From Rothfuss’ blog:
I thought about it. Back in 2007, I was sure I’d have the book done by 2008. But I was hugely ignorant and optimistic back then. So I was dead fucking wrong. That caused a lot of grief.
I told her I was really sure I could have it finished by September.
Come hell or high water? She asked me.
Come hell or high water, I said.
So we agreed that I’d have the book finished by September. It was nice. It made us both happy.
So that’s part of the news, that I’ll be finished writing The Wise Man’s Fear by September.
But here’s the rest of the news: that means that the book can’t come out until March of 2011.
Why? Well, for a bunch of reasons. Mostly because there are a lot of things that have to happen before a mass of text becomes a printed book on a shelf. It needs to be copyedited. The edits need to be confirmed. It needs to be proofed, checked for consistency, fiddled with. Fonts need to be chosen. It needs to go through layout. Then it needs to be proofed again. Marketing needs to happen. It needs to be sent to reviewers, and the reviewers need to have time to read it before they write the reviews. It needs to be put into catalogs of to-be-published-books so people who run bookstores can learn about it and order copies for their stores. It needs to be printed, boxed, warehoused, shipped. We need to sacrifice a black she-goat and pray to strange and terrible gods. Then we need to proofread again.
So, March 1st, 2011. It seems like we finally have a release date that inspires some confidence. Humbly candid, as always from Rothfuss; few authors with that level of popularity are willing to speak so clearly about the issues with and quality of the their works-in-progress.I’m sure I won’t be the only one re-reading The Name of the Wind in February, 2011! Any bets on how long the release of The Wise Man’s Fear buy Rothfuss some respite? A Feast for Crows was barely on store shelves before the vultures devoured it and set back upon poor Mr. Martin.
In any case, cheers to Pat and his publishers for nailing down that much sought after release date!