Portrait of American fantasy author Brandon Sanderson, taken on June 3, 2011.
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Brandon Sanderson asked people on Kickstarter for $ 1 million to publish four novels he wrote during the pandemic. It was funded in 35 minutes.
Two days later, Sanderson’s campaign surpassed $ 19 million from more than 76,000 supporters – and he still has 28 days. It is already the most funded Kickstarter for a publishing project, overshadowing Sanderson’s previous campaign, which raised $ 6.7 million.
A prolific author of science fiction and fantasy, Sanderson is best known for creating Cosmere’s fictional universe in which most of his novels unfold. This includes the series “Mistborn” and “The Stormlight Archive”.
He also helped complete the last three novels in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series, which was recently turned into an Amazon television series.
Sanderson’s Kickstarter offers supporters four new novels, three of which are being developed at Cosmere, such as digital ebooks, audiobooks or physical copies based on their level of donation. People who spend above a certain threshold will also receive eight monthly boxes of items related to Sanderson’s work.
As the owner of a small book company called Dragongsteel Entertainment, Sanderson used Kickstarter as a way to raise enough money to have enough books available to meet demand and to offer a one-year subscription box service.
Many artists turned to Kickstarter to fund projects and assess consumer demand. Clearly, readers want more from Sanderson.
“I started it all by doing my best to surprise you,” Sanderson wrote in an update to Kickstarter on Wednesday. “Now you’ve turned it back on me … It’s amazing, amazing and a little amazing. I went to bed last night hoping people would enjoy my little revelation and woke up to a phenomenon.