The late 2014 release date is because such large books sell best in the pre-Christmas market, so releasing the book earlier in 2014 (which should be feasible) wouldn't make much commercial sense.
Friday, 10 May 2013
WORLD OF ICE AND FIRE delayed by a year
Unfortunately, news has arrived that The World of Ice and Fire, the Song of Ice and Fire companion volume, has been delayed by a full year. According to co-author Elio Garcia, this is because plans for the book have become more ambitious, with a desire from the authors and publishers to make the book bigger and include more artwork. The book is already in an advanced stage of completion, but the decision to include more material could not guarantee a late 2013 release date, so rather than risk a last-minute delay, the decision was made to hold back the book until 2014 to give the writers and artists more time to complete their work.
The late 2014 release date is because such large books sell best in the pre-Christmas market, so releasing the book earlier in 2014 (which should be feasible) wouldn't make much commercial sense.
The late 2014 release date is because such large books sell best in the pre-Christmas market, so releasing the book earlier in 2014 (which should be feasible) wouldn't make much commercial sense.
They want to make it bigger and include more pictures, etc.?
ReplyDeleteWon't this increase the already eye-watering price?
That sucks. I was really looking forward to that, especially since GRRM mentioned at least once that he'd ended up writing way more "lore" and other stuff for it than he originally planned to do.
ReplyDeleteHopefully it won't push up the price, but we'll see.
ReplyDeleteBut hey, at least we've still got the Raymond E. Feist world book the same month :-P
Why does all the good stuff get delayed. It's bad enough we have to wait 10 years between books, I was looking forward to this companion piece to fill a void.
ReplyDeleteIncredibly disappointing. I'd rather they'd just published what they had instead of waiting one more year, once again. There is no end to the delays for everything one wants to see in Westeros. Except the tv series of course, which is run properly and is not in GRRM's hands.
ReplyDeleteCan NOTHING associated with this series ever come out on time? Novel delay follows novel delay and now they can't even finish a companion book by release date?
ReplyDeleteKarma is a nasty thing...I seem to recall GRRM poking fun at Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time a few years back for never ending and always delaying (after RJ's cover blurb on Game of Thrones helped GRRM sell that book).
Looks like the shoe is on the other foot now...
Maybe they think it will sell better next year knowing that people will be anticipating...an early 2015 WoW release...
ReplyDeleteI think the bulk of the GRRM-written material for the book itself (i.e. the sections he's written directly) are done, or almost so. The question is how much GRRM-originated notes and material that Elio and Linda have to work from remains to be supplied, and how time-consuming that is.
ReplyDeleteThe very long (103 MS page+) 'sidebar' has pretty much turned into THE PRINCESS AND THE QUEEN, the story for DANGEROUS WOMEN, so that's certainly finished.
What - a delay on a GRRM book - surely this can't be happening - he has been so efficient in his writing and so responsive to the fans who need to get more of the world of Ice and Fire - this is a disturbing turn of events - I hope it doesn't become a trend!
ReplyDeleteI still have yet to read that series at all, but even I'm raising an eyebrow at how often there seem to be release delays with it and associated materials.
ReplyDeleteWell, here's hoping that the extra content will make the delay worth it for buyers.