus, it's an investment in future books. If SA3 was released online I would still pick it up on Amazon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radiant Returned he/him Posted July 22, 2016 Report Share Posted July 22, 2016 I think intrinsically if you're material you put out is good, people are going to be willing to buy it. I knew it was available for free online before I read it, but reading online isn't quite the same to me as reading an actual paper book, so I spent the rather small price of $8.99 to have a copy. And I enjoyed it so much, along with his other works, that if he makes a leatherbound edition for $100+ in a few years I'll gladly fork over the cash for my copy. As far as WoR goes, I'm not sure how much it directly influenced Warbreaker sales because of one line at the end referring to Nightblood, but indirectly I bet it helped a lot. Fantasy fans in general have always been very author-loyal in my experience, so whenever a great new book is released, like WoR, it's going to draw in new readers and a lot of those new readers now are going to want to read his other works in the 3-4 year gap between novels. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eki Posted July 23, 2016 Report Share Posted July 23, 2016 I'm definitely going to pick up a physical copy of Warbreaker at some point, even if I've read the free online version twice. Warbreaker was my second series, after finishing the third Mistborn book. I probably would have read Way of Kings eventually anyway, but Warbreaker being free was a great way to get deeper into Brandon's books without committing to a purchase. Definitely made me more interested in his other books. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tariniel he/him Posted October 13, 2016 Report Share Posted October 13, 2016 (edited) I actually started reading online, which, being a writer, was an invaluable example of Brandon's progression. However, I am not a fan of reading online. There is something about holding a physical book in my hands that is just much more real. I don't know, call me old school This led to me reading just enough to get invested in the story, after which I purchased my own hardcover copy. His ploy definitely worked on me, as I am sure it worked on many others, regardless of their individual reasons. After reading it twice now, going back and looking at those early drafts is even more interesting. It is incredible how much this book has progressed to reach the point it is at now. It's actually currently one of my favorite books! Edited October 13, 2016 by Tariniel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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