THE WAY OF KINGS Midnight Release Numbering Policy Change

Hi everyone, Brandon's assistant Peter here, popping in to let you know of a procedural change at the BYU Bookstore for next week's release of THE WAY OF KINGS. We had some reports from last year's release party of people who had stood in line for hours only to get pushed back in the queue at the last minute by others who had spots in line saved for them. That's not what Brandon wants to see happen, so for this release the bookstore is trying something new. See below for info from Tami at the bookstore.

• We will give out numbers at 8:00 a.m. on Monday, August 30st.
• Numbered tickets will be given out in the ORDER YOU ARRIVE TO WAIT IN LINE.
• You may hold a place in line for NO MORE THAN ONE PERSON for NO MORE THAN ONE HOUR.
• Each person in line will only receive ONE ticket for ONE numbered book.
• You will be asked to pre-pay for your book before you receive your numbered ticket. [Peter interjects: If you have already prepaid, bring your receipt or confirmation number to claim your number, but that doesn't affect which number you receive.]
• Individuals receiving a numbered ticket MUST BE BACK IN LINE, in their numbered location, BY NO LATER THAN 9:00 p.m. on Monday, August 30, 2010 or they FORFEIT their number and numbers will be reassigned.
• You may not pick up a numbered book for someone else. ONE numbered book per ONE numbered ticket per person. Books will be distributed at 12:00 a.m. on August 31, 2010.
• Once you have received your numbered book you are free to get into a separate line to have it personalized by Brandon.
• Brandon will personalize up to 3 books per trip through the line. If you would like to have him personalize more than 3, you are free to get back in line.

The BYU Bookstore will continue to give out numbers through the rest of the day (August 30, 2010), through the General Book Office, on a first come, first serve basis. Again, fans will only be allow ONE ticket per person for ONE numbered book and they will be advised that they will FORFEIT their number and will be asked to get in the back of the line if they are not in their numbered location in the line by 9:00 p.m. on Monday, August 30, 2010.

Peter again with some final comments. It's going to be difficult to make everyone happy in a situation like this, but I hope this will fix some of the problems that cropped up last year. And if you didn't plan to show up before 9:00 p.m. anyway, this won't change anything for you—due to the way the numbers are allocated to the release day events, if you arrive after person number 100, you get number 300 and above. And whether you get number 300 or 399 (or 600 or 699) doesn't matter so much as the people trying to get in the top 100, right? At least that's the theory here. All Brandon really cares about is people being able to read his book and enjoy it. I hope we can remember that, and I hope you enjoy the book as much as I do.

If things turn out not to work well this way, then I expect they'll try something else for the next midnight release in November.