State of the Sanderson 2025

Introduction

It’s been twenty years since this all began with the publication of Elantris. I thought the first ten would be the oddest of my professional career, what with the Wheel of Time dominating many of those years. 

It’s fun to look back at the State of the Sanderson from 2015 and see myself reminisce upon turning forty. Well, another ten years have passed, and these were somehow just as strange as the first ten. Our leatherbound editions really took off (we went from trying an experiment with Elantris to publishing the Wheel of Time itself) as did our crowdfunding efforts (to say the least). We started Nexus, and if this year proves anything, it’s that we don’t need a major book launch to make people excited for the convention. Through all of that, Dragonsteel grew from a company of a handful of friends and family members to... well, a real company, with HR and everything.  

I still feel incredibly grateful to you all for sticking with me through all of this. I recognize that I don’t always get to the side projects that people want me to, but that’s the price I have to pay to keep being creative. (And to make sure I keep myself excited for writing Stormlight and Mistborn.)

Looking back twenty years is daunting. I’m halfway through the main plan for the Cosmere, and feel like it’s going great, yet fifty feels more old by far than forty did at the time when it hit me. I’ve now been writing the yearly State of the Sanderson blog posts for longer than my youngest son has been alive. That’s wild.  

One thing remains constant: I love telling these stories. Ten years ago, I was making jokes about people calling me too productive, and I haven’t had any inclination toward slowing down. If you missed it somehow, I announced Secret Project Six (The Fires of December) at Nexus, and read from it what I think might be the strongest opening for a book I’ve ever written.  

There’s always another secret... and there’s always another story.   

Onward to the State of the Sanderson! My yearly way of updating you, and giving a retrospective on my year. 

Part One: My Year

Here’s what I spent 2025 doing! Reconstructed using the spreadsheet I use to record my progress on books.

January-December: Work on Ghostbloods (with other stuff)

Yup, only one entry this time. This year was primarily spent on Ghostbloods. I needed to get the outlines into shape, and write the first book.

That said, I’m being a little cheeky writing this as one entry, instead of breaking it up as I usually do by month. I did a lot of other things—just none of them took that long individually. 

A chunk of February was spent doing edits on Moment Zero, the cornerstone story for Tailored Realities. I lost about two weeks (!) to being extremely sick in March, and to having my eardrum burst from a sinus infection. That’s as sick as I ever remember being, and I got barely anything done—which for me is saying a lot.  

In May, I flew to Hollywood and pitched the Cosmere to all the big studios and streamers. (A little more news about that below.)  

July was spent on revisions for various things, including The Fires of December—and reading Janci’s second book in the Riftwake series, offering my editorial advice and revision notes. In August I worked on a novella that I can’t talk about yet, but it’s not cosmere. Then I was back to Ghostbloods... until I needed to do final, final revisions on The Fires of December in October, all the while making slow, careful, steady progress on Ghostbloods, which I should finish soon.  

So it was a very busy year full of a lot of random things, but also with a lot of time making sure Ghostbloods turns out the way I want it to.  

Part Two: 2026, and Updates on Primary Projects

2026 Travel and Releases

Something new I want to add this year is a look, right up top, at what is coming this year. This is the “Too Long, Didn’t Read” summary for you.  

First, next year will bring a crowdfunding campaign in March for the Hoid Storybooks. See more below.

Second, our book this year is The Fires of December. Premium edition in the crowdfund in March, though it’s a full novel and not a picture book, and commercial edition coming in December at Nexus and in bookstores. 

Third, I am planning to go to the UK in May to attend a convention in London and speak at Oxford. More details below, but the really important point is to note that we are considering bringing the Worldhopper Ball to London with my trip. This is the same experience as Nexus this year—so it’s Mistborn Era One themed, with actors, music, photo-ops with characters, entertainment, and food/drink. It’s quite a production, and expensive to bring, so we’ve got an RSVP form set up for those interested. If we get enough people saying they’d attend (without commitment yet) we will start work on it.  We need to know pretty soon, so please fill this out if you’re considering going.  

So, if you don’t read anything else in this document, those are the three things I want you to be aware of!  Now, onto the BIG updates!  In depth, because this is me, after all.

Mistborn

I basically already covered this one. Ghostbloods is going really well, with the first book mostly done at this point. I’m excited by how it is shaping up! 2028 is a pretty firm release date for this; don’t expect it to move. 

Also... Steve Argyle had an idea for a Mervin comic, and we loved it and decided to commision it from him. Enjoy a little Mervin update in this section!

Cytoverse

Another great year for progress on the Cytoverse, with Janci officially naming our Skyward follow-up series Riftwake, with the first book (Blightfall) out next September.  I’ve read the second one, and have the outline for the third and final one in hand!  These are turning out great, and I think you Skyward fans are going to love them.  

Hoid’s Travails

With The Fires of December announced, we have a new Cosmere series!  Kind of! What I’m calling “Hoid’s Travails” are stories told in Hoid’s voice, about his stops around the Cosmere on out-of-the way planets that don’t have as much directly to do with the large-scale movements of Shards, like you see in Mistborn and Stormlight. 

Tress of the Emerald Sea and Yumi and the Nightmare Painter are the two other books in the series, but they don’t have specific numbers, as I feel they can be read in any order.  (December takes place before the other two chronologically, though Hoid is telling it to people after he told the other two, if that makes sense.)  

This gives us two books next year.  Blightfall and The Fires of December (which will be our Nexus book next year).

If you want to read the opening chapters of December, find them HERE.  If you want to hear me read them to you, find that HERE.  Our premium, illustrated edition will be sold during the Hoid Storybook crowdfunding campaign in March.  My publishers (Tor in the US/Canada, Gollancz in the UK/Ireland/Australia, and Nova in Spain) will be releasing it in December for commercial editions.  (With other languages to follow.)

More about the crowdfunding campaign below.

Wheel of Time Leatherbounds

The Eye of the World leatherbound is incredible. It feels so weighty, tome-like, and special. I think it’s my favorite leatherbound we’ve done so far.

They are up for pre-order TODAY. They ship early next year, and will ship in batches as we get all of them in from the bindery, which is sending them in waves. (I incorrectly thought we had all of them already; we don’t, but they are coming quickly, and no delays are likely.) From the levels of demand, we are expecting to sell out of the first printing of this book. Probably not immediately, but sometime early next year. We will of course be doing a second printing, but if you want to get one without needing to wait for the second printing to arrive, then now is the time to preorder.  

If you’d like to get one for a certain loved one THIS year for a Christmas present, I’ve prepared something you can print and wrap up. Find it HERE.

Hoid's Storybook Collection

The Dog and the Dragon, The Girl Who Looked Up, and Wandersail are joined by the Chasmfriends in a unique collection of four picture books that I absolutely adore. I mean, look at this artwork by Howard Lyon. How can you not love this little guy?

It’s going to be a long wait for March, but if you want to sign up now and pre-pledge a little amount, we’ll add a blind bag pin to your order. See more details on the sign-up page. 

These are planned to be delivered by the holidays next year, in case you want to get an early start on gifts for 2026. 

Part Three: Updates on Secondary Projects

Elantris, Warbreaker, Rithmatist

Elantris keeps getting shuffled around, but I’m very close to where I’m going to write the sequel. I’ve been saying that for ten years, but I do think I’ll get to it before too much longer.  Warbreaker and Rithmatist remain on my plate, with books to be written eventually. I feel like I’ve been racing for ten years, and only now do I feel like I have a breather to really look at projects like this.  

Songs of the Dead

This book is out in the summer of 2026! It is fully my co-author Peter Orullian’s series now, but he’s going to be on my YouTube from time to time to talk about it, and I was deeply involved in the first book. (Though for time reasons, I won’t be working on the others in the series.) His passion, dedication, and writing has been so wonderful to see, and I hope you’ll all check out the book when it launches. 

White Sand

Moving this one to the back burner, as The Fires of December ended up going better than White Sand did last year. (Sorry.)  The prose version of White Sand should still happen, but I was juggling doing several projects last fall, and December just HAD to be written. It’s one of those books I couldn’t get out of my mind, and I decided I had to strike while the iron was hot. 

Super Awesome Danger

I got proofs from the team, and went over them! So it’s coming along, though the artwork is taking a while.  

Other Random Cosmere Projects

The Night Brigade, Dragonsteel, The Silence Divine, the Grand Apparatus, Mythos, the Aether World book series, Free Fall Seven Layer Burrito World, Caveman Heist, Unnamed Other Ashyn Book... My, my. This list keeps growing, doesn’t it?  That’s how it goes.  Most of these are just idle thoughts, and none are promised.  Many have been on there for over a decade, so I like to drop them into the list when I have something solid in mind, but I won’t be able to get to all (or even most) of them. 

Finished series

Legion, Alcatraz, and the Reckoners remain finished, with only Reckoners maybe someday getting a sequel.   

Part Three: Crowdfunding

I’m going to send this to some relevant parties for more details, but the short version you already know. Hoid's Storybook Collection in March. Words of Radiance/Isles of the Emberdark is fulfilled! We should also be doing something new and cool with Brotherwise, which you’ll want to read about below, now that the Stormlight section of the RPG is fulfilled. (And for sale in Barnes and Noble, as well as on our respective websites!)

Part Four: Film, Television, Video Games

I wrote up a guide last year you can use as a key to understand the various steps I’ll reference below. We’ll link that RIGHT HERE, but it’s a little long. The short version is that I imagined ten “steps” to getting a film/TV property made, and while they don’t always go in order, and some can be skipped, it’s a rough guide that we can use to keep you updated on things.  

So read this next part, and if you’re confused, you can read my longer explanation of the steps—or can maybe guess where we are from the fact that there are ten steps, and so properties being on the lower ones means we’re pretty far off...  Which we are on everything, unfortunately.

That isn’t to say we haven’t made progress. It’s just when something falls apart (which often happens in this realm) you end up starting over from scratch. However, each time that has happened in the past, what we’ve built up next has been with people who have a little more power in Hollywood. In that way, each failure so far has propelled us forward until here, at this point, I’m taking meetings with heads of studios instead of low-level producers.

I think when it happens, it will be that much better for all the delays.

Snapshot

This is now officially dead. 

This is the one we were closest on last year (at step seven) but it hit a hiccup in June/July, and though the showrunners tried to do a Hail Mary to get it picked up somewhere new, it didn’t work. I got the text today that the rights are being released back to me.

It’s one of my stronger short pieces, and at least this means we can shop it again for the first time in many years. You can read the story itself in Tailored Realities. (Did I mention this collection is out now?)  

Step Zero. (Sigh.)

Skyward

This had some good motion! Last year, we were hunting showrunners, and we picked them. Last year we were on Step Four, and we technically still are, but we have showrunners, and together we’re writing the pilot. So it’s a pretty-far-along Step Four, which can often be one of the longest to complete.

Once we have a pilot, we’d need to sell it to a streamer or network, as this is for television, and although I’m working with a studio, the studio itself is not a distributor (i.e., it doesn’t have its own streaming service or network in the US).  So, to manage expectations, it will probably be another year at least before we would be able to announce anything official. 

Step Four.

Tress of the Emerald Sea

Last year I said we were likely going to get an offer on this, and we did—but it wasn’t for an animated feature as I’d hoped.  It was for a television series, also animated. As the proposed budgets didn’t look like they would be where I wanted, I decided to pass. 

This is the problem, by the way, with animation. A lot of fans want me to do animated versions of my books, and I’m willing—but often, in Hollywood, the money just isn’t there to make these the way I’d like. It DOES happen; Arcane is fantastic.  Unfortunately, this offer wasn’t there, and I decided I’d rather keep ahold of the property as opposed to doing something I felt had a low chance of coming out as I wanted it to.

Step Zero, unfortunately.

Mistborn/Stormlight

As I mentioned, in May I did major pitch sessions with some high-level people in Hollywood, and we received several offers. We’ve had some very promising developments since then, but that’s all I can say at the present.

I am hopeful that next year, I’ll be able to share some more information. Expect that when any Hollywood deal is completed I’ll likely need to pause writing on Ghostbloods for some time to devote my full attention to anticipated film and television projects (as I have every expectation of being very involved in any adaptations of my works going forward). 

(Very early) Step Four.

Video Games

I’ve started to get some real interest on the video game front, and I feel I’m finally getting  established enough that we can make a Mistborn game happen. To that end, I’ve started talking to some AAA developers.  

This is at Step One only, but it’s an encouraging One. These rights were tied up with the film rights for the last... oh, six~seven years, so I didn’t get to test the market on them until recently.  

I’m trying to do things differently this time in an effort to retain control of my video game rights.  I already have interest from some major players in the Video Game industry (who I like a lot). So if you are a decision maker at a AAA studio, or a major independent, and you’ve always wanted to make a Mistborn or Stormlight game... well, you would want to contact my reps now.  

If you want to throw your hat in the ring, the person to talk to is Matt Sugarman at Weintraub Tobin in LA.

Part Five: News from My Company

I’m going to hand you off again for some brief updates from Emily, then the different departments at Dragonsteel. Then, after that, some updates from foreign publishers. I’ll be back in Part Seven to wrap things up!

Emily

Hi! It’s your friendly neighborhood C.O.O. here. A couple of the highlights of my 2025 had to do with UVU and Spain. For the second year in a row, Dragonsteel has helped to sponsor the Creative Economy class at our local Utah Valley University in the Entrepreneurship Department. It has been really rewarding for me and other Dragonsteel employees to interact with students who are interested in making a living from their creative pursuits. It feels satisfying to me that the knowledge we’ve gained over the years through blood, sweat and tears can be helpful to others. It is also just energizing to be on a university campus and watch students. 

I have to say, though, that students get younger and younger every year. Maybe that’s just because I feel old! I turned 50 in September, so this was a significant year for me. In an effort to prove my eternal youth, I went tandem skydiving on my 50th birthday. It was an exhilarating experience, and while I don’t want to repeat it every week, I’m very glad I did it. 

Something else I’m glad I did is attend the Celsius 232 festival in Aviles, Spain in July. It was Dragonsteel’s way of dipping our toes into the waters of international business. In fact, twenty two Dragonsteel employees, including Brandon and myself, got to dip our toes this summer. The experience ended up more like a tidal wave than a dip, but we returned victorious, having sold our merch, learned a lot and really enjoyed ourselves as well. The fans in Spain are supportive and enthusiastic, and welcomed all of us wholeheartedly. Hopefully this is just the first of many Dragonsteel experiences abroad.

Running Dragonsteel with Brandon is similar to motherhood for me in that both experiences are incredibly daunting, and at the same time joyous and fulfilling. I’m grateful to be where I am both with my family and with my profession. Thanks to all of you readers who make that second thing possible!

—Emily Sanderson

Creative Development

Hello! It’s Isaac from Dragonsteel Creative Development, and let’s talk about leatherbound books. We’ve been deep in development for The Wheel of Time™ leatherbounds for a few years, and now that the first book, The Eye of the World, is about to go out into the world, I’m excited to let you know that we’re in full production on the design for The Great Hunt. So, the Wheel continues to turn on that series.

In 2025, with the release of our edition of The Lost Metal, we’ve finished up the leatherbound set of Mistborn Era 2. The question now is, what’s next? Some of you have asked me at conventions about Arcanum Unbounded and Oathbringer. We’re still working out logistics on those, and we’ll get to them eventually, but next year we’re starting something new.

I’m excited to announce that in Q4 of 2026, we’ll be releasing Skyward as a Dragonsteel leatherbound.

You’re in for a treat on this one. We’ve been working with Jake Parker—incredible artist, wonderful human being, and creator of Inktober—to put together something really special. One of Jake’s specialities are spaceships and aliens, so bringing him on board to illustrate the Skyward universe felt like a great fit. This highly illustrated edition will have 30+ new interior illustrations by the master of inking himself. Jake and our team have been working on this one for over a year now, and I can’t wait for you to see the entire project come together in this beautiful leatherbound volume.

We plan to release one Skyward book a year till we complete the series. Claim the Stars.

Publicity and Marketing

Hi all, Adam here. As most of you know, 2025 was an incredibly packed year for Dragonsteel. One of my favorite parts of working in Publicity and Marketing is that we get to interact with just about everything happening around here, whether we're supporting various projects to ensure they get the visibility they deserve, reaching beyond the fandom to help it grow, or designing dedicated experiences and creating content for all of you.

Our wonderful team has expanded this year! We're excited to have Jack Rose onboard as our content writer (he's already written some great pieces for The Cognitive Realm—you should check them out), Shadi Davarzani as our graphic designer (she played a huge role in getting us ready for Nexus with everything from physical signage to panel slides), and Michael Bateman as our community manager (Michael joins us from Dragonsteel's customer service team, bringing expertise in what makes our fans so great and how to best serve them).

A few highlights from this year: we wrapped up our latest recordings and articles for Brandon's lecture series, now available on Brandon's YouTube channel and blog. We joined the Dragonsteel booth at StoryCon, C2E2, Celsius 232, and FanX to give fans an inside track to the action. The Eye of the World leatherbound was a major focus, including launching a dedicated newsletter for the project called Bound and Woven. Those subscribers have been fantastic and engaged, and we can't wait to share this beautiful book (the pre-order is live now, as Brandon mentions above).

Since kicking things off with Joe Abercrombie's release of The Devils, Brandon has held several events where he chats with authors across genres on their book tours. This has been such a fun project for my team, and something you all seem to enjoy as well. We're looking forward to doing even more in 2026!

Lastly, Brandon and Emily were awarded Utah Business Leaders of the Year in 2025. We're all incredibly proud—it couldn't have been more deserved.

In 2026, you can expect lots more content about what we've been up to and what's coming next, plenty of event coverage (including Dragonsteel's London adventure and Brandon's lecture on Tolkien at Oxford), and more ways to make sure every fan feels connected to the community. That's why we're all here, after all.

Narrative

Hi, everybody! This has been quite a year for Narrative, as you can tell by Brandon’s list of books he’s been working on. For clarity, the projects he lists in his section are books that he writes and I consult on; the projects I list in my section are books that I write and he consults on. And this year that’s been a lot, though I can only tell you about one of them, and hint vaguely at the rest: 

1. This year we released the double book of Elsecaller and King Lopen the First of Alethkar. Most of the 2025 work on this was done by Editorial and Creative, as the writing was all finished in 2024, but it’s the only book I can name so I’m naming it. Since many people at Nexus asked, I’ll say this: the version of Elsecaller that appears in the double is word-for-word the version that appeared in the Story Deck cards. We would love to expand it into a novella, on par with Edgedancer and Dawnshard, but such a project is not currently on the schedule.
2. Narrative has three other books in the works at present, with the following maddening hints: two of them are Cosmere, none of them are Threnody, one of them is huge, two of them are already in revision, all three of them are awesome, and one of them is so new and innovative we haven’t even figured out how to sell it yet. And that’s all I can say for now :)

I’ll leave you with a fun peek behind the scenes. While the Narrative department consists solely of me and Brandon (and my intern, who’s last day is TODAY), we also have what Brandon calls the Council of Wizards, which adds to the group Isaac, Peter, and Karen. We bring in the Council of Wizards when a problem arises in a book and we’re not sure how to solve it–for example, if a book is mostly written but it turns out that the original outlined ending isn’t going to work. We convene the Council of Wizards, and the five of us chew through the problem and offer ideas about how to solve it, what things could change, and what things are working well and we don’t want to lose them. The Council convened three times this year, and it’s always a fun and productive time.

– Dan Wells

Merchandise, Support and Events

Wait, a second. Is 2025 ending already? I could have sworn that a week ago I was writing our entry for 2024! Let’s take a look at everything we’ve done this past week… sorry, past year!

Support

Starting with the team that makes sure all of your needs are heard, we’ll kick things off with our support team! They have been doing some incredible work this year and have some major milestones we want to call out. First off, our support team got a major upgrade to their support software and more team members! Our response times have been faster than ever! 

The scope of our support team has also grown. They now officially oversee everything relating to our crowdfunding campaigns. So, put your hands together to celebrate the completion of the Words of Radiance Leatherbound campaign which culminated in the release of the latest Cosmere entry, Isles of the Emberdark! And they are already looking forward to next year, with the launch of Hoid’s Storybook Collection in March! Gorgeously illustrated storybooks that retell some of Hoid’s most memorable tales are coming your way. And, if you thought that was all…surprise! The campaign will ALSO include a NEW secret project, The Fires of December. If you haven’t already, make sure to follow the campaign on BackerKit to be notified when it goes live!

Merchandise

We touched on it briefly already, but the merchandise team successfully wrapped up shipping for the Words of Radiance Leatherbound campaign. If you have never shipped to over 100,000 backers before, our team will be the first to tell you that it is no small feat. Now, when most of those 100,000 backers have orders that require multiple packages to be shipped over the course of a year—well, all I can say is that I am in awe of their incredible work. Every day they surprise me by doing something else absolutely magical!

And, did you see Light Day? (Yes, this is our favorite new annual Holiday. Black Friday? Never heard of it!) We had exciting new merchandise drops this year, starting at many of our in-person events—more on those below—which we were able to bring to ALL of our fans on Light Day! 

Our merchandise team has also been developing some marvelous items to commemorate our next crowdfunding campaign. I can’t reveal too much yet, but have you seen the artwork we released to tease the Chasmfriend pins? TOO. CUTE. We can’t wait to show you the rest of what we’ve been dreaming up for our presence at London MCM (more on that below), the Mistborn 20th Anniversary, and next year’s Light Day!

Events

We kicked things off this past year at StoryCon—an absolutely incredible event put on by the charity organization Operation Literacy. Next, we introduced Phyl and B’Barbra to the world by kicking off our year long Nexus Adventure Game at C2E2 in Chicago. We continued the game in Spain at Celsius 232 where we nearly ran out of 10,000 pamphlets! And then we brought the game back to Utah at FanX in Salt Lake City. At each of these conventions we debuted new merchandise, exclusive pins, and made hundreds of new friends around the world. 

Wrapping up the year we ended with a bang at Dragonsteel Nexus 2025. Over 10,000 attendees flooded the halls of the convention every day. We also had the privilege of inviting the likes of Pierce Brown, Tomi Adeyemi, Ayman Chaudhary (@aymansbooks), and Dan Dos Santos as featured guests of Nexus. We also pulled off an even bigger and better Worldhopper Ball where our jaws DROPPED each day of the convention, sometimes multiple times, as Mistborn: The Final Empire was brought to life on stage. Did anyone catch the kandra bones in the corner? I wonder who else was there?

Next year, we have some more major events we’ll be attending. First off, we are heading back to StoryCon in February and we are bringing Brandon Sanderson with us! We’ll also be making a stop at JordanCon. I mean, have you seen the new Eye of the World deluxe edition we’ve been working on? And, if you missed the announcement, we are heading to London MCM next year. And, while we are there, we want to bring this year’s Worldhopper Ball, The Waltz of the Final Empire, to a genuine, English keep. And, of course, Dragonsteel Nexus 2026 is coming back December 3–5! 

Woah. What a year we’ve had! I think you can see why I felt like it flew by so quickly! 

See you next year, Worldhoppers!

- Kara Stewart

Editorial

This year we welcomed Suzanne Uchytil to the team to help with InDesign layout/typesetting, and she is already hard at work on the second Wheel of Time leatherbound, The Great Hunt. She’s been doing an awesome job!

Every book that Brandon writes goes through our hands, and hopefully turns out the better for it! It’s an essential part of Brandon’s process, though if we do our job perfectly you, the reader, will never notice. We had a great time talking to many of you at our Nexus panel and booth, and we’ll be at Jordancon in April in Atlanta again this year.

The team of volunteer beta and gamma readers had more of a relaxing year in 2025 than they had last year with Wind and Truth and Isles of the Emberdark, though they did a great job on Tailored Realities and Blightfall, and we did get to (with great pleasure) spring The Fires of December on a limited number of them. There’s nothing quite like a Secret Project to stoke beta reading excitement!

As usual we also did a lot of approvals and foreign deals in conjunction with Brandon’s literary agency, JABberwocky. You can read more about those in the News From International Partners section below.

Personally, I’ve been reading chapters of Ghostbloods in Brandon’s writing group, and I’m excited to see what you think of it (in three years)! 

—Peter Ahlstrom

Operations

Now that you've read what the rest of Dragonsteel was up to in 2025, and what they can't wait to happen next, you've experienced what it's like to work in Operations at Dragonsteel! We are a nexus of that movement, a crossroads of all things internal to Dragonsteel moving at the speed of fandom. So, thankfully, we welcomed another Operations team member in 2025, Kendra Hill, to help us best serve and support that work! Kendra quickly became a welcoming, trusted face for visitors and employees alike, and a dedicated proponent of an organized, clean (yay Desk Cleaning Days!), and a healthy workplace. And, she lended her creative skills to helping us plan events for Dragonsteel employees and their families. 

We know all companies celebrate special events and holidays, but did you know that at Dragonsteel we celebrate Pie Day, May the Fourth, Hobbit Day and finally the infamous Koloss Headmunching Day? Plus, this year we loved taking time to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Elantris. And, we had fun surprising Brandon and Emily by dressing up as them as part of Dragonsteel Spirit Week! Of course, it’s not all sports jackets and tiaras. We loved being challenged with bringing Dragonsteel to Spain this year; what a rewarding experience! And we are working hard to make that experience even better when we visit those of you who can make it to see us in London. You saw this announcement, right? 

Finally, I have to take a moment to geek out about having had the honor of walking the DSNX halls sharing The Eye of the World Leatherbound with many of you! It's wild to think thirty five years ago, I walked out of a library in Lisle, Illinois, holding that same book in my hands for the first time, but with a beautiful blue cover. 

Hang on for 2026! There is always another secret… 

-Matt Hatch 

Part Six: News From International Partners

Brazil (Trama)

In 2025, Trama released the third of the Secret Project, Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, featuring the breathtaking artwork of Aliya Chen. We also had the great honor of bringing back to Brazil the Original Mistborn Trilogy in a brand-new edition, now available in hardcover. And to complete the year, the long-awaited sequel of The Stormlight Archive, Rhythm of War, is out now!

Looking ahead to 2026, Trama will continue expanding the Brandon Sanderson universe with the Mistborn: Wax & Wayne series, the Secret Project title The Sunlit Man, and the next volume of The Stormlight Archive: Wind and Truth. And there’s more: a brand-new addition to the catalogue, The Original, the sci-fi novella written by Brandon Sanderson and Mary Robinette Kowal. Check out the details below:

2025 - Published books:

April: Mistborn - The Original Trilogy: The Final Empire, The Well of Ascension and The Hero of Ages, in hardcover and box edition and standard paperback, sold separately.

April - Mistborn Secret Story - hardcover

August: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter - hardcover;

November: Rhythm of War - Standard paperback

2026: to be published:

Spring (in Brazil, Autumn):

The Sunlit Man - Hardcover

Summer (in Brazil, Winter):

The Original - Brandon Sanderson with Mary Robinette Kowal

Mistborn - Wax & Wayne: The Alloy of Law, Shadows of Self, The Bands of Mourning, and The Lost Metal (The Lost Metal will be published for the first time in Brazil) in hardcover as box edition and standard paperback, sold separately;

Autumn (in Brazil, Spring)

Wind and Truth - standard paperback;

Fans outside Brazil can buy these amazing editions at amazon.com.br

Also, 2025 was an exceptional year for Brandon Sanderson and his Brazilian fans. Here are some highlights:

• Brandon Sanderson was the Honoured Author at the first edition of FLIF – Festival of Fantasy Literature, held in São Paulo in April 2025. During the event, FLIF broadcasted an exclusive interview with the author by Tamirez Santos, the Brazilian creator of the major fantasy book channel Resenhando Sonhos. (Interview link)
• The Instagram post shared by Trama announcing the publication of Mistborn became the publisher’s top-performing post of 2025, reaching 70,000 views in just 24 hours and generating 3,884 likes.
• Estadão, one of Brazil’s leading newspapers, published a feature on FLIF highlighting Brandon Sanderson as the honoured author of the edition. (Article link)
• Two weeks ago, Trama announced the publication of Wax & Wayne — and in less than 24 hours, the post reached 51,000 views.

Catalan (Mai Més, Duna Llibres)

Brandon Sanderson’s arrival in Catalan has been extraordinary. This year we published The Emperor’s Soul (winner of the Ictineu Award for Best Translation for Marta Armengol Royo), Elantris, Mistborn: The Final Empire, and The Well of Ascension — all in limited editions, many already sold out — surpassing 8,000 copies sold. At Llibreria Gigamesh, Sanderson has been the best-selling Catalan title for 6 out of the past 12 months, a clear sign of the momentum behind this project. We also created a striking dedicated showcase at the bookshop, celebrating the rapidly expanding Catalan Cosmere.

On our website, capsesdellibres.com, readers can buy all titles and receive exclusive materials (prints, notebooks, maps, bookmarks, totebags), as well as special collector’s boxes. Capsesdellibres.com is also a commitment to the Catalan bookselling network: every sale is paid to the local bookshop chosen by the reader, strengthening independent bookstores throughout the country.

Isles of the Emberdark has just been released, and pre-orders are open for the final volume of the original Mistborn trilogy.

In 2026 we will continue expanding the catalogue with an ambitious schedule:
Q1: Tress of the Emerald Sea and The Hero of Ages
Q2: Mistborn: Secret History
Q3: The Alloy of Law
Q4: Warbreaker

Sanderson has found a vibrant, enthusiastic home in Catalan — and this is only the beginning.

Some reviews: [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9]

China (Chongqing)

Recent books in 2025

In 2025, Chongqing Publishing House has released the Simplified Chinese edition of Mistborn: The Lost Metal (in March) and Arcanum Unbounded (in March).

Upcoming Books 2026

In June of 2026, Chongqing Publishing House is planning to publish hardcover editions of The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England, The Sunlit Man and Tress of the Emerald Sea. In September of 2026, we are planning to release the paperback edition of Rhythm of War (Stormlight Archive #4) and Dawnshard in March.

Where to Buy

Brandon Sanderson’s simplified Chinese books are available at our own Tmall store which supports global shipping. 

Czech Republic (Talpress)

In May 2025 we published The Sunlit Man in hardcover.

In 2026 we will publish Dawnshard and Wind and Truth.

Our books are available at www.talpress.cz or locally at TALPRESS, Řeznická 12, 110 00 Praha 1

France (Livre de Poche)

In 2025, Le Livre de Poche published:

• in January, the paperback edition of Tress of the Emerald Sea (Tress de la mer Émeraude);
• in March, the paperback edition of The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England (Manuel de Survie du Sorcier Frugal dans Angleterre médiévale);
• in July, the hardback edition of Wind and Truth Part 1 (Vent et Vérité, volume 1), the first part of the 5th book of The Stormlight Archive series;
• and, in December, the paperback edition of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (Yumi et le Peintre de cauchemars).

In 2026, Le Livre de Poche will release:

• in January, the hardback edition of Wind and Truth Part 2 (Vent et Vérité, volume 2), the second part of the 5th book of The Stormlight Archive series;
• in February, the hardback edition and a collector hardcover edition of the novel Isles of the Emberdark (L’Île de Noirebraise);
• in the 3rd quarter, the first part of the comic book Dark One (Dark One);
• in the 4th quarter, the paperback edition of The Sunlit Man (L’Ensoleillé);
• and a collector boxed-set of Mistborn Era 1 (la trilogie originale de Fils-des-Brumes) before Christmas.

Fans from other countries can buy the books in French bookstores, or in local bookstores that ship internationally, and if not on the online bookstores such as Place des libraires, Mollat, Décitre, Furets du Nord, Dialogues, and Cultura, or online retailers like Fnac.com, Amazon, Rakuten, Momox and many others. You will find all the many ways to get Brandon’s books in French on our website. Many of Brandon Sanderson’s French books are available in digital format and also in audiobook.

Germany (Heyne, Piper, Droemer Knaur)

Heyne:

Our 2025 releases:

Winde und Wahrheit (Wind and Truth, part 1), in hardback format, May 14

Der Kampf der Meister (Wind and Truth, part 2), in hardback format, September 10

Future releases: 

Das Herz der Sonne (The Sunlit Man), in trade paperback format, May 2026

Winde und Wahrheit (Wind and Truth, part 1), in trade paperback format, January 2027

3) You will find Heyne editions of Brandon Sanderson's translated works in German at:

Penguin.de

Thalia.de

Hugendubel.de

Check out the review at 99/100 degrees at Phantastik-Couch.de for Winde und Wahrheit (online review portal

for fantasy and science-fiction).

Piper:

We have reprinted Mistborn #5 Schatten über Elantel (Shadows of Self) with a new cover that better fits the others in the series. The text has been revised according to the 10th anniversary edition.

Droemer Knaur:

Recent Books 2025

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, translated by Paula Telge, illustrated by Aliya Chen. Knaur HC, hardcover and ebook, published April 1st. 

Where to Buy

Our books are available worldwide, e.g. via Amazon but also via

• Thalia.de
• Hugendubel.de
• Droemer-Knaur.de

Reviews, Articles, Postings

• Review of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter on phantastik-couch.de
• Review of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter on teilzeithelden.de
• Review of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter on himmelsblau.de 
• Instagram postings on Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Italy (Mondadori)

In 2025, we published the Italian hardcover edition of Wind and Truth, on July 8, and The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England on September 23.

We’ll publish Yumi and the Nightmare Painter in July 2026.

International fans can purchase our edition on Amazon or other Italian bookstores such as: Mondadori Store and Feltrinelli Store or ibs.it.

We promoted the books on our Oscar Vault social media pages (Instagram, Facebook and Whatsapp) and provided copies to book influencers to spread the word and grant reviews in time for the publication date.

Portugal (Kathartika)

In 2024, Kathartika published The Way of Kings, marking the beginning of Brandon Sanderson’s arrival in our catalogue. In 2025, we continued that path with the publication of Words of Radiance and Tress of the Emerald Sea. Reader response has been extraordinary, and Sanderson’s fan community in Portugal has grown very visibly.

In 2026, we will take an important step in consolidating the author’s presence in the Portuguese market: in February we will publish Oathbringer, followed by Elantris in July and Rhythm of War in October. 

Our editions can be ordered internationally through Wook.pt, Bertrand.pt and Fnac.pt.

The Way of Kings was featured in several cultural outlets, including Magazine HD and Deus Me Livro 

While Tress of the Emerald Sea was highlighted by NiT as one of the “unmissable books of June” 

and Words of Radiance was included by Fnac Portugal in its March highlights.

In August 2025, at Fórum Fantástico — a Portuguese Annual Convention dedicated to the Fantastic — the Portuguese translation of The Way of Kings was one of the nine finalists for the 2025 Award for Best Fantasy Translation.

We are incredibly motivated to continue presenting Brandon Sanderson’s work with the highest editorial standards and to keep expanding the Portuguese Cosmere community.

Slovakia (Slovart)

In 2025, we published:

• Alcatraz Versus the Shattered Lens (Alcatraz, #4) – Slovak edition – 25th March pub date, published in Paperback
• Defiant (Skyward #4) – Slovak edition – 22nd April pub date, published in Paperback

Fans from other countries can buy both the Slovak and Czech editions in bookstores that ship internationally: martinus.sk, martinus.cz

We make a lot of announcements on our social media channels (Facebook, Instagram). We also promote titles with online banners in online shops and on our website.

Spain (Nova)

For Nova, this has been a very special year thanks to Brandon’s presence at the Celsius 232 festival, which was held in July in northern Spain. It’s impossible to forget the images of the 12,000 readers who managed to get a book signed by him, the massive lines to enter the Dragonsteel stand and for the events he took part in, and the extraordinary media coverage he received across major Spanish newspapers and TV.

In 2025, we’ve published the illustrated editions of Shadows of Self and The Bands of Mourning and planned our Christmas campaign with Isles of the Emberdark, Tailored Realities and the illustrated edition of Elantris, which commemorates the 20th anniversary of its publication in Spanish and crowns a spectacular year of growth and increasing relevance of Brandon’s books for our market.

In the first half of 2026, we will publish the illustrated editions of The Lost Metal and Warbreaker, and we will try to join the US launch of Blightfall in September. Nova will keep working as we have so far to follow Brandon’s publishing rhythm.

Taiwan (Fantasy Foundation)

In 2025, Fantasy Foundation published Yumi and the Nightmare Painter (standard version) in January, The Sunlit Man (premium version) in February, and The Way of Kings (10th anniversary hardcover version) in October.

In 2026 we will release Wind and Truth in February, Words of Radiance (10th anniversary hardcover version) in May, The Sunlit Man (standard version) in July, and Isles of the Emberdark in October.

Fans from other countries can buy the books in Taiwan bookstores, or in local bookstores that ship internationally, such as Books.com, Eslite Online, Cite Reading Garden.

Fantasy Foundation is running a special event called "The Years of Sanderson" from 2025 to 2026. Readers who purchase new books or participate in the event will receive exclusive limited-edition gifts. For further information, follow this link.

Turkey (Ithaki)

The most recent title we published is Tress of the Emerald Sea. It was released on May 29, 2024, simultaneously in hardcover and paperback editions.

We are currently preparing The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England. We are aiming for a February 2026 release and we plan to publish it simultaneously in hardcover and paperback.

The Dark One graphic novel has been fully prepared, edited, and lettered, and we have included this title in our 2026 publishing program.

At the moment, there are no dedicated retailers offering international sales of our editions. Copies are available via Amazon Turkey, which offers international shipping to certain countries through Amazon’s global marketplace.

Our readership primarily follows both our publishing program and the books through social media. For this reason, our promotional efforts and local publicity have mainly focused on our social media platforms, where we share announcements, content related to the books, and campaign-based promotions (such as this one for Tress of the Emerald Sea.)

Readers also actively share their reviews and thoughts on these platforms.

Part Seven: Projected Schedule

Okay, this is the place where I update the schedule. These are never very set in stone, as things bounce around a lot in publishing. However, I’ll try to indicate which are more firm and which are not.  

• March 2026: Hoid's Storybook Collection/The Fires of December crowdfund. (Fulfillment expected end of 2026.)
• Summer 2026: Songs of the Dead (not a Dragonsteel book, but still worth your time).
• Early Fall 2026: Brotherwise Stormlight Board Game crowdfund.
• Fall 2026: Blightfall, Book One of Riftwake. (New Cytoverse series.) 
• Winter/Nexus 2026: The Fires of December commercial edition. 
• Summer 2027:  Book Two of Riftwake. 
• December 2028: Ghostbloods 1
• December 2029: Ghostbloods 2
• December 2030: Ghostbloods 3

Biggest changes from last year are pushing the new Cytoverse novels to start in 2026 instead of 2025, and me being uncertain where Elantris fits right now. I’d love to do the books in between Ghostbloods novels, but with so much Hollywood work this year (and coming up next year) I’m hesitant about committing to getting those ready at the speed I thought likely last year. We’ll see. I also am already starting to feel the call to return to Stormlight, so Horneater (and maybe early work on Book Six) are likely in the next few years.

Conclusion

As always, I’m staying busy, as you can see! A few years ago, I was a little concerned about too many co-authored things coming out in a row, and that did hit here. (Would be nice if either Songs of the Dead or Blightfall could have been 2025.  Strange, how these things bunch up.)

I’m a little less worried than I was, however, after looking at how long these things take. There are no rush jobs on these books; Isaac’s series is still in the works, and he’s been grinding at it for over five years now. Dan’s books are equally long-term, and Peter Orullian’s took maybe... seven years to finally come out? We’re making certain to spend a great deal of time on each one, and I haven’t added new co-authors in all those years, so I think we’re in a good spot. For now, Cytoverse, and eventually a few carefully crafted Cosmere stories. (Like the two Stormlight ones we did for Story Deck, which I suspect Dan will have mentioned in his section.)

It feels odd to perpetually be in the, “There will be a film or series soon, guys!” waiting room. I feel like I’ve been there for well over a decade now, with each opportunity looking really good until suddenly... nothing. We’ll keep working on it though, and I promise not to let it distract me too much from my own books.  

To that end, I’ve got to get back to the books! See you all next year, where hopefully you’ll all have been able to read and enjoy The Fires of December.  

Brandon