Now you, along with several other prominent fantasy and science fiction authors, have a devoted fan following. Over a thousand websites are, one way or another, devoted to the world that you have created in the Wheel of Time books. And you, to a certain extent, actively communicate with some of these fans, through e-mails—answering e-mails, answering questions on boards when you’re available for answering questions from various people. On the Amazon.com board, for example—
Well, I’ve done interviews, online interviews. But I don’t show up in chatrooms, or things of that sort. There are arranged interviews, and then we have a chatroom set up, you know, but not beyond that.
Do you get much direct e-mail asking questions of certain aspects of—
No, because I don’t let anyone have my e-mail address.
Ah-ha.
I don’t have time. Even with the e-mail that I get with few people knowing my e-mail address, I quite often ignore e-mail for days, or even weeks on the assumption that if it’s important they’ll get back to me. And if I look at it and realize the same person has written me five times in the last three weeks, alright maybe there’s something I should look at there. I cannot answer all of the fan-mail as fully as I would like. I’ve now gotten to the point where I quite often have to simply send a card—a postcard saying, “Thank you for writing to me, and I do not have time to reply.” I hate that, but there’s no time.
It’s a reality, and quite honestly I think that most of the fans understand that, and would rather that you devoted your time to creating the next book that they can snatch off the shelves as quickly as possible so that they can get further along into the story. But now you’re on a tour.
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