It’s quickly approaching book release time again! The Bands of Mourning, the new Mistborn book, comes out in roughly two weeks on January 26th. (January 28th in the UK/Ireland/Australia/New Zealand.) Sample chapters can be read on Tor’s site. Be aware, they contain spoilers for the previous books!

Because of the extensive tour I did for Shadows of Self (and because I’ll be going out on tour again in February for Calamity), I’m not planning to tour for this book. We’ll be doing our normal release party. (Midnight at the BYU Bookstore.) And I’ll blog about that tomorrow. Today’s post is for those of you who want to get a signed and numbered copy shipped to your door by Weller Book Works.

We’ve done this with most of my books so far, and it’s been very well received. I like having a way for people who can’t reach a signing to get a signed copy. However, as my popularity has grown, doing all of these signatures has become increasingly difficult—in part because of the extravagant requests that people sometimes have for the personalizations in their books.

I have been tempted a number of times to stop personalizing for these signings, but I’ve resisted. I like the (ahem) personal connection this allows me to have with my readers. And I know that for some, these little flourishes have become very special to them. At the same time, the more word spreads, the more often I’m asked to write a limerick, quote an entire paragraph of the book, or draw a doodle while signing. And so the period I spend working on all of these signatures stretches for hours and hours.

I think we’ve finally hit on a solution. I’m still willing to do personalizations, and even the more extravagant requests, but I’m going to ask for something in exchange: a small donation to charity. To facilitate this, we’re going to have the form for selling these books on my website—but to make a point that’s probably irrelevant to you, but important to me, these books are not being sold by me. They’re being sold and shipped by Weller Book Works.

I prefer not to sell my new hardcovers on my website, as I don’t want to compete with the bookstores around the world. As always, I suggest that you support your local booksellers for my new releases.

In this case, everything worked out better for me to organize the sale. But once the orders are in, we’ll pass most of the money to Weller and let them handle getting the books and shipping them. The money that is left over goes directly to Waygate Foundation, the charity established in Robert Jordan’s honor. You can find out more about them, and the charity work they do, here.

Anyway, on to the nuts and bolts of this. We’re going to offer three tiers for getting your book.

Tier One, $28: Just the book, Signed and Numbered

This is exactly what it seems. The book itself with a signature and a number. These, like all books in this offering, will be fulfilled by Weller Book Works. They’ve decided to charge $28 for this book, plus shipping.

Tier Two, $33: Signed, Numbered, and Personalized

For this tier, you can list a name you want written in the book, and I’ll dedicate the book to that person. I also will pick a quote from the book, usually a short three-to-five-word phrase, and write it in the book. (Unless you don’t want it.)

Here, you don’t get to choose the quote. You can, however, ask for a brief “Happy Birthday” or “Congratulations” instead. Or you could request a written date.

So, the rundown for this tier:

You just give us a name (exactly as you want it written), and I’ll write that name and a quote. OR: Mention “Happy Birthday” or a similar very, very short request and a name. I’ll write the exact name you say, along with the specific greeting. OR: Say “Signed, Lined, Dated.” I’ll write no name in this, but will still write the quote, and will date it.

The $33 price of this tier includes a $28 book and a $5 donation to Waygate. The $5 portion is tax deductible.

Tier Three, $48: More Extravagant Requests

The first two tiers should cover almost everyone who wants a book. Honestly, it’s my hope that putting a higher donation requirement on it will push more people away from this last tier. However, I am willing to do your more extravagant requests here.

Please note that I’m not offering to do anything you wish. In fact, you’re still rather limited in this tier. This is essentially restricted to a few interactions:

You can request a specific quote, of your choosing. This shouldn’t be longer than a short paragraph, maybe 30 or so words in length. It doesn’t have to be a quote from one of my books—it can basically be anything you wish. (I do ask that you avoid profanity or vulgarities.) You can request a specific personalization beyond a simple greeting. “Happy Birthday Jim, may you have many more years of enjoying books!” or “Mary says thank you so much for the cheesecake” or “May you enjoy your new snowmobile.” You can request a small doodle. Note, I’m terrible at drawing. Seriously. We’re talking stick figures here. But some people really like them, so if you want an awful stick figure doodle, knock yourself out. A limerick or haiku. Someone is going to request one of these; they always do. So I’ll have to write it out anyway. If you want a copy of the one I compose for this book, you can request it. Note—it’s going to be rather bad, because I’ll think it up in a hurry. Also, my handwriting is not good. But again, if you want this, then go ahead and request it. Ask me a question, which—if I can respond briefly—I will answer. Please note that if you ask a detailed question about the Cosmere, you might very well just get a RAFO. (Read and find out.) This is a risk you take upon yourself. You could end up paying $20 extra to get no answer, so I’d suggest that you save those questions for when you meet me in person. But if you really want to ask, you can do it here. Your question should be short and specific. Not “Tell me something new about the Cosmere!” or “Tell me something we don’t know about Hoid!” I ran out of answers to questions like those years ago.

If you want something that’s not on that list, then it’s possible I’ll still do it—but I can’t promise it. The price tag includes a $20 donation to Waygate, and that portion is tax deductible.

That should cover everything! If you’ve got questions, feel free to send an inquiry to the store through my webmail form. I hope this isn’t too confusing or too annoying for you. My goal has been to find a way to continue to get signatures to people, while allowing those who really need something specific to get it—all while donating some money to charity.

To order your signed and numbered copy of The Bands of Mourning shipped by Weller Book Works, click here. Deadline: January 20th at 11:59pm, or sooner than that if Weller Book Works sells out quickly.

Thanks, as always, for reading. More information is coming tomorrow about the release party.

Brandon