Do writers owe their readers books? Kingkiller author Patrick Rothfuss weighs in

We can all name a few fantasy writers that have left fans waiting an excessive amount of time for their next work. George R.R. Martin is still writing The Winds of Winter after over a decade, and fans of Patrick Rothfuss’ The Kingkiller Chronicle are still waiting for The Doors of Stone, the third book in that series. The second, The Wise Man’s Fear, came out in 2011.

Situations like this inspire debate among readers. For instance, to what degree do authors owe their readers books? Do they owe them at all?

There are many different ways to answer this question, with valid points on each side. And Patrick Rothfuss has an answer of his own, as he shared on his Twitch stream:

The Doors of Stone author Patrick Rothfuss talks parasocial relationships

“I now have a much more meaningful, emotional understanding of what it’s like when a lot of people who you don’t know really believe that you owe them something,” Rothfuss said. “And I’m like, ‘Shit, I’m so sorry, oh god I’m so sorry,’ and I’m so sorry because I was probably like that.”

"Only now are people realizing the fraught nature of some of these parasocial relationships. It used to be that only famous people were famous, and you knew they were famous and you didn’t touch them or try to touch them in the same way that you don’t touch the Pope or an electric fence because you know it will go badly for you if you. But now, kinda everyone’s famous and so it’s like, ‘Well you’re not a movie star and you’re on social media, and I’ve read your book and your blogs so I kind of know you so we’re kind of friends.’ And so I’m gonna give you shit like I give my friends, and that’s where it just doesn’t scale properly."

Last year, in a now-deleted Facebook post, Rothfuss’ editor Betsy Wollheim made her opinion on the matter heard. “Authors don’t owe you books,” she wrote simply, but went on to add how writers not finishing work can be detrimental to publishers. “Book publishing is not as lucrative as many other professions, and publishers rely on their strongest sellers to keep their companies (especially small companies like DAW [Books]) afloat. When authors don’t produce, it basically f***s their publishers.”

While we don’t know when The Doors of Stone will be published, Rothfuss tends to talk about his progress frequently over on his Twitch live streams.

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