Converting the non believers! Or, getting friends hooked on Brandon.

[The Rooster Artifabrian]

So I sent a friend from college the epub file of Wok a while ago. We have similar tastes in books and Tor made them DRM free so I thought I'd bring one to the Cosmere side. He sent me a text the other day saying essentially he's read all of Mistborn including Alloy of Law, he's starting on Warbreaker and has pre-ordered Words of Radiance. He also wanted to let me know that he was reading online that all of Brandons books were related somehow. Hahaha. It gave me warm and fuzzies to know I finally got one! Now I've got a Co worker and her husband addicted to The Final Empire.

Does anyone else have any spectacular good (or bad) conversion stories?

[Kurkistan Most Ancient]

That was very brave of you to send WoK as the initial bait. Even Brandon doesn't suggest doing that.  (Rust it, can't find the source. And I'm usually link-man ).

 

I thrown Mistborn at a few people, to moderate success. TES is now my go-to for attempted conversions, though I've only tried one so far and it failed.

Edited January 14, 2014 by Kurkistan

[Gamma Fiend Steel Inquisitor]

Yeah... I threw WoK at my friend for his first Sanderson read... it definitely was a bit too much. And looking back I see why.
If he had maybe also read WoT it probably wouldn't be as bad, but stepping into the Cosmere like that... whew.

I had another friend who had finished WoT and very much enjoyed Sanderson's writing, and he actually read WoK first and enjoyed it a lot. I of course told him to go to Mistborn next. He's not "hooked" per se, but I can tell he genuinely enjoys reading Sanderson books.

I mean, who doesn't?

[Radda Awakened Object]

Well, I started with TWoK myself and got thoroughly hooked, although before that it's been quite a while since my last big as a brick fantasy novel. I'm not a big fan of Mistborn so I'm really glad it wasn't my first Sanderson book or I might've miss out on him altogether.

 

I'd say go with Kings.

[Unknowingly Oldblood]

I converted my first person this year. He was an exchange student from Australia but he is actually American. Whilst he was here we went on holiday to the beach and there is no signal where we went so I told him to bring some books, he told me he hates reading, I gave him Mistborn anyway . Long story short, while in South Africa he read Final Empire, Well of Ascension, Hero of Ages and Alloy of Law he took back with him to Australia and of course the whole time he is reading it I'm dropping hints of the Cosmere. A month and a bit later when I go to Australia for my exchange he has already finished Way of Kings. He has now, to the best of my knowledge, read Warbreaker and a couple of days ago he got his copy of Elantris signed by Brandon while he was visiting family in Utah.

 

He is now an active member of 17th shard(he just joined) and has already created a topic! his profile name on here is Zachi-chan.

 

I'm really proud of this because not only have I created another Sanderson Fan but a READER!

 

Then these next two are not so exciting, they're big fantasy readers and mother and son. I gave WoK to the son and then the mother read it. They love it and cannot wait for WoR but what really makes me excited is that they are as of now unaware of the Cosmere and I cannot wait for them to stumble across its brilliance.

[The Rooster Artifabrian]

That was very brave of you to send WoK as the initial bait. Even Brandon doesn't suggest doing that.  (Rust it, can't find the source. And I'm usually link-man ).

 

I thrown Mistborn at a few people, to moderate success. TES is now my go-to for attempted conversions, though I've only tried one so far and it failed.

 

I knew my crowd.  This particular friend has read a lot of fantasy and we originally bonded doing all night anime marathon's so i knew he had the endurance as well.  WoK was my first as well, so I knew it could be done.  All other recommendations start on Mistborn, the casual readers find that a good entry point especially since it's essentially a heist novel to begin with anyway.

[Oudeis Steel Inquisitor]

I normally tell people, "Read Warbreaker; it's free. It's also not, in my opinion, his best book, but if you read it and you think it's even okay, please take my recommendation and try Mistborn." Thus far, it's typically worked, although frankly, I've mostly used it on people who have heard of Sanderson and were considering giving him a try anyway.

[Starspren Obligator]

I get a friend read the Mistborn trilogy. Now she's a fan too.

From time to time she phoned me while reading and persented me her newest theories. I had to be very careful not to spoil something. Especially when she talked about OreSeur, I always repeated in my head: Don't say TenSoon! Don't say TenSoon! 

[Mysty Hazekiller]

I went to my sisters work party and bought the Mistborn Trilogy for the gift exchange. The guy who ended up with it perked up a lot about his winnings when I told him it was from my favorite author. I don't know if he'll read it, but I tried to sow the seeds for a new Brandon fan. I figure at the very least if i didn't make a fan, Brandon would at least get the royalties so he could write more books!

[Peng the Just Listener]

I started my girlfriend off with elantris and a friend off with way of kings. both are successful so far. girlfriend is now reading warbreaker and friend is reading mistborn. *evil laughter*

Edited January 14, 2014 by jasonpenguin

[Metacognition Knight Radiant]

It seems like everyone has a different jumping off point. In this thread already, I've heard every one of his Cosmere books that isn't a sequel! 

 

I'm thinking it doesn't matter where you start. Sanderson's writing is so good, it just doesn't matter. You're going to get drawn in one way or another.

[bookspren High Prelan]

I loved TWoK without having read any of Brandon's other works so I tried to get my brother to read it. He made it to Chapter 3 and decided it was too overwhelming for someone who doesn't normally read fiction.

I waited a while then convinced him to read Firstborn without explaining it was by the same author. He absolutely loved it and is now open to reading some more Sanderson stuff eventually. I figure I'll try Emperor's Soul since it is also shorter and tightly written. I hope that will convert him.

[Grayv House Lord]

I got a friend hooked on TWoK through the audiobooks. I now have him listening to Mistborn while he is waiting for WoR. He has really bad ADD and can't focus on the actual books. so I have been reading the WoR excerpts through vent.

[Shadowspren Oldblood]

While "Connor the Shardholder" played his hand at converting me quite nicely until we had nothing else to do, he has to admit that Brandon does most of the work. After returning to Australia I gave final empire to four of my friends who have now all read Mistborn, WoK, TES and one of them has read Elantris. not only have I done that, but after hooking those guys I got my school librarian to get more Sanderson books so everyone else can feel the magic. We have had hour long discussions about the Cosmere and how everything relates to everything.

[Unknowingly Oldblood]

Oh I think the argument can be made that Brandon does most of the work in every conversion mentioned above, but without us middle men putting the books in the people's hands the Words of Brandon would never reach their eyes and infect their minds.

[FeatherWriter Knight Radiant]

I pulled my two best friends in high school in after I got hooked on Mistborn, and I've also read most of the Cosmere aloud to my sister, so that's a fun way of bringing people in. The only two we haven't read are Elantris and TES, and she's a fan, but she doesn't have much free time to pursue her own reading.

 

I think my most successful convert might actually be my mom. I started reading Mistborn to her a while ago, and we just finished the first trilogy! She's definitely a fan, though she laments the somewhat bittersweet ending. I asked her what she wanted to try next, recommending Alloy if she wanted to keep with Scadrial, or Warbreaker for something more lighthearted and standalone.

 

She demanded that we do Way of Kings, because she wanted to know "who this Renarin fellow you talk about all the time is" and "it's your favorite, right?" I warned her that it's a lot more epic and longer than his other stuff (and that Renarin's not exactly a major character despite all I talk about him) but she insisted. We've just finished the first part and the first set of interludes and while she had some difficulty with the world at first, she's really liking it! I think she's going to try to go to the WoR release in Utah with me if she can, so hopefully we can finish WoK before then!

[EHyde Bloodsealer]

I basically failed at converting my sister: that is, she read the entire Mistborn trilogy and then Alloy of Law, but she never stopped complaining about Sanderson's writing style. I keep telling her to try Emperor's Soul, since it's a much more compact story, but I think it's a lost cause. Ahh well, you win some, you lose some.

[Shivertongue Worldbringer]

Oh, lets see... Converted one when we were in the bookstore, and the paperback of Warbreaker had just come out. He was telling me that I needed to read some book that I can't remember the title of. I spotted Warbreaker on the shelf, grabbed it, and thrust it at him. "You buy this and read it," I said, "and I'll buy that and read it." He agreed, and a few days later I got a text asking for more.

 

He's never asked me about the book he'd wanted me to read.

[Awesomeness Summoned Savant]

Just had an hour long car ride with a coworker coming back from a job and somehow we got into him talking about the fantasy novel he's trying to write. I suggested he listen to writing excuses if he was serious about writing. That led into me talking about how much Sanderson does to help aspiring writers which in turn led to me talking about Sanderson's various books. When I dropped him off at his car, he saw there was a B&N across the street and said he was gonna go look at picking up a few of Sanderson's books before it closed in thirty minutes. Fingers crossed for a new convert.

[Aether Listener]

He's never asked me about the book he'd wanted me to read.

But did you... read it?

[loganmathewjohnson Lighteyes]

I have converted many a Sanderson fan to our cause... But in truth, I've had to accept that Sanderson is not good for everyone. For example, my best friend could never read epic fantasy. She prefers romance, and try as I might, I cannot get her to pick up a copy of Mistborn or Elantris (My best guesses for her, considering those lean more to Romantic than some of Sanderson's other works) But there is nothing I can do, because of the deep dislike of fantasy that has been instilled in her. But here's my idea: we get a movie made of Steelheart, or the Rithmatist. That will help convert many people who like to read, but just haven't experienced Sanderson genius yet...

 

EDIT: Here's some advice from Georgia, where my brother is serving an LDS mission:

          "I break down the 8 metals of mistborn for them and explain that that is just the beginning of his worlds. People are usually pretty interested after that."

 

So there ya have it, folks!!

Edited January 20, 2014 by loganmathewjohnson

[Khmauv Forescout]

I am currently attempting to indoctrinate my children by reading the Alcatraz series to them, so far I am unsure how it is being received but my oldest (8), who is not a reader, has been asking me to continue so...I'll keep my fingers crossed.

 

I have been trying to get my wife into Brandon. I mistakenly tried to start with WoK. It was not a good choice but we are slowly making progess through it between other books. We did get through Rithmatist and TES, and I am pushing for Mistborn which she seems open to reading, however the local library's nine copies are all checked out(bitter sweet).  

[lordofsoup Hazekiller]

I got my younger brother to read the Mistborn Trilogy, he really liked the first book, but the second two he was not as thrilled about.  Tried to get him to read WoK but he wouldnt, which is strange considering I managed to get him to read all of ASoIaF and WoT.

[SirVarrock Babsk]

I've managed to convert both my sister and on of my friends by letting them read TES.  After that they were hooked.  As for myself, I started with AoL, which wasn't exactly the best idea.  I was confused about the magic system until I read Mistborn.

[Iredomi High Prelan]

I've semi converted three people. One person I just hang out with so much that she just started reading them (I know I started with Elantris but I can't recall what she read first)and to be honest when I first read all of Brandon's then released Cosmere books we were having a race. but they were my books so I guess that counts, she has an account here too but the forums aren't really her thing. And my crazy obsession with his books sort of makes her not as into them though I know she really does enjoy them.

The second person I got to read Sanderson read all of mistborn trilogy and couldn't get through AoL and is still reading WoK which is enjoying a lot more than mistborn but I think he's just too busy to finish it. Though he wanted me to read ASoIaF which I'm still plodding through halfway through the second one.

The latest person I've converted (is it just me or does that sound creepy?) I started them on Elantris which she absolutely loved and has now read all of the Mistborn trilogy and is keen for more I think.

So going off of that I don't know what one I would recommend first as a rule. Mistborn is good start as it's action packed and crazy cool. And Emperors Soul might be good for some as it's short but I don't think I would ever try and get someone into Sanderson using that book. it's great my favourite Sanderson book but i don't think it works as a good hook.

Warbreaker is also good as it's free on the website but I know a lot of people who are adverse to reading on screens for any extended period of time so maybe not that one.

For me I think I would go with Elantris just because it's Sanderson's first and I loved it enough to keep going so why shouldn't others?

Of course it is a very flawed book compared to his others and in the end as a hook I think the Final Empire would work the best or if your friend has been into long convoluted fantasy series in the past WoK I guess in the end it depends on the person.

Which just makes this whole post waffle but im losing feeling in my fingers so there is no way I'm not going to post this haha.