As some of you might have seen on the news, Brandon Sanderson started a Kickstarter page and it has broken the record for the most funded Kickstarter campaign. It is currently at $23 million and it is still on going.
How it Started
It all started during the past two years. Because of COVID, Sanderson found himself at home with a lot more free time than usual. So he decided to pursue some ideas that crawled into his head and would not leave. And that is how Sanderson wrote 4 books.
This Kickstarter will give people who back the campaign those four books throughout the course of 2023. Depending on how much you pledge, you can get the ebooks, audiobooks, physical copies, autographies copies, etc.
Why it Blew Up
When the Kickstarter campaign was first launched, the goal was to get $1 million dollars raised in 30 days to self-publish those novels. A modest goal considering Sanderson’s last Kickstarter campaign made over $6 million. This one eclipsed the goal within 5 hours.
Yes, you read that right. In a day, the goal had surpassed $16 million. Now, two days later, it has reached $23 million. So why did this blow up a big as it did?
There are a bunch of reasons but I will list the ones I believe played the biggest part. The first one is that this is not just any author but one of the biggest ones in the. world. Brandon Sanderson is a household name. He may not have the star power of a J.K Rowling or even Neil Gaiman but he has a lot of great novels under his belt. And his has been gaining a lot of fame as of late.
As someone who recently got into reading novels by Sanderson, I can say he is an amazing writer. His world building is on par with the best fantasy writers. The Mistborn series is one of the best series I have ever read and it may not be as popular as A Game of Thrones but its reputation is still pretty high.
Another reason why Sanderson’s Kickstarter blew up is because of previous hype. His last campaign surpassed $6 million. That is an amazing accomplishment and showcased his star power. With this campaign, his fans knew what to expect and he has garnered more fans throughout the years. And the previous hype was going to draw more attention.
Lastly, the one thing that pushed his campaign to meteoric fame was the constant coverage. News outlets were covering this story nonstop. Every major network has written about it and are still covering this record-setting campaign.
This spread like wildfire because everyone was talking about it and writing about it. That was also because it smashed a bunch of records in the process. That meant another update which pushed this story to millions of people each time.
Conclusion
I am a big Brandon Sanderson fan and I am very happy for him. This may finally push him to the top of the fantasy genre. I will say that Gaiman is not going anywhere but they can both share the title of the best fantasy writers alive.
This campaign is a wonderful surprise and I can’t wait to see what the four novels are. Are you going to participate in the Kickstarter? Let us know in the comments below.
It’s both amazing and not really surprising. Not only is Sanderson a good- and prolific writer, but he has a tremendous work ethic. If he says this is what you will get for your money, he will deliver. That certainly adds to the confidence level when backing a Kickstarter. I think it’s great that he’s able to do something like this. And, yes, I backed it.
Yep. He probably is one of the most consistent authors work wise. Makes you appreciate i more when some authors take 5 years for one novel
I mostly live under a rock, so didn’t knew about this. Thanks for writing this post, I learned about a great news through you.
Maybe I should start reviewing his book, for some shameless blog traffic?
Haha this post did really well for me so go for it! You are always welcome to guest post on my blog to increase traffic 🙂