Brandon Sanderson’s Mega-Kickstarter
stonemaiergames.com
stonemaiergames.com
I wonder if this will be the inflection point in Sanderson's career, I can already hear the "everything sucks" critics sharpening their knives over the amount of money raised. He could drop something with the impact and longevity of "Lord of the Rings" and there's still gonna be people bitching about that much money for 4 books.
Another nail in the coffin of the traditional "publishing industry" too. Expecting to see "edited and produced by" credits in books soon, and to pay attention to the names of those as much as the authors.
The only thing this really means is Brandon could skip dealing with Tor/whoever else he publishes with after his current contracts are up, if he's willing to forgo being in bookstores. I would suspect he keeps Stormlight with Tor simply so you can find every book the same way, but any future books are much more up in the air.
The reason why Cory Doctorow gives/gave away his books for free (earlier in his career?) is because obscurity is a bigger problem than piracy for most authors.
If people are pirating your books that's a "good" problem to have because people are actually aware of you and your work.
On the other hand, there are plenty of opportunities for those writers to be successful outside the traditional publishing industry. So, if every big name writer switched to crowdfunding (which is not by any means guaranteed) I don't think literature would necessarily suffer. The publishing industry would suffer, but I don't feel the need to protect their business model.
Writers who need extra stuff to make a name and convince people to notice them is one thing. When you already make insane amounts of money it becomes less worth it.
Also I wonder if less nerdy/technical fan bases than SFF would be as inclined to even get involved with Kickstarter.
On the other end, there's the Publisher role as providing the niche catered experience, like these guys I discovered recently:
I'm enjoying some of their anthologies so far, particular the dedication to tracking down the unedited versions of obscure works by famous fantasy authors.
I consider it comparable to record labels. I follow some small/mid-sized record labels on Bandcamp that have signed several bands I like. Their releases tend to stick to a particular sound or genre that I enjoy. If the label drops a new album by an unknown artist, I am more likely to give the artist a try, because the label has a good track record in my mind. It certainly helps if the album is free to listen to before buying, but you get the idea.
2010 called, they want their attitude back.
This whole "Self published stuff is low quality, only legacy publishers edit their books" is such a terrible meme, it needs to die. It might have been true in 2007-10 when indie publishing really took off, I can't believe people are still repeating this.
It's still a problem. I'm not knocking every indie author who wanted to self-publish their first Sci-Fi novel. Far from it. Traditional publishers can churn out low-quality garbage with the rest of them, particularly when trying to make a quick buck by reprinting Public Domain works. My point is that it's always a race to the bottom for some people, and digital publishing has made it much easier, since it has largely eliminated the cost associated with production.
I think Scalzi had a good point about this not being a nail in the publishing industry's coffin: https://whatever.scalzi.com/2022/03/01/very-quick-thoughts-o...
He did mention that he expects the books to eventually come out as trade books under an imprint (at least the hardback), so the kickstarter is more to allow superfans to buy extras.
More cynically, this means that he can get money directly from consumers without having physical bookstores / retailers taking their cut -- but honestly, I do believe this is more designed for a better fan experience.
Kickstarter is not only a crowd funding platform but also a pre-ordering system, it's mighty convenient, why not use it as such?
Unless I'm very mistaken that is the publishing industry.
People will use tools for whatever they can. The idea of Etsy was that it was for just genuinely hand-made stuff but the rules have changed over time so it is full of mass-manufactured stuff too.
> Why would you use kickstarter in place of a preorder system?
Why not, if you can and it works?
This way the money comes in up-front instead of after production
And you have a very good guide for sizing the first production runs (instead of taking a chance on producing too many and having to sell at a discount or store at a cost).
Also, there is the chance that the crowdfunding status will generate free advertising, as is happening here.
And with this high an interest, with proof rather than it being a guess/belief, he can probably negotiate better rates with that publisher for these runs.
And they can be quite strict about only allowing projects that are nearly complete. It's extremely common for a boardgame, or other project to be "complete" but need a tonne of investment for production, shipping, etc.
Seems like the perfect model for a book launch. And the fans get what they want too with all the bonuses.
I was surprised by how much post production happens after the initial draft is written.
As I recall, our biggest cash outlays were marketing and editing.
Picture two different business plans:
I will sell them. I have to gamble on how many to order. I have a ton of risk.
I sell it on kickstarter. I know how many to order. I have way less risk.
Absolutely. Brandon Sanderson has a rabid fanbase who will purchase anything he publishes, even if it's a pile of shit.
https://www.theguardian.com/music/appsblog/2013/feb/08/bjork...
I guess the question would be: if he writes a book solely out of obligation and his heart is no longer in it, do you really want the end product?
He liked how in the beginning when he started to write he could create new things and work on what he was most excited about, but as he wrote books he started getting shoehorned into writing the sequels to the books, limiting him in what he could do and what he wanted to write.
When some unexpected, free writing time opened up - he used it to go back to that and enjoy himself writing books that didn't have any preexisting limitations.
We all have our own ways of balancing work and life, and relieving stress, and trying to master new things. Creativity comes in bursts. We just happen to be spoiled that Sanderson is basically a fire hose that we get to sip from.
The final book will be coming out September 20, 2022.
Something he has spoken of in the past is he if dropped his side projects, like people sometimes ask, his output is likely to go down because these projects help recharge him so he stays motivated for the mainline projects.
"The Cosmere" is his overarching fantasy universe, with The Stormlight Archive as its big fantasy epic (beginning with The Way of Kings). That series has references to his other fantasy work, including his other big series (Mistborn), but you don't necessarily need to have read anything else first. I think there are 4 books now with 10 planned, I haven't read the latest one yet but I enjoyed the first three.
It's been a couple of years but I remember really liking The Emperor's Soul, and it's a $5 ebook novella so you're not investing too much time or money to check it out. DRM free from Kobo, not sure if that's the case via Amazon/Kindle.
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/where-do-i-start/
I started with the Mistborn series, which I found to be fantastic. I'll be diving into the Stormlight Archive in the coming weeks.
Brandon is also super nice (got to meet him in a few conferences) and down to earth for an author of his magnitude.
https://www.brandonsanderson.com/brandon-sanderson-online-li...
I pay him money every month, and he gives me books.
This model clearly wouldn't work for GRRM, but for Sanderson, it seems like it'd be great.