A Memory of Light debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Best Sellers List this week, despite an online campaign to give one-star ratings to the conclusion of the epic fantasy Wheel of Time series created by the late Robert Jordan.
The digital book will not be released until April 9th. This decision generated a slew of angry one-star reviews on Amazon–most by people who had not read the book.
As of this writing, the book had 270 one-star reviews on Amazon, most of them from readers upset about the lack of a digital book. Do you think this negative campaign will influence any book buyers?
Author Brandon Sanderson‘s explained the eBook delay:
This is not my decision or Tor’s decision, but Harriet’s. She is uncomfortable with ebooks. Specifically, she worries about ebooks cutting into the hardcover sales. It isn’t about money for her, as the monetary difference between the two is negligible here. It is about a worry that her husband’s legacy will be undermined if sales are split between ebooks and hardcovers, preventing the last book of the Wheel of Time from hitting number one on either list. (Many of the bestseller lists are still handling ebooks in somewhat awkward ways.)