The Wheel Of Time : Thoughts on A Memory Of Light Ebook Controversy

I know it's been over two years since the last Wheel Of Time book was released, and I'm not even a fan of this series ( I read about 20 % of the first book then dropped it) but I follow Mr. Sanderson work ( I only read a chunk of Elantris so far but I like his advice and Writing Excuses). But what compelled me to write this post was the reason why the E-book version was delayed as opposed to the original harcover release in January 2013 ( The e-book version was relased on April 2013 if I recall). Apparently Mr. Sanderson said that the reason was that because Ms. Macdougal ( Robert Jordan's widow, the original author of the Wheel Of Time series who passed away in 2007, leaving Mr. Sanderson to finish the last three books in the series) wanted the last book to open number-one at the New York times Best-seller list, in order to "protect" the legacy of her husband, and thought that timing the hardcover release with the E-book could get in the way of that. Controversy arose from the fact that people couldn't read the E-book on it's release day, along with what a lot considered a shallow reasoning for a delay.

To me, the readers were sacrificed to the benefit of a long deceased individual "supposed" wish ( Hell I don't think it was, we'll never know). Does this incident tell us that the industry care much more about rankings than reader satisfaction ? I don't think so, but their actions are pretty much telling. I get that they have to make money and shit, no one dispute that, but preventing readers from reading your work in their desired format is also a way for them to distrust the system even more, and a way for indie authors like me to say " Hey, look at legacy publishing! Screwing us over for their little interests over the majority ! Should we continue to send out our manuscripts if they're going to treat our audiences this way? yada yada..."

Personally, I thank legacy publishing for everything they've done to litterature in general, but I guess they have to understand than in the coming years, they may have to take a bit of the back-seat in order to be far more relevant in the future, and selling for a fee their expertise instead of taking our rights away for a bunch of decades. Right now, they're fine, but in 15 - 20 years? It's really going to be interesting to see how the landscape of the publishing will shape up in 2035. Some mentalities will be shown the door, but are they going to take it, or be forced to ?