Brandon Sanderson Kickstarter

Critteranne · 03-02-2022, 04:15 PM

Has anyone seen this Kickstarter? Hugely popular fantasy author Brandon Sanderson admitted that he "accidentally" wrote four extra novels during COVID. So instead of going through his regular publisher or self-publishing through Amazon, he decided to do a Kickstarter. He is selling these books in eBook format, audio, and fancy hardcovers.

The goal was $1,000,000. It raised about $15,000,000 in the first day. I knew that he was popular and that his fans were very loyal, but...

More opinions here and here.

You can see the campaign here and see the FAQs here.

There is also a longer video here.

If you look at the page for just a few second, you will probably see the numbers go up.

I wish more writers could do this. But to do this well, you need to be very popular with a fervent fanbase.

Dazrin · 03-02-2022, 04:28 PM

I saw the announcement yesterday. The Kickstarter was at 5+ million in less than 2 hours. He's had at least one other monster Kickstarter campaign too. The leatherbound / signed edition of his first Stormlight Archive book raised over 6.5 million.

Looks like that gives him the top 2 spots in KS publishing: https://www.kickstarter.com/discover...rt=most_funded

Dazrin · 03-02-2022, 04:39 PM

Wow. Behind only the Pebble Time (2016, $20M) this looks like it's already the second largest Kickstarter ever.

With 29 days to go and less than $4M to catch up, it has a good shot of being the largest ever.

https://www.kickstarter.com/discover..._funded&page=1

ottdmk · 03-03-2022, 10:13 PM

Ye gads, that's crazy. This is probably the most profitable self-publishing bit in ages.

Pjama · 03-03-2022, 10:28 PM

Truly incredible - I just watched it go from $19 to $20 million!

Critteranne · 03-04-2022, 06:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pjama

Truly incredible - I just watched it go from $19 to $20 million!

It beat the Pebble Watch, which raised $20,338,986! That makes this the most successful Kickstarter.

I’ve heard he has a staff. He’ll need it to cope with all those orders.

According to one brief analysis I read, the factor that made this go so high wasn’t the number of people pledging (that wasn’t as high as it could be for such a popular author) but the huge number of people buying the deluxe packages.

JSWolf · 03-04-2022, 07:41 AM

Ao if we don't sign up to the Kickstarter, how would we get these eBooks?

Critteranne · 03-04-2022, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by JSWolf

Ao if we don't sign up to the Kickstarter, how would we get these eBooks?

I'm quoting from the FAQ:
"After the Kickstarter campaign is complete, we will have a pre-order store open through BackerKit for late pledges. This store will be open for a very limited time, and once it is closed there will not be a way to get these books or swag boxes through our campaign. While we expect these books will eventually be available via standard publishing channels, these swag boxes will never be available again."

JSWolf · 03-04-2022, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Critteranne

I'm quoting from the FAQ:
"After the Kickstarter campaign is complete, we will have a pre-order store open through BackerKit for late pledges. This store will be open for a very limited time, and once it is closed there will not be a way to get these books or swag boxes through our campaign. While we expect these books will eventually be available via standard publishing channels, these swag boxes will never be available again."

Thanks.

SleepyBob · 03-08-2022, 11:55 AM

I think that paragraph was specifically about the special boxes and bound books. I fully expect the ebooks to become available once the "year of 2023" event has ended.

03-02-2022, 04:15 PM	#1
Critteranne Guru Posts: 781 Karma: 21097142 Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: MD Device: Kindle, iPad	Brandon Sanderson Kickstarter Has anyone seen this Kickstarter? Hugely popular fantasy author Brandon Sanderson admitted that he "accidentally" wrote four extra novels during COVID. So instead of going through his regular publisher or self-publishing through Amazon, he decided to do a Kickstarter. He is selling these books in eBook format, audio, and fancy hardcovers. The goal was $1,000,000. It raised about $15,000,000 in the first day. I knew that he was popular and that his fans were very loyal, but... More opinions here and here. You can see the campaign here and see the FAQs here. There is also a longer video here. If you look at the page for just a few second, you will probably see the numbers go up. I wish more writers could do this. But to do this well, you need to be very popular with a fervent fanbase.

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03-02-2022, 04:28 PM	#2
Dazrin Wizard Posts: 2,631 Karma: 73864785 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: PDXish Device: Kindle Voyage, various Android devices	I saw the announcement yesterday. The Kickstarter was at 5+ million in less than 2 hours. He's had at least one other monster Kickstarter campaign too. The leatherbound / signed edition of his first Stormlight Archive book raised over 6.5 million. Looks like that gives him the top 2 spots in KS publishing: https://www.kickstarter.com/discover...rt=most_funded

03-02-2022, 04:39 PM	#3
Dazrin Wizard Posts: 2,631 Karma: 73864785 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: PDXish Device: Kindle Voyage, various Android devices	Wow. Behind only the Pebble Time (2016, $20M) this looks like it's already the second largest Kickstarter ever. With 29 days to go and less than $4M to catch up, it has a good shot of being the largest ever. https://www.kickstarter.com/discover..._funded&page=1

03-03-2022, 10:13 PM	#4
ottdmk Wizard Posts: 1,196 Karma: 3765734 Join Date: Feb 2012 Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Device: Kobo Libra 2, Lenovo Tab M10 FHD Plus, Lenovo Tab M8 HD	Ye gads, that's crazy. This is probably the most profitable self-publishing bit in ages.

03-03-2022, 10:28 PM	#5
Pjama Guru Posts: 667 Karma: 2345678 Join Date: Apr 2016 Location: USA Device: ✍️🏝️♎️ Kobo Clara 2E	Truly incredible - I just watched it go from $19 to $20 million!

03-04-2022, 07:41 AM	#7
JSWolf Resident Curmudgeon Posts: 73,998 Karma: 128903378 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Roslindale, Massachusetts Device: Kobo Libra 2, Kobo Aura H2O, PRS-650, PRS-T1, nook STR, PW3	Ao if we don't sign up to the Kickstarter, how would we get these eBooks?

03-08-2022, 11:55 AM	#10
SleepyBob Evangelist Posts: 420 Karma: 8522810 Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Wisconsin, USA Device: Kindle PW3	I think that paragraph was specifically about the special boxes and bound books. I fully expect the ebooks to become available once the "year of 2023" event has ended.